The Story of Messalina - third wife of the emperor Claudius and one of the Most Notorious women to have inhabited the Roman World The image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless, sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination.
Above all, she seeks to reclaim the humanity of a life Story previously circumscribed by currents of high politics and patriarchy..
Cargill-martin sets out not to \'salvage\' Messalina\'s reputation, but to look at her life in the context of her time.
Intelligent, passionate, and ruthless when she needed to be, Messalina\'s Story encapsulates the cut-throat political manoeuvring and unimaginable luxury of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in its heyday.
Looking beyond the salacious anecdotes, she finds a Woman battling to assert her position in the overwhelmingly male World of imperial Roman politics - and succeeding.
In her new life of Messalina, the classicist Honor Cargill-martin reappraises one of the Most slandered and underestimated female figures of ancient history.
Tales like these have defined the empress\'s legacy, but her real Story is much more complex.
The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition witha prostitute.
The Story of Messalina - third wife of the emperor Claudius and one of the Most Notorious women to have inhabited the Roman World The image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless, sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination
