How to Turn a Hero into a Comic miles

Abstract

This paper aims, on the one hand, at contributing to the analysis of one of the most enduring stock-characters in Roman comedy: the comic soldier, in its Plautine manifestations in particular. On the other hand, it will shed light on a much more serious soldier: Telamonian Ajax, and his in some way unfortunate reception. Weaving a twofold discussion of such apparently distant figures, I will evaluate the possible echoes of the mighty warrior Ajax in the parodic processes enacted by Plautus’ milites, as well as the role played in turn by these echoes in the Roman reception of Ajax himself. I will show how the Roman Ajax enhanced and developed comic nuances, which can be better understood through the trigger of Plautine memories and play a role in Rome’s own reflection on everchanging criteria for measuring valour.