Plautus

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Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC – 184 BC, born at Sarsina, Roman Umbria, today in Romagna, near Forlì) was a comic playwright in the time of the Roman Republic. The years of his life are uncertain. His plays were first produced between about 205 BC and 184 BC. He wrote approximately 130 plays, of which 21 survive.

Plautus' comedies, which are among the earliest surviving intact works in the Latin literature, are mostly adaptations of Greek models for a Roman audience. Most of Plautus' plays are based on the works of the Greek playwright Menander. Plautus' most typical character is the clever slave, who manipulates his master, reversing the master-slave dynamic expected of such relationships in the Roman world. Most characters in Plautus' plays are stock characters, such as Senex (the old man).

Plautus' work gave ideas to many playwrights afterwards, such as William Shakespeare, Molière, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and others. His comedies Miles Gloriosus and Pseudolus were also the basis for the 1962 musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

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