Arbuscula (; d. between 54 and 35 BCE) was a woman stage performer of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. She was a celebrated actor in

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s during the 1st century BCE, when most of the female parts at the time were played by men at least in tragedy.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

speaks of her in 54 BC as having been very successful, and having given him great pleasure.

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

mentions her as having been hissed and booed at by an audience, though it is said she did not care that the common people booed her, and remarked, "It is enough the knights still applaud me."

References

Cicero 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC actors Ancient actresses 1st-century BC Roman women Ancient Roman actors Ancient Roman theatre practitioners {{AncientRome-bio-stub