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Menander
Menander (; ; c. 342/341 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek scriptwriter and the best-known representative of Athenian Ancient Greek comedy, New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His record at the City Dionysia is unknown. He was one of the most popular writers and most highly admired poets in antiquity, but his work was considered lost before the early Middle Ages. It now survives only in Latin-language adaptations by Terence and Plautus and, in the original Greek, in highly fragmentary form, most of which were discovered on papyrus in Egyptian tombs during the early to mid-20th-century. In the 1950s, to the great excitement of Classicists, it was announced that a single play by Menander, ''Dyskolos'', had finally been rediscovered in the Bodmer Papyri intact enough to be performed. Life and work Menander was the son of well-to-do parents; his father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian general and governor of the Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dyskolos
''Dyskolos'' (, , translated as ''The Grouch'', ''The Misanthrope'', ''The Curmudgeon'', ''The Bad-tempered Man'' or ''Old Cantankerous'') is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, the only one of his plays, and of the whole New Comedy, that has survived in nearly complete form. It was first presented at the Lenaian festival in Athens in 316 BC, where it won Menander the first prize. It was long known only through fragmentary quotations; but a papyrus manuscript of the nearly complete ''Dyskolos, ''dating to the 3rd century, was recovered in Egypt in 1952 and forms part of the Bodmer Papyri and Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The play was published in 1958 by Victor Martin. The story of the play concerns a rich young nobleman, Sostratos, who falls in love at first sight with a village peasant girl and decides to marry her. Unfortunately, her father, Knemon, is reclusive, notoriously bad-tempered, and next to impossible to approach. Eventually, after winning over Knemon's stepson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andronicus, the innovator of Latin literature. The word Plautine () refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his. Biography Not much is known about Titus Maccius Plautus's early life. It is believed that he was born in Sarsina, a small town in Emilia Romagna in northern Italy, around 254 BC.''The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'' (1996) Ed. M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers, Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference Online According to Morris Marples, Plautus worked as a stage-carpenter or scene-shifter in his early years. It is from this work, perhaps, that his love of the theater originated. His acting talent was eventually discovered; and he adopted the nomen "Maccius" (from Maccus, a clownis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samia (play)
''Samia'' (), translated as ''The Girl From Samos'', or ''The Marriage Connection'', is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, who lived from - 290 BC. It is the dramatist's second most extant play with up to 116 lines missing compared to ''Dyskolos''’s 39. The date of its first performance is unknown, with 315 BC and 309 BC being two suggested dates. The surviving text of ''Samia'' comes from the Cairo Codex found in 1907 and the Bodmer Papyri from 1952. Plot ''Samia'' takes place in a street in Athens, outside the houses of Demeas, a wealthy bachelor, and Nikeratos, his less wealthy business partner. Prior to the events in the play Demeas had taken in a Samian girl, Chrysis, as his mistress despite misgivings. Chrysis becomes pregnant and was under orders from Demeas to dispose of the illegitimate child. At the same time Moschion, the adopted son of Demeas, seduced the daughter of Nikeratos, Plangon, and she too is pregnant. Both babies are born around the same time. Unfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Greek Comedy
Ancient Greek comedy () was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece; the others being tragedy and the satyr play. Greek comedy was distinguished from tragedy by its happy endings and use of comically exaggerated character archetypes, the latter feature being the origin of the modern concept of the comedy. Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods; Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the eleven extant plays of Aristophanes; Middle Comedy is largely lost and preserved only in relatively short fragments by authors such as Athenaeus of Naucratis; New Comedy is known primarily from the substantial papyrus fragments of Menander. A burlesque dramatic form that blended tragic and comic elements, known as phlyax play or hilarotragedy, developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia by the late 4th century BC. The philosopher Aristotle wrote in his '' Poetics'' (c. 335 BC) that comedy is a representation of l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. All six of Terence's plays survive complete and were originally produced between 166–160 BC. According to ancient authors, Terence was born in Carthage and was brought to Rome as a slave, where he gained an education and his freedom; around the age of 25, Terence is said to have made a voyage to the east in search of inspiration for his plays, where he died either of disease in Greece, or by shipwreck on the return voyage. However, Terence's traditional biography is often thought to consist of speculation by ancient scholars who lived too long after Terence to have access to reliable facts about his life. Terence's plays quickly became standard school texts. He ultimately secured a place as one of the four authors taught to all grammar p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycera (courtesan)
Glycera () (the sweet one) was a popular name often used for Hellenistic '' hetaerae'', held by: #The daughter of Thalassis and the mistress of Harpalus and Menander. (Athen. xiii. pp. 586, 595, 605, &c.) #The mistress of Pausias, born in Sicyon. #A favourite of Horace(?). (Hor. Carm. i. 19. 30. iii. 19.29.) #Nominally, Alcibiades's sexual partner in Caracci's engravings for ''I Modi''. Harpalus's mistress Originating from Athens in the second half of the 4th century BC. After the death of his previous mistress Pythionice (between 329 BC and 324 BC), Harpalus obtained Glycera using funds derived from his office. In return for her Harpalus sent grain to Athens and guaranteed their citizenship rights. She accompanied Harpalus in his escape from India with Alexander, and later returned to Athens, where she allegedly became the love of the poet Menander. Fictional One of the images of sexual positions in Agostino Carracci's engravings for ''I Modi'' is entitled 'Alcibiad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bodmer Papyri
The Dishna Papers, also often known as the Bodmer Papyri, are a group of twenty-two papyri discovered in Dishna, Egypt in 1952. Later, they were purchased by Martin Bodmer and deposited at the Bodmer Library in Switzerland. The papyri contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, Homer, and Menander. The oldest, P66 dates to . Most of the papyri are kept at the Bodmer Library, in Cologny, Switzerland outside Geneva. In 2007, the Vatican Library acquired Bodmer Papyrus 14–15 (known as P75 and as the Mater Verbi ( Hanna)) Papyrus. Since the papers are held not only at the Bodmer Library, but also at the Vatican, Oslo, Barcelona, and other locations, many scholars have preferred the term ''Dishna Papers'' since the mid-2010s.Lundhaug, Hugo. ‘The Dishna Papers and the Nag Hammadi Codices: The Remains of a Single Monastic Library?’, in ''The Nag Hammadi Library and Late Antique Egypt'', ed. Hugo Lundhaug and Lance Jenott. Tübingen: Moh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kifisia
Kifisia or Kifissia (also Kephisia or Cephissia; , ) is a municipality and one of the most affluent northern suburbs in the Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration, Attica, Greece, mainly accessed via Kifissias Avenue, running all the way from central Athens up to Theseos Avenue in the suburb of Nea Erythraia. It has traditionally been home to rich Greek families and major List of political families in Greece, Greek political families. Municipality The municipality Kifisia was formed during the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 3 former municipalities, that became municipal units: *Ekali *Kifisia *Nea Erythraia The municipality has an area of 35.100 km2, the municipal unit 25.937 km2. Geography Kifisia is situated in central Attica, at the western end of the forested Mount Pentelicus, Penteli mountain range. The small river Cephissus (Athenian plain), Kifisos forms the western border of the municipality. Kifisia is situated 12 km n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demetrius Phalereus
Demetrius of Phalerum (also Demetrius of Phaleron or Demetrius Phalereus; ; c. 350 – c. 280 BC) was an Athenian orator originally from Phalerum, an ancient port of Athens. A student of Theophrastus, and perhaps of Aristotle, he was one of the first members of the Peripatetic school of philosophy. Demetrius had been a distinguished statesman who was appointed by Cassander, the King of Macedon, to govern Athens, where Demetrius ruled as sole ruler for ten years. During this time, he introduced important reforms of the legal system, while also maintaining pro-Cassander oligarchic rule. Demetrius was exiled by his enemies in 307 BC. He first went to Thebes, and then, after 297 BC, went to the court of Alexandria. He wrote extensively on the subjects of history, rhetoric, and literary criticism. He is not to be confused with his grandson, also called Demetrius of Phaleron, who probably served as regent of Athens between 262 and 255, on behalf of the Macedonian King Antigonos Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexis (poet)
Alexis (; 350s288 BC) was a Greek comic poet of the Ancient Greek comedy, Middle Comedy period. He was born in Thurii (in present-day Calabria, Italy) in Magna Graecia and taken early to Athens, where he became a citizen, being enrolled in the deme ''Oion'' () and the tribe Leontides. It is thought he lived to the age of 106 and died on the stage while being crowned. According to the ''Suda'', a 10th-century encyclopedia, Alexis was the paternal uncle of the dramatist Menander and wrote 245 comedies, of which only fragments now survive, including some 130 preserved titles. Life He appears to have been rather addicted to the pleasures of the table, according to Athenaeus. He had a son named Stephanus (Στέφανος) who was also a comic poet. He won his first Lenaean victory in the 350s BC, most likely, where he was sixth after Eubulus (poet), Eubulus, and fourth after Antiphanes (comic poet), Antiphanes. While being a Middle Comic poet, Alexis was contemporary with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philemon (poet)
Philemon (; c. 362 BC – c. 262 BC) was an Athenian poet and playwright of the New Comedy. He was born either at Soli in Cilicia or at Syracuse in Sicily but moved to Athens some time before 330 BC, when he is known to have been producing plays. Except for a short sojourn in Egypt with Ptolemy II Philadelphus, he passed his life at Athens. He later than died, nearly a hundred years old, but with mental vigour unimpaired, about the year 262 BC, according to the story, at the moment of his being crowned on the stage. He attained remarkable popularity, for he repeatedly won victories over his younger contemporary and rival Menander, whose delicate wit was apparently less to the taste of the Athenians of the time than Philemon's comedy. A statue of him was built centuries later, in the 2nd century AD. However, later generations preferred the refined style of Menander, and only stray fragments survive today. No manuscripts of his work have been located. Surviving titles and fragment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diopeithes
Diopeithes (Greek: Διοπείθης; lived during the 4th century BC) was an Athenian general, probably father of the poet Menander, who was sent out to the Thracian Chersonese about 343 BC, at the head of a body of Athenian settlers or cleruchs. Disputes having arisen about their boundaries between these settlers and the Cardians, the latter were supported, but not with arms in the first instance, by king Philip II of Macedon (359–336 BC), who, when the Athenians remonstrated, proposed that their quarrel with Cardia should be referred to arbitration. This proposal being indignantly rejected, Philip sent troops to the assistance of the Cardians, and Diopeithes retaliated by ravaging the maritime district of Thrace, which was subject to the Macedonians, while Philip was absent in the interior of the same country on his expedition against Teres and Cersobleptes. Philip sent a letter of remonstrance to Athens, and Diopeithes was arraigned by the Macedonian party, not only for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
