Aristophanes s ideas for peace •Most of the ancient dramas promote diachronic ideas, such as peace, friendship, justice etc. More specifically in Aristophane’s comedy Aharneis peace is promoted.

PLOT •Dikaiopolis, the main character of the comedy, goes to Agora where was the center of public life in ancient Athens, determined to convince the rest of the citizens of Athens that they should stop the war with Sparta, which started six years ago. When he realizes that his goal is impossible to be achieved, he has Amphitheos, the only one who agreed with him, go to Sparta and make peace just for Dikaiopolis and Dikaiopoli’s family. Later, Amphitheos comes back with thirty year truce but this action causes great anger to Aharneis, the chorus of the comedy, who really hate Sparta and as consequence want to kill Dikaiopolis for having act like that. But Dikaiopolis manages with a great speech to convince the half of them that he’s right but the other half remains angry and they bring Lamahos who is one of Athens Generals. Then an argument between Dikaiopolis and Lamahos starts in which Dikaiopolis is the winner. At the end of the comedy Dikaiopolis wins the prize of the best wine-drinker while Lamahos is injured in a fight with enemies.

In the parts below of aristophane’s comedy “aharneis” peace is promoted:

Part 1 •ΔΙΚΑΙΟΠΟΛΙΣ: ΟΙ Δ’ ΕΝ ΑΓΟΡΑ ΛΑΛΟΥΣΙ ΚΑΝΩ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΤΩ[…] ΕΙΡΗΝΗ Δ’ ΟΠΩΣ ΕΣΤΑΙ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΩΣ’ ΟΥΔΕΝ […] ΑΠΟΒΛΕΠΩΝ ΕΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΓΡΟΝ ΕΙΡΗΝΗΣ ΕΡΩΝ, ΣΤΥΓΩΝ ΜΕΝ ΑΣΤΥ, ΤΟΝ ΔΕ ΕΜΟΝ ΔΗΜΟΝ ΠΟΘΩΝ […] ΝΥΝ ΟΥΝ ΑΤΕΧΝΩΣ ΗΚΩ ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΑΣΜΕΝΟΣ ΒΟΑΝ, ΥΠΟΚΡΟΥΕΙΝ, ΛΟΙΔΟΡΕΙΝ ΤΟΥΣ ΡΗΤΟΡΑΣ, ΕΆΝ ΤΙΣ ΆΛΛΟ ΠΛΗΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΙΡΗΝΗΣ ΛΕΓΗ[…] ΜΑ ΤΟΝ ΑΠΟΛΛΩ, ‛ΓΩ ΜΕΝ ΟΥ, ΗΝ ΜΗ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΙΡΗΝΗΣ ΓΕ ΠΡΥΤΑΝΕΥΣΗΤΕ ΜΟΙ.

Dikaiopolis for piece •The lines above are some parts of Dikaiopoli’s speech in agora with which was trying to convince Athenian citizens to stop the war against Sparta. More specifically he blames those, who do not support or care about peace and he expresses his sorrow about the current situation while he adds how much he would like to live in peace. Moreover he adds that he‘s going to shout or even use violence, if people in agora are going to talk for anything else but peace.

•According to the words above, we can easily judge how important and desirable peace is for Aristophane’s character Dikaiopolis and how sad and angry he feels at the same time for people who do not react in the distractive consequences of war.

Part 2 •ΔΙΚΑΙΟΠΟΛΙΣ: ΕΜΟΙ ΣΥ ΤΑΥΤΑΣΙ ΛΑΒΩΝ ΟΚΤΩ ΔΡΑΧΜΑΣ ΣΠΟΝΔΑΣ ΠΟΙΗΣΑΙ ΠΡΟΣ ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΟΥΣ ΜΟΝΩ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΙΣΙ ΠΑΙΔΙΟΙΣΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΗ ΠΛΑΤΙΔΙ˙ ΥΜΕΙΣ ΔΕ ΠΡΕΣΒΕΥΕΣΘΕ ΚΑΙ ΚΕΧΗΝΕΤΕ. •In this part Dikaiopolis gives Amphitheos some money and sends him to Sparta to make a truce just for Dikaiopolis and Dikaiopoli’s family.

•Dikaiopolis realizing that he cannot convince anyone for stopping the war he makes the decision to make a peace agreement with Sparta for himself and his family showing in this way his condemn for the rest of Athenian people except for Amphitheos who supports him. He is determined to leave from now on in peace and he doesn’t care about other people’s opinions.

Part 3 •ΔΙΚΑΙΟΠΟΛΙΣ: Ω ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΑ, ΑΥΤΑΙ ΜΕΝ ΟΖΟΥΣ’ ΑΜΒΡΟΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΝΕΚΤΑΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ’ΠΙΤΗΡΕΙΝ ΣΙΤΙ’ ΗΜΕΡΩΝ ΤΡΙΩΝ, ΚΑΝ ΤΩ ΣΤΟΜΑΤΙ ΛΕΓΟΥΣΙ: «ΒΑΙΝ ΟΠΗ ΘΕΛΕΙΣ». ΤΑΥΤΑΣ ΔΕΧΟΜΑΙ ΚΑΙ ΣΠΕΝΔΟΜΑΙ ΚΑΚΠΙΟΜΑΙ, ΧΑΙΡΕΙΝ ΚΕΛΕΥΩΝ ΠΟΛΛΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΧΑΡΝΕΑΣ. ΕΓΩ ΔΕ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΚΩΝ ΑΠΑΛΛΑΓΕΙΣ ΑΞΩ ΤΑ ΚΑΤ’ ΑΓΡΟΥΣ ΕΙΣΙΩΝ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΑ.

•At this part of the comedy Dikaiopolis accepts cheerfully the thirty year truce that Amphitheos brought him, having already declined a five and a ten year one. He says that now he can participate and celebrate at the religious ceremony for Dionysus and he also points on that he will no longer worry about the hardships of war as there is only peace for him from now on.

•It is obvious that Dikaiopolis is happy, cheerful and enjoys the current situation very much. He even compares the agreement of the thirty year peace with the food and drink of gods. He is relieved now that he doesn’t need to worry about anything that has to do with war anymore.

Part 4 •ΔΙΚΑΙΟΠΟΛΙΣ: ΚΑΙ ΜΗΝ ΚΑΛΟΝ Γ’ ΕΣΤ’˙ Ω ΔΙΟΝΥΣΕ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΑ, ΚΕΧΑΡΙΣΜΕΝΩΣ ΣΟΙ ΤΗΝΔΕ ΤΗΝ ΠΟΜΠΗΝ ΕΜΕ ΠΕΜΨΑΝΤΑ ΚΑΙ ΘΥΣΑΝΤΑ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΟΙΚΕΤΩΝ ΑΓΑΓΕΙΝ ΤΥΧΗΡΩΣ ΤΑ ΚΑΤ’ ΑΓΡΟΥΣ ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΑ, ΣΤΡΑΤΙΑΣ ΑΠΑΛΛΑΧΘΕΝΤΑ˙ ΤΑΣ ΣΠΟΝΔΑΣ ΔΕ ΜΟΙ ΚΑΛΩΣ ΞΥΝΕΝΕΓΚΕΙΝ ΤΑΣ ΤΡΙΑΚΟΝΤΟΥΤΙΔΑΣ.[…] ΦΑΛΗΣ ΕΤΑΙΡΕ ΒΑΚΧΙΟΥ […] ΕΚΤΩ Σ’ ΕΤΕΙ ΠΡΟΣΕΙΠΟΝ ΕΣ ΤΟΝ ΔΗΜΟΝ ΕΛΘΩΝ ΑΣΜΕΝΟΣ, ΣΠΟΝΔΑΣ ΠΟΙΗΣΑΜΕΝΟΣ ΕΜΑΥΤΩ, ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΩΝ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΜΑΧΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΜΑΧΩΝ ΑΠΑΛΛΑΓΕΙΣ[…] ΦΑΛΗΣ, ΦΑΛΗΣ. ΕΑΝ ΜΕΘ’ ΗΜΩΝ ΞΥΜΠΙΗΣ, ΕΚ ΚΡΑΙΠΑΛΗΣ ΕΩΘΕΝ ΕΙΡΗΝΗΣ ΡΟΦΗΣΕΙ ΤΡΥΒΛΙΟΝ˙ Η Δ’ ΑΣΠΙΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΦΕΨΑΛΩ ΚΡΕΜΗΣΕΤΑΙ.

•In this part Dikaiopolis speaks a great speech in which thanks Dionysus and honors him with the typical sacrifices for having helped him for making peace for 30 years. He also speaks to Falis the god of fertility and tells him about the truce that he managed to make and how happy he feels that he can enjoy the advantages of peace without having to worry for the consequences of war.

Hymns to Gods •Both of the hymns to the gods show Dikaiopoli’s triumph, greatness and happiness while at the same time his gratitude to the gods for having achieved his goal. He is really thankful that he will enjoy from now on a peaceful life and he believes that gods helped him in order to achieve it, showing at the same time how religious he is.

Part 5 •Description The fifth part is a song of the chorus of the comedy in which peace is promoted as one of the most important goods of humanity. More specifically Dikaiopolis is seemed to be the wisest of men because he made a peace agreement which has enabled him to be happy with no worries, living in peace and enjoying its advantages and having his table filled with goods while the rest of Athenian people starving to death because their enemies destroyed their crops. There’s also a hymn for Heirine the goddess that protects peace.

•The chorus in their song promote the advantages that peace can brought in people’s lives also points out the difference of living in peace and living in war.

Part 6 •Summary/Description In this part of the comedy there are two incidents in which some people who suffer from the consequences of the war come to Dikaiopolis to ask for a little peace, just for a few years. The first one is a man who has lost his animals which were supposed to be his only source of food and then arrives a man who is about to get married with the made of honor and ask for the same thing in order not for the man to leave for a fight but live with his wife instead. Dikaiopolis rejects both of the requests.

Dikaiopolis s decisions •Judging from the description above we can reach the conclusion that everyone is unhappy because of the war and his hardships jealous at the same time of Dikaiopolis who has managed to live peacefully with his family. As a result all of them the only thing that desire more than anything else is some peace which Dikaiopolis does not offer any part of it to anyone.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! For this project the below students worked: •GAITANIDOU MARIA •GEORGIADOU OLGA •GNIGOU MARIA •SAVVOULIDOU DIMITRA