Valeria Messalina
| Valeria Messalina | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Empress consort of the Roman Empire | |
| Tenure | 24 January 41 – 48 |
| Born | 25 January 17 or 20 Rome, Roman Empire |
| Died | 48 (aged 31 or 28) Gardens of Lucullus, Rome, Roman Empire |
| Spouse | Claudius |
| Issue |
Claudia Octavia, Empress of Rome Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus |
| House |
Julio-Claudian (by marriage) gens Valeria (by birth) |
| Father | Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus |
| Mother | Domitia Lepida the Younger |
Valeria Messalina, sometimes spelled Messallina, (c. 17/20–48) married the Roman Emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of the Emperor Nero, a second-cousin of the Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of the Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. Her notorious reputation arguably results from political bias, but works of art and literature have perpetuated it into modern times.
Messalina was the daughter of Domitia Lepida the Younger and her first cousin Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus. Her mother was the youngest child of the consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Antonia Major. Her mother's brother, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, had been the first husband of the future Empress Agrippina the Younger and the biological father of the future Emperor Nero, making Nero Messalina's first cousin despite a seventeen-year age difference. Messalina's grandmothers Claudia Marcella and Antonia Major were half sisters. Claudia Marcella, Messalina's paternal grandmother, was the daughter of Augustus' sister Octavia the Younger by her marriage to Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor. Antonia Major, Messalina's maternal grandmother, was the elder daughter of Octavia by her marriage to Mark Antony, and was Claudius' maternal aunt. There was, therefore, a large amount of inbreeding in the family.
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