Misoumenos

Misoumenos (Greek: Μισούμενος, translated as "The Hated Man" or "The Man She Hated") is a comedy by Menander (342/41 – 292/91 BC). Once considered lost, fragments of more than 400 verses of the play have been found.[1] However, most of these are seriously damaged, making it difficult to reconstruct the plot of the play.[2] Separate lines from the prologue also survived by being quoted by later writers.[3]

Misoumenos
Written byMenander
CharactersThrasonides, Krateia

The surviving sources do not provide information regarding the time when the play was written and staged. At the same time, one of the fragments mentions royal power in Cyprus, which was abolished in 310/309 BC, so the action of the play takes place no later than this moment. Modern scholars date the play to approximately 300 BC.

Misoumenos seems to have been very popular in late antiquity, judging from the numerous papyrus fragments that have been recovered.[4] A scene from act 5 of the play is depicted in a mosaic in the House of Menander[5][6]

Plot

Thrasonides, a mercenary soldier, buys a young slave named Krateia and falls in love with her, but does not want to take her by force. He grants her freedom and lavishes her with numerous presents. Despite his gestures, she does not reciprocate his love. Invoking the Night, he voluntarily stays in the open outside his own house. Krateia persists in hating him, but she withholds the cause for her feelings. She, wrongly, holds the belief that Thrasonides was responsible for her brother's death. Thrasonides' desperation intensifies, ultimately leading to him contemplating suicide.

Later, Krateia reunites with her father Demeas, who arrived in Athens in search of his daughter and who stays overnight in the house of Kleinias, the soldier's neighbor. She remains hostile to her lover, even after he declares himself in the presence of her father. Krateia finally learns that her brother is alive, and a wedding concludes the play.[7]

Characters
  • Thrasonides, mercenary soldier
  • Krateia, freed slave loved by Thrasonides
  • Getas, Thrasonides's servant
  • Demeas, father of Krateia
  • Kleinias, friend of Demeas
  • Syra, slave of Kleinias
  • Chrysis, Krateia's nurse
  • Brother of Krateia

Bibliography
  • Q. Cataudella, Misoumenos di Menandro negli Oxyrhynchus Papyri, in «St. It. Filol. CI.», 41 (1969), pp. 56-60.
  • W. G. Arnott, Menander. II, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard U.P., 1996, pp. 245-363 (testo critico, trad. inglese e commento).
  • E. Bonollo, Alcune osservazioni sui personaggi del Misoumenos di Menandro, in "Prometheus. Rivista di Studi Classici", XLV (2019), pp. 89-103.

References
  1. The Misumenos of Menander - Eric G. Turner, New Fragments of the Misoumenos of Menander. (Bulletin Supplement No. 17.) Pp. 73; 9 plates. London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1965. Paper, 25s. net.
  2. Cfr. W. G. Arnott, Menander. II, The Loeb Classical Library, Harvard U.P., 1996, pp. 245-363.
  3. Furley, William. “Textual Notes on Menander’s ‘Misoumenos’, Taking in the Most Recently Published Fragments.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, vol. 196, 2015, pp. 44–48. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43909935. Accessed 29 Aug. 2023.
  4. Furley, William D. (2021). Menander 'Misoumenos' or 'The Hated Man' Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Institute of Classical Studies.
  5. Kathryn Gutzwiller, and Ömer Çelik. “New Menander Mosaics from Antioch.” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 116, no. 4, 2012, pp. 573–623. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.116.4.0573. Accessed 29 Aug. 2023.
  6. Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater. Author(s):. Eric Csapo,. First published:15 January 2010. Print ISBN 978-1-4051-3536-8
  7. Furley, William D. (2021). Menander 'Misoumenos' or 'The Hated Man' Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Institute of Classical Studies.
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