Mostellaria is a Roman comedy by Plautus. Although there is uncertainty about the date of performance and its Greek original, it has been suggested that the play was staged after 193 B.C. and may be based on the non-extant New Comedy Phasma (Ghost) by Philemon.
Mostellaria is a typical Roman comedy in many ways. It includes stock characters, like two old men, two young men, two courtesans having an affair with the youths, a scheming slave, a procuress, a money-lender, etc. The plot is once again about a “blocking character”, an old father, who opposes his son's love affair and whom the cunning slave befools into accepting his son's way of life. The title of the comedy (“little ghost”) refers …
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Citation: Philippides, Katerina. "Mostellaria". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 April 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21412, accessed 22 November 2024.]
