Peace (2)

Eirene; a comic play by the Athenian poet, Aristophanes, produced in 421 BCE at the Great Dionysia where it won second prize.

When this play was presented, the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) had been going on for ten years and the need for peace was becoming urgent; shortly after the production of Peace, Athens and Sparta managed to negotiate a treaty which gave the war ravaged Greeks a five year reprieve from the brutal and unrelenting war.

The story revolves around a common man named Trygaios who has had enough of the war and decides to take his complaint directly to Zeus; he does not intend to pray or sacrifice in order to get Zeus’ attention, he intends to go to Mount Olympos (Olympus) and confront Zeus face to face.

Mounting a flying dung-beetle named Pegasos (Pegasus), Trygaios files to Mount Olympos and is greeted by Hermes; the majority of the gods and goddesses have fled the sacred mountain; Ares (god of War) seems to be in charge of the mountain and he’s urgently looking for a pestle for his mortar so he can grind more Greek cities into dust; he is dismayed to find that the Athenian Kleon (Cleon) and the Spartan Brasides have been killed in the war because they were the best pestles he had.

The goddess Eirene (Peace) has been buried in a pit and Trygaios urges the chorus (who represent the various people of Greece) to help him dig her out; the city-folk in the chorus work at cross purposes but the country-folk work together and free Eirene from captivity; there follows a very interesting and highly symbolic scene where Eirene will not speak directly to the chorus but whispers to Hermes and he relates her messages; it seems that the Greeks have called upon Eirene too often with false promises and betrayed her trust; she does not feel that they will give her true homage and therefore will not favor them with her life sustaining voice.

Trygaios persuades Eirene to allow her handmaiden to return to Athens with him so that he can show the Council that Eirene will help them if they will give up their hateful ways; when Trygaios is once again on the earth’s surface he faces the audience and tells them that they looked very small and wicked when he flew above them on his dung-beetle and, now that he’s closer, they seem even more so.

A sacrifice is made to Eirene and the tradesmen start to approach Trygaios; the sickle-maker is jubilant because business is booming with the farmers working in their fields again; the craftsmen who made war implements are distraught because their products are now worthless; Trygaios suggests that shields be used as commodes and that helmets have handles attached so they can be used as wine pitchers; in the end, all seems to be as it should be with all the people of Greece reclaiming their peaceful traditions.

Aristophanes’ plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet’s words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don’t blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy; when trying to find a readable translator, I suggest Patric Dickinson; you may find his books at your local library in the 882 section but his books are out of print and sometimes difficult to find.