Cultural negotiations and the fabula togata
By: by Jarrett Tyler Welsh
Published: 2009
Language: eng
Number of pages: 213
Description: Roman audiences in the second and early first centuries BC could watch comedies of Titinius, Afranius, and Atta, set in Rome or Latium Adiectum. These comedies, the fabulae togatae , were distinguished from the fabulae palliatae by this change in setting, which also incorporated important ideological differences. This thesis explores the ramifications of setting domestic comedies in Italian towns, and argues that these comedies offered one way of defining and reacting to ideals about Roman identity. The first chapter examines the problems and possibilities inherent in reconstructing cultural history from fragments. The togata reveals very little about precise moments of cultural change, but corroborates and expands upon the ongoing processes of cultural definition. Chapter 2 discusses the togata as a genre, setting on surer footing what is known about its authors, their chronology, the plays, and their cultural contexts. The second part of the thesis examines attitudes revealed in the fragments about core issues of individual and family self-definition, to show how these comedies reflected and participated in public debates about these issues. Three chapters trace these themes in individual plays. Chapter 3 discusses attitudes and ideals about individual behavior and decorum. It examines concerns about speech, clothing, and demeanor to show how these external characteristics were taken to reflect individual character; attempts to correct errant behavior show how the togata participated in negotiations of appropriate Roman behavior.

Chapter 4 examines marriage, divorce, and remarriage, showing that they were acceptable processes on the togate stage (in contrast with the palliata , where divorce was a taboo). Chapter 5 tracks the effects of this widened scope by investigating family relationships; in-laws, step-children, and other extended familial relationships receive greater attention in the togata than they did in the palliata , and seem to reflect concern over the obligations that attend those connections. The final chapter offers observations about the relationship between comedy and contemporary cultural debates. It argues that the togata was different from the palliata in important ways that suggests much about the way we can read comedy and history together.
Notes: "May 2009."

Thesis (Ph.D., Dept. of Classics)--Harvard University, 2009.

Includes bibliographical references.