The Assembly of Women (Ecclesiazusae) » (1st Edition)

The women of Athens concoct a dating scheme: to infiltrate the male-dominated Assembly disguised as men and to vote themselves into power, after which they will overturn the old laws and inaugurate a new society where all are equal and where property - sex, too! - is shared. This new translation by Robert Mayhew of one of playwright Aristophanes' last surviving plays recaptures the spirit, the bawdiness, and the brilliance of this rollicking farce which is at the same time a profound critique of contemporary Greek customs and manners. A full introduction and explanatory notes provide important background material on communistic ideas current in fifth- and fourth-century B.C.E. Greek thought as well as on historical and other details relevant to the text.