Menander in Antiquity: The Contexts of ReceptionThe comic playwright Menander was one of the most popular writers throughout antiquity. This book reconstructs his life and the legacy of his work until the end of antiquity employing a broad range of sources such as portraits, illustrations of his plays, papyri preserving their texts and inscriptions recording their public performances. These are placed within the context of the three social and cultural institutions which appropriated his comedy, thereby ensuring its survival: public theatres, dinner parties and schools. Dr Nervegna carefully reconstructs how each context approached Menander's drama and how it contributed to its popularity over the centuries. The resultant, highly illustrated, book will be essential for all scholars and students not just of Menander's comedy but, more broadly, of the history and iconography of the ancient theatre, ancient social history and reception studies. |
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actors Aeschylus ancient andthe anthologies Antiphanes antiquity Aristophanes Aristophanes of Byzantium Arnott Athenaeus Athenian Athens audiences authors century BC centuryAD centuryBC characters codex Cratinus Cribiore Csapo dated tothe declamations Demetrius Dio Chrysostom Dionysia Dionysus Diphilus discusses Dyskolos EarlyHellenistic entertainment Epitrepontes Eupolis Euripides excerpts festival fifth century Figure Fittschen 1991 fourth century fragment fragmentary fromthe Greek Hellenistic illustrations inscription inthe komoidoi later LDAB literary maxims Menander Menander portraits Menander’s Menander’s comedies Menander’s plays mimes Misoumenos mosaic Mytilene ofthe Old Comedy onthe P.Oxy papyrus papyrus roll Perikeiromene Philemon Phrynichus Plautus playwrights Plokion Plut Plutarch Pompeii Posidippus preserved probably Progymnasmata prologue Quint Quintilian record reproducing Revermann rhetorical Roman Rome Samia scene second century seealso Sikyonioi slave speech stage Synaristosai Terence Terence’s texts theatre theatrical Theophoroumene third century tradition tragedy tragic tragoidoi TrGF villa withthe κα τ ν