Characters and comic situations in Roman comedy : the Atellan farce and mime

This study suggests how to examine two genres of Roman comedy, especially the preserved fragments, offering a more precise description and analysis of the comic characters in the Atellan farce and mime. For such a comparison it is important to focus on the few elements which appear throughout all the genres of Roman comedy; here, the characters and situations resulting from their interaction are examined. We should also compare all the characters that can be found in both the atellana and mimus (even the stock characters) in order to discern possible concordance between them. It is evident that in both genres the same situations are repeated and they result from the interactions between comic characters, featuring a wide variety of vulgar people. In addition to these rude folk, their failed relatives and crude work occupations are depicted in the fragments.