What are the characteristics of ancient Roman drama?

When we open the history of western art, people will have a feeling that when Greek art has reached the peak of glory, ancient Roman art is not qualified to enter the history books.

At first, it was just a primitive village on the Italian peninsula. In the 6th century BC, the Roman Republic was founded. This is a brave and belligerent country. Since the 4th century BC, they have been expanding outward. They first leveled the Italian peninsula. Then it occupied some places in North Africa, and finally conquered the whole ancient Greece in A.D. 146. This may be a historical necessity in the process of human beings, but it ended the moderns of ancient Greek art.

In fact, when Rome conquered Greece by military means, it conquered Greek art itself. It has never achieved outstanding artistic achievements like Greece, so it can only crawl forward in the dazzling brilliance of Greek art.

The influence of Greek drama on Roman drama began as early as the establishment of Roman harmony system. Around 300 BC, a little farce was popular on the Italian peninsula. Because it is said to be popular from the small village of Atra in Campania, people call it Atra farce. It is said that the Greeks once settled here, and they brought the entertainment of drama here. The basic characters in Atra's comedy are all fixed: Marcus, a stupid and rude bumpkin, Buko, a boastful diner, Pappus, a greedy and lewd money addict, and Dosenus, a sly hunchback, all of which are essential characters in the play. The performers of this drama are a group of young and lively villagers who put on masks and perform funny country stories. Bitter satire and funny ridicule are given to the current events around us, and the performances are mostly performed in an impromptu way, mixed with banter.

This parody, which was first popular in Greece, was also introduced to Rome. It is a comedy with lively form and complex content, which often includes juggling, acrobatics, martial arts and so on. The actors in this kind of drama don't wear masks, mix men and women and perform along the street. This kind of performance is vulgar, fairy tales and daily trivia can be misinterpreted and played by artists, and sometimes it is mixed with pornographic elements to attract audiences.

All the above-mentioned existing drama styles in Rome have folk spontaneity, insufficient content, imperfect form and no literary value, which reflects the embryonic state of Roman drama.

In 272 BC, after the Romans captured Tarenton, they escorted the prisoners home as usual. Among these prisoners, there was a child named Androni Cousy (about 284-204 BC), who was valued by the Romans for his intelligence. Later, he not only got rid of slavery, but also devoted himself to educating Roman children and spreading Greek art to them. In 240 BC, when the Romans celebrated the victory of the Punic War, they ordered him to adapt the Greek drama to be staged in Rome. He adapted and created many plays in his life, but unfortunately none of them have been handed down. After him, a playwright named Nevis made his mark in Rome. At first, he imitated euripides and created some tragedies. Later, he also created some plays reflecting the history and reality of Rome. Because his drama characters wear Roman official clothes, that is, robes with purple edges, this kind of drama is called "purple robe drama". Nevis is the founder of Roman historical drama.

The brilliance of ancient Greek drama was so dazzling that for a long time, ancient Roman dramatists could only look up in wonder and imitate in worship. According to historical records, there were dozens of playwrights in ancient Rome, but in the vast history, most of them were like mud and sand, and slowly disappeared. So far, only comedians Plautus and Terence, tragic writer seneca and drama theorist Horace are worth mentioning.

Plautus (about 254 BC ~ BC 184) inherited the style of new comedy and also absorbed the characteristics of Italian folk comedy. Love and marriage are his favorite themes. He is the first playwright in ancient Rome whose works have been handed down to later generations. There are 2 1 comedies handed down, such as Twin Brothers, Liar, Jintan and so on.

In Plautus's comedy Twin Brothers, a Sicilian businessman has two twin brothers at home. One of the children was stolen when he was a child, and the other went out to find his brother when he grew up. When he came to the place where his brother lived, he was taken as his husband by his brother's wife, and no one around him knew it, so he made a mistake and made one joke after another. Later, Shakespeare was interested in this comedy situation. He used the basic plot of twin brothers to create his own comedy-the wrong comedy.