February 19th, 2010 Ancient Comedy and Tragedy of Rome
One of the great things about Rome is its history and significance throughout the centuries. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and certainly ranks among the oldest in the Western world. There are various aspects of the city and society that are reflected in this though it is extremely easy to see in the architecture and art, which represents the greatest artists and architects in world through various time periods. Another historical aspect of Rome that is often extremely enticing to tourists is the dramatic and theatrical history that is associated with it. Seeing one of the ancient Roman plays live and in the city is a great experience for many of the guests in hotels in Rome. And while the ancient works of the Greek and Roman playwrights are often confused and combined into one period and genre, they are in fact two distinct periods of culture and drama, though it is true that Rome borrowed many of the stories and plays from the Greeks, this is a fundamental aspect of all societies throughout history. And there is now denying that the Romans made the theatre and mythology of the time all their own, regardless of where some of the stories may have originated.
One of the signifying differences between Greek and Roman tragedy is the fact that the Greeks did not display major violence on the stage and the Romans loved it. The gruesome details of some of the gory events in Greek plays would occur offstage while the Romans would bring it on in full force. This is a sensational difference that may intrigue some of the audience members at a contemporary performance. And while productions can and will do whatever they want, you can be relatively sure you’ll see more gore from a Roman play than from a Greek. Seneca and Plautus are the two most well known of the Roman playwrights though they were working and living centuries apart. Plautus is well known for his comedies and is believed to have lived between 254 and 184 BC while Seneca is know more for his tragedies and was working much later and in a different social and political environment in the first century AD.
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