Roman Comedy I: Plautus’s Cistellaria, or Maybe Plautus’s Oldest Play?

Welcome to Roman Comedy! We don’t know much about Plautus, including the dates of many of his plays. Cistellaria, or the Casket Play, might be the oldest. Or it might not. But it’s as good of a place to start as any, so that’s where we’ll start.

Discussion Prompts

1. How would you update this play for a modern audience? Or would you?
2. How would you address the issue of rape that underlies the entire plot of this play?
3. What do you think of the end of this play?
4. Why don’t we see more of Demipho?
5. AP Credit: Identify the stock characters in this play.