Race and Slavery in Roman Comedy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23448356
AutoresMathias Hanses (0000-0003-3952-2474, autor de correspondencia)
Año2026
Páginas138-159
Fecha de publicación2026-04-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoCHAPTER
RevistaThe Cambridge Companion to Classics and Race (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/9781009295116.008
OpenAlexW7160428608
ISBN9781009295116
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas36

This chapter examines a form of racialization at Rome that declared certain non-Romans to be innately suitable to enslavement. In an instance of racecraft through stagecraft, Roman comedy contributed to the naturalisation of this noxious ideology by presenting a cast of characters whose visual appearance and social or legal status corresponds directly to predictable sets of character traits. At the same time, the enslaved and freed themselves wrote and performed Roman comedies, so the fabula palliata also pushes back in important respects against their times’ racial formations. The discussion concludes with an analysis of the life of the comic playwright Terence whose authorship of his plays was called into question because he allegedly lacked the innate ability for impressive literary production.

Character (mathematics) · Comedy · Comics · Ideology · Race (biology) · Racialization · Social life · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies