Menaechmi
| Menaechmi | |
|---|---|
Scene from the Teatro Nacional Cervantes (1953), during a performance of Menaechmi | |
| Written by | Plautus |
| Characters |
|
| Date premiered | late 3rd century BC |
| Place premiered | Rome? |
| Original language | Latin |
| Genre | Roman comedy |
| Setting | a street in Epidamnus, before the houses of Menaechmus and Erotium |
Menaechmi, a Latin-language play, is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as The Brothers Menaechmus or The Two Menaechmuses.
Menaechmi is a comedy about mistaken identity, involving a set of twins, Menaechmus of Epidamnus and Menaechmus of Syracuse. It incorporates various Roman stock characters including the parasite, the comic courtesan, the comic slave, the domineering wife, the doddering father-in-law and the quack doctor. As with most of Plautus' plays, much of the dialogue was sung.
The play is set in a street in Epidamnus, a city on the coast of what is now Albania. Facing the audience are two houses, that of Menaechmus I and that of Erotium, the prostitute he is courting.