View source for Mnester

{{short description|1st century AD Roman pantomime actor}}
'''Mnester''' ({{langx|grc|Μνήστηρ}}; d. 48 AD) was a renowned [[pantomime]] actor who flourished during the reigns of [[Roman Emperors]] [[Caligula]] (37 to 41 AD) and [[Claudius]] (41 to 54 AD).<ref name="Ancient">{{cite web|url=http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2215.html|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology|year=1870|publisher=Ancient Library|accessdate=October 7, 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605190947/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2215.html|archivedate=June 5, 2011}}</ref> Caligula admired Mnester greatly.<ref name="Ancient"/>  [[Suetonius]] writes that "in relation to all those who were [Caligula's] favourites, his behavior constituted madness.  He used to kiss the pantomime actor Mnester even in the middle of the games.  And if, when Mnester was performing, anyone made the slightest noise, he had him dragged from his seat and flogged him himself."<ref name=Sue>Suetonius; [[Catharine Edwards (historian)|Catharine Edwards]] (translator), ''Lives of the Caesars'' (Oxford World's Classics) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 164.</ref>
According to Suetonius, a portent of Caligula's assassination is said to have been Mnester's performance of "the same tragedy which the tragedian [[Neoptolemus (tragedian)|Neoptolemus]] had produced at the games during which King [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip of Macedon]] was killed."<ref name=Sue2>Suetonius; Catharine Edwards (translator), ''Lives of the Caesars'' (Oxford World's Classics) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 166.</ref>
During the reign of Caligula's successor Claudius, Mnester retained the favour of the imperial court.<ref name="Ancient"/> Mnester was one of the lovers of Poppaea Sabina the Elder (mother of [[Poppaea Sabina|the empress Poppaea)]], Claudius,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sebag Montefiore |first=Simon |title=The world: a family history of humanity |date=2023 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=978-0-525-65953-2 |location=New York}}</ref> and subsequently became the lover of Empress [[Messalina]] (the wife of Claudius).<ref name="Ancient"/>   Messalina had a statue of Mnester cast in bronze.<ref name=Bunson>Matthew Bunson, ''Encyclopedia of the Roman empire. Facts on File library of World history'' (Infobase Publishing, 2002, 373.</ref>  At first he rejected Messalina's advances, but then she persuaded her way in to his heart. Mnester became her lover after Messalina convinced her husband to command Mnester to adhere to Messalina's every wish.   After [[Gaius Silius (consul designatus 49 AD)|Gaius Silius]] became Messalina's favourite, Mnester was one of those who was involved in Messalina's plot to assassinate Claudius and make Silius the new emperor.<ref name="Ancient"/>  He was executed for his involvement in 48 AD.<ref name="Ancient"/>  Mnester's name was on the list of Messalina's adulteries when they were finally revealed, and for fear that Mnester would be executed, this information had been hidden from Claudius.<ref name=Bunson/>  "Claudius probably would have spared the actor, but his freedmen convinced him that Mnester deserved to die with the others."<ref name=Bunson/>
He was portrayed by [[Nicholas Amer]] in the 1976 TV series ''[[I, Claudius (TV series)|I, Claudius]]''<ref name= "imdb">{{cite web|url= https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0024628/
|title=IMDB|year=2011|publisher=IMDB|accessdate=October 7, 2011}}</ref> and by [[Rick Parets]] in the 1979 film ''[[Caligula (film)|Caligula]]''.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Ancient Roman actors]]
[[Category:48 deaths]]
[[Category:Executed artists]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Male lovers of royalty]]
[[Category:1st-century executions]]
[[Category:Lovers_of_ancient_Roman_royalty]]
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