SOURCE: MacDowell, Douglas M. “Akharnians.” In Aristophanes and Athens: An Introduction to the Plays, 46-79. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

In the following essay, MacDowell examines Dikaiopolis's use of the Euripidean hero and his trappings in order to promote his speech urging peace with Sparta.

The Effects of War

Akharnians was performed at the Lenaia in 425 bc, and won the first prize. It is a play about war and peace. The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta was already in its sixth year and there was no prospect of an early end to it. The chief character of the play, Dikaiopolis, hates the war, but he fails to persuade the other Athenians to consider how peace can be made. He therefore, by fantastic means, makes a separate peace treaty for himself and his family, to the horror of the warlike old men of Akharnai who form the chorus...