Biographical Overview & Key Facts

Subject:

Menander

Role / Field:

Master of Athenian New Comedy, Menander wrote 108 influential Greek comedies.

Born:

340 BC

Died:

290 BC

Century / Era:

-340s Historical Era

Database Source:

2Day Chrono-Wiki & Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Origins & Early Life

Menander ( ; Ancient Greek: Μένανδρος, romanized: Ménandros; c. 342/341 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek playwright and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

His record at the City Dionysia is unknown. He was one of the most popular writers and most highly admired poets in antiquity, but his work was considered lost before the early Middle Ages. It now survives only in Latin-language adaptations by Terence and Plautus and, in the original Greek, in highly fragmentary form, most of which were discovered on papyrus in Egyptian tombs during the early to mid-20th century. In the 1950s, to the great excitement of Classicists, it was announced that a single play by Menander, Dyskolos, had finally been rediscovered in the Bodmer Papyri intact enough to be performed. Menander 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.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

He presumably derived his taste for comic drama from his uncle Alexis. He was the friend, associate, and perhaps pupil...

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Chandragupta Maurya — Contemporary (Born in -340) (-340): Founder of the Maurya Empire, establishing the first great imperial power in India.
• Megasthenes — Contemporary (Died in -290) (-290): Ancient Greek ethnographer renowned for his lost work, Indica, describing India.
• Epicurus — Contemporary figure (Born in -342) (-342): Founder of Epicureanism, advocating simple pleasures, friendship, and freedom from fear.
• Artaxerxes III — Contemporary figure (Died in -338) (-338): Achaemenid King who secured Egypt and faced rising Macedonian power.
• Isocrates — Contemporary figure (Died in -338) (-338): Influential ancient Greek rhetorician and educator, proponent of Panhellenism.
• Nectanebo II — Contemporary figure (Died in -343) (-343): The final native pharaoh of ancient Egypt, ruling during the Thirtieth Dynasty.
• Qu Yuan — Contemporary figure (Born in -343) (-343): Poet and political figure of the State of Chu during the tumultuous Warring States period.
• Shen Buhai — Contemporary figure (Died in -337) (-337): Influential Chinese statesman and reformer during the late Warring States period.
• Attalus (general) — Contemporary figure (Died in -336) (-336): Key Macedonian general and courtier serving Philip II of Macedon.
• Demetrius I Poliorcetes — Contemporary figure (Born in -336) (-336): Macedonian nobleman and military leader, famed for besieging cities and ruling Macedon.
• -340 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from -340
• -290 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from -290

Frequently Asked Questions about Menander