Geographies of loss in Plautus’ Menaechmi

 

Performed at Rome, adapted and translated from a Greek original, Plautus’ Menaechmi tells of the search undertaken by Menaechmus of Syracuse to find his lost twin, now discovered at Epidamnus. It is well understood that Plautus exploits puns between damnum (loss) and the name of Epidamnus, a city of swindlers. I place these puns within a wider context of the play’s various geographies of loss. Why was it that the lost twin Menaechmus was stolen during ludi held at Tarentum? The slave who travels with Menaechmus of Syracuse bears the name Messenio: how does his name and character evoke the historical experience of the Messenians and their loss and recovery of their homeland?  And how might these geographies of lost be understood against the historical backdrop of Roman involvement in Greece during Plautus’ career?