The Plays Of Terence

The Plays of Terence

Publius Terentius Afer (195/185-159 BC), better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170-160 BC. A Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. Terence apparently died young, probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. All of the six plays Terence wrote have survived. His style offers a unique insight into the colloquial Latin of the classical era.

The Lyon Terence

In The Lyon Terence Giulia Torello-Hill and Andrew J. Turner take an unprecedented interdisciplinary approach to map out the influence of late-antique and medieval commentary and iconographic traditions over this seminal edition of the plays of Terence, published in Lyon in 1493, and examine its legacy. The work had a profound impact on the way Terence’s plays were read and understood throughout the sixteenth century, but its influence has been poorly recognised in modern scholarship. The authors establish the pivotal role that this book, and its editor Badius, played in the revitalisation of the theoretical understanding of classical comedy and in the revival of the plays of Terence that foreshadowed the establishment of early modern theatre in Italy and France.

The Plays of Terence