CL2324 Roman Comedy
Module Organiser: Prof. Anna Chahoud
Duration of Course: One term (Jan-Apr)
Contact Hours: 19 (16 Lectures twice weekly and 3 seminars)
Weighting: 5 ECTS
Description: This course is about creative imitation and comic imagination. You will study the works of the Latin dramatists Plautus (3rd century BC) and Terence (2nd century BC), who adapted Greek plays for a Roman audience. These texts are the only example of Latin poetry surviving in complete form from the early Republican period. The lectures will give an outline of themes, characters and techniques, examine the relation between Roman drama and Greek New Comedy, and place the works of Plautus and Terence against the background of a Rome increasingly Hellenised, cosmopolitan, and imperialist.