Theshockingand scandalous story of Messalinaāthe third wife of Emperor Claudiusāone of the most controversial women to have inhabited the Roman world. The lubricious image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless, predatory, and sexually insatiable schemerāderived from the work of male historians such as Tacitus and Suetoniusāhas taken deep root in the Western imagination. Here, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin puts this traditional narrative of Messalina to the test. She looks first at Messalina's life as it is recounted in the primary sources, before using material and circumstantial evidence to reconstruct each aspect of Messalina's character: politician, wife, adulteress, and prostitute. Finally, she explores how posterity has memorialized Messalina, whether as artist's muse, epitome of depraved pagan womanhood, or as libertine icon portrayed in literature and film. Cargill-Martin sets out not to entirely rewriteMessalina's history, or to salvage her reputation, but to look at her life in the context of her time and to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously defined by currents of high politics and patriarchy.
eBook - ePub
Messalina
Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World
- 368 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Messalina
Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World
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Information
Subtopic
Historical BiographiesIndex
Social SciencesTable of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Map of Rome
- Map of the Empire
- Dedication
- Julio-Claudian Family Tree
- Messalina and Claudiusās Family Tree
- Messalinaās Family Connections
- The Imperial Princesses and Their Husbands
- Epigraph
- Timeline
- Dramatis Personae
- Introduction
- Prelude: Messalinaās Ancient Chroniclers
- Chapter I: A Wedding and a Funeral
- Chapter II: A Marble Stage
- Chapter III: An Education
- Chapter IV: Eavesdropping on Tiberius
- Chapter V: A Bad Year for a Wedding
- Chapter VI: The Bridge Over the Bay
- Chapter VII: The King is Dead, Long Live the King
- Chapter VIII: Domina
- Chapter IX: Madonna Messalina
- Chapter X: The Court of Messalina
- Chapter XI: The Triumph of Messalina
- Chapter XII: Intrigues and Anxieties
- Chapter XIII: Political Perversions
- Chapter XIV: Adulteresses Have More Fun
- Chapter XV: A Garden to Kill For
- Chapter XVI: Re-Reading an Ending
- Chapter XVII: The Whore Empress
- Chapter XVIII: The Tragedy of Octavia and Britannicus
- Chapter XIX: Epilogue: The Messalinas
- Conclusion
- Photographs
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Endnotes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Image Credits
- Copyright
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Yes, you can access Messalina by Honor Cargill-Martin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Historical Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.