In Plautus' time, the theater and comic literature were thriving in Roman society. Plays were part of what we would consider public festivals, which they called ludi, or more specifically referring to dramatic presentations, ludi scaenici (this added phrase, scaenici, refers to the ancient play's presentation before the permanent stage building or backdrop, the scaena, from which comes our drama word "scene"). Like most other Roman public ceremonies, these festivals were officially part of elaborate religious ceremonies, which naturally developed into popular, state-funded entertainment. These ludi were the centerpieces of holidays (in the technical -holy day- and everyday -vacation- senses of the word) for the population at-large. Plays were not everyday entertainment events for public consumption, like our modern conception of going to a movie or a show on any given evening. Everyone from senators and equestrians to women, freedmen, and slaves might attend these shows.

Another customary occasion on which ludi scaenici were offered was for funeral rites in honor of some prominent Roman. The family would pay for these honors to their relative, at great cost, but invite the public to attend. Terence's play, the Adelphoe, performed in 160 B.C. was just such an offering for L. Aemilius Paullus, a former consul, by his very famous son, P. Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, the hero of the Third Punic War, and a patron of the cultural arts. Military victories might also encourage a family to present games for the populace as part of the triumph proceedings.

The plays most commonly performed in Republican Rome were the farcical, low comedies known as mime, but comedies like those of Plautus and Terence (190-159 B.C.), the only two Roman comedians from whom we have complete plays today, were also quite popular, especially Plautus' rowdier, physical style of comedy. Their genre of plays is technically called fabula palliata, named for the pallium, the traditional Greek cloak worn as the principal costume in these adaptations of GREEK PLAYS, not original Latin plays. These plays were basically imitations of Greek comedies of the group known as NEW COMEDY, written mostly in the fourth and third centuries B.C. These New Comedies introduced the stock characters and plot confusions that are the mainstays of Roman comedy. So keep in mind that the stage world of Plautus' time was a make-believe Greek one, although hints of Roman life and customs show up often in the plays.

There has long been much debate over whether the actors (histriones) in Roman comedy wore the traditional masks of Greek New Comedy, or whether they had elaborate makeup. These masks are prominent features in many Roman murals and mosaics, which show us that the disguises were of a stock nature like the characters they represented. Crafty slaves wore very humorous, smiling masks, the young women and men were good looking, and the villains looked very comical and evil at the same time. The masks probably allowed sometimes distant audience members to recognize everyone immediately, and seem also to have had some kind of amplification device built in to carry the actor's voice farther.

The actors were sometimes slaves, but often freedmen, never high-born and rarely high-paid, a marked contrast with modern entertainers. Acting troupes known as greges would direct, produce, and perform the plays upon commission usually handled by the company's business manager, somewhat like an agent. They were led by a lead actor/director called the dux gregis. They were ALL MALE, even the women's roles, but then anyone familiar with Shakespearean history will know that this practice persisted in most theater until the late Renaissance. So actors were a somewhat exclusive club that often wandered from town to town to present local shows for a fee.

The spectators were a varied and often noisy crowd, not quiet and respectful like our modern playgoers. Horace tells us in a poetic letter to the emperor Augustus that as often as not the lower class audience members were watching something going on outside the theater over the back wall. The Prologus of the original prologue to our Poenulus also makes numerous threats of having his bouncer or crier (praeco) loudly call down anyone who raised too much trouble. In this same passage, nurses are encouraged to take out noisy children, older women are asked not to laugh in an un-ladylike manner, and slaves are asked to take their appropriate places up in the nosebleed seats. Seating was done by class. Senators or other nobles sat right down front in seats provided on the ground (Section M of the diagram below). In Rome, the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins had special seating over the side entrances (E and F in the diagram), like our modern day box seats. Augustus demanded that the equites be given seats up to the fourteenth row and also required that women sit separately as would be more appropriate to the interest of modesty. Please bear in mind that this seating in permanent concrete or stone theater seating was a late adaptation, but the division of classes was surely performed from the earliest days of Roman comedy.

Finally, a bit of information on the physical theater itself. In Plautus' day, and for that matter up until 55 B.C., Rome had no permanent stone theater. This was also likely true at theaters in the provinces and rural regions until relatively late, but not quite as late as Rome. Apparently, with the low moral impressions of actors and acting, especially those raunchy mimes, the leaders of Republican Rome believed that a permanent theater would be the wrong message to send to the entertainment starved masses. Theaters before 55 B.C. were temporary wooden structures built and torn down, carnival or state-fair style, each time a festival required them. Now you can understand those exorbitant costs that I mentioned above. Men of rank began, over time, to try to outdo each other in the magnificence of their "temporary" theaters decked with statues, gold, etc. to impress those attending.

Finally, no less than Pompey the Great, Julius Caesar's arch-rival, had the power and chutzpah to challenge the tradition and build his huge permanent theater in Rome, complete with many signs of his wealth. Other remarkable theaters popped up in Rome and all over the empire, using basically the same model as you see below. Roman theaters, unlike Greek predecessors, were generally built as freestanding structures rather than into natural hillsides. These outdoor theaters, of course, required mostly daytime use (little use of artificial lighting), but were often equipped with large canopies that could shield the audience from the weather. Their semicircular shape also created a natural amplification for the actors on stage.

Note that the scaena is a permanent part of the theater that could be embellished or supplemented to produce a rather schematic set that would give the impression of a setting. With enough money, the permanent scaena might have had set pieces added in front of it, as we have evidence of ancient men specifically designated as pictores scaenici (set painters).

In conclusion, a diagram of a typical Roman theater.

The stands or seats called the cavea create the curve of the theater. (Ignore the circle; it is only an architectural device to indicate the perfect proportions.) The stage (proscaenium or later also called scaena) lay between lines CD and GH. Line GH represents the front wall of the scaena, the stage building. These could be huge structures. The boxed area behind line GH would be the backstage area. Notice the three traditional entrances from backstage representing doors to houses with some structure or alleyway (angiportus) between. Costume and dressing rooms would be somewhere below this diagram and could take any number of shapes, many in fact probably being portable for moving troupes of actors.

(Please note from the diagram that this semicircular structure is called a THEATER, not an AMPHITHEATER, as we often call outside theaters of this type today. The amphitheater, as its name suggests is "both or double" theater, thus the circular structure we now call a coliseum or stadium.)

Titus Maccius Plautus is the earliest surviving Latin poet; other than that, we know little about his life. His dates, according to ancient sources, are 254-184 BC, and two of his plays are securely dated: the Stichus to 200 and the Pseudolus to 191. Although 130 plays have been attributed to him by some ancient estimates, only twenty of Plautus' plays survive. They are: Amphitruo; Asinaria; Aulularia; Bacchides; Captivi; Casina; Cistellaria; Curculio; Epidicus; Menaechmi; Mercator; Miles Gloriosus; Mostellaria; Persa; Poenulus; Pseudolus; Rudens; Stichus; Trinummus; and Truculentus. Plautus came to Rome from the Umbrian town of Sarsina. He is said to have done some sort of theatrical work before writing his plays, and also to have spent some time in prison for debt. In the tradition of Roman comic playwrights, his comedies exhibit his considerable knowledge of the theater and its Greek antecedents.
 
 

In general, and the Poenulus is no exception, the characters of Roman domestic comedies fall into three categories: male members of the household (including their slaves); females (wives, daughters, prostitutes, maidservants); and "professionals" (pimps, soldiers, councilors, cooks, etc.), used mostly for their comic effects. In one of his plays Plautus recognizes these categories, referring to certain stock characters, as we call them, himself (Capt. 57 f.). There are, however, numerous variations within each type, as Plautus bestows upon some characters distinct personalities and actions. The following is a list of stock character types that appear in most Roman comedies.

Adulescens (the young lover; Agorastocles in the Poenulus). Plautus generally depicts the adulescens in a sympathetic light. He is a young man whose love for a courtesan, a slave girl, or a young woman of a good family motivates the action of the play. During the course of the play he enlists the help of various characters in attaining his goal of winning his beloved.

Servus (his slave; Milphio in the Poenulus). The often cynical and unsympathetic yet clever slave serves as a contrast to his lovesick master. Plautus' slaves are talkative, impudent, inquisitive, indiscrete, gossipy, and have high opinions of themselves. They are quite fond of eating and drinking, and show little respect for their elders and betters. Yet in the end they remain faithful to their young masters. These slaves have two main functions: to provide humor; and to supervise or assist in trickery or impersonation. Milphio is, among Plautus' slave characters, perhaps the most cunning: a true servus callidissimus. Other slaves with minor roles in comedy include the coquus (cook), vilicus (overseer of property; Collybisca in the Poenulus), nutrix (nurse; Giddenis in the Poenulus) and eunuchus (eunuch; Syncerastus in the Poenulus).

Virgo/Meretrix (the oxymoronic idea of the chaste prostitute; Adelphasium and her sister Anterastilis in the Poenulus). The prostitutes (whose profession was legal) in Roman comedies are often the love interests of the adulescens. Almost invariably they have been sold into this business illegally (often as babies), have remained chaste, and are finally freed with the help of the adulescens and his slave.

Leno (the local pimp; Lycus in the Poenulus). Pimps, denounced by Plautus as a class, are characterized in his comedies by greed, impiety, perjury, faithlessness and inhumanity. Although they are boastful and self-assured, in actuality they tend to be credulous and stupid. Plautus makes his pimps the victims of deceit and the butts of derision. It is important to note, however, that this profession was legal, even if disreputable.

Miles Gloriosus (the braggart soldier; Antamoenides in the Poenulus). Like the leno, the miles to Plautus was more of a caricature than a distinct, realistic character. The miles is boastful both of his military exploits and his ability to charm the ladies. Often he comes to town with the expectation of acquiring the meretrix pura, but it never works out (sometimes he is her long-lost father!).

Parasitus (the parasite, or freeloader; the Advocati, to some extent, in the Poenulus). The parasite's main goal is dinner. He is lazy but also clever, and his intrepid activities help the adulescens win the virgo. He has no interest in love itself, or the adulescens' dilemma, except for the meals it can produce for him.

Senex (the father of the adulescens; not a distinct character in the Poenulus, but Hanno takes on some of his characteristics). Roman comedy employs different types of senes, one of the more usual being the wealthy father of the adulescens who would want his son to marry someone other than a meretrix (but who hardly disdains the profession of prostitute in general). Often married to the annus (old woman), an unlikable shrew.
 
 

The Greeks and Romans enslaved outsiders, especially those captured in war. Children of slaves would then, too, be personal property. Slave-traders made their living from their sales of war prisoners in the local market area. Slaves were employed in almost all areas of human activity (domestic, urban and agricultural) except politics. In general, the owner of a slave could free him or her at any time, and some owners could be bribed if the price was right. Once free, former Roman slaves usually were granted the political status of their owners, and often even Roman citizenship.

Prostitution was a legitimate, taxed business in both Greece and Rome. The running of a brothel was regarded by some to be a respectable endeavor and even a good investment, but, as we can see in the Poenulus, slave-dealers who traded in prostitutes were often despised. Prostitutes came from a variety of ethnic origins (women with exotic features were found especially attractive), and many were slaves or freedwomen. There were also cases of exposed baby girls and daughters sold by their parents being raised for this trade.

Carthage -- a Phoenician colony on the north coast of Africa in modern Tunisia. No histories written by Carthaginians about the city survive. Greek and Roman historians, whose accounts are often characterized by prejudice, lack of sympathy and even antipathy, authored the only extant ancient testimonies. According to legend, the princess Dido, the focus of the fourth book of Vergil's Aeneid, founded the city in the late ninth century BC. By the 5th century BC Carthage had become a mighty, independent naval empire whose sailors were among the first documented explorers of the Atlantic coast of Europe and West Africa at a time when other cultures feared to venture that far afield.

From the death of Alexander the Great in 323 until the third century BC, Carthage was a great Mediterranean power, controlling trade in the western Mediterranean Sea. Carthage and Rome kept a fairly civil relationship until 264 BC, when they clashed over the domination of Sicily and precipitated the First Punic War. It was not until 241 that the Roman navy, under the leadership of C. Lutatius Catulus, defeated the Carthaginians and negotiated a peace plan that stipulated that the Carthaginians leave Sicily.

Despite these terms, Rome and Carthage continued their aggressions; after smaller skirmishes, the Second Punic War began in 218 BC after the general Hannibal's invasion (with his elephants) of northern Italy. After seventeen years of battles, Hannibal was finally defeated by the Roman general Scipio. When they signed the peace treaty, the Carthaginians surrenderedtheir navy and their territory in Spain, and the Romans left north Africa. After Carthage's defeat, Rome's dominance over the Mediterranean area lasted for centuries.

Rome nevertheless declared war on Carthage a third time in 149 BC (the Third Punic War) when Carthage, having made a great and speedy economic recovery, continually provoked and finally attacked Masinissa, Rome's ally (the actions of Carthage prompted Cato the Censor allegedly to urge, "Carthago delenda est"). When the Roman army arrived in Africa, Carthage surrendered, but then refused the Roman terms that they give up their power. After a three-year siege, the Romans, under Scipio Aemilianus, stormed and sacked the city, made Carthage a Roman territory (the subduing of Carthage led Rome to establish many cities in North Africa, such as Leptis Magna). Even at the time of her fall, Carthage's wealth was proverbial: despite its loss of Spain in 201 BC, it was considered the wealthiest city in the world.

The Carthaginians and Romans have been called "age-long enemies," yet some Romans recognized certain admirable qualities in the Carthaginian people. Cicero, for example, wrote that "Carthage would never have held an empire for 600 years had it not been governed with wisdom and statesmanship" (Rep. fr. 3). Plautus, likewise, shows a certain amount of sympathy and respect for Hanno, his Carthaginian hero.

Punic, the language of the Carthaginians, was from the Semitic family (related to Hebrew), and survived in North Africa centuries after the fall of Carthage itself. There are few examples of written Punic, except for a collection of funereal and dedicatory inscriptions. Hanno's words in the Poenulus, although corrupted Punic, are the only written example we have of anything close to "conversational" Punic.

Tyre -- a powerful commercial port city on the Phoenician coast (modern Lebanon). In 332 BC Alexander the Great captured and destroyed it, but it soon bounced back. It was ruled by several different hands until 126 BC, when it became free, and made a treaty with Rome. Tyre functioned as an important economic center for the precious purple dye industry.