Fabia Arete

Fabia Arete was an Dancer-actress and singer in Ancient Rome.

She was a freedwoman, which was a common background for a stage performer. She is referred to as an archimima, which was the title for the leading lady actress of a Roman theatre, and as a diurna, signifying that she toured as a guest actress in different theatres and theatre companies, demonstrating that she enjoyed fame and popularity.[1]

She is described as a famed actress and likely belonged to the elite minority of Roman actresses employed to perform speeking roles in a period when female stage artists were normally engaged only to dance or sing in the choir, and she became wealthy enough to afford a grand funeral monument for herself and her spouse. A role she is believed to have performed was the famous comedy role of the plotting wife Charition.[2]

References
  1. Christer Bruun, J. C. Edmondson: The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy
  2. Pat Easterling, Edith Hall: Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession
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