Fabula Palliata

Fabula palliata refers to a type of ancient Italian comedy where the actors were dressed in Greek garments, the social conventions were Greek, and the stories, heavily influenced by Greek New Comedy. Andronicus translated Greek plays into Latin. Naevius made more of an effort to add Roman context to the comedies. Plautus interjected Roman humor and made the fabula palliata very popular, but when he died, fabula palliata lost favor. Caecilius had limited success, but after Terence, whose efforts at reviving fabula palliata had been supported by Scipio Aemilianus and his Scipionic circle, in the second half of the second century B.C., the fabula palliata gave way in popularity to fabula togata, where the actors were dressed in Roman garb.

Sources:

• _{"Crepidata, palliata, tabernaria, togata"
  W. Beare;
  The Classical Review, Vol. 53, No. 5/6 (Nov. - Dec., 1939), pp. 166-168}
• _{"Changing Fashions in Ancient Drama--II" Edna M. Hooker;
  Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Oct., 1960), pp. 143-154}
• _{"Plautus and the Fabula Atellana"
  W. Beare;
  The Classical Review, Vol. 44, No. 5 (Nov., 1930), pp. 165-168}