Menander: Samia

by Menander, Alan H. Sommerstein (editor)

For eight centuries after his death Menander was the third most popular poet in the Greek-speaking world, and his plays, through Roman imitations and adaptations, engendered a tradition of European light drama that extends to our own day. But it is only since 1844 that some of the actual texts of Menander's plays have been rediscovered, mostly in Egyptian papyri. Two of these have given us four-fifths of the script of Samia (The Woman from Samos), a play of deception and misunderstanding in which a marriage that everyone desires almost fails to happen, two women and a baby are almost ruined, and a loving father almost loses his only son, because the people at home and the people abroad have both been doing things behind each other's backs - but somehow everything ends happily after all. This is the first full-scale edition with English commentary and is suitable for upper-level students.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Fiction, Ancient, Theatre, Comedy

131 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 301

About the author

Greek: Μένανδρος
Menander (ca. 342–291 BC), the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy, 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. He presumably derived his taste for comic drama from his uncle Alexis.

Reviews

[Ivy-Mabel Fling · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot less weird than Aristophanes and, I would think, an influence on Molière. Short but enjoyable.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comedy. Men worry about women’s fidelity and children’s legitimacy.

[reoccurrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Menander’s Samia is an interesting experience because it’s missing a lot of lines. While reading it I felt like I was listening to a radio play from beyond being interrupted by static. The voice of ghosts speaking to me through time; being interrupted by radiation from the Big Bang. These interruptions, these words lost in time because of man’s carelessness and times unending, unceasing, indifference. Despite not having the complete works of Menander, we are aware of his influence on Roman comedy and eventually into English. The words may be forgotten but this afterglow of the form will keep spreading. All in all this was a surprisingly engaging and funny play with lots of dramatic irony. I found the focus on everyday people refreshing.

[Kendall McClain · Rating 3 out of 5]

My fav singer is named Samia so points for that. Play was cool too.

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for class. Ancient Greek comedy. A son and his father who take themselves way too seriously and anyone else not very seriously at all. The son has a secret baby with the neighbor's daughter while the father is away, has it raised by the Samian prostitute his father's involved with, and when the father comes home and finds the baby he thinks it's her baby and his son's. Funny when the men are bombastically yelling at each other, not so funny when they're driving the Samian out into the street or threatening to kill her. The text was found on papyri and has some missing parts, unfortunately including some in the monologue where the son explains the truth for the audience's benefit in the first act, which made for a confusing read!

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by the founder of modern comedy, this play is decidedly unfunny. A story of confusion, Demeas returns home from a long absence to find his mistress, Chrysis, caring for a child. He immediately threatens to kill her and banish her from the home. The child is actually his son’s. The mother is the daughter of the neighbor, who he wants to marry. It is unclear whether she wanted his advances, or wants to marry him. She does clearly love the child, and is discovered nursing him. The father and son get into a terrible argument until the truth comes out. There isn’t much doubt as to what is going to happen in this play.


See my other reviews here!

[Raquel Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, light read and interesting.

[Isabel Vela · Rating 3 out of 5]

De nuevo, sacado de la estantería por ser pequeño, corto y por el reto.
Es una obra de teatro de un clásico griego, simple, machista, pero es curioso el imaginarte cómo lo podrían haber representado hace más de 2.000años.

[Nacho Pons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adoro la comedia griega, y todavía más si se trata de comedia nueva. Esta la estudié con la profesora Ingrosso y, aunque la trabajamos con un poco de prisa, fue muy interesante. Me flipan las intrigas y embrollos que crea Menandro y que después Plauto y otros heredarán.

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 2 out of 5]

κωμωδία αυστηρών ηθών και παρεξηγήσεων
μιεχ ΑΛΛΑ είναι του όταν είναι, οπότε ένα ακόμα αστεράκι λόγω παλαιότητας χεχε

[Jude Burrows · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5/5.

[Hannah Gawman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is described as 'a play of deception and misunderstanding in which a marriage that everyone desires almost fails to happen, two women and a baby are almost ruined, and a loving father almost loses his only son, because the people at home and the people abroad have both been doing things behind each other's backs - but somehow everything ends happily after all'.

We don't actually know if everyone desires the wedding - because the bride gets no say in the matter. She has no lines and never speaks and so we don't know her views or feelings. But I think it's safe it assume she wouldn't be too thrilled with marrying her rapist. That's the 'happy ending' to this play - the girl gets to marry her rapist, and her baby isn't considered illegitimate anymore, yay!

I understand that the ancient male writers didn't care about women's feelings, and considered it a happy ending because it ended well for the men, but it really bothers me when I see modern scholars being equally sexist and callous. They could do with being a little more critical of the material (and no, this isn't the same as 'imposing modern standards' onto the ancient world)

[Alex Vae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Habría sido más divertido de no ser porque los papiros tienen huecos, pero ni modo. También me hubiera hecho más gracia de no ser porque los chistes de cambios de bebés y confusiones de "¿quién es el verdadero padre?" ya se han quemado mucho. Al menos es una lectura ligera y entretenida que se lee en menos de dos horas.

[✨Jinglemarco✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una storia piatta, come un foglio di carta bianco. Pseudo-commedia letta per la scuola.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining work, albeit a minor one. Romantic comedy for the Hellenistic age.

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

The version I read was an incomplete translation, due to the nature of how we've received these plays- but the bulk was intact and it was really a good play, I enjoyed it!

[Kevin Yee]

(tr. Eric G. Turner)