Anicius vortit barbare

This chapter examines the victory games ofered by the Roman imperator L. Anicius Gallus as a reflection of performance aesthetics for theatrical ludi . Anicius’ spectacle celebrates a Plautine aesthetic by subjecting Greek modes and performers to the whims of Roman adaptors and spectators. Like Plautus, Anicius crowds his stage with a boisterous conflation of Greek and Roman elements. Anicius probably presented his spectacle on the Quirinalia, a Feast of Fools that could inspire and authorize the mayhem. Our account of Anicius’ games only survives through the Greek gaze of Polybius and a subsequent filter of Athenaeus. Polybius, blinkered by “inappropriate expectations,” condemns the show as an embarrassing debacle, and critical reception has often adopted his perspective in considering them “a paradigm of Roman boorishness.” Terence might have agreed, for his plays represent an attenuating reaction to the bombastic Plautine and Anician adaptations of Greek theatrical culture. Keywords:aesthetics; Greek; L. Anicius Gallus; Plautus; Roman performers

Aesthetics · Ancient Greek · Art · Crowds · Literature · Spectacle · Victory · Classical Antiquity Studies · Computer Science · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

• Theatre and Metatheatre

  Open Access•Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, Elodie Paillard et al.•Theatre and Metatheatre•2021

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