The ''praetexta'' or ''fabula praetexta'' was a genre of Latin
tragedy
A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...
introduced at Rome by
Gnaeus Naevius in the third century BC. It dealt with historical Roman figures, in place of the conventional
Greek myths. Subsequent writers of ''praetextae'' included
Ennius,
Pacuvius and
Lucius Accius. The name refers to the ''
toga praetexta'', purple striped, that was the official dress of Roman magistrates and priests. It was mainly a Roman garment. The ''toga praetexta'' was also worn by Roman freeborn girls before they came of age.
All
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...
an tragedies are now lost. From the
Imperial era only one play has survived, the
''Octavia''.
See also
*''
Fabula atellana''
*''
Fabula crepidata''
*''
Fabula palliata
''Fabula palliata'' is a genre of Theatre of ancient Rome, Roman drama that consists largely of Romanized versions of Theatre of ancient Greece, Greek plays.''OCD'', sv. palliata The name ''palliata'' comes from ''Pallium (Roman cloak), pallium'' ...
''
*''
Fabula saltata''
*''
Fabula togata''
*
Theatre of ancient Rome
The architectural form of theatre in Rome has been linked to later, more well-known examples from the 1st century BC to the 3rd Century AD. The theatre of ancient Rome referred to a period of time in which theatrical practice and performance took ...
References
Sources
* Bernhard Zimmermann and Thomas Baier "Tragedy" in: ''Brill's New Pauly'', Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider. Consulted online on 21 July 2017
Tragedy
Latin-language literature
Ancient Roman leisure
Ancient Roman theatre
History of theatre
{{theatre-hist-stub