Titus Maccius Plautus, Pseudolus

David M. Christenson (University of Arizona)

Ed. by William John Dominik, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication -191

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Comedy
Play

Resources

Plautus' Pseudolus debuted in Rome at the festival of the Magna Mater or “Great Mother”, i.e. the goddess Cybele, in April of 191 BCE. It thus falls relatively late in Plautus' career, and since antiquity has been one of his most admired comedies. Pseudolus is also one of Plautus' most self-consciously theatrical or “metatheatrical” productions.

Its plot is an extremely common one in Plautus and New Comedy in general. Calidorus, a lovesick and impoverished young man faces the loss of his beloved (Phoenicium), as her pimp is about to sell her to a soldier. The play opens with Calidorus' melodramatic plea for assistance to his family's clever slave Pseudolus (his name means “Liar”). By the end of …

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1210 words

Citation: Christenson, David M.. "Pseudolus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 April 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21417, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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