Pantomime dame played as pantomime dames are often - though not exclusively - older, matronly women. Indeed, they may be the protagonist's mother, as in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Robinson Crusoe", or a nursemaid to the protagonist, as in "Sleeping Beauty" and "Snow White". Although often warm and sympathetic characters, dames may also be employed as comic antagonists, such as with the Ugly Sisters in "Cinderella". Some pantomimes traditionally do not contain standard dame roles, but certain productions may add a dame character, as in the case with many pantomime versions of "Peter Pan". Further examples of these characters include: Pantomime
Pantomime "παντόμιμος" ("pantomimos"), consisting of "παντο-" ("panto-") meaning "all", and "μῖμος" ("mimos"), meaning a dancer who acted all the roles or all the story. The Roman pantomime drew upon the Greek tragedy and other Greek genres from its inception, although the art was instituted in Rome and little is known of it in pre-Roman Greece. The English word came to be applied to the performance itself. According to a lost oration by Aelius Aristides, the pantomime was known for its erotic content and the effeminacy of its dancing; Aristides's work was responded to by Libanius, in his oration "On Behalf of