A ''fabula togata'' is a Latin comedy in a Roman setting, in existence since at least the second century BC.
Lucius Afranius and
Titus Quinctius Atta Titus Quinctius Atta (died 77 BC) was a Roman comedy writer, and, like Titinius Titinius was an ancient Roman soldier. He was a centurion in the army of Gaius Cassius Longinus at the battle of Phillipi. After the battle was over, he was sent by Cas ...
are known to have written ''fabulas togatas''. It is also treated as an expression that functioned as the overall description of all Roman types of drama in accordance with a distinction between Roman ''
toga
The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...
'' and ''
pallium
The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : ''pallia'') is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropol ...
''. There are recorded sources that cite how this drama could be obscene and moralistic.
By mid-second century BC the ''fabula togata'' had become one of the two types of drama that constituted a bifurcated Roman comedy along with ''
fabula palliata
''Fabula palliata'' is a genre of Roman drama that consists largely of Romanized versions of Greek plays.''OCD'', sv. palliata The name ''palliata'' comes from ''pallium'', the Latin word for a Greek-style cloak. It is possible that the term ''fa ...
''. The ''fabula togata'' was distinguished from the ''palliata'' primarily by its use of Roman or Italian characters, transferring the comic situations of the bourgeois ''palliata'' to the lower-class citizens of the country towns of Italy.
The ''palliata'' was based on originals of Greek
New Comedy
Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyr play). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, an ...
, tragedies from
Attic sources as well as the grand dramatization of Rome's past.
In the ''togata'' the typical clothing worn by the all male actors was the ''toga'', a typically Roman dress, while the ''palliata'' took its name from the ''pallium''.
There is no existing complete ''fabula togata'' but there are surviving fragments that indicate aspects of the creative practice.
See also
*''
Fabula atellana The Atellan Farce (Latin: ''Atellanae Fabulae'' or ''Fabulae Atellanae'', "favola atellana"; ''Atellanicum exhodium'', "Atella comedies"), also known as the Oscan Games (Latin: ''ludi Osci'', "Oscan plays"), were masked improvised farces in Ancient ...
''
*''
Fabula crepidata
A ''fabula crepidata'' or ''fabula cothurnata'' is a Latin tragedy with Greek subjects. The genre probably originated in adaptations of Greek tragedy (hence the names, coming from ''crepida'' = ''sandal'' and ''cothurnus'') beginning in the early ...
''
*''
Fabula palliata
''Fabula palliata'' is a genre of Roman drama that consists largely of Romanized versions of Greek plays.''OCD'', sv. palliata The name ''palliata'' comes from ''pallium'', the Latin word for a Greek-style cloak. It is possible that the term ''fa ...
''
*''
Fabula praetexta The ''praetexta'' or ''fabula praetexta'' was a genre of Latin tragedy introduced at Rome by Gnaeus Naevius in the third century BC. It dealt with historical Roman figures, in place of the conventional Greek myths. Subsequent writers of ''praetexta ...
''
*''
Fabula saltata
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
''
*
Theatre of ancient Rome
The architectural form of theatre in Rome has been linked to later, more well-known examples from the 1st century BC to the 3rd Century AD. The theatre of ancient Rome referred to as a period of time in which theatrical practice and performance t ...
References
* Peter Lebrecht Schmidt "Togata" in: ''Brill's New Pauly'', Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider. Consulted online on 21 July 2017
Comedy
Latin-language literature
Ancient Roman theatre
History of theatre
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