Comedy in Ancient Rome could be a matter of life and death
When Actors Mixed Politics and Comedy in Ancient Rome, Laughter was one way to challenge authority, but it could also mean risking your life.
Anti-Roman sentiment may have run rampant through Asculum, a city on the Roman Empire’s Adriatic coast, but it was still no laughing matter.
Politics in the first century B.C.E., when Asculum and other Italian tribes rebelled against the Empire in what would come to be known as the Social War, were no joke. But that still didn’t stop comedians and actors from injecting politics into their performances, often at their own risk. In a story recounted by Diodorus Siculus in Library of History, a performer portrays an anti-Roman stance, only to be murdered by Roman soldiers for doing so. In the next act, a comedian announced to the crowd, “I’m not a Roman either. I travel throughout Italy searching for favors by making people laugh and giving pleasure. So spare the swallow, which the gods allow to nest safely in all your houses.” Fortunately, his request was heeded, and he survived the experiece.