Acharnians

Acharnians (Acharnēs), Greek comedy by Aristophanes, produced at the Lenaea in 425 BC by Callistratus, perhaps because the author was too young to produce it himself. It is his first surviving play, and won first prize in the dramatic competition.

The Athenians had for six years been suffering the horrors of the Peloponnesian War, the devastation of their territory, plague in the overcrowded city, and shortage of food, but their spirit was unbroken. The Acharnians (inhabitants of an Attic deme lying north-west of Athens near the foot of Mount Parnes), of whom the chorus of the play is composed, had been among the chief sufferers, their territory having been repeatedly ravaged.

The play opens with Dikaiopolis, an Athenian farmer, sitting and waiting for the meeting of the assembly, sighing for the good times of peace. Amphitheos (‘demigod’) appears, sent by the gods to arrange peace with Sparta, but unfortunately lacking the necessary travelling-money. This Dikaiopolis provides, but the treaty with Sparta is to be a private one for himself alone. Amphitheos presently brings the treaty, narrowly escaping from the chorus of bellicose and infuriated Acharnians. Dikaiopolis celebrates with a procession consisting of his daughter and servants, and this leads to a dispute between Dikaiopolis and the chorus on the question of peace or war, in which Lamachus, portrayed as a typical general, takes part. Dikaiopolis is allowed to make a speech before being executed as a traitor; and to render this more pathetic borrows from the tragedian Euripides some of the stage properties that make his tragedies so moving. As a result the chorus are won over to the pro-peace view of Dikaiopolis. After the parabasis (see COMEDY, GREEK 3), in which the poet defends his position, there is a succession of amusing scenes illustrating the benefits of peace. A Megarian comes to Dikaiopolis to buy food (Athens had been trying to starve out Megara by a blockade), offering in exchange his little daughters disguised as pigs in sacks. A Boeotian brings eels and other good things, and wants in return local produce of Attica; he is given an informer tied up in a sack. A farmer wants peace-salve for his eyes, which he has cried out over the loss of his oxen; and so on. Finally Lamachus has to march off through the snow against the Boeotians, and returns wounded by a vine-stake on which he has impaled himself, while Dikaiopolis celebrates the Anthesteria with the priest of Dionysus.

This play has been interpreted as a serious plea for peace on the part of the poet.

ADVERTISEMENT