ABSTRACT
For anybody interested in the forms of transvestism documented in Greek culture in the fifth century BCE, Thesmophoriazusae by Aristophanes represents a cornerstone, if only because as many as four male characters in this play appear on stage in female costumes. In the Athens of the fifth century BCE, the profession of actor was in fact off-limits to women and all the female characters were played by men. This underlying lack of verisimilitude, obviously upheld by theatrical convention, was exacerbated in Old Comedy on account of the grotesquely exaggerated representation of male and female features that characterised the costumes. The women's had copious padding for the stomach, buttocks and enormous breasts, while the men's had an obtrusively large leather phallus. First of all it must be observed that Aristophanes does not intend to present the character as if he were got up in a feminine tragic costume; he is simply presented as a man dressed like a woman.
