Soon after they locked the gates, a Chorus of Old Men arrived carrying fire-pots and heavy sticks, threatening to burn the women out of the Acropolis. As the men are lying down the logs, a Chorus of Old Women came with pitchers of water and dump it on the Chorus of Old Men after hurling nasty insults were exchanged. The magistrate arrived, criticizing the women. He then instructed the men to force open the gates. Lysistrata calls a halt to the forcing open of the gates, using common sense instead of violence. The Chorus of Old Men feared that the women had been conspiring with Sparta. The women assured them that they are loyal to Athens, just sick of the wars.
In one scene Cinesias, Myrrhine's husband, is aching for sex. When Lysistrata hears about this she reminds Myrrhine of the oath she took. So Myrrhine seduced her husband and then left him. Soon the Athenian men realized that Lampito, a Spartan women, was putting all the women in Sparta up to the same thing. .
Eventually the men were tired of being rejected and they got together with Sparta and made a truce. Lysistrata pointed out to them Sparta had helped Athens in times of need as did Athens with Sparta. She reminded them that they need to unite against one common enemy instead of being enemies against each other.
This play relates to the humanities in that it deals with the culture of Athens. It portrays to us that women were thought of as inferior in society. Men handled everything from the money to the decision of war. In Athens it was unheard of that women speak out against the men. There are many examples in this play of where the women do this. When all the women united and formed a coalition in order to stop the war they were going against the norms of Athenian society. .
"The Acharnians".
They second play, "The Acharnians"", is about an elderly Athenian, Dikaipolis, who is against the war with Sparta. He feels it is Athens's own fault that they are at war with them.