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Messalina

The Life and Times of Rome’s Most Scandalous Empress

Format: Paperback
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This is the story of Messalina - third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world.

According to the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the Empress Messalina was a sexually insatiable schemer. The tales they told about her – including a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute – have taken deep root in the Western imagination, but Messalina’s real story is much more complex.

In her reappraisal of one of the most slandered female figures of ancient history, Honor Cargill-Martin finds an intelligent, passionate and ruthless woman who succeeded in asserting herself in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics. Rather than setting out to ‘salvage’ Messalina’s reputation, she looks at her life in the context of her time. Above all, she seeks to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously circumscribed by currents of high politics and patriarchy.

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Authors:
Cargill-Martin, Honor
Year Published:
2024
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Format:
Paperback
Illustrations Note:
2x8 colour plate sections
ISBN:
9781801102605
Number of Pages:
432
Publication Date:
14/03/2024
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Language:
English
Imprint:
Apollo
SKU:
9781801102605

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