Fabula Togata

Fabula togata "the toga-clad stories" refers to a type of ancient Italian comedy. Livius Andronicus was the first to translate Greek plays into Latin. The tradition developed into the fabula togata and the fabula palliata, the latter most famously in the hands of Plautus. The word palliata refers to the costume, which was Greek. The setting and social customs of the palliata type comedy was also Greek. Much of this was alien to the Italian audiences, and the fabula palliata dwindled in popularity. By the second half of the second century B.C., the fabula palliata had given way to comedy with native themes, characters, and plots, the fabula togata, again, named for the actors' costumes, since the Romans were the toga-clad people.

One type of toga-clad story was the fabula tabernaria, named for the tavern where the comedy's preferred characters, low-lifes might be found. One depicting more middle-class types, and continuing the Roman clothing theme, was the fabula trabeata.

• Roman Theater - Types of Performances in Roman Theaters
• Toga - Types of Roman Togas

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}
• _{The making of Theatre History, by Paul Kuritz}