https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/641 Entrées d’index fr 0 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/735 This essay provides a reassessment of the view that the young wives of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata are modeled on hetaeras. It begins by examining a parallel debate in contemporary Attic red-figure vase paintings of women at home to show that displays of female sexuality are not incompatible with marriageable maidens and free citizen wives. Aristophanes similarly situates his female characters within a domestic context as the site of sexual and social legitimacy. A detailed analysis of clothing, footwear and grooming practices deployed in the sex strike demonstrates that they represent the standard accoutrements of housewives rather than of hetaeras. Their domesticated eroticism, while enabling the male spectators a voyeuristic glimpse of other men’s wives, reinforces their procreative function as mothers and producers of future Athenian citizens. The importance of sexual desire within marriage for the production of legitimate offspring is dramatically reinforced by the onstage presence of the boy child in the thwarted sexual encounter of Myrrhine and Cinesias. Aristophanes’ Lysistrata fits with a pattern of heightened interest in women and domestic ideology at the end of the fifth century BCE. The centrality of marriage in the play may represent a response to the erosion of Pericles' citizenship law in response to the depletion of Athenian men in the waning years of the Peloponnesian war. mar., 14 juin 2022 09:11:54 +0200 mer., 18 oct. 2023 11:45:15 +0200 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/735 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/636 This essay argues that character development and self-understanding in Menander’s recognition plots are reserved for men characters: women characters show resolve, but do not develop. Menander’s recognition plot is thus gendered – most observably in Sikyonioi, the only play to show recognitions of an unrelated man and woman in the same play. In this play, a young woman, Philoumene (kidnapped at an early age), finds her father, while a mercenary soldier, Stratophanes, also discovers his true natal family and new role as an Athenian citizen; they marry, and Stratophanes’ brother Moschion loses out. Philoumene protects her respectability, but is otherwise passive and never gains control over her own body. Once recognized by her father, she is engaged to Stratophanes, and her adventure ends. Stratophanes, by contrast, must overcome threats to his finances, identity, and love affair, developing into a responsible citizen. For him, the recognition plot is an adventure that does not end when he finds his parents. Sikyonioi also demonstrates that not everyone wins in the recognition plot: Moschion loses sexual object, sense of self, and status a sole heir. He is forced to develop through the limitations on his privilege. Moreover, the erotic competition highlights the passivity of Philoumene, who is not active participant in a love triangle, but prize. Because Sikyonioi highlights both gender disparity in the recognition plot and the positive and negative repercussions of the plot for male rivals, it is a crucial locus for anyone interested in gender relations in Menander. mar., 14 juin 2022 08:59:29 +0200 jeu., 16 mars 2023 09:06:15 +0100 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/636