“Atellana” Actors and Playwrights in the Epigraphic Evidence

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This contribution provides a study of the “fabula Atellana” from an epigraphic perspective. It brings together the existing inscriptions related to this dramatic genre, explaining the challenges that one faces when trying to identify possible “Atellana” actors. It also examines the status of “Atellana” performers and playwrights, contrasting the information provided by literary sources, especially Livy, with the data obtained from inscriptions, which indicate an increasing professionalization of “Atellana” actors in the first century A.D. Finally, this article poses some questions concerning the development, continuity and geographical diffusion of Atellan comedy in the Imperial era in the light of the epigraphic material and also in comparison with the evidence available for other popular shows, specifically mime and pantomime, which suggests that by the second century A.D. the “Atellana” was no longer performed on public stages but was rather represented in private settings and studied for its linguistic and rhetorical peculiarities.