An obscene number of individuals believe that history is only discovered through cave paintings, secret letters, and ancient artifacts. One might be surprised to discover that a historian can gather a lot of information about an ancient society from a fictional story or play. Comic plays in Greece were written solely to entertain the people, but today allow historians to see the customs of ancient Greek society. Fictional pieces allow people to see what the Greeks considered satirical and downright crazy. Aristophanes' Lysistrata is a Greek comedy about Peloponnesian women who take an oath of celibacy until their men stop fighting against each other. Although this play appears to be just another piece of Greek fiction, the way the women in the play are treated and performed can reveal to us many of the societal norms of Athenian women. The Lysistrata is comical to the Greeks because women simply had no say in wars and were certainly not intelligent enough to create a treaty or plan to end a war. The Lysistrata depicts the roles desired and assumed by Athenian women in politics, marriage, the home, and social life. In ancient Greece, women were meant to be seen and not heard; therefore, women were not expected to hold any position or express their opinions on political matters. Wives were placed under the close supervision of their husbands and no offhand comments were tolerated. A woman's most important function in life was to give birth to healthy babies, preferably boys. A Spartan or Athenian woman's role in the household was to make sure everything was in order (food was prepared, children were bathed, etc.). In the Greek comedy Lysistrata, the Athenian and Spartan women declared that they did not agree with the civil war that was taking place... middle of paper ... I immediately had my neck rightly twisted. The magistrate's previous statement obviously gives the idea that men would cringe at the idea of ​​a woman trying to take control of a situation, especially a war. Peloponnesian women were held to lower standards towards men. The Lysistrata is a comic play, but it gives its readers images of how women were treated and expected in ancient Greece. Before the 20th century, the view of women was much the same as that of the Greeks, even in what Americans call the “land of the free,” aka the United States. This may be difficult to read for a feminist person, but the way women were valued and controlled in Greece is not that surprising. The way women are treated today is still relatively new and it is often the case that women are even less valued than men and are expected to be more domesticated..