Honor Cargill-Martin

Messalina: The Life and Times of Rome’s Most Scandalous Empress

Wednesday 2 October
Castle Hill Baptist Church
10.30am

The image of the Empress Messalina as a scandalously ruthless and sexually insatiable schemer, which has taken deep root in the Western imagination, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius. Their stories included, for example, tales of her nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute. Such tales 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, Honor finds a woman battling to assert her position in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics – and succeeding.

In Conversation with Festival Director, Aaron Manning.

Tickets £12.00
includes refreshments

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