Atellan Farce

Atellan Farce

The Atellan Farce ( _la. Atellanae fabulae "or" fabulae Atellanae, "Atellan fables"), also known as the Oscan Games ( _la. ludi Osci, "Oscan plays"), were a collection of theatrical pieces of low or buffoonish comedy popular in Ancient Rome. Named after Atella, an Oscan town in Campania, where they were invented, they were originally written in Oscan and imported into Rome in 391 BC. In later Roman versions, only the ridiculous characters read their lines in Oscan, while the others used Latin.

Played by young men of good family, the stock characters included:

*Macchus (a Pulcinella-type figure)
*Bucco (the fat man)
*Manducus (the glutton)
*Sannio (a Harlequin-type figure)
*Pappus (an old man)

These later formed the basis for characters of the Commedia Dell'Arte, as well as Punch and Judy. Largely improvised, the Atellan Farce was performed after tragedies and represented the habits of the lower classes (as the upper classes saw them).

In regard to authorship, it is believed that the dictator Sulla wrote some; Quintus Novius, who flourished 50 years after the abdication of Sulla, wrote some fifty Atellan Fables, including "Macchus Exsul" ("Exiled Macchus"), "Gallinaria" ("The Henhouse"), "Surdus" ("The Deaf One"), "Vindemiatores" ("The Harvesters"), and "Parcus" (“The Treasurer”).

Lucius Pomponius, of Bologna, is known to have composed a few, including "Macchus Miles" ("Macchus the Soldier"), "Pytho Gorgonius", "Pseudoagamemnon", "Bucco Adoptatus", and "Aeditumus". Fabius Dorsennus and a "Memmius" were also authors of these comedies; Ovid and Pliny the Younger found the work of Memmius to be indecent.

uggested readings

*Fragments of the Atellan Fables can be found in the " _la. Poetarum latinorum scen. fragmenta", Leipzig, 1834
* Maurice Meyer, " _fr. Sur les Atellanes"; Manheim, 1826, in-8°;
* C. E. Schober, " _de. Über die Atellanen", Leipzig, 1825, in-8°;
*M. Meyer, " _fr. Etudes sur le théâtre latin", Paris, 1847, in-8°.

The works of Pomponius and Novius can be found in
* Otto Ribbeck, " _la. Comicorum Romanorum praeter Plautum et Terentium Fragmenta"
* Munk, " _la. De Fabulis Atellanis" (1840).

ources

*fr icon [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/livres/meyer/un.htm#82 Meyer, Maurice, “Études sur le théâtre latin”]
*fr icon [http://www.cosmovisions.com/textAtellanes.htm Imago Mundi -Atellanes]

ee also

*Improvisational comedy
*Improvisational theatre
*Roman Theatre


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Stock character — A stock character is one which relies heavily on cultural types or names for his or her personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes, but they are often… …   Wikipedia

  • Phlyax play — A Phlyax play ( gr. , also phlyakes, or hilarotragedy) was a burlesque dramatic form that developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the 4th century BCE. Its name derives from the Phlyakes or “Gossip Players” in Dorian Greek. From the… …   Wikipedia

  • Plautus — For the Roman noble, see Rubellius Plautus. Plautus Born c. 254 BC Sarsina, Umbria Died 184 BC Rome …   Wikipedia

  • Improvisational theatre — (also known as improv or impro) is a form of theatre in which the actors use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously. Actors typically use audience suggestions to guide the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot …   Wikipedia

  • Osci — Populi of the Italian peninsula in the early Iron Age:   Ligures …   Wikipedia

  • Dorsennus — Fabius Dorsennus (also spelled Dossennus or Dossenus) was a thespian and author of Atellan Farce in Ancient Rome, known for his careless performances. Description There is some confusion regarding this figure from ancient Roman theater. In one of …   Wikipedia

  • theatre, Western — ▪ art Introduction       history of the Western theatre from its origins in pre Classical antiquity to the present.       For a discussion of drama as a literary form, see dramatic literature and the articles on individual national literatures.… …   Universalium

  • fabula Atellana — ▪ Italian drama       (Latin: “Atellan play”), the earliest native Italian farce, presumably rustic improvisational comedy featuring masked stock characters. The farces derived their name from the town of Atella in the Campania region of southern …   Universalium

  • commedia dell'arte — /keuh may dee euh del ahr tee/; It. /kawm me dyah del lahrdd te/, pl. commedia dell artes, commedias dell arte, It. commedie dell arte /kawm me dye del lahrdd te/. Italian popular comedy, developed chiefly during the 16th 18th centuries, in which …   Universalium

  • Plautus — /plaw teuhs/, n. Titus Maccius /tuy teuhs mak see euhs/, c254 c184 B.C., Roman dramatist. * * * born с 254, Sarsina, Umbria? died 184 BC Roman comic playwright. Little is known for certain about his life, but tradition holds that he was… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”