List of extant ancient Greek and Roman plays

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While most ancient Greek and Roman plays have been lost to history, a significant number still survive. These include the comedies of Aristophanes and Menander, the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the Roman adaptations of Plautus, Terence and Seneca.

In total, there are eighty-three mostly extant plays, forty-six from ancient Greece and thirty-seven from ancient Rome. Furthermore, there are eight lost plays with extensive surviving fragments, as well as thirteen mimes. They range from the 472 BC tragedy The Persians, written by the Greek playwright Aeschylus, to Querolus, an anonymous Roman comedy from late antiquity.

Comedies

Aristophanes
Menander

Ancient Greek comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old, Middle and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives through the eleven extant plays of Aristophanes and New Comedy through two mostly extant works of Menander. While Old Comedy parodied contemporary Athenian politics, leaders, and institutions, New Comedy features average citizens and parodies the cultural practices of the time. Middle Comedy is largely lost, preserved only in short fragments.[1][2][3][4]

Aristophanes

Menander

Extensive fragments exist for another five plays: Aspis, Epitrepontes, Misoumenos, Perikeiromene and Sikyonioi.

Tragedies

Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides

Ancient Greek tragedies were most often based upon myths from the oral traditions, exploring human nature, fate, and the intervention of the gods. They evoke catharsis in the audience, a process through which the audience experiences pity and fear, and through that emotional engagement, purges these emotions. Greek tragedy survives through the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.[5][6][7][8][9]

Aeschylus

Sophocles

Euripides

Extensive fragments exist for another play: Hypsipyle.

Other

  • Prometheus Bound (479–424 BC) (attributed to Aeschylus, true author unknown)
  • Rhesus (450–440 BC) (attributed to Euripides, true author unknown)

Satyr plays

Satyr plays feature mythological-heroic stories in a style of language similar to that of the tragedies, while sharing with comedy plots, titles, themes, characters, and happy endings. They feature a chorus of satyrs, with costumes that focus on the phallus, and use wordplay and sexual innuendos that do not occur in tragedy. The vast majority of satyr plays have been entirely lost: only one, by Euripides, survives complete.[10][11][12]

Sophocles

No satyr play by Sophocles survives complete. Extensive fragments exist for one: Ichneutae.

Euripides

Mimes

Theocritus

Mimes were a popular, informal type of entertainment in which a small group of actors portrayed a short situation from everyday life in the lower levels of society, in a humorous or farcical manner. It concentrated on depiction of character and physical humor instead of plot, and use of sexual innuendos and obscene jokes were frequent. There are eight surviving mimes attributed to Herodas, and three of Theocritus' idylls have been described as "urban mimes", although more of his work seems influenced by this literary genre.[13][14][15][16][17]

Theocritus

Herodas

Other

  • Charition (2nd century) (based on Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides, author unknown)
  • Moicheutria (2nd century) (author unknown)

Hellenistic Jewish

Drawing on the conventions established by the classical tragedians, Hellenistic Jews adapted sacred narratives to fit the structure of the Greek tragedy. A single example of this practice survives incomplete.[18]

Ezekiel the Tragedian

Roman

See also

References

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