The comic poet Menander, who lived in Athens in the 4th century B.C.E., is not exactly a household name in the modern world, but he greatly influenced what people see when they go to the movies or watch TV shows. Starting in the 320s B.C.E., Menander (and perhaps a few of his contemporaries) wrote new types of plays that featured romance and familial relationships rather than politics, the usual theme. He thus set the course for dramatic comedy’s development over the next two millennia.

Classics professor Mitch Brown tells the story of Menander’s revolutionary new form of drama by exploring the relationship between politics and theater in ancient Athens and how the military victories of Alexander the Great (and his father, Phillip) influenced what was popular in the theater. He illustrates how, through his successors, Menander helped shape theater in the Renaissance—ultimately becoming responsible for domestic and relationship-focused plays, movies, and sitcoms that are still popular in theaters, cinemas, and streaming services to this day.

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