Rome had instituted a new spring festival called Floralia; the
celebrations included horse races, gladiatorial combats, and
stage productions that were primarily a kind of performance
called “mime”—though it was far from the silent art known
by that name today. By the time Rome had its fi rst permanent
theater, built by Pompey in 55 b.c.e., mimes were its main en-
tertainment. Mimes wore no masks, and they included both
men and women. Th ey delighted audiences with their exag-
gerated gestures and facial expressions, and their shows also
featured dancing, magic acts, acrobatics, and singing. Perfor-
mances were either unscripted or followed thin story lines
arranged around jokes. Th eir subject matter tended to be sex
(actors and actresses alike were frequently naked) or parodies
of current events. Mime shows were opportunities for audi-
ences to escape their troubles, and Romans resented anyone,
including the emperor, who tried to bring seriousness to the
songs, dances, and pratfalls on stage.
Th e permanent Roman theater was usually made of
stone, oft en marble, with a semicircle of tiered seats. Th e fi rst
rows of seats belonged to the upper class, the middle rows to
the middle class, and the back rows to the lower class. Oft en
there were balconies to the side of the stage that were reserved
for the emperor, his relatives, or other important fi gures. Th e
large stage had a permanent backdrop of doors and colon-
nades with as many as three stories of open fl oors. Th e stage
itself was heavily decorated with trees and other plants. At
Pompey’s theater those rooms away from the stage area had
Much as in Hollywood or New York in modern times most actors in ancient Rome had to struggle to earn enough
to live on, but a few were fortunate, becoming the equivalent of millionaires with their successful shows. Even then,
however, their popularity sometimes betrayed them. Cases in point are the actors Mnester and Paris.
Mnester was not only a skilled dancer and actor but very handsome, and the emperor Caligula (r. 37–41 C.E.)
forced him into a sexual relationship that became a scandal in Rome. The relationship gave Mnester high standing
in Caligula’s court, and it probably irritated many patricians, who resented the upstart. Yet when Caligula was mur-
dered, Mnester was spared, probably because his acting was held in high esteem.
When Messalina, the third wife of the emperor Claudius (r. 41–54 C.E.), demanded a sexual relationship from
Mnester, he at fi rst declined. His reward was to have his lover Poppaea Sabina forced into suicide (though her daugh-
ter of the same name went on to marry the notorious emperor Nero). Mnester himself was whipped, which left scars
across his back, and eventually he submitted to an affair with Messalina. When she then conspired with a consul-elect
named Gaius Silius to overthrow Claudius, she and her co-conspirators were executed. Mnester gave a great perfor-
mance in pleading his innocence before Claudius, who was inclined to let him go, but the patricians demanded that
a commoner not be spared when aristocrats had been executed, and Mnester lost his life.
Paris was a popular name for actors, and one such actor had a love affair with Domitia, the wife of the
emperor Domitian (r. 81–96 B.C.E.). Through her he gained so much power in the imperial court that he even ap-
pointed generals. Playwrights needed his approval to put on plays. It had long been the practice of the rulers of
Rome to free slaves who gave good stage performances and to elevate to the aristocracy those commoners who
were good actors by giving them golden rings; Paris also did these things, even though he had no authority for it.
Eventually, Domitian divorced Domitia, and after several years of wielding imperial power as if it were his own,
Paris was executed.THE PERILOUS LIFE OF THE ROMAN ACTOR
Marble relief with two Roman theater masks—one tragic and one
comic, from the second century c.e. (© Th e Trustees of the British
Museum)drama and theater: Rome 337