Towards a Grammar of Roman and Neo-Latin Drama

A Tool for Analyzing Latin Drama from First-, Fourteenth-, and Fifteenth-Century Italy

Series: 

Author:
Thomas D. Kohn
This monograph adapts terms and concepts from linguistics, structuralism and semiotics to develop a grammar for the ten extant, complete dramas from first-century Rome and five Humanist plays from Renaissance Italy. In a language, letters combine to form words, which create sentences, paragraphs and so on. This book posits that there is a similar structure to dramatic texts, and explores the way basic elements (i.e., performers, roles, the stage, actions, mental states and effects) combine into figures and stage business, which then form scenes, acts and plays. The study uncovers patterns within the structure, as well as changes in these patterns, which reveal insights into, not what story the playwright is telling, but how he goes about telling it.
Much of this work depends upon the methods and results of The Dramaturgy of Senecan Tragedy (Ann Arbor: 2013), which sought out elements of stagecraft and poetics in the plays attributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca. A series of appendices apply these same methods to the pseudo-Senecan Hercules Oetaeus and Octavia, as well as the plays composed in the Tre- and Quattrocento.
Copyright Year:
2026
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73284-1
Publication:
08 Dec 2025
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73283-4
Publication:
18 Dec 2025
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Thomas D. Kohn, (PhD, University of Minnesota, 2001) is Associate Professor of Classics, Greek and Latin at Wayne State University. He has published articles on Senecan tragedy, ancient theatre and Roman poetry, as well as The Dramaturgy of Senecan Tragedy (UMich, 2013).
Preface
List of Tables and Diagrams

1 General Introduction
 A The Basics
 B Performance
 C How to Read Ancient and Renaissance Playscripts

2 A Grammar for Senecan Drama
 A Introduction
 B Phonemes
 C Morphemes
 D Semantamemes
 E Actamemes
 F Dramamemes
 G Beyond Dramamemes (Corporamemes??)

3 A Grammar for Post-Senecan Drama of the First Century CE
 A Introduction
 B Hercules Oetaeus
 C Octavia
 D Corporamemes

4 A Grammar for Neo-Latin Drama
 A Introduction
 B Phonemes
 C Morphemes
 D Semantamemes, Actamemes and Dramamemes
 E Corporamemes

Postscript

Appendix A: Hercules Oetaeus and the Histriones
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix B: Octavia in the Orchestra
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix C: Ecerinis and the Exostra
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix D: Achiles and the Audience
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix E: Progne on the Proscenium
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix F: Hyempsal as Historical Drama
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix G: Fernandus Servatus and the Scaenae Frons
 A Introduction
 B The Structure, Persona Distribution and Settings
 C Dramaturgical Issues
Appendix H: Mask Assignments for Roman Drama
Appendix I: Meters of Neo-Latin Choral Passages
Works Cited
Index
Students (advanced undergrad and post-graduate) and scholars of ancient theatre as well as theatre practioners, academic institutions, and university libraries. Keywords: Lucius (L.) Annaeus Seneca; ancient tragedy; historical drama; fabulae praetextae; Albertino Mussato; Ecerinis; Antonio Loschi; Achilles (Achiles); Gregorio Correr; Procne (Progne); Leonardo Dati; Hiempsal (Hyempsal); Marcelinno Verardi; Ferdinand Preserved; Hercules Oetaus; Octavia; Renaissance drama; Tre- and Quattrocento; Agamemenon; Oedipus; Phaedra; Medea; Hercules Furens (Mad Hercules); Trojan Women (Troades); Phoenician Women (Phoenissae); Thyestes.
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