Menander

342 b.c.e.–c. 292 b.c.e.

Comic playwright

The Master of New Comedy.

Menander was born in 342 b.c.e., a native Athenian who may have had family connections to the Greek theater of which he became such an integral part. Some sources relay that he was the nephew of the well-known Middle Comedy playwright Alexis, none of whose works survive. Ancient references also tell that Menander studied with the philosopher Theophrastus, Aristotle's successor as the head of the Peripatetic school of philosophy at Athens. He served in the military with Epicurus, another philosopher whose doctrine, Epicureanism, involved the pursuit of wisdom and happiness by relying on human perception rather than religious belief. These associations may account for much of the philosophical content of Menander's plays. Nearly 100 titles of plays are attributed to Menander, but very little of his writing survives today. Most of the manuscripts of his plays were lost during the seventh and eighth centuries c.e. because the Byzantines thought their style of Greek was substandard compared to that of the fifth-century b.c.e. dramatists. Fortunately, several substantial portions, including a few plays more or less in their entirety, were discovered during twentieth century c.e. excavations in Egypt. More of Menander's works may have survived because he was a master of the genre of New Comedy: his plots, which focused on family life and its daily complications, displayed gentle comic flare, timeless social commentary, and impeccable timing. The plays had such widespread appeal, in fact, that the Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence frequently "borrowed" from him in creating their own comedies.

Works.

A nearly complete manuscript of The Grouch exists, which was first performed in 317 b.c.e. and won first prize at the City Dionysia in Athens. Large portions and fragments of varying size and quality have survived as well. The Grouch, which in many ways seems to be a typical New Comedy, features a misanthropic old man named Knemon who, after his wife leaves him, withdraws with his daughter to an isolated farm outside Athens. The god Pan announces that he wants to help Knemon's daughter by setting up a marriage between her and Sostratos, the son of a wealthy farmer. After a series of comic mix-ups and mishaps that focus on the lovestruck Sostratos' attempts to prove himself worthy to the crabby Knemon, Knemon realizes the benefits of living in society, accepts Sostratos as his son-in-law, and reunites with his wife. Although Menander and his colleagues had a political agenda invested in the laws of Athens, it was much less obvious than their predecessors. Their plays are far less topical and specific to Athens than those of their predecessors in Old and Middle Comedy. Menander in particular seems to have been especially sensitive to widespread social problems and family issues like rape, illegitimate children, citizenship and marriage, prejudice, and intolerance. Menander was an especially adroit playwright, who was aware of dramatic nuance and who used the genre and versification of New Comedy to explore human psychology, political concerns, and societal dilemmas. The Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence openly acknowledged their debt to Menander and other Greek New Comic playwrights in the prologues and plots of their "adapted" plays. Menander drowned while he was swimming in the Piraeus, Athens' harbor, around 292 b.c.e.

sources

Sander M. Goldberg, The Making of Menander's Comedy (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1980).

A. W. Gomme and F. H. Sandbach, Menander: A Commentary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973).

Susan Lape, Reproducing Athens: Menander's Comedy, Democratic Culture, and the Hellenistic City (Princeton, N.J.; Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004).

Netta Zagagi, The Comedy of Menander: Convention, Variation, and Originality (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1995).