Plautus: Comedy Tonight

Episode 33 The life and time of Plautus, the first Roman Playwright from whom we have surviving works. After a hard start he became the most popular of the Roman playwrights churning out comedy after comedy. This episode looks at his life story and playwriting career. Then there is a brief summary of his six most significant plays and a discussion of the role of the courtesan character in the plays, including how this reflects the reality of life for women and prostitutes in Roman society. A note on the lack of political commentary in the plays leads on to a look at how the prologue was used and to conclude I look at the legacy of Plautus in the way his plays have been used as source material for many later adaptations. To support the podcast please find us on: www.patreon.com www.ko-fi.com This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy