Wall-painting from Herculaneum depicting, amongst others, a seated actor wearing the costume of a king and holding a sceptre and sword. His dishevelled hair suggests he has just taken his tragic mask off and placed it on a shrine, before which a woman kneels.
Now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
! In our story, Paris is a pantomime actor, not a tragic one, and so his mask would not have had an open mouth since he wouldn't have spoken any words.

Everyone's favorite mythical Queen of Carthage. This link takes you to a brief biography of her life.

Brief biography & her image.
Another bust.

...And click for Domitian

Great introductory site from the BBC on the world's biggest religion, including sections on Christian history, customs, belief, and worship.

Scroll down to good, informative sections on Christianity, including the Beginnings of Christianity, Rome's Relationship with Early Christians, the Great Persecution of 303 AD, and Constantine the Great — Christianisation of the Empire. (Archived site, please be patient if slow to load.)

Excellent website backing up the PBS television series From Jesus to Christ: The First Christians. Five chapters comprehensively cover topics ranging from the life of Jesus, the Roman world and the Jewish world, Christian writings, the early Christians, to the legalisation of Christianity and its influence over Rome. Masses of material but certainly check out these pages on the early Christians & how they worshipped; this interactive map of important Roman cities in the early Christian period; and this animated map of the spread of Christianity from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD.

What the Romans thought of the Christians... in their own words!

A list of symbols the early Christians liked to use (hopefully the images will appear next to the descriptions soon).

The catacombs are the ancient underground cemeteries, used by the Christian and the Jewish communities, above all at Rome. Find out more here.

The earliest known image of Christ, here depicted in mosaic as the classical sun-god Helios. From the Vatican Necropolis, Rome, around 250 AD.

Sarcophagus with scenes from the last days of Christ, and the Greek XP (Chi-Rho) symbol. Dates around 350 AD. In the Vatican Museum, Rome.

The Ludi Romani (The Roman Games) were perhaps the greatest and most popular of all Roman religious festivals because the associated holidays included both theatrical and sporting competitions!

More details. (Archived site, please be patient if slow to load.)

Excellent, detailed webpage on the origins & development of Roman pantomime.

Description of a mime by the famous Roman rhetorician, Quintilian.

Photo of a Pompeian wall-painting which has been interpreted as a Pantomime dance - the fabula saltica... but it is very hard to judge from this photo. It is preserved on a painted wall of the House of the Four Styles in Pompeii.

A video-clip of the multi-Oscar winning film, which includes the chariot race sequence, one of the most thrilling and famous in film history. More Ben Hur images: film poster;

Excellent introduction to the origins, development and organisation of chariot-racing in the Roman world, with links to numerous images.

Another excellent & even more detailed account of Roman chariot-racing.

An in-depth History Today article on the origin and history of chariot racing as a sport, and exploration of its popular and political role from pre-classical Greece to the fall of the Roman Empire.

A humorous and often irreverent look at the hoopla surrounding chariot-racing in the Roman world; some good stuff in here though!

Description of a Greek chariot race by the dramatist Sophocles in his play Electra, written c.420 BC.

Brief overview of the most famous chariot-racing venue in the world.

Interactive discovery of the Circus Maximus.

History, photos, aerial images, maps and models of the Circus Maximus as it was under Emperor Augustus (so note there's no Colosseum in the model).

Excellent reconstruction drawing.

Reconstruction drawing showing the imperial palaces on Palatine Hill above the Circus Maximus. A photo of the same view today.

Roman mosaic in Piazza Armerina, Sicily, depicting the Circus Maximus.

From Egypt they made their way to Rome for Roman emperors usually wanted them as embellishments for the city's circuses, temples and tombs. Since the 18th century they've also made their way around the world.

Scroll down for a vast number of images provided by VRoma website.

from an imperial Roman villa in Tuscany; now in the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme Museum in Rome.

Depicting the patron of the games in the lead chariot, ahead of the four teams. From the Basilica of Junius Brutus in Rome, c.350 AD, now in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

A possible souvenir from race-day!Terracotta plaque, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. As depicted at the top of p.91 of CLC Bk.IV.

Similar terracotta plaque as above, from the same production workshop. In the British Museum, London. As depicted at the bottom of p.91 of CLC Bk.IV

Illustrated and hyperlinked Wikipedia article on Roman music and musical instruments.

Scroll down for brief descriptions of some instruments, reconstructions and samples of music.

Detailed look into the history of juggling... includes some great ancient images inlcuding a Roman statuette of a juggler.

Um, don't try this at home!

In the Britsh Museum.