Roman Empire

===Performing arts===
{{Main|Theatre of ancient Rome|Music of ancient Rome}}
[[File:Choregos actors MAN Napoli Inv9986.jpg|thumb|All-male theatrical troupe preparing for a masked performance, on a mosaic from the [[House of the Tragic Poet]]]]
In Roman tradition, borrowed from the Greeks, literary theatre was performed by all-male troupes that used face masks with exaggerated facial expressions to portray emotion. Female roles were played by men in [[Drag (clothing)|drag]] (''[[travesti (theatre)|travesti]]''). Roman literary theatre tradition is particularly well represented in [[#Literature|Latin literature]] by the tragedies of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

More popular than literary theatre was the genre-defying ''mimus'' theatre, which featured scripted scenarios with free improvisation, risqué language and sex scenes, action sequences, and political satire, along with dance, juggling, acrobatics, tightrope walking, striptease, and [[dancing bear]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fantham |first=R. Elaine |date=1989 |title=Mime: The Missing Link in Roman Literary History |journal=The Classical World |volume=82 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/4350348 |pages=153–163|jstor=4350348 }}; {{Cite journal |last=Slater |first=William J. |date=2002 |title=Mime Problems: Cicero ''Ad fam''. 7.1 and Martial 9.38 |journal=Phoenix |volume=56 |issue=3/4 |doi=10.2307/1192603 |pages=315–329|jstor=1192603 }}; {{Harvp|Potter|Mattingly|1999|p=257}}</ref> Unlike literary theatre, ''mimus'' was played without masks, and encouraged stylistic realism. Female roles were performed by women.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Conte |first=Gian Biagio |title=Latin Literature: A History |date=1994 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |page=128 |author-link=Gian Biagio Conte}}</ref> ''Mimus'' was related to ''[[Pantomime#Ancient Rome|pantomimus]]'', an early form of [[story ballet]] that contained no spoken dialogue but rather a sung [[libretto]], often mythological, either tragic or comic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Franklin |first=James L. |date=1987 |title=Pantomimists at Pompeii: Actius Anicetus and His Troupe |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=108 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/294916 |pages=95–107|jstor=294916 }}; {{Cite book |last=Starks |first=John H. Jr. |chapter=Pantomime Actresses in Latin Inscriptions |date=2008 |title=New Directions in Ancient Pantomime |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=95, 14ff}}</ref>

[[File:Scena_di_commedia,_musici_ambulanti,_da_villa_di_cecerone_a_pompei,_9985,_03.JPG|thumb|left|Trio of musicians playing an ''[[aulos]]'', ''cymbala'', and ''[[Tympanum (hand drum)|tympanum]]'' (mosaic from [[Pompeii]])]]
Although sometimes regarded as foreign, [[Music of ancient Rome|music]] and dance existed in Rome from earliest times.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|p=146}} Music was customary at funerals, and the ''[[aulos|tibia]]'', a woodwind instrument, was played at sacrifices.<ref name="klar">{{Cite journal |last=Ginsberg-Klar |first=Maria E. |date=2010 |title=The archaeology of musical instruments in Germany during the Roman period |journal=World Archaeology |volume=12 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/00438243.1981.9979806 |pages=313–320}}</ref> Song ''([[Carmen (verse)|carmen]])'' was integral to almost every social occasion. Music was thought to reflect the orderliness of the cosmos.{{Sfnp|Habinek|2005|pp=90ff}} Various woodwinds and [[brass instrument|"brass" instruments]] were played, as were [[stringed instruments]] such as the ''[[cithara]]'', and percussion.<ref name=klar/> The ''[[Cornu (horn)|cornu]]'', a long tubular metal wind instrument, was used for military signals and on parade.<ref name=klar/> These instruments spread throughout the provinces and are widely depicted in Roman art.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sonia Mucznik |title=Musicians and Musical Instruments in Roman and Early Byzantine Mosaics of the Land of Israel: Sources, Precursors and Significance |publisher=Tel Aviv University}}</ref> The hydraulic pipe organ ''([[hydraulis]])'' was "one of the most significant technical and musical achievements of antiquity", and accompanied gladiator games and events in the amphitheatre.<ref name=klar/> Although certain dances were seen at times as non-Roman or unmanly, dancing was embedded in religious rituals of archaic Rome.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|pp=146ff}} Ecstatic dancing was a feature of the [[mystery religions]], particularly the cults of [[Cybele]]{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|pp=154, 157}} and [[Isis]]. In the secular realm, dancing girls from [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]] and [[Cádiz|Cadiz]] were extremely popular.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|pp=156–157}}

Like [[gladiator]]s, entertainers were legally ''[[infamia|infames]]'', technically free but little better than slaves. "Stars", however, could enjoy considerable wealth and celebrity, and mingled socially and often sexually with the elite.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Richlin |first=Amy |date=1993 |title=Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the ''cinaedus'' and the Roman Law against Love between Men |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=539–540}}</ref> Performers supported each other by forming guilds, and several memorials for theatre members survive.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Csapo |first1=Eric |title=The Context of Ancient Drama |last2=Slater |first2=William J. |date=1994 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |page=377}}</ref> Theatre and dance were often condemned by [[Christian polemic]]ists in the later Empire.{{Sfnp|Naerebout|2009|p=146}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=MacMullen |first=Ramsay |title=Christianizing the Roman Empire: (A. D. 100–400) |date=1984 |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=74–75, 84 |author-link=Ramsay MacMullen}}</ref>