These pictures took a significant departure from their original inspiration, the Classical comedy by Aristophanes, “Lysistrata.” In the ancient play: the women of Athens conspire to withhold sex from the men in order to end the Peloponnesian War. Conversely, these pictures take a more realistic, and tragic, point of view. They describe the violence and destruction these women endured in the midst of a war that shook the whole Peloponnese, collapsing institutions and a society in chaos. These images are not an illustration of any real or plausible situation but are classicized expression of a moment before imminent death. To have seen this image is to have already died a serene death, and to have lived like an ancient oneself. ■