Satirical comedy written in 421 B.C.E. by Aristophanes, the Greek playwright. One of his latter works, not especially well-known, but deserving of a closer look. Also sometimes referred to as Eirene.

The text of the play can be found here.

Written after Athens and Sparta had been at war for many years, the Peace of Aristophanes focuses on Trygaeus, a farmer, who flies to Olympus on the back of a dung-beetle to find out what has happened to the goddess Peace. He helps rescue her from a pit in which War has imprisoned her, and the play concludes with a feast demonstrating the joys of peace.

As with most plays of Aristophanes, the dialogue is filled with sexual and scatalogical puns and wordplay, which are often obscured in some of the more squeamish translations made in late Victorian and Edwardian times. Such translations, unfortunately, form the bulk of what is available in the public domain and in many prudish public libraries, at least in the USA. For a clear (and funny) translation of most classical Greek drama it is usually best to look for more recent translations, unless you can read the plays in their Classical Greek originals.

A public domain translation by an unknown translator, adapted from Project Gutenberg sources appears elsewhere on E2. Text of The Peace of Aristophanes