August 16, 2013, by Alan Sommerstein

Very Brief Comic Quiz – the answer

Of the six assorted celebrities named in my Very Brief Comic Quiz three weeks ago, the one who won’t have an entry in the Encyclopedia of Greek Comedy is William Shakespeare.  There is no good evidence that Shakespeare ever had any direct contact with Greek comedy, though he was certainly familiar with Roman comedy (in particular, his Comedy of Errors is an adaptation of Plautus’ Menaechmi).  In this he contrasts with his contemporary Ben Jonson, who was well acquainted with the plays of Aristophanes, who famously wrote of Shakespeare having “small Latin and less Greek”, and who will have an entry in the encyclopedia.

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