guy 156 Report post Posted May 11, 2023 (edited) We are familiar with the promiscuous Messalina, the third wife of Claudius. In fact, Caldrail recently linked an old movie based on her life (see below). Below is an interesting podcast on her life based on a soon-to-be released book by the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin. Quote 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. The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition witha prostitute. Tales like these have defined the empress's legacy, but her real story is much more complex. In her new life of Messalina, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin reappraises one of the most slandered and underestimated female figures of ancient history. 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. 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. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ancients/id1520403988?i=1000612571183 Edited May 11, 2023 by guy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
