Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PROLOGUE-CHORAL EPISODE 1

Reading Check

1. Where does the play open?

2. Who is Calonice?

3. Where is Lampito from?

4. How does the first Choral Episode end?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Lysistrata’s plan to end the Peloponnesian War?

2. What are the older women doing while Lysistrata speaks to the younger women? Why are they doing this?

3. Why is the half-chorus of old men surprised by the half-chorus of old women? What does their interaction reveal about the role of women in ancient Greece?

Paired Resources

The Roles, Rights, and Lives of Women in Ancient Greece

• This short but informative video provides insight on the rights and roles of ancient Greek women.
• This video connects to the theme of Greek Women.
• How were women generally expected to behave in ancient Greece? How do the women of Aristophanes’s play depart from this norm?

Ancient Greek Democracy

• This article from History.com explains the birth of democracy with Cleisthenes’s reforms in Athens in the sixth Century BCE.
• This information connects to the theme of Athenian Politics.
• How was ancient Greek democracy like democracy in the modern world? How was it different?

SCENE 1-CHORAL EPISODE 2

Reading Check

1. Who leads the second assault against the women on the Acropolis?

2. What do the women dress the Councilor as before setting him loose?

3. Who are the “Laconians”?

4. To whom do the men of the half chorus compare themselves in the second Choral Episode?

5. How do the old women of the chorus prove their love for Athens?

6. How does the second Choral Episode end?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. To what does the Councilor attribute the women’s behavior?

2. What does Lysistrata mean when she tells the Councilor that he needs “just brains” (Line 432) to get into the Acropolis?

3. In addition to sex, what else do the women withhold? What are their reasons for doing so?

4. According to Lysistrata, why is the war impacting women so much more than men?

5. Who is Cleisthenes and why is he mentioned so often in the play?

Paired Resource

Anti-War Protests of the 1960s-70s

• This overview from the White House Historical Association covers the Vietnam anti-war movement, one of the most famous anti-war movements in world history.
• This discussion of the Vietnam conflict connects to the theme of The Peloponnesian War.
• What was the Vietnam anti-war movement and why was it significant? How does this movement show that history repeats itself?

SCENES 2-3

Reading Check

1. What is the oracle Lysistrata reads to the women?

2. Who was Melanion?

3. What do the men bring to the Acropolis in Scene 3?

4. Why is Cinesias so frenzied?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Lysistrata so upset at the beginning of Scene 2?

2. How does Myrrhine torture her husband Cinesias?

SCENE 4-ENDING SCENE

Reading Check

1. Who is the goddess Lysistrata summons to preside over the peace negotiations?

2. What happens after the two sides agree on a treaty?

3. Who do the Athenians and Spartans invoke to preserve their treaty?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do the women of the chorus finally win over the men of the chorus?

2. Why do the Spartans send a herald to negotiate with the Athenians?

3. How does Lysistrata encourage peace between Athens and Sparta during the negotiations?

4. How does Aristophanes highlight the cultural differences between Athenian and Spartan men?

Recommended Next Reads 

The Ecclesiazusae by Aristophanes

• This comedy by Aristophanes describes a fictional takeover of the Athenian government by the city’s women.
• Aristophanes wrote this play in 391 BCE, later in his career.
• Shared themes include Athenian Politics and Greek Women.  
• Shared topics include ancient Greece and women’s rights.
• The Ecclesiazusae on SuperSummary

Trojan Women by Euripides

• Euripides’s tragedy centers on the plight of the women of Troy immediately after their city was conquered by the Greeks. 
• This play is sometimes interpreted as a reflection of women’s rights during the Peloponnesian War.
• Shared themes include The Peloponnesian War and Greek Women.
• Shared topics include war and women’s rights.
• Trojan Women on SuperSummary