-
Period: 509 BCE to 27 BCE
Roman Republic
It began with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom and with the establishment of the Roman Empire, Rome's control rapidly expanded during this period. The historical context within which Plautus wrote can be seen, to some extent, in his comments on events and persons. Plautus was a popular comedic playwright while Roman theatre was still in its infancy and still largely undeveloped. At the same time, the Roman Republic was expanding in power and influence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus. -
386 BCE
Aristophanes
He was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it. The Greek Aristophanic and the Roman comedies of Plautus share many important similarities to Faust, most importantly in the field of dramatic irony and dramatic self-consciousness.
http://www.nthuleen.com/papers/177paper.html -
300 BCE
Diphilus
Major poet of Greek New Comedy and a significant influence on the Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence. Plautus reworked an unknown play by Diphilus for his Rudens and used Diphilus’s Men Casting Lots for his Casina and Diphilus’s Men Dying Together for his lost Commorientes.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Diphilus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Dec. 2011, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diphilus. Accessed 16 June 2022. -
290 BCE
Menander
Menander was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His record at the City Dionysia is unknown. The Bacchides and Stichus of Plautus were probably based upon Menander's The Double Deceiver and Brotherly-Loving Men. Menander died around 290 BC at the age of 50 or 52.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menander -
Period: 264 BCE to 146 BCE
Punic Wars
Punic Wars, also called Carthaginian Wars, was a series of three wars between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian (Punic) empire, resulting in the destruction of Carthage, and the enslavement of its population.
Reference: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Punic Wars". Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Dec. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/event/Punic-Wars. Accessed 16 June 2022. -
254 BCE
Birth
Titus Maccius Plautus, better known simply as Plautus (actually a nickname meaning 'flatfoot'), was born in Sarsina, Umbria [Italy].
Reference: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Diphilus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Dec. 2011, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diphilus. Accessed 16 June 2022. -
Period: 254 BCE to 216 BCE
Early life
Plautus earned money by working in the theater but promptly lost it in trade. Plautus earned money by theatrical work which means that he was a stagehand, carpenter, playwright, or actor. His mastery of stagecraft and comic effect suggests long experience as an actor prior to writing plays. He returned to Rome penniless and for a time supported himself by working as a laborer in a flour mill.
https://biography.yourdictionary.com/plautus -
Period: 218 BCE to 201 BCE
Second Punic War
Its central event was Hannibal's invasion of Italy.
This event could have made it into one of his plays. One good example is a piece of verse from the Miles Gloriosus. The passage seems intended to rile up the audience, beginning with hostis tibi adesse, or "the foe is near at hand".
Reference: “Plautus.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Mar. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus. -
211 BCE
Rudens
Rudens is a play by Plautus. Its name translates from Latin as 'The Rope'. It is a comedy, which describes how a girl, Palaestra, stolen from her parents by pirates, is reunited with her father, Daemones. The story is more complex, humour is derived from interactions between slaves and masters, and the changes in friendships throughout. The play is set in northern Africa, although the characters come from a range of cities around the Mediterranean. Reference:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudens -
205 BCE
Miles Gloriosus
Miles Gloriosus, also called Braggart Warrior, is a comedy by the Roman playwright Plautus. Plautus’ play is a complicated farce in which a vain, lustful, and stupid soldier, Pyrgopolynices, is duped by his clever slave.
Reference: Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Miles Gloriosus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Jul. 1998, https://www.britannica.com/art/Miles-Gloriosus. Accessed 16 June 2022. -
203 BCE
Roman Society Deities
Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public mockery of the gods. Any character in his plays could be compared to a god. These references to the gods include a character comparing a mortal woman to a god, or saying he would rather be loved by a woman than by the gods. Pyrgopolynices from Miles Gloriosus, in bragging about his long life, says he was born one day later than Jupiter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus -
201 BCE
Cistellaria
A man from Lemnos raped a girl from Sicyon; he returned to his own country, married, and had a daughter. The girl from Sicyon gave birth to a girl. A slave took the daughter and abandoned her. A prostitute picked her up and took her to another prostitute. The man returned from Lemnos and married the woman he had raped; he betroths his daughter. In the course of his search the slave finds the girl he had exposed. And so, they reunite with the lost daughter.
https://www.loebclassics.com/ -
200 BCE
Stichus
In Athens, two daughters are married to two brothers. By the start of the play the brothers have been away for three years. As they don't know about their husbands', the women are told to remarry, but they refuse. A slave tells one of the daughters that her husband has returned. After they arrive at home, the father requests the gift of a female slave. The slave Stichus is granted some wine and a day off. He and his friend celebrate with their mistress.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stichus -
Period: 200 BCE to 196 BCE
The Second Macedonian War
The Second Macedonian War, was the first war in which the Roman Republic made a major military effort in Greece, and it marked an end to the power of Macedonia. Rome and Macedonia had fought before.
Reference: Rickard, J (6 November 2008), Second Macedonian War, 200-196 BC , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_second_macedonian.html -
195 BCE
Poenulus
Poenulus, also called The Little Carthaginian or The Little Punic, is written between 195 and 189. Tells the tale of a young Carthaginian,
the adopted son and heir of the man who purchased him as a slave when he was a child. He is in love with a female Carthaginian slave and prostitute. The comedy, especially Plautus’ portrayal of his main character, compels the reader to consider Rome’s relationship with Carthage, its former enemy.
https://www.press.umich.edu/8225179/plautus_poenulus -
193 BCE
Epidicus
Epidicus is said to be one of Plautus's favorite works. Epidicus is the name of the main character, who is a slave. The plot takes many turns as Epidicus tries to please his master's son. The main plot was based upon a Greek play. However, the storyline was changed in order to prevent a brother from marrying his half-sister. The Romans considered this incest, which deeply disturbed them; the Greeks, however, were not bothered by this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidicus -
191 BCE
Pseudolos
It is one of the earliest examples of Roman literature. The play begins with the shortest prologue of any of the known plays of Plautus. Pseudolus was first shown during the Megalesian Festival, which was a celebration for the Greek Goddess Cybele. It is about a slave named Pseudolos that is trying to help his masters son buy the prostitute he is in love with. They go on an adventure trying to get enough money to buy her.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudolus -
185 BCE
Bacchides
Bacchides is a Latin play. The plot revolves around the misunderstandings surrounding two sisters, each called Bacchis, who work in a local house of ill-repute. It includes Plautus' frequent theme of clever servants outwitting their supposed superiors. The play was likely an adaptation of the play Dis Exapaton, meaning Twice Deceiving but more commonly known as The Double Deceiver, by the Greek New Comedy playwright Menander.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus -
184 BCE
Casina
The plot revolves about a beautiful girl, Casina, who is being fought over by two men. Many of the characters in Casina are stock characters of Greek and Roman comedy, such as the old man chasing after the young slave woman.
Reference: “Casina (Play).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Mar. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casina_(play). -
184 BCE
Death
Plautus died at the age of 70. No one knows exactly how Plautus died. From Cicero the date of Plautus's death can be placed about 184 B.C. Cicero was a a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic.
Reference: “Plautus.” Biography, https://biography.yourdictionary.com/plautus. -
183 BCE
Influence
After his death he continued to influence many playwrights including Shakespeare. For example, Shakespeare uses the same kind of opening monologue so common in Plautus's plays. He also influenced the early renaissance. The influence of Plautus's plays was felt in the early 16th century. Limited records suggest that the first known university production of Plautus in England was of Miles Gloriosus at Oxford in 1522–3.
Reference: “Plautus.” Biography, https://biography.yourdictionary.com/plautus. -
55 BCE
First theater in Rome
In Rome during the time of the Republic, when Plautus wrote his plays, while there was public support for theater and people came to enjoy tragedy and comedy alike, no permanent theater existed in Rome until Pompey dedicated one in 55 BC in the Campus Martius.
Reference: “Plautus.” Biography, https://biography.yourdictionary.com/plautus.