Hecyra
Encyclopedia
Hecyra is a comedic Latin play
by the early Roman
playwright
Terence
.
The Hecyra was a failure at its first two stagings. The first in 165 BC was disrupted, when a rumor spread that a tightrope-walker and boxers were about to perform. In 160 BC the production was cancelled when the theater was stormed by a group of rowdy gladiator fans. It was presented successfully only at its third attempt later that same year.
A musical phrase accompanying a single line of Hecyra was copied in the 18th century by Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli
from a 10th century manuscript and was for a long time believed to be all that remains of the entire body of ancient Roman
music. However, musicologist Thomas J. Mathiesen comments that it is no longer believed to be authentic.
Hecyra is based on plays by Apollodorus of Carystus
and Menander
.
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by the early Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , 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. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
.
The Hecyra was a failure at its first two stagings. The first in 165 BC was disrupted, when a rumor spread that a tightrope-walker and boxers were about to perform. In 160 BC the production was cancelled when the theater was stormed by a group of rowdy gladiator fans. It was presented successfully only at its third attempt later that same year.
A musical phrase accompanying a single line of Hecyra was copied in the 18th century by Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli
Arcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
from a 10th century manuscript and was for a long time believed to be all that remains of the entire body of ancient Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
music. However, musicologist Thomas J. Mathiesen comments that it is no longer believed to be authentic.
Hecyra is based on plays by Apollodorus of Carystus
Apollodorus of Carystus
Apollodorus of Carystus in Euboea, was one of the most important writers of the Attic New Comedy, who flourished in Athens between 300 and 260 B.C. He is to be distinguished from the older Apollodorus of Gela , also a writer of comedy, a contemporary of Menander. He wrote 47 comedies and obtained...
and Menander
Menander
Menander , Greek dramatist, 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...
.
Text
- Latin text edited by Edward St. John Parry at Perseus: 'Hecyra' in Latin
Translations
- English Translation by H. T. Riley at Perseus: 'Hecyra' in English