CLA 2145 Final: Comedy PaperFinal.docx

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLA 2145
• Professor: All

Document Summary

When investigating the ancestral roots of greek comedy, we find ourselves inquiring about the origins of the artistic form of drama itself. This is a natural inference since it is widely accepted that theatrical drama is native to ancient greece. However, drama has much earlier roots in prehistoric tribal rites and ritual dances which can be traced to enumerable places and peoples (lever 1). This begs the question, is tribal cult, then, the origin of acting and thus of drama? (1). However alluring such questions are, they are beyond the scope of this essay. From the inception of greek comedy through its variable forms it came into the hands of the romans as a depoliticized, farcical and commodified form of entertainment. The transition from its ancestral form to unique. Roman adaptation can be shown by comparing the most influential contributors from both greek and roman comedy, focusing on new comedy as the form that was adapted by rome.