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Menander (342–291 BC) (Greek ), Greek dramatist, the chief representative of the New Comedy, was born in Athens. He was the son of well-to-do parents; his father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian general and governor of the Thracian Chersonese known from the speech of Demosthenes De Chersoneso. He presumably derived his taste for the comic drama from his uncle Alexis.
He was the friend, associate, and perhaps pupil of Theophrastus, and was on intimate terms with Demetrius of Phalerum. He also enjoyed the patronage of Ptolemy Soter, the son of Lagus, who invited him to his court. But Menander, preferring the independence of his villa in the Peiraeus and the company of his mistress Glycera, refused. According to the note of a scholiast on the Ibis of Ovid, he was drowned while bathing, and his countrymen built him a tomb on the road leading to Athens, where it was seen by Pausanias. A well-known statue in the Vatican, formerly thought to represent Marius, is now generally supposed to be Menander, although some archaeologists dispute this, and it has also been identified with his statue in the theatre at Athens, also mentioned by Pausanias.
Menander was the author of more than a hundred comedies, but only won the prize at Lenaia eight times. His rival in dramatic art (and in the affections of Glycera) was Philemon, who appears to have been more popular. Menander, however, believed himself to be the better dramatist, and, according to Aulus Gellius, used to ask Philemon: "Don't you feel ashamed whenever you gain a victory over me?" According to Caecilius of Calacte (Porphyry in Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica) Menander was guilty of plagiarism, his The Superstitious Man being taken from The Augur of Antiphanes. But, although he attained only moderate success during his lifetime, he subsequently became the favorite writer of antiquity. Copies of his plays were known to Suidas and Eustathius (10th and 11th centuries), and twenty-three of them, with commentary by Michael Psellus, were said to have existed at Constantinople in the 16th century. He is praised by Plutarch (Comparison of Menander and Aristophanes) and Quintilian (Institutio Oratoria), who accepted the tradition that he was the author of the speeches published under the name of the Attic orator Charisius.
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@gurpreetkh By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself. - Menander #quotes
quoteshash (John Shin) Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:32:18 -0000
@gurpreetkh By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself. - Menander #quotes
Even God lends a hand to honest boldness. -- Menander
webgeekcom (web-geek.com) Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:16:03 -0000
Even God lends a hand to honest boldness. -- Menander
RT @randompassword: sac4tu"V #password - We live, not as we wish to, but as we can. -- Menander, 292 BC
gjgowey (Geoffrey J Gowey) Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:42:49 -0000
RT @randompassword: sac4tu"V #password - We live, not as we wish to, but as we can. -- Menander, 292
Menander (342 B.C. - 291 B.C.) - Biography of Greek playwright Menander, plus links to purchase all of his works currently in print.
Meta Description: [ Biography of the Greek playwright Menander--the most gifted writer of New Comedy. ]
Menander and His Comedies - Biography of the Greek dramatist Menander.
Meta Description: [ Biography of the ancient Greek dramatist Menander and analysis of his poetic qualities. ]
