Lucius Ambivius Turpio (often referred to simply as "Turpio") was an actor, stage manager, patron, promoter and entrepreneur in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

around the time of the playwright

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

, that is, around the 2nd century BC. Formerly working with the playwright

Caecilius Statius Statius Caecilius, also known as Caecilius Statius (; c. 220 BC – c. 166 BC), was a Roman comic poet. Life and work A contemporary and intimate friend of Ennius, according to tradition he was born in the territory of the Insubrian Ga ...

, and already known as a promoter of contemporary comic writers, Turpio moved on to serve as the producer and lead actor in most if not all of Terence's plays.

Career

In some ways, Turpio served as Terence's metatheatrical mouthpiece on stage. In several of his plays Terence began with a prologue to the audience explaining his method of playwriting, ostensibly spoken by an actor in a manner suggesting a close relationship with the playwright. In at least two plays—'' Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor)'' and '' Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)''—this speaker in the prologue explicitly identifies himself as Turpio. The general scholarly opinion is that it was Turpio who purchased all of Terence's pieces after they were put up for sale, and his acting troupe that was the primary performer of most of Terence's works.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turpio, Lucius Ambivius 2nd-century BC Romans Ancient Roman actors Ancient Roman theatre practitioners Ancient Roman businesspeople