1
of
1
Messalina
The Life and Times of Rome’s Most Scandalous Empress
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 772 ratings, 136 reviews)
Brief Description
This is the story of Messalina - third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world. According to the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the Empress Messalina was a sexually insatiable schemer. The tales they told about...
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2499
Unit price
/
Unavailable
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
Messalina
$2499
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
This is the story of Messalina - third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world.
According to the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the Empress Messalina was a sexually insatiable schemer. The tales they told about her – including a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute – have taken deep root in the Western imagination, but Messalina’s real story is much more complex.
In her reappraisal of one of the most slandered female figures of ancient history, Honor Cargill-Martin finds an intelligent, passionate, and ruthless woman who succeeded in asserting herself in the overwhelmingly male world of imperial Roman politics. Rather than setting out to ‘salvage’ Messalina’s reputation, she looks at her life in the context of her time. Above all, she seeks to reclaim the humanity of a life story previously circumscribed by currents of high politics and patriarchy.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781801102605
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 14 March 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Apollo
Illustration: 2x8 colour plate sections
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 340g
Pages: 432
About the Author
Honor Cargill-Martin is an author, classicist, and art historian from London. She read Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Oxford, winning a scholarship and graduating with a first-class degree in 2019. She has masters degrees in Greek and Roman history and Italian Renaissance Art. She is currently studying for a doctorate focusing on political sex scandals in Ancient Rome at Christ Church College Oxford. She has published a number of children's fiction titles. Her upcoming biography of the oft-slandered Roman empress Messalina is her first non-fiction title.
Also by Honor Cargill-Martin
View all-
The Six Queens of Henry VIII
We all know Henry VIII had six wives. But these ladies are far too interesting to only be known as wives. Did you know that Catherine of Aragon rallied her troops in full armour while heavily pregnant? Or that Anne of Cleves met Henry VIII before they married—only she didn't realise, because he was in disguise? Or that it was...Hardback$3600Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Heroines of the Ancient World
Celebrate the stories of incredible women from the ancient world in this beautifully illustrated gift book. Featuring powerful retellings of courageous women, including the ruler Cleopatra, Mary Hebraea the first known alchemist and the warrior queen Boudica, this stunning collection of epic stories will get children fascinated by ancient history.Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Shakespeare's Heroines
Make way for the fabulous women characters from Shakespeare's best-loved plays as they take centre stage. Discover Lady Macbeth's cunning methods of persuasion to kill the king, why the queen of the fairies fell in love with a man with a donkey's head, how a shipwrecked girl convinced everyone she was a boy, and much more. With a fact file...Hardback$3799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
She Speaks: The Women of Greek Myths in Their Own Words
In She Speaks, passionate classicist Honor Cargill-Martin redresses this imbalance by retelling eight classic Greek myths, this time from an all-female perspective. Written in first-person, we hear from the astute sorceress Medea and her pivotal role in the quest for the Golden Fleece; discover the contributions of Cretan princess Ariadne in the slaying of the Minotaur; witness the strength and...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
She Speaks: The Women of Norse Myths in their Own Words
Discover your favourite Norse myths - with a twist. This time you'll hear from the female characters in their own words.Meet Freyja, the enchanting goddess who brought magic and harmony to Asgard. Join the eternally youthful Idunn as she reclaims her stolen life-giving apples from the trickster Loki. Witness the fearless Gridr equipping Thor with the power to survive a...Hardback$3999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Greek Goddess Diaries
Dork Diaries meets Greek myths in these fresh, funny retellings for tweens from passionate classicist Honor Cargill-Martin. Welcome to the Greek Goddess Diaries - where ancient myths get a modern, sassy twist. Meet Pandora, Medusa, Circe and more as they spill their secrets, confess their crushes and get the chance to tell their own story. Diaries include: PANDORA The first...PaperbackSold Out -
Messalina
The story of Messalina – third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world. The lubricious image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless, predatory, and sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of male historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination. Here, the...HardbackSold Out
More from Biography & Memoir
View all-
New ReleaseDogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About
From the social media superstar behind @SimonSits, Isabel Klee--known for her heartwarming tales of dog rescue--comes an utterly winning memoir about a twentysomething woman's search for true love in New York City and the dogs who helped her find it. A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Stakes
Read our interview with author Noelle McCarthy! A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the author’s bestselling memoir Grand. You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampire’s badness in the house with you. Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseFamesick
Chronicling the tumultuous decade between the premiere of Girls to her 2021 shotgun wedding (minus the baby, because she has no uterus), Lena Dunham takes us through her journey with her trademark mix of humor, unsparing honesty, and keen eye for detail. We peek behind the scenes - of her work, her family, her relationships, and her battle to reclaim her body...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseBuilt for This
Raised among strong women, butcher's benches, and hard ideas about what men are meant to be, Brad Poulter grows up knowing he's different long before he has the words for it. But in late '90s small-town New Zealand, 'different' isn't discussed, it's managed. Joining the Royal New Zealand Navy offers escape, certainty, and belonging. The rules are clear, the uniform...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Even the Good Girls Will Cry
Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a fan letter to a P.O. box, Melissa Auf der Maur's first band scored an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins in her bohemian home town, Montreal. Sensing Melissa's talent, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love. Whisked from her local scene, Melissa joined Hole just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseAn Ocean and a Day
An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who's ever lost someone they love. An Ocean and a Day is Hannah Richell's personal account of losing her husband, Matt, in a surfing accident on Tamarama beach in 2014. It is the story of the grief journey she travelled over the first two...Paperback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
A Place to Stand
A Place to Stand by Clare Ward is a profound memoir that delves into the life of a country doctor living and working in the Hokianga Harbour area in the far north of Aotearoa New Zealand. This region is sparsely populated and poses numerous health challenges. This thoughtful account details Clare’s thirty-year career, highlighting the people she works with and...Hardback$3199Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableBackorderShips early August -
New ReleaseRule of Lies
Written with all the pace and energy of a John Grisham novel … An incredible true story and a great read! BILL BROWDER, author of Red Notice and Freezing Order An American lawyer’s brilliant, propulsive story of witnessing and playing a part in the transformation of Russia under Yeltsin and Putin. A true tale of fascinating personalities, criminal intrigue, harrowing...Paperback$2999Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseRory
The New York Times bestseller The #1 Irish Times bestseller The definitive biography of Rory McIlroy, the most important, popular and confounding player of the post-Tiger era. Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. He can overwhelm a golf...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4199Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseTe Kaikaukau | The Swimmer
Novelist, memoirist and playwright Witi Ihimaera – author of Pounamu, Pounamu and The Whale Rider – decided, at the age of eighty, to dive back into the water and spend a year full-time at Te Wānanga Takiura, immersing himself in his own language, in te reo Māori. This book tells the story of this kaikaukau, this swimmer, and his year...Paperback$3500Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThis Is Me: A Reckoning
This is a searingly honest and moving memoir from double Golden Globe-nominatedactress Hayden Panettiere. Hayden Panettiere has been in front of the camera since before she could talk. She roseto stardom typecasted as Hollywood's blonde girl next door. As a young celebrity,naysayers were certain she would crash and burn. Not one to disappoint, she did.Hayden Panettiere's irreverent memoir satisfies our...Paperback$3200Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseBeyond Life and Death
From martial arts icon and global film star Jet Li comes a revelatory, profound and inspiring guide to self-mastery and spiritual wisdom, distilled into 10 essential life lessons. Martial arts legend and international movie star Jet Li distils 10 powerful insights from his iconic career, his personal life and philosophies, and his 30-year Buddhist practice. Jet Li's story defies legend....Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
