Titus Quinctius Atta (died 77 BC) was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
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 Cassius to find out what had happened to the legions commanded by Marcus Junius Bru ...
and
Afranius, was distinguished as a writer of ''
fabulae togatae'', national comedies.
Works
He had the reputation of being a vivid delineator of character, especially female. He also seems to have published a collection of
epigrams.
The scanty fragments contain many archaisms, but are lively in style. According to
Horace (''Epistles'', ii 1. 79), the plays of Atta were still put on the stage in his lifetime.
Surviving titles and fragments
We only have the titles (and associated fragments) of twelve of Atta's plays.
References
Attribution:
* Endnotes:
**
Aulus Gellius vii. 9
**Fragments in Neukirch, ''De fabula togata 18 manorum'' (1833)
**
Otto Ribbeck, ''Comicorum Latinorum reliquiae'' (1855).
Old Latin-language writers
Ancient Roman writers
Ancient Roman comic dramatists
77 BC deaths
Year of birth unknown
1st-century BC Romans
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