Poenulus , also called The Little Carthaginian or The Little Punic Man , is a Latin comedic play for the early Roman theatre by Titus Maccius Plautus , probably written between 195 and 189 BC. The play is noteworthy for containing text in Carthaginian Punic , spoken by the character Hanno in the fifth act. Another remarkable feature is the sympathetic portrayal of the character of the Carthaginian Hanno at a time when only a few years previously the Romans had suffered huge losses in the 2nd Punic War fought against the Carthaginian general Hannibal (218–202 BC).
23-398: The play shows signs of having been reworked, possibly for a second production, since there are two endings. A young man, Agorastocles, is in love with a girl named Adelphasium, who is a slave belonging to the pimp Lycus. Agorastocles, Adelphasium, and her sister Anterastilis were all stolen as children from Carthage. Agorastocles was purchased by a rich childless man who wanted a son, whereas
46-462: A son Tydeus. The sons of Oeneus' brother Agrius deposed him but Diomedes , his grandson through Tydeus, put Oeneus back on the Calydonian throne (or the throne passed to Andraemon , husband of Gorge, due to Oeneus' old age). Oeneus either died of natural causes or was killed by the surviving sons of Agrius who laid an ambush against him while Diomedes was transporting him to Peloponessus . He
69-557: A war between the Calydonians and the Curetes , in which all of Oeneus' sons, including Meleager, fell. When Hipponoüs of Olenus , angered at his daughter Periboea because she claimed that she was with child by Ares, sent her away into Aetolia to Oeneus with orders for him to do away with her at the first opportunity. Oeneus, however, who had recently lost son and wife, was unwilling to slay Periboea, but married her instead and begat
92-611: Is an interpolation, probably supplied by a producer when the original ending was lost. The most commonly used metres in this play of 1332 lines are iambic senarii (754 lines) and trochaic septenarii (415 lines). Compared with other Plautus plays, the unaccompanied iambic senarii form an unusually large part (56%) of the play (the average in Plautus being 35%). ( The two endings below are probably not by Plautus. ) ( Alternative ending ) Calydon Calydon ( / ˈ k æ l ɪ d ɒ n / ; Ancient Greek : Καλυδών , Kalydōn )
115-550: Is soon revealed that he is the cousin of Agorastocles' dead parents, as well as the father of the two girls. In the end, the girls are seized from Lycus, who is punished, and the story concludes with a happy family reunion. Hanno gives Agorastocles his blessing to marry his daughter. The play is set in Calydon , a city in Aetolia in central Greece. The stage set consists of a street with the slave-dealer Lycus' house on one side, and
138-429: The 15th century. Also, the acts themselves do not always match the structure of the plays, which is more clearly shown by the variation in metres. A common metrical pattern in Plautus's plays is that each section begins with iambic senarii (which were spoken without music), then a song ( canticum ) in various metres, and finally each section is rounded off by trochaic septenarii, which were apparently recited or sung to
161-691: The Achaeans till the overthrow of the Spartan supremacy by the Battle of Leuctra (371 BC), when Epaminondas restored the town to the Aetolians. In the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey (in 48 BC) it still appears as a considerable place; but a few years afterwards its inhabitants were removed by Augustus to Nicopolis , which he founded to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. It continues however to be mentioned by
184-504: The Calydonian boar. So began the Calydonian boar hunt during which the boar was killed by Atalanta and Meleager. However, an argument began as to who should take the boar's skin as a prize: Meleager gave it to Atalanta, but two of his maternal uncles, sons of Thestius , wanted the trophy for themselves, claiming that it belonged to them by the right of birth if Meleager did not want it. Meleager, in rage, killed them, which resulted in
207-433: The accompaniment of tibiae (a pair of reed pipes). Moore calls this the "ABC succession", where A = iambic senarii, B = other metres, and C = trochaic septenarii. Taking iambic senarii as the beginning of a section, and trochaic septenarii as the end, Poenulus can be divided into five parts. The overall pattern is as follows: Moore believes that everything from line 1332 (basically the whole of Act 5 scenes 6 and 7)
230-470: The ditch. In Book VI of the Iliad , Oeneus once hosted the hero Bellerophon , as described by his grandson Diomedes . When Dionysus had come as a guest to Oeneus he fell in love with Althaea and the king realizing this, he voluntarily left the city and pretended to be performing sacred rites. But Dionysus lay with Althaea, who became mother of Dejanira. To Oeneus, because of his generous hospitality, he gave
253-527: The fields of Calydon, which was hunted by Meleager and numerous other heroes. The Calydonians took part in the Trojan War under their king Thoas, the son (not the grandson) of Oeneus. Calydon is not often mentioned in the historical period. In 391 BC, it was recorded as being in the possession of the Achaeans , but the means of possession are unclear; however, it is better documented that Naupactus
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#1732766073364276-558: The girls were sold as slaves to the pimp who intended to make them prostitutes. Milphio, the long-suffering slave of Agorastocles, attempts to help his master obtain Adelphasium. Their plan is to trick Lycus and get him into legal trouble. Collybiscus, Agorastocles' farm steward, dresses up as a foreigner and moves into Lycus' home. Agorastocles and some witnesses then accuse Lycus of harboring his slave and threaten to take him to court. At this point Hanno arrives from Carthage, and it
299-574: The invaders from their country. A vivid account of one of the battles between the Curetes and Calydonians is given in an episode of the Iliad. The heroes of Calydon are among the most celebrated of the heroic age. It was the residence of Oeneus , father of Tydeus and Meleager, and grandfather of Diomedes. In the time of Oeneus Artemis sent a monstrous boar (the Calydonian Boar ) to lay waste
322-456: The later geographers. Calydon was the headquarters of the worship of Artemis Laphria , and when the inhabitants of the town were removed to Nicopolis, Augustus gave to Patrae in Achaea the statue of this goddess which had belonged to Calydon. There was also a statue of Dionysus at Patrae which had been removed from Calydon. Near Calydon there was a temple of Apollo Laphrius ; and in
345-536: The neighbourhood of the city there was also a lake celebrated for its fish. Its site is located north of the modern Evinochori . One of the tunnels of the A5 motorway crosses under the ruins of Calydon, and is named the Calydon Tunnel ( Greek : Σήραγγα Καλυδώνας ) after it. Previous and more recent excavations have revealed many buildings including: Many finds from the site including ancient terracottas from
368-495: The neighbouring town of Pleuron are said by Strabo to have been once the "ornament" of Greece, but by his time (late 1st century BC) had sunk into insignificance. It is frequently mentioned in the Iliad by Homer , who celebrates the fertility of the plain of "lovely" Calydon. In the earliest times the inhabitants of Calydon appear to have been engaged in incessant hostilities with the Curetes, who continued to reside in their ancient capital Pleuron, and who endeavoured to expel
391-589: The temple of Artemis are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Agrinion and in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens . 38°22′21″N 21°31′59″E / 38.372423°N 21.533106°E / 38.372423; 21.533106 Oeneus In Greek mythology , Oeneus ( / ˈ ɛ n . j uː s / ; Ancient Greek : Οἰνεύς , romanized : Oineús , lit. 'Wine-man' )
414-422: The vine as a gift, and showed him how to plant it, and decreed that its fruit should be called oinos from the name of his host. Since Oeneus had made sacrifices yearly to all the gods during the harvest ceremonies, but had omitted to honor Artemis , in anger she sent a boar of immense size to lay waste the district of Calydon. He sent out his son Meleager who promised that he would go with chosen leaders to attack
437-477: The young man Agorastocles' house on the other; between these is a temple of Venus. The play is symmetrically structured around the trick played on Lycus as follows: However, certain elements, such as the two appearances of the soldier Antamoenides, and the arrival of Hanno, break the symmetry. Plautus's plays are traditionally divided into five acts. However, it is not thought that the act-divisions go back to Plautus's time, since no manuscript contains them before
460-647: Was a Calydonian king. He introduced wine-making to Aetolia , which he learned from Dionysus and the first who received a vine-plant from the same god. Oeneus was the son of King Porthaon and Euryte , and thus, brother of Agrius , Alcathous , Melas , Leucopeus , and Sterope . He married Althaea and became the father of Deianeira , Meleager , Toxeus , Clymenus , Periphas , Agelaus (or Ageleus ), Thyreus (or Phereus or Pheres ), Gorge , Eurymede , Melanippe and Perimede (although Meleager's and Deianeira's fathers could also have been Ares and Dionysus respectively). s ee Meleagrids . Oeneus
483-479: Was a Greek city in ancient Aetolia , situated on the west bank of the river Evenus , 7.5 Roman miles (approx. 11 km) from the sea. Its name is most famous today for the Calydonian boar that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. According to Greek mythology , Calydon was founded by Aetolus in the land of the Curetes , and was called Calydon, after the name of his son, Calydon . Calydon and
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#1732766073364506-457: Was also the father of Tydeus and possibly Melanippus or Olenias by Periboea , daughter of Hipponous , though Tydeus was exiled from Aetolia and appears in myths concerning Argos . According to Pausanias , Mothone was a daughter of Oeneus by a concubine. In some accounts, Polyxo was called the sister of Meleager and thus, can be counted among the daughters of Oeneus. Oeneus slew his son Toxeus by his own hand because he leaped over
529-595: Was given to the Achaeans at the close of the Peloponnesian War , and it was probably the Achaeans settled at Naupactus who gained possession of the town. In the above-mentioned year the Achaeans at Calydon, were so hard pressed by the Acarnanians that they applied to the Lacedaemonians for help; and Agesilaus II in consequence was sent with an army into Aetolia. Calydon remained in the hands of
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