Quintilia (1st century) was an Ancient Roman stage performer - a pantomime dancer and actress.[1]
She was a famed beauty during the reign of Caligula. She was the lover of the senator Pompedius.[2] A rival of Pompedius, senator Timidius, reported Pompedius to Caligula and claimed that Quintilia had knowledge of a plot against Caligula.[3] Caligula had Quintilia arrested and severely tortured (according to Josephus, the man who tortured her was actually Cassius Chaerea, who eventually plotted Caligula's assassination).[4] She revealed nothing, and was finally released and financially compensated by Caligula. Her loyalty toward Pompedius was praised as a role model by Josephus and Suetonius in a rare instance when a stage performer, a profession with a very low status at that time, was praised as a role model.[5]