Plautus
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He was likely born in Sarsina, a town in northern Italy, around 254 BC.[1] His works survive through two main manuscript traditions, including a 5th-century palimpsest discovered in 1815.[2]
Key facts and history
Little is known about Plautus's early life, but he is believed to have worked as a stage-carpenter or scene-shifter in his youth.[1] He adopted the nomen "Maccius" from the clownish stock character Maccus in Atellan Farce.[3] Plautus wrote during a period when Rome had no permanent theater, as the first such structure was not dedicated until 55 BC.[4] The Second Punic War (218–201 BC) forms a key historical backdrop for his plays, with some passages in Miles Gloriosus referencing the conflict.[5]
His "clever slave" character is a distinctive innovation that drives the plot and provides humor.[6] The oldest surviving manuscript of his works is the Ambrosian palimpsest, kept in Milan, which dates to the 5th century.[2] Both manuscript traditions are thought to derive from a single archetype dating to the 4th or 5th century AD.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (1996) Ed. M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers, Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference Online; Morris Marples, "Plautus," Greece & Rome 8.22 (1938), p. 1. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rolando Ferri (2020), "The Textual Tradition of Plautus" (chapter 27 of G. F. Franko and D. Dutsch (eds) A Companion to Plautus (Wiley). See especially pp. 411– (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: S. O'Bryhim. Greek and Roman Comedy (University of Texas Press, 2001), p. 149. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: S. M. Goldberg. "Plautus on the Palatine," The Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998), p. 2. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: M. Leigh. Comedy and the Rise of Rome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 24; A. F. West. "On a Patriotic Passage in the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus," The American Journal of Philology 8.1(1887), p. 18. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stace, C., "The Slaves of Plautus", Greece & Rome 15 (1968), p. 75. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Plautus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: W. M. Lindsay (1896), An Introduction to Latin Textual Emendation, intro. 4.; Rolando Ferri (2020), "The Textual Tradition of Plautus" (chapter 27 of G. F. Franko and D. Dutsch (eds) A Companion to Plautus (Wiley). See especially pp. 411– (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Plautus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Plautus (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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