Ancient Rome in the Movies --
development of performance and "A Funny thing...."
Where does theater start?
first known "theatrical" events (i.e., performance in
front of an audience) were the dithyramboi of
ancient Greece, choral songs in honor of the wind god
Dionysus. The form was known at least as early as
the 7th century BC. According to accounts, groups of
fifty men, costumed and masked as goats or satyrs (with
genitals exposed) would perform a dance and chant routine
in front of a Dionysus temple and surrounded by men and
women of the town. A lot of drinking an ad hoc
sex (with women audience members as well as with each
other) was involved.
didn't take long before purpose built structures came into
use as venues for performances, and these developed into
recognizable ancient "Greek theaters".
In ancient Greece performances were always associated with
Dionysus: The thymele was a sacrificial alter to
the god and, initially, all the action (the performance,
i.e., the chant and dance, by the chorus) took place in
the orchestra. The skene represented
the Dionysian temple. Later, first a single "actor"
(who had started out as the leader of the chorus) mounted
the stage and the performance became antiphonal. A
second actor and then more were added on the stage, and
the choral singing/chanting became a commentary on the
stage action. When the skene became monumental, a
separate Dionysus temple was retained, usually behind the
The theater art form was called
"tragedy", from Greek tragoidia, apparently from
tragos (goat, reason not really explained but most
likely related to Dionysus) and Greek oide (song
"Greek" theaters were always open-air and built into a
bowl shaped hillside and retained the circular orchestra
and thymele. The prototype Greek theater was
the Theater of Dionysus in Athens. Later "Roman"
theaters had semi-circular orchestras and all the action
took place on the raised stage.
A smaller type of venue, roofed and enclosed, later
developed for the singing of odes. A single
performer, the composer of the ode, would accompany
himself (with a lyre) in the unlighted hall.
there was no action -- that was left to the imagination of
the audience members.
The roof of the Herodes Atticus Odeon in Athens
did not survive. Even though it is the "smaller"
venue, it seats about 5000.
The four most famous ancient Greek dramatists
Theater in ancient Greece, and later in Rome, was
competitive -- prizes were awarded in the annual contests
-- for the best or most acclaimed tragedies and
The word comedy comes from Greek komoidia, from komoidos,
a comic poet, from komos, revel and aoidos,
singer. Comedies were shorter performances and came
in two phases, the first of which, "old comedy" is best
represented by Aristophanes, some of whose comedies were
so well liked that they were preserved and are still
performed both in ancient Greek and in translation.
Roman theaters, which were free standing structures,
developed from Greek theaters and were hallmarks of Roman
cities throughout the Roman world.
There were three stone theaters in Rome itself.
There had been earlier theaters in the city, but they were
wooden structures, which were erected for specific events
(ludi, usually translated as "games" but really
meaning contests -- they were held in conjunction with
gladiatorial ludi). After the ludi finished
the wooden theater would be dismantled. It appears
that the Romans initially thought that permanent stone
theaters would somehow defile the pomerium, the
area within Rome's sacred boundary.
Pompey Magnus overcame that superstition by pretending
that his theater in the Campus Martius was a
temple of Venus with curved steps (actually a theater cavea
or seating area).
Greek theaters usually had openings in the skene
and a good view of the sea or a broad valley over the top
of the skene. Roman theaters often were
built in urban areas with little opportunity for scenic
views. (Note the use of the word "scenic" in that sentence
-- a "scenic view" was originally the view through the
openings of the skene or over the top of the skene
of a Greek theater.)
Roman theaters usually had a rectangular area (porticus)
behind the skene where the audience could take a
break during or between productions to buy food or relieve
themselves -- theater ludi were all day
affairs. At the far end of the rectangular area
there would be a meeting hall (curia).
The curia at the end of the Theater of Pompey was
where Julius Caesar was assassinated. The old curia
in the forum had been destroyed by fire in a riot and its
replacement, the new Curia Julia (funded by Julius Caesar)
was not yet finished.
Our course and the first flick
The Broadway Playbill:
The movie poster:
Both the Broadway musical comedy and the movie that
followed it starred Zero Mostel as Pseudolus the scheming
slave. Both productions were derived from three
The ultimate source of "A Funny Thing ..." was
the second phase of ancient Greek comedy ("New Comedy"),
which was best exemplified by Menander. The "Old
Comedy" of Aristophanes was aimed at the powers-that-be of
Athens and at current events -- think of Will Rogers or of
late night TV comedians of today ridiculing
politicians. "New Comedy" was more generic and
featured stock characters in life situations
(sitcoms?). No complete Greek "New Comedies" have
been found, but we know of them from contemporary
descriptions and excerpts and from Roman adaptations,
especially those by a Roman playwright/actor from about
200 BC called Plautus, several of which survive and are
A funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a
pastiche of three Plautine (= the word used to describe
the plays of Plautus and of his genre) plays:
Pseudolus about the machinations of a slave trying to get
free; Miles Gloriosus about a bragart soldier; and
Mostelleria about a haunted house.
The modern adaptation of the thee Plautine plays: