Although it is said that ancient Rome is a society of men and women, the names of women are basically inconspicuous in Rome during the republican era.
Women's names did not appear in Rome until the imperial Rome, and the most famous ones are probably Nero's mother, Agrippina, and this time's protagonist, Messalina.
This time, I would like to take a look at Messalina, which has a particularly bad reputation in the history of Rome, which has continued for more than 1000 years.
With the blood of Augustus
In republican Rome, there were few tyrants, and only excellent people were noticed, but in imperial Rome, quite crazy people such as Nero and Caligula became conspicuous.
One reason is that the emperor's throne has become closer to hereditary system.
The five emperors, from the first emperor Augustus to the fifth emperor Nero, are generally Julio-Claudian because they are from the Julia or Claudius family. It is called.
It is a well-known story that the first emperor Augustus was particular about letting his relatives succeed to the throne, but it was so bad that his blood-sucking children died in quick succession or had to be expelled. In the meantime, his direct lineage has almost disappeared.
The only remaining Agrippina (Great Agrippina) was the third emperor Caligula, but Caligula collapsed national finances in just four years, and was assassinated by the Senate. Will be done.
The next emperor was Claudius, a descendant of Augustus' wife, Revere, a younger brother of the hero Germanicus, and the head of the prestigious Claudius family.
Claudius had a wife, 35 years younger, of the blood of Augustus' sister.
That wife is the main character of this time, Messalina.
Worst Empress Messalina
Claudius's later evaluations are divided.
The theory that Claudius was foolish and that he was reasonably good.
Regarding the theory that was foolish, Claudius was a natural stutterer, had difficulty in recruiting personnel, and more than that, the existence of his wife . Can be mentioned.
Claudius has been married a total of four times. Nero's mother, Agrippina (small Agrippina) mentioned at the beginning, is also Claudius's wife, and Messalina is also Claudius' wife.
I understand that Claudius's reputation is low because he had two of the worst villains in Roman history as his wife, but Claudius's ability as an emperor is actually fair.
However, this Claudius seems to have been thoroughly despised by his wife, and there is a section that he was not interested in his family at all.
The emperor's wife used to hold various dinners and parties at that time, but that of Messalina was overkill.
This aspect has been criticized by all the historians representing Rome, and Messalina was probably an infomania.
She urged the man she met to have her relationship and repeated her affair, but she wasn't tired of it and she became a whore herself and took guests in the brothel. She often deals with as many as 20 men in a day.
I think this Messalina is the only story in the long history of the world that her queen had taken guests at the brothel on her own initiative.
In Japan, there was an incident in which a female elite employee of TEPCO repeatedly prostituted, but Messalina may be close to that.
That alone may have been a scandal, but Messalina was quite a gully.
Runaway next to runaway
She participated in the triumphal ceremony of Claudius' conquest of Britannia in Rome. She is the first Roman politician to attend the triumphal ceremony.
She took full advantage of her husband's power.
Messalina had a part close to the modern shopping addiction, and her habit of wasting was tremendous.
To make up for it, she abused her adultery and national treason in the name of her husband, confiscating and wasting the assets of others, and confiscating her assets when there was not enough. ..
If she didn't like Messalina at all, she was immediately the target of the poisonous fangs, and many were found guilty of death.
Poppea, the mother of the later Queen of Nero, and Valerius Asiatics, who has two consul experiences, are famous victims.
The former was killed for being taken as his favorite actor and the latter for having a beautiful garden.
Claudius may have been a tyrant in that he let his wife do too much.
The end of Messalina
Messalina's runaway didn't know to stop, but just as everything came to an end, so did her runaway.
What went wrong Messalina marries her mistress, Senator Sirius.
I don't know what she's saying, but it's a real story.
Messalina was married to Claudius, but she tried to marry another man.
To be more precise, she did not "try" but had a wedding and "married."
She was also crazy about Caligula, but Messalina was more crazy. Marie Antoinette, who said, "Let me eat cake without bread," is also deep blue. She would be pretty terrible if she measured her IQ, but this wasn't allowed.
Messalina decided to meet and talk to her husband, but couldn't. At that time Claudius was in the land of Ostia, a little away from Rome, and the coachman refused to go by carriage. Abandoned by almost all humans, including her servant, Messalina explicitly appealed to her children to extend her life to her husband.
Claudius seemed to decide whether he felt sorry for the death, but his vassals did not allow it.
Messalina was eventually killed. She was still in her twenties.
All her statues of her disappeared from Rome and were not allowed to enter the tomb of her royal family.
No one remains today who knows where she sleeps.