Gaertner, Jan Felix (2015). PACUVIUS COMIC? Hermes-Z. Klass. Philol., 143 (1). S. 24 - 57. STUTTGART: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG GMBH. ISSN 0018-0777

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Abstract

Pacuvius is generally regarded as the first Roman playwright who only wrote tragedies; fragments transmitted without an indication of title or context are commonly attributed to tragedies, and ancient references to comedies are discarded as unreliable. The present paper questions this consensus. It first raises several methodological objections (section 1) and then examines two quotations preserved by Fulgentius, demonstrating that these comic fragments are unlikely to be forgeries because they comply with the rules of early Latin metre and the motivic and linguistic conventions of Roman comedy (section 2). Section 3 shows that several fragments which have previously been attributed to tragedies do not fit the contexts to which they have been assigned; they have much closer parallels in New Comedy and are likely to come from comoediae palliatae. The observations in sections 1-3 corroborate each other and have three wider consequences which are discussed in section 4: first, Pacuvius was probably more faithful to his Greek models than is currently thought; secondly, the 'specialization' in serious drama started one generation later with Accius and Titius; thirdly, the common practice of organizing the fragments of early Roman poetry according to genre is problematic because many fragments would suit both a tragic and a comic context.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Gaertner, Jan FelixUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-417858
Journal or Publication Title: Hermes-Z. Klass. Philol.
Volume: 143
Number: 1
Page Range: S. 24 - 57
Date: 2015
Publisher: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG GMBH
Place of Publication: STUTTGART
ISSN: 0018-0777
Language: German
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 2: Archäologie, Altertumskunde und Kulturen des Mittelmeerraums > Institut für Altertumskunde
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
ClassicsMultiple languages
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/41785

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