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Commedia Erudita
''Commedia erudita'' are Italian comedies written for the enjoyment of scholars in the sixteenth century. They were meant to mimic and emulate the works of Terence and Plautus. Audiences could expect plentiful use of monologues, asides, over-hearing, misunderstandings, mistaken identity, and disguise. The comedy is derived at the expense of authority figures behaving foolishly or amorous young men. The audience were also entertained by the performers that helped create the carnivalesque atmosphere. Like the Roman comedy it comes from, ''commedia erudita'' is a festive experience. It was used for weddings and welcoming celebrities visiting town. Their shows were typically only for the members of the court, but sometimes it was opened up to lesser court servants. Beginning of ''commedia erudita'' Rebirth of Plautus and Terence The development of ''commedia erudita'' was widely anticipated by writers and audiences. While there are known medieval examples of adaptations of Roman p ... [...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] |
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] |
Theatre Of Ancient Rome
The architectural form of theatre in Rome has been linked to later, more well-known examples from the 1st century BC to the 3rd Century AD. The theatre of ancient Rome referred to a period of time in which theatrical practice and performance took place in Rome. The tradition has been linked back even further to the 4th century BC, following the state’s transition from monarchy to republic. Theatre during this era is generally separated into genres of tragedy and comedy, which are represented by a particular style of architecture and stage play, and conveyed to an audience purely as a form of entertainment and control. When it came to the audience, Romans favored entertainment and performance over tragedy and drama, displaying a more modern form of theatre that is still used in contemporary times. 'Spectacle' became an essential part of an everyday Romans expectations when it came to theatre. Some works by Plautus, Terence, and Seneca the Younger that survive to this day, highlig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hrotsvitha Of Gandersheim
Hrotsvitha (–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry under the Ottonian dynasty. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female writer from the Germanosphere, the first female historian, the first person since the Fall of the Roman Empire to write dramas in the Latin West, and the first German female poet. Hrotsvitha's six short dramas are considered to be her most important works. She is one of the few women who wrote about her life during the early Middle Ages, making her one of the only people to record a history of women in that era from a woman's perspective. She has been called "the most remarkable woman of her time", and an important figure in the history of women. Little is known about Hrotsvitha's personal life. All of her writing is in Medieval Latin. Her works were rediscovered in 1501 by the humanist Conrad Celtes and translated into English in the 1600s. Hr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Of Cusa
Nicholas of Cusa (1401 – 11 August 1464), also referred to as Nicholas of Kues and Nicolaus Cusanus (), was a German Catholic bishop and polymath active as a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and astronomer. One of the first German proponents of Renaissance humanism, he made spiritual and political contributions to European culture. A notable example of this is his mystical or spiritual writings on "learned ignorance," as well as his participation in power struggles between Rome and the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. As papal legate to Germany from 1446, he was appointed cardinal for his merits by Pope Nicholas V in 1448 and Prince-Bishop of Brixen two years later. In 1459, he became vicar general in the Papal States. Nicholas has remained an influential figure. In 2001, the sixth centennial of his birth was celebrated on four continents and commemorated by publications on his life and work. Life Nicholas was born in Kues ( Latinized as "Cusa") in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Aurispa
Giovanni Aurispa Piciunerio (or Piciuneri) (June/July 1376 – c. 25 May 1459) was an Italians, Italian historian and savant of the 15th century. He is remembered in particular as a promoter of the revival of the study of Greek language, Greek in Italy. It is to Aurispa that the world is indebted for preserving the greater part of our knowledge of the Greek classics. Life Aurispa was born at Noto in Sicily in 1376. A scholarship from the King of Sicily enabled him to study at Bologna from 1404 to 1410. Soon after, in 1413-4, he went to Greece as a private tutor for the sons of a Republic of Genoa, Genoese merchant, Racanelli, and settled on the island of Chios. Here he learned Greek and began to collect books, including a Sophocles and a Euripides. He also obtained a number of Greek texts, including a work by Thucydides which he later sold to Niccolo Niccoli in 1417. He returned to Italy in 1414, setting in Savona, where he supported himself by teaching Greek and by selling the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, Latin influence in English, including English, having contributed List of Latin words with English derivatives, many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England, Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin Root (linguistics), roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names, the sciences, List of medical roots, suffixes and prefixes, medicine, and List of Latin legal terms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, and orator, and private secretary of Antipope Felix V and then the Emperor Frederick III, and then Pope Eugenius IV. He participated in the Council of Basel, but left it in 1443 to follow Frederick, whom he reconciled to the Roman obedience. He became Bishop of Trieste in 1447, Bishop of Siena in 1450, and a cardinal in 1456. He was a Renaissance humanist with an international reputation. Aeneas Silvius' longest and most enduring work is the story of his life, the ''Commentaries'', which was the first autobiography of a pope to have been published. It appeared posthumously, in 1584, 120 years after his death. Early life Aeneas was born in Corsignano in Sienese territory of a noble but impoverished family. His father Silvio was a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erotic Literature
Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (concept), eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelings. Other common elements are satire and social criticism. Much erotic literature features erotic art, illustrating the text. Although cultural disapproval of erotic literature has always existed, its circulation was not seen as a major problem before the invention of printing, as the costs of producing individual manuscripts limited distribution to a very small group of wealthy and Literacy, literate readers. The invention of printing, in the 15th century, brought with it both a greater market and increasing restrictions, including censorship and legal restraints on publication on the grounds of obscenity.Hyde (1964); pp. 1–26 Because of this, much of the production of this type of material became wiktionary:clandestin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Barzizza
Antonio BarzizzaHis first name in Latin is ''Antonius'', but his last name appears variously as ''Barzizius'', ''Barsizius'', ''Basizius'', ''Barrisius'', ''Barzraius'' and ''Buzarius''. See . (born ) was an Italian dramatist. Barzizza was born in Bergamo, but the was exiled from the city soon after. He was raised by his uncle, Gasparino Barzizza, who was a professor at the University of Bologna, where Antonio studied between 1420 and 1425. He was at the University of Pavia between 1425 and 1429. Barzizza wrote a comedy entitled ''Cauteriaria''. The date and place of its composition are debated. He may have composed it at Bologna in 1420–1425, but possibly at Pavia or even as late as 1450. The play belongs to the goliardic tradition. In his prologue, Barzizza claims to have been inspired by actual events. A young woman, Scintilla, is unhappily married to an old man, Brachus. She falls in love with a priest, Auleardus. With the help of a servant, she arranges to meet Auleardus. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuckold
A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife (or partner for unmarried companions); the wife of an adulterous husband is a cuckquean. In biology, a cuckold is a male who unwittingly invests parental effort in juveniles who are not genetically his offspring. A husband who is aware of and tolerates his wife's infidelity is sometimes called a wittol or wittold. The slang term bull refers to the dominant man who has relations with the cuckold's partner. History of the term The word ''cuckold'' derives from the cuckoo bird, alluding to its brood parasitism, or tendency to lay its eggs in the nests of other birds. The association is common in medieval folklore, literature, and iconography. English usage first appears about 1250 in the medieval debate poem '' The Owl and the Nightingale''. It was characterized as an overtly blunt term in John Lydgate's ''The Fall of Princes'', . William Shakespeare's writing often referred to cuckolds, with several of his characters suspe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
