How Thesmophoriazusae fared in the City Dionysia drama competition is unknown, but the play has been considered one of Aristophanes' most brilliant parodies of Athenian society.

The women are incensed by his plays' portrayal of the female sex as mad, murderous, and sexually depraved, and they are using the festival of the Thesmophoria (an annual fertility celebration dedicated to Demeter) as an opportunity to debate a suitable choice of revenge.

Fearful of their powers, Euripides seeks out a fellow tragedian, Agathon, in the hope of persuading him to spy for him and to be his advocate at the festival – a role that would require him to go disguised as a woman.

Agathon is already dressed as a woman, in preparation for a play, but he believes that the women of Athens are jealous of him and he refuses to attend the festival for fear of being discovered.

There, the women are discovered behaving like citizens of a democracy, conducting an assembly much as men do, with appointed officials and carefully maintained records and procedures.

He recites in excruciating detail his own (imaginary) sins as a married woman, including a sexual escapade with a boyfriend in a tryst involving a laurel tree and a statue of Apollo.

The tragic poet then decides to appear as himself and in this capacity he quickly negotiates a peace with the Chorus of women, securing their co-operation with a promise not to insult them in his future plays.

Disguised finally as an old lady and attended by a dancing girl and flute player, Euripides distracts the Scythian archer long enough to set Mnesilochus free.

Significant dates and events that might have impacted on the writing of 'Thesmophoriazusae' (411 BC) would include: Literary traditions and fashions, and the poets identified with them, are subject to comment and parody in all of Aristophanes' plays.

[12] However, tragic and comic poets in classical Athens reinforced sexual stereotyping even when they seemed to demonstrate empathy with the female condition, and women typically were considered to be irrational creatures in need of protection from themselves and from others.

[14] The loss of the shield is expressed by the Chorus metaphorically and contemptuously as 'the parasol is thrown away' (erriptai to skiadeion), a reference to the word 'rhipsaspis' (shield-thrower), a derogatory term whose use was considered in Athens to be actionable slander.