Messalina
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Valeria Messalina was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of 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 probably resulted from political bias, but works of art and literature have perpetuated it into modern times.
Statue of Messalina holding her son Britannicus, at the Louvre, ca 45 CE
Messalina in a coin minted in Crete, c. AD 42
A bust believed to be of Messalina, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
Messalina guides the dragon chariot in the triumph of Claudius. Sardonyx cameo plaque in enamelled frame. (Cabinet des Médailles)
Claudius
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Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate. He was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy.
Bust, Naples National Archaeological Museum
Bust of Claudius's mother, Antonia Minor
A coin of Herod of Chalcis, showing him with his brother Agrippa of Judaea crowning Claudius, AD 43.
Detail from A Roman Emperor 41 AD, c. 1871.