The earlier generation of dramatic poets, such as Livius Andronicus, Gnaeus Naevius and Quintus Ennius, composed both tragedies and comedies. Titus Maccius Plautus was the first poet to break with this tradition and dedicate his entire theatrical career to the composition of comedies, thus signaling his return to an older tradition of Greek playwrights who wrote either comedies or tragedies. His plays constitute the earliest extant comic literature that survives complete. Along with Terence, the other Roman comic playwright whose works have come down to us, Plautus has had the strongest influence on the development of western comedy.
There is much uncertainty surrounding Plautus’ life. He was born in about 254 BCE, in the …
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Citation: Frangoulidis, Stavros. "Titus Maccius Plautus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2006; last revised 18 November 2009. [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3581, accessed 22 November 2024.]
