Menander

(c. 342 BC - c. 292 BC)

Little is known of Menander’s life, although he is believed to have come from a wealthy Athenian family and studied under the philosopher Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle’s. His first of some one hundred plays, Anger, was produced in 321 bc; he won eight first-place prizes at the dramatic festivals beginning with The Dyscolus in 316 bc. Considered a leader of the New Comedy—the last wave in the history of the Greek stage—Menander influenced the Roman writers Plautus and Terence.