The Acharnians

The Acharnians
The tipsy god: sculpture by Michelangelo. The Dramatis Personae in ancient comedy depends on interpretation of textual evidence. This list is based on Alan Sommerstein's translation.
Written by	Aristophanes
Chorus	old men of Acharnae
Characters	Dikaiopolis Crier Amphitheus an immortal Ambassador lately returned from Persian court Pseudartabas The Great King's Eye Theorus ambassador to Thrace Daughter to Dikaiopolis Cephisophon Euripides' leading actor Euripides the tragic poet Lamachus the general A Megarian Two daughters to the Megarian Informer A Boeotian Nicarchus another informer A servant of Lamachus Farmer Best Man Two messengers Silent Roles Reconciliation divine woman The Executive Committee or Prytanis Scythian Policeman Second ambassador Two 'eunuchs' Odomantian soldiers Wife to Dikaiopolis Boeotian pipe band Eel Bridesmaid Two dancing girls The Archon basileus Citizens, slaves, revellers, Lamachus' friends etc.
Setting	1.Pnyx at Athens 2.Street outside the houses of Dikaiopolis, Euripides and Lamachus

Silent Roles

The Acharnians or Acharnians (Ancient Greek: Ἀχαρνεῖς Akharneîs; Attic: Ἀχαρνῆς) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BCE on behalf of the young dramatist by an associate, Callistratus, and it won first place at the Lenaia festival.

The play is notable for its absurd humour, its imaginative appeal for an end to the Peloponnesian War and for the author's spirited response to condemnations of his previous play, The Babylonians, by politicians such as Cleon, who had reviled it as a slander against the Athenian polis. In The Acharnians, Aristophanes reveals his resolve not to yield to attempts at political intimidation. Along with the other surviving plays of Aristophanes, The Acharnians is one of the few – and oldest – surviving examples of a highly satirical genre of drama known as Old Comedy.

Short summary: The protagonist, Dikaiopolis, miraculously obtains a private peace treaty with The Spartans and he enjoys the benefits of peace in spite of opposition from some of his fellow Athenians.

Detailed summary: The play begins with Dikaiopolis sitting all alone on the Pnyx (the hill where the Athenian Assembly or ecclesia regularly meets to discuss matters of state). He is middle-aged, he looks bored and frustrated and soon he begins to vent his thoughts and feelings to the audience. He reveals his weariness with the Peloponnesian War, his longing to go home to his village, his impatience with the ecclesia for its failure to start on time and his resolve to heckle speakers who won't debate an end to the war. Soon some citizens do arrive, all pushing and shoving to get the best seats, and then the day's business begins.

A series of important speakers addresses the assembly but the subject is not peace and, true to his earlier promise, Dikaiopolis comments loudly on their appearance and probable motives. First of all there is the ambassador who has returned from the Persian court after many years, complaining of the lavish hospitality he has had to endure from his Persian hosts; then there is the Persian grandee, The Eye of the Great King, Pseudartabas, sporting a gigantic eye and mumbling gibberish, accompanied by some eunuchs who turn out to be a disreputable pair of effete Athenians in disguise; next is the ambassador recently returned from Thrace, blaming the icy conditions in the north for his long stay there at the public's expense; and lastly there is the rabble of Odomantians who are presented as elite mercenaries willing to fight for Athens but who hungrily steal the protagonist's lunch. Peace is not discussed. It is in the ecclesia however that Dikaiopolis meets Amphitheus, a man who claims to be the immortal great-great-grandson of Triptolemus and Demeter and who claims moreover that he can obtain peace with the Spartans privately. Dikaiopolis accepts his claims and he pays him eight drachmas to bring him a private peace, which in fact Amphitheus manages to do.