Thesmophoriazousae
Thesmophoriazousae - translated as "Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria" - is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC. In the fantasy, the character of Euripides learns that the women of Athens are secretly holding a trial of sorts to decide his fate. The female population is up in arms over the playwright's continual portrayal of women as mad, murderous, erotomaniac and suicidal (even as his most sympathetic protagonists), and they are using the festival of Thesmophoria, an annual fertility celebration dedicated to Demeter, as a cover for their plot to hold Euripides accountable for his slanderous words. Euripides, panicked by this turn of events, sends his aged relative Mnesilochus into the debate, dressed as a woman, to get information and to advocate on his behalf. But the female jury quickly discovers the spy and his identity, and in the end, Euripides himself, dressed up as the legendary hero Perseus, must intervene to save his kinsman, swooping into the scene on a device used frequently by Greek playwrights to allow for a deus ex machina plot twist. Euripides finally promises to stop giving the women of Athens a bad name in his writing, saving himself and Mnesilochus from the wrath of the female population, and the comedy ends happily.
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