Messalina by Honor Cargill-Martin
The shocking and scandalous story of Messalina--the third wife of Emperor Claudius--one 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 schemer--derived from the work of male historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius--has 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 rewrite Messalina'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.| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781639363957 |
| ISBN 10 | 1639363955 |
| Title | Messalina |
| Author | Honor Cargill-Martin |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Pegasus Books |
| Year published | 2023-06-06 |
| Number of pages | 432 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |