Messalina

Valeria Messalina
Statue of Messalina holding her son Britannicus, at the Louvre, ca 45 CE[1][2]
Roman empress
Tenure24 January 41 – 48
Born25 January AD 17 or 20
Rome, Italy
Died48 (aged 28 or 31)
Gardens of Lucullus, Rome, Italy
SpouseClaudius
IssueClaudia Octavia
Britannicus
FatherMarcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus
MotherDomitia Lepida

Valeria Messalina (la; c. 17/20–48) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. She was a powerful and influential woman known for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot.

Early life

Little is known about Messalina's life before her marriage in 38 to her cousin Claudius, who was then about 47 years old. They had two children: a daughter Claudia Octavia (born 39 or 40), a future empress, stepsister, and first wife to the emperor Nero; and a son, Britannicus. When the Emperor Caligula was murdered in 41, the Praetorian Guard made Claudius the new emperor and Messalina became empress.


Notes

  1. ↑ Susan Wood, "Messalina, wife of Claudiu.
  2. ↑ Eric R. Varner, Mutilation and Transformation, Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture, Leiden, Brill, 2004.
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