22 Facts About Messalina

Messalina was the daughter of Domitia Lepida and her first cousin Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus.

Messalina's mother was the youngest child of the consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Antonia Major.

The public sympathized with Agrippina, who had twice been exiled and was the only surviving daughter of Germanicus after Messalina secured the execution of Julia Livilla.

Taurus committed suicide, and, according to Tacitus, Messalina was only prevented from further persecuting Agrippina because she was distracted by her new lover, Gaius Silius.

Messalina repeated a tale that Messalina sent several assassins into Nero's bedchamber to murder him, but they were frightened off by what they thought was a snake slithering out from under his bed.

Tacitus stated that Messalina hesitated even as Silius insisted on marriage, but ultimately conceded because "she coveted the name of wife", and because Silius had divorced his own wife the previous year in anticipation of a union with Messalina.

Messalina then visited the house of Silius, where he found a great many heirlooms of his Claudii and Drusii forebears, taken from his house and gifted to Silius by Messalina.

When Messalina attempted to gain access to her husband in the palace, she was repulsed by Narcissus and shouted down with a list of her various offences compiled by the freedman.

Such measures were not totally effective and several images of Messalina have survived for one reason or another.

Some surviving engraved gems that feature Messalina were indebted to ancient Greek models.

Messalina sits before a private shrine to Priapus in an illustration for the author's other pornographic work, Monuments of the Secret Cult of Roman Women.

One of the avenues to drawing a moral lesson from the story of Messalina in painting was to picture her violent end.

The winning entry by Fernand Lematte, The Death of Messalina, is based on the description of the occasion by Tacitus.

In Messalina's hand is the thin dagger that she dare not use, while Evodus bends over her threateningly and Lepida tries to fend him off.

Two Low Countries painters emphasised the behaviour of Messalina that led up to her end by picturing her wedding with Gaius Silius.

That was further underlined by a contemporary Tarot card in which card 6, normally titled "The Lover", has been retitled "Shameless" and pictures Messalina leaning against a carved chest.

The ailing Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec saw the Bordeaux production and was inspired to paint six scenes from it, including Messalina descending a staircase, seated while a bearded character in a dark tunic stands to one side, or the same character stands and kneels before her, as well as resting extras.

Messalina's role was iconised photographically, copies of which she often inscribed for her admirers.

Pictures of her as Messalina adorned the theatre magazines and were sold in their thousands as postcards.

Wilbrandt's Arria und Messalina was specially written for Charlotte Wolter, who was painted in her role by Hans Makart in 1875.

In 19th century France, the story of Messalina was subject to literary transformation.

However, the most successful and inventive stylistically was Felicien Champsaur's novel L'Orgie Latine Although Messalina is referenced throughout its episodic coverage of degenerate times, she features particularly in the third section, "The Naked Empress", dealing with her activities in the brothel, and the sixth, "Messalina's End", beginning with her wedding to Silius and ending with her enforced death.