Galeria Copiola

Galeria Copiola (96 BC – AD 9 or after) was an ancient Roman dancer (emboliaria) and actress whom Pliny includes in a list of notable female nonagenarians and centenarians in his Natural History.

[4] The embolium is treated in modern scholarship as a form of ballet-pantomime requiring turns, leaping, versatility of movement, sudden "freezing," and a particular repertoire of hand gestures.

Mimus gave women opportunities to earn a living as professional entertainers,[6] and Galeria's career is evidence of the long-lived acclaim and financial reward they might achieve.

[7] Galeria Copiola is one of only four performers of embolia whose names are preserved, the others being Sophê Theorobathylliana,[8] Phoebe Vocontia,[9] and an Oppius who is the only recorded male embolarius.

[10] Galeria made her stage debut in 82 BC at the age of 13 or 14,[11] during Sulla's dictatorship, in a theatrical event produced by the plebeian aedile Marcus Pomponius.