Mnester

Mnester (; d. 48 AD) was a pantomime actor who flourished during the reigns of Roman Emperors Caligula (37 to 41 AD) and Claudius (41 to 54 AD). Caligula admired Mnester greatly.

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 had produced at the games during which King Philip of Macedon was killed."

During the reign of Caligula's successor Claudius, Mnester retained the favour of the imperial court. and subsequently became the lover of Empress Messalina (the wife of Claudius). 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 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. and by Rick Parets in the 1979 film Caligula.