Anthony Browne Roman Drama 11/7/12 The Organization and Business of Theater

• and their magistrates 1. In 367/6 BCE, the organization of festivals (cura ludorum) passed to the new office of two curule , which patricians only held at first, but then plebeians could hold this office. Consuls presided over the games (praesidium ludorum; Manuwald 42). 2. Annual Republican Ludi Organizing official Festival Curule Aediles and Ludi Megalenses Plebian Aediles , Ludi Ceriales, and Ludi Florales Urbanus Ludi Apollinares

3. Ludi Votivi A source of tension between the state and the generals, who had vowed the games, appeared in two ways: if the general or his accomplishments had the merit of ludi and the questions of financial matters. It seems that the state did not want the games to be purely an advertisement for the victorious general. The state subsidized the cost of the games, with the general funding the remaining costs. 4. Augustus and later Under Augustus and later, the became responsible for the organization of the ludi, not the aediles. 5. Political impact -“In the middle Republic expenditure on games was not such an essential factor for the standing of public figures as often assumed. It had, however, become an important event in the late Republic . . . Even if still not directly relevant to a political career, lavish and magnificent games seem to have been a significant element in ensuring a nobleman’s standing and to have been expected from magistrates.” (Manuwald 50). -Over time, the senate passed rules that limited the excesses of the games and to prevent candidates for political offices from using games to win the people’s favor (Manuwald 51). - These new rules proved to be ineffective, as lavish and magnificent games continued to be performed such as the ludi victoriae (Sullanae), ludi victoriae Caesaris, and the games at the inauguration of Pompey’s theater. • The guild of the scribae and histriones 1. Genesis

-The State had Livius Andronicus compose a hymn for maidens in the hopes that the hymn would help the Romans win the battle of Metaurus in 207. The victorious Romans rewarded Andronicus with “a public declaration that authorized the establishment of a guild of writers and actors, with a locus in the Aventine temple of Minerva and the right to assemble and make offerings.” (Gruen 1990, 87). -Though no evidence exists for this type of organization among writers and actors before this event, some framework surely existed. 2. The Collegium poetarum - Later evidence says that the collegium poetarum met at the temple of Hercules of the Muses in the Campus Martius. Accius was a member. -What was the relationship between this guild and the collegium poetarum? Some believe that the collegium poetarum was the successor to the guild, others think that they are the same organization but simply the meeting place changed. 3. Greek antecedents -The Greeks had technitai that surely were present in Sicily and southern Italy, but these were under the auspices of Dionysus, not Minerva. • Putting on a play 1. Impresario/actor-the actor-manager, who functioned as a producer, manager, and director. 2. Aediles-responsible for the funding of the games, purchased plays from the writers (though sometimes the impresario acted as a middle-man). In later times, the aediles used their own money in addition to state funds to fund the games. They were responsible for constructing the temporary theatres for the plays. 3. Choragus-was in charge of costumes for the actors and other particular jobs. • Terence’s prologues 1. Ille ad famem hunc a studio studuit reicere. (Phormio 18)

He (Luscius of Lanuvium) devoted himself to drive our poet from his zeal to hunger.

2. Et is qui scripsit hanc ob eam rem noluit Iterum referre ut iterum posset vendere. (Hecyra 7-8)

And he, who wrote this play, did not want to bring it forth again so that he would Be able to sell it again.

3. Nunc acturi sumus Menandri Eunuchum, postquam aediles emerunt . . . (Eunuchus 19-20)

Now we are about to act the Eunuchus of Menander, After the aediles have bought it . . .

• Actors and writers 1. Social status - The low social standard of actors happens mainly in the imperial period but during the Republic actors were not held in great esteem - In the Empire, actors were professional and either slaves or at best freedmen. In the Republic, actors were mainly foreigners. - That actors were organized in a group under a dominus suggests that their status was not that far removed from the status of a slave. - There are references to prizes awarded to companies or individual actors (Beare 169-171). - Some actors like Q. Roscius Gallus and Coldius Aesopus became famous stars and earned a fortune (Cic. Q Rosc. 17). 2. As a job - Andronicus worked as a school teacher to help make ends meet. - Plautus likely was an actor as well as a writer. - The system of patronage helped several dramatists make ends meet. - Terence’s Eunuchus won him an unprecedented sum of money (Manuwald 95).

Bibliography

Arnott, William Geoffrey. 2000. “Stage business in Menander's Samia.” Skenika. Beiträge zum antiken Theater und seiner Rezeption 65, pp.113-24.

Beare, W. 1964. The Roman Stage: A short history of Latin Drama in the time of the Republic. London: Methuen & Co.

Csapo, E. and Slater, W.J. 1995. The Context of Ancient Drama. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Dodge, Hazel. 1999. “Amusing the masses: buildings for the entertainment and leisure in the Roman world.” Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire, pp. 205-55.

Garton, Charles. 1972. Personal Aspects of the Roman Theatre. Toronto: A. M. Hakkert Ltd.

Gruen, Erich. 1990. Studies in Greek Culture and Roman Policy. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Gruen, Erich. 1992. Culture and National Identity in Republican Rome. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Gilula, D. 1989. “How Rich was Terence?” Scripta Classica Israelica 8-9, pp. 74-8.

Jory, J. E. 1970. “Associations of Actors in Rome.” Hermes, 98, pp. 224-53.

Manuwald, Gesine. 2011. Roman Republican Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Slater, J. W. 2005. “Mimes and ‘Mancipes.” Phoenix, 59, pp. 316-23.

Walton, Michael J. 2007. “Chapter 15: Commodity: asking the wrong questions.” The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theater. Ed. Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.