Greek Maid, A

Anon. (1579)

Historical Records

"A pastorell or historie of A Greeke maide" is listed in the Revels accounts of 1578/9 as played at Richmond on "sondaie next" after New Years Day (Feuillerat 286, 25).

Theatrical Provenance

Leicester's, at Richmond. Based on a late 1578 order from the Privy Council (Dasent Vol X, 436) to allow public performances for certain companies, including Leicester's, to perform on public stages on or after December 24th, Wiggins holds that the play was possibly performed on a public stage before its recorded performance on 4 January at Richmond. Wiggins presumes that this production was at the Theater (Wiggins, sn 655).

The fact that the company was associated with James Burbage also points to the Theater. And given what looks to be the melodramatic theme of this play, it would fit with what is known about the nature of other public performances at this time at the Theater.

Probable Genre(s)

'Pastorell or history' (Feuillerat 286, 25), 'Pastorell' (Harbage, 48); Melodrama?

Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

The title possibly points to the story of the rape and revenge of Timoclea or Timoclia of Thebes. The story of Timoclia can be found in The Second Tome of Painter's Palace of Pleasure (1567). William Painter's translations first appeared in the 1560s and were reprinted in 1575 and in 1580 (?). The story of Timoclea is recounted in a 1574 lost play entitled "Timoclea at the Siege of Thebes." The most obvious source would be from the life of Alexander in Plutarch's Lives. It should be noted that Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives was issued in folio the same year, so the Painter version would have been better known to the general public.

The story as related by Plutarch (and Painter) tells of when the forces of Alexander the Great seized Thebes. At that time the Thracian army pillaged the city, and the Thracian captain raped the maid, Timoclia. The captain then asked her if she knew where any treasure was hidden. She led him to her garden, and told him there was money hidden in her well. When the Thracian captain look into the well, Timoclia pushed him in, and then killed the captain by hurling stones on him. Timoclia was seized and brought before Alexander. Alexander was impressed by her dignified presence. He remembered that her brother had fought with Alexander's father. Alexander ordered that Timoclia be released and go unpunished.

References to the Play

Wiggins holds that there may have been a public performance of this play 'by Leicester's Men on or after Wednesday 24 December 1578' on the basis of a Privy Council directive to the Lord Mayor of London, Richard Pype, that instructed him 'to allow public performances by the companies selected to give court performances that Christmas' (Wiggins, sn 655). See also Dasent, 1577-8, Vol X, 436.

The Revels accounts list the play as 'A pastoral or history of A Greeke maid,' noting that it was show at Richmond on the Sunday next after New Year's day (4 January), by Leicester's Men (Feuillerat 286). Sibley holds that the 1578 reference to 'plaies presented' by the 'Children of Poules' in the Acts of the Privy Council to a payment to Leicester's Men (Dasent, Vol. XI, 21) is a reference to this play (Sibley 68).

Critical Commentary

In the first volume of 'Elizabethan Drama: 1558 to 1642', Felix E. Schelling remarks that this play 'may not impossibly have been on the subject of Mahomet and Hiren the Fair Greek, a later popular play of of Peele's' (118).

For What It's Worth

Painter claims that he drew the story from Plutarch's De claris mulieribus. He seems to be confusing Plutarch with Boccaccio, who wrote on the lives of famous women. However, the story of the rape of Timoclea is included in Plutarch's life of Alexander the Great.

Works Cited

Dasent, Volume X and Volume XI.

Feuillerat, Albert. Revels. Internet Archive.

Harbage, Alfred, Annals.

North, Thomas (Trans.). The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, compared together by that grave learned philosopher and historiographer, Plutarch of Chæronea (London: Thomas Vautroullier,1579). EEBO-TCP (text only). STC (2nd ed.), 20065.

Painter, William. The Second Tome of the Palace of Pleasure. (London: Nicholas England, 1567). EEBO-TCP (text only). STC (2nd ed.), 19124.

Schelling, Felix E. Elizabethan Drama: 1558 to 1642, vol. 1 (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1908). Internet Archive.

Wiggins, Volume II.

Site created and maintained by Thomas Dabbs, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo; updated 19 July 2016.