Aristophanes
Peace (first version, 421 BC) just a few days before the end of the ten year old Peloponnesian War. The play is notable for its celebration of a return to life in the countryside. But 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, even though he had died in battle just a few months earlier.