The Real Messalina wearing the clothes of a Roman matron holding her son Britannicus. Messalina was born around 20 AD. She was a cousin of Nero and Caligula and became Empress when she married Claudius. But, does she deserve her reputation? In 37 AD, Messalina married Claudius, who was at least 30 years older than her. At this time Caligula was still Emperor. Suetonius tells us that Messalina used her sexual allure to get her way with her aging husband too.
Tacitus tells us she ordered that Claudius exile or execute anyone who displeased her or who she felt threatened by. Unfortunately, according to her detractors, this was a good number of people. Suetonius paints a picture of a weak Emperor, Claudius, a man who was easily manipulated by his wife.
The account of Messalina competing with a prostitute to see who could have sex with the most people in one night was first recorded by Pliny the Elder. Pliny says that, with 25 partners, Messalina won. The poet Juvenal tells in his sixth satire that the Empress used to work clandestinely all night in a brothel under the name of the She-Wolf. It is said she told Silius to divorce his wife, which he did and that they planned to kill Claudius and make Silius Emperor.
Suetonius says that when Claudius heard what had happened he simply asked for another chalice of wine. The problem for Messalina is that the Roman historians who relayed these stories about her, principally Tacitus and Suetonius, wrote them some 70 years after the events in a hugely hostile political environment where everything related to the imperial line to which Messalina had belonged was being trashed.
Messalina is portrayed by Tacitus as a scheming, manipulative and greedy liar who has no compunction in bringing down innocent people who she dislikes or who get in her way.
