The Acharnians

The oldest surviving comedy in Western civilization is also one of the fiercest anti-war plays ever written. In 425 BC, Aristophanes staged a audacious attack on the Peloponnesian War and the Athenian politicians who prolonged it. The protagonist Dicaeopolis, a weary farmer, has had enough. While the city cheers its generals and drags out the endless conflict, he does the unthinkable: he negotiates a private peace treaty with the Spartans, securing tranquility for himself and his family. The play follows his increasingly absurd confrontations with warmongers, chorus members, and a bewildered ambassador from Persia, all while he throws open the doors to his private peace and hosts a glorious feast that stands in riotous contrast to the starving fields beyond the city walls. This is Old Comedy at its rawest: crude, propulsive, and unrepentantly political. Aristophanes had already been attacked by the powerful demagogue Cleon for slandering the state; he responded by writing something even bolder. The Acharnians remains essential because it proves comedy has always been a weapon against the machinery of war, and that one person's refusal to keep fighting can be both ridiculous and revolutionary.