Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 27, 2026

Roman Laughter

Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus is a book by Erich Segal, published by the Harvard University Press in 1968. It is a scholarly study of the work of the ancient Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus, whose "twenty complete comedies constitute the largest extant corpus of classical dramatic literature".

Last revised
Jul 27, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
161 w
Citations
3
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus
AuthorErich Segal
PublisherHarvard University Press
Publication date1968

Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus is a book by Erich Segal, published by the Harvard University Press in 1968. It is a scholarly study of the work of the ancient Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus,1 whose "twenty complete comedies constitute the largest extant corpus of classical dramatic literature".2

James W. Halporn, in a review in The Classical Journal, criticised Segal's "serious misunderstanding of Freudian psychology and his real lack of grasp of important Plautine scholarship" which in Halporn's view made the work as a whole "superficial, inaccurate, and misleading".3

References

References

  1. John, Whitehorne (1992). "Erich Segal, "Roman Laughter. The Comedy of Plautus" (Book Review)". Ancient History Resources for Teachers. 22 (1). North Ryde: Macquarie University.
  2. Segal, Erich (1968). Roman laughter; the comedy of Plautus. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 1.
  3. Halporn, James W. (1970). "Review of Roman Laughter, the Comedy of Plautus". The Classical Journal. 65 (5): 234–236. ISSN 0009-8353.