Today I Learned (TIL)

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TIL for nearly a thousand years, the ancient world’s most popular and admired comedian was Menander of Athens. Ironically, his work was lost to history until 1952, when a single play was rediscovered (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 2 months ago by ooli3@sopuli.xyz to c/til@lemmy.ca

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[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 51 points 2 months ago

Though incomplete works were found spreaded all across the Mediterranean, mostly though in translated form.

Also I find interesting that the common latinism: Alea Yacta Est, or The Die Is Cast, allegedly said by Julius Caesar before crossing the Rubicon was in reality quoting a Menander's play in greek which was instead "Let the die be cast".

So Menander was clearly a big big deal back then, yet it was mostly unknown to me. Thanks for sharing!