Peace (play)

Peace (play)

Peace (Greek: Εἰρήνη / Eirēnē) is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won second prize at the City Dionysia where it was staged just a few days before the ratification of the Peace of Nicias (421 BC), which promised to end the ten year old Peloponnesian War. The play is notable for its joyous anticipation of peace and for its celebration of a return to an idyllic life in the countryside. However, it also sounds a note of caution, there is bitterness in the memory of lost opportunities and the ending is not happy for everyone. As in all Aristophanes' plays, the jokes are numerous, the action is wildly absurd and the satire is savage—Cleon, the pro-war populist leader of Athens, is once again a target for the author's wit even though he had died in battle just a few months earlier.