Latin Comedy and Republican Theatre

Latin comedy flourished in the Roman Republic through playwrights such as Plautus and Terence. The plays adapted Greek models into fast-moving Roman stage works about slaves, fathers, young lovers, parasites, pimps, soldiers and mistaken identities.

The genre matters because it shows early Latin literature absorbing Greek forms while creating a comic language of household disorder and social mobility. It also influenced later European comedy.

Works engaging with this history include editions of Plautus and Terence and books on Roman theatre and republican literary culture.