Greek drama from с 320 BC to the mid-3rd century BC that offers a mildly satiric view of contemporary Athenian society.
Unlike Old Comedy, which parodies public figures and events (see Aristophanes ), New Comedy features fictional average citizens in domestic life. The chorus , the representative of forces larger than life, is reduced to a small band of musicians and dancers. Plays usually involve the conventionalized situation of thwarted lovers and contain stock characters. Menander introduced the New Comedy and became its most famous exponent; Plautus and Terence translated its plays for the Roman stage. Elements of New Comedy influenced European drama down to the 18th century.