The World of Antonina

Abstract Little is known about the early life of Antonina, the wife of the General Belisarius. Her parents were a charioteer and an actress, and this allows the observer to understand the world from which she came, which was a world of public entertainment. The pantomime shows of actresses and the chariot races were the greatest spectacles of the sixth century, and were wildly popular across the Roman Empire. It is not clear if Antonina herself was an actress, though it seems unlikely. She had children with her first husband, and sometime after his death she met Belisarius, whom she married. The Empress Theodora might have helped to connect Belisarius and Antonina.