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Title: Thesmophoriazusae (Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. 8) by Alan H. Sommerstein ISBN: 0-85668-559-3 Publisher: Aris & Phillips Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00

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Summary: Aristophanes has some angry women go after Euripides
Comment: The Thesmophoria was a private festival honoring Demeter and her daughter Persephone, that was sacred to women. The play's title, "Thesmophoriazusae," translates as "Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria." At the festival the women are trying the tragic playwright Euripides in absentia for attacking their sex in his plays. Euripides has one of his relatives, Mnesilochus, attend the Thesmophoria dressed as a woman, to speak on his behalf (and the scene where Mnesilochus is prepared for his role is hysterical).

At the trial Euripides is accused of having made all husbands aware of the failings of women so that the men are all paying closer attention to their wives to make sure they do nothing wrong. Another prosecutor, who sells preparations for sacrifices, accuses Euripides of hurting her livelihood by casting doubt on religion. Mnesilochus makes the mistake of suggesting that Euripides has only revealed a small part of the true evils of women, at which point "she" is put under guard. To save Mnesilochus, Euripides arrives in disguise and engages in parodies of the rescue scenes from some of his own plays ("Telephus," "Palamedes," "Helen," and "Andromeda"). If you have read Euripides then you are well aware of his tendency to use a deus ex machina to resolve his plotlines; obviously Aristophanes and the Athenian audiences were equally aware of this tendency as well.

Actually, Euripides comes off looking pretty good in this comedy. The charges brought by the women are disproved, the parodies of the scenes from Euripides's plays are done without ridiculing them, and Aristophanes saves his best barbs for the politician Agathon and not the tragic playwright. Consequently, "Thesmophoriazusae," which was first performed in 411 B.C., can be enjoyed by those familiar with either the other comedies of Aristophanes or the tragedies of Euripides.