When Actors Mixed Politics and Comedy in Ancient Rome

[Viggen]

Interessting article;

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.

Laughter was one way to challenge authority, but it could also mean risking your life...

via Smithsonian