Literary accounts of temporary theaters indicate that they could be quite elaborate. The ancient sources concur that the delay in constructing a permanent theater was due to active senatorial opposition, although the possible reasons for this resistance (concern for Roman morality, fear of popular sedition, competition among the elite) remain a subject of debate. Until 55 B.C., there was no permanent theater in the city of Rome, and plays were staged in temporary, wooden structures, intended to stand for a few weeks at most. Temple dedications, military triumphs, and aristocratic funerals also provided opportunities for scenic performances. The principal occasions for dramatic spectacles in the Roman world were yearly religious festivals, or ludi, organized by elected magistrates and funded from the state treasury. During the imperial period, the most popular forms of theatrical entertainment were mime (ribald comic productions with sensational plots and sexual innuendo) and pantomime (performances by solo dancers with choral accompaniment, usually re-creating tragic myths). After the second century B.C., the composition of both tragedy and comedy declined precipitously at Rome. While some examples of the genre treated stories from Greek myth, others were concerned with famous episodes from Roman history.

Latin tragedy also flourished during the second century B.C. 205–184 B.C.), which were principally adaptations of Greek New Comedy. The earliest Latin plays to have survived intact are the comedies of Plautus (active ca. In 240 B.C., full-length, scripted plays were introduced to Rome by the playwright Livius Andronicus, a native of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italy. The literary record also indicates that Atellanae, a form of native Italic farce (much like the phlyakes of southern Italy), were performed at Rome by a relatively early date.

As a whole, this pervasive culture of spectacle served both as a vehicle for self-advertisement by the sociopolitical elite and as a means of reinforcing the shared values and institutions of the entire community.Īccording to the ancient historian Livy, the earliest theatrical activity at Rome took the form of dances with musical accompaniment, introduced to the city by the Etruscans in 364 B.C. Others were held in purpose-built spectator buildings: theaters for plays and other scenic entertainment, amphitheaters for gladiatorial combats and wild beast shows, stadia for athletic competitions, and circuses for chariot races ( 59.11.14).

Some forms of spectacle-triumphal processions, aristocratic funerals, and public banquets, for example-took as their backdrop the city itself. Spectacle was an integral part of life in the Roman world.

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