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240 BCE
Greek Theatre translating to Rome
Rome expanded and then owned several Greek areas. By this time, Romans had become familiar with Greek theatre. Then come over 100 festivals to Rome that were centered around theatre. Festivals at this time were held to honor the gods. Romans utilized a lot of Greek theatre ideas in their own theatre performances, attempting to improve upon them. Romans also started to use circus like acts in their performances. There were similar costumes and stage settings used as Greek Theatre. -
240 BCE
Livius Andronicus
Playwright Livius Andronicus was the first to introduce full scripts to the Roman world. Livius came from the Greek world, brining over a lot of insight from the arts there. He is believed to have brought to Rome the 2 most famous genres at the time: tragedy and comedy. -
62 BCE
Quintus Roscius
Roscius was famous during his time for acting in comedies and tragedies, while he preferred to perform in comedies and is most famous for doing so. Roscius was known as an incredible actor and became very wealthy from doing so. There were said to be times where he chose not to charge for his performances, but it is also stated that he may have attempted to hide his wealth by investing, etc. He went on to pass away in 62BC. -
55 BCE
Theatre of Pompey
Until 55 BC, there was no permanent theatre space in Rome. Entertainment of this nature was performed in temporary wooden structures. The Theatre of Pompey was the first permanent theatre, that was very large in size. The building was different in many ways from the Greek theatres, which was unique as the Roman theatre world utilized a lot of techniques in the arts from the Greeks. The theatre held 20,000 viewers. Almost nothing is left standing today from the original structure. -
15 BCE
Ars Poetica
Ars Poetica, a guide written by Horace for playwrights and poets. Horace wished to show that unity within the writings/play provides more believability within it. He expressed that time and place shall match as well as genres within the play. This guide was helpful to many and he expressed the importance of always keeping your audience in mind while writing. -
65
Seneca
Seneca learned and adapted play styles from Greek. Seneca was the most famous playwright in ancient Rome for tragedy. Seneca was very stoic and lived and also died following his principals. During his time, he was an advisor and tutor to a roman emperor, Nero. At the end of his life, Seneca was forced to commit suicide due to being accused to helping to plan the emperor's death, which he did not do. He was born in 4BC and lived until he committed suicide on 65AD. -
72
The Colosseum
The construction of the Colosseum started in 72 AD and ended in 80 AD and was built as the largest amphitheater in the Roman world. The theatre had many different types of shows including animal fights, gladiator combats, hunts and many other different types of acts. The Colosseum was freestanding and built of concrete and stone. -
100
The Zliten Mosaic
During the second century, The Zliten Mosaic was created. It was discovered by an archeologist in 1913 and shows art of gladiators, animal hunting and events of day-to-day activities. The Zliten Mosaic relates to theatre because in this time period active gladiator fights and hunting were very much a part of the entertainment and part of the theatre performances. -
130
The Menaechmi
The Menaechmi was written by famous playwright, Plautus. Plautus specialized in comedy during this era. This was one of his more popular comedies out of the over 100 plays we know that Plautus wrote. Some of Shakespeare's works were inspired by Plautus. The script is regarding a story of two long lost twin brothers who have different lives and after much confusion, meet in person. -
527
Emperor Justinian Attempts to Ban Theatre
Justinian rose to power as an emperor in 527 AD. Though he did many great things for the empire, he then attempted to abolish theatre permanently due the church beliefs and his following in Christ. The church at this time, believed that theatre originated from religions that did not believe in Christianity and therefore, tainted it. His try to ban theatre was not fully successful as the theatre art continued afterwords.