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Messalina
- A Story of Empire, Slander and Adultery
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's Summary
This is the story of Messalina–third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world.
The scandalous image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless and 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 with a 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.
Cargill-Martin sets out not to 'salvage' Messalina's reputation, but to look 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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- GTar
- 23-06-2023
Amazing narration and gripping storytelling
I've heard of Messalina before, but have never truly learned about her. This book is able to create a 3 dimensional character of a woman who has been so maligned in history. It also contextualises Messalina and the myth that has been created by men and why her sexuality and women's sexuality has been used as a negative against a whole gender. Beautiful, eye opening, and something that will stay on your mind, and hopefully broaden one's perspective.
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