This article is part of WikiProject Theatre, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of theatre on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.TheatreWikipedia:WikiProject TheatreTemplate:WikiProject TheatreTheatre articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Latin, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Latin on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LatinWikipedia:WikiProject LatinTemplate:WikiProject LatinLatin articles
This article is within the scope of the WikiProject Phoenicia, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Phoenicia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.PhoeniciaWikipedia:WikiProject PhoeniciaTemplate:WikiProject PhoeniciaPhoenicia articles
This article has been given a rating which conflicts with the project-independent quality rating in the banner shell. Please resolve this conflict if possible.
Who is the puny Punic? Quite a number of the characters are family, aren't they all all Punic? Who is the puny one? Or does it refer to the play itself?
If Hanno is the cousin of Agorastocles' parents, doesn't that make him Agorastocles' cousin once removed and doesn't that therefore make the girls, who are Hanno's daughters, Agorastocles' second cousins? Is Agorastocles marrying close family? Did he know this at the start of the story?
If Hanno is there to save the day using perfectly straightforward means, what was the point, narratively, of the scheme? Did Plautus write himself into a corner and use Hanno a deus ex machina?
What can we tell about Roman or Romano-Punic society from this play?
For discussion on the Punic text, this article refers to another article, but that article only deals with that section as an ancient source of written Punic. It says nothing about the purpose of the text in the play. I assume it's for flavour?
The play is an adaptation of a Greek play, so it tells us nothing about Roman society (except that there were people in Rome in 200 BC who could speak Punic, the language of Carthage). One thing it tells you about ancient Mediterranean society is that piracy and slaving was common. Presumably, as you surmise, Hanno speaks Punic for flavour and authenticity. The arrival of Hanno is necessary to the plot so that the girls' true parentage can be recognised. Kanjuzi (talk) 18:44, 7 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
