She would greet each client sweetly, demand cash payment,
and absorb all their battering – without ever getting up.
Too soon the brothel-keeper dismissed his girls:
she stayed right till the end, always last to go,
then trailed away sadly, still, with burning, rigid vulva,
exhausted by men, yet a long way from satisfied,
cheeks grimed with lamp-smoke, filthy, carrying home
to her Imperial couch the stink of the whorehouse. – Juvenal, Satire VI
Back in August I told you about the whore who became a Roman empress, but today I’d like to write about the Roman empress who became a whore. Valeria Messalina was born on January 25th sometime between 17 and 20 CE (she claimed the later date, but there is some evidence for the earlier), the eldest daughter of Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus and his first cousin, Domitia Lepida the Younger. She was the great-granddaughter of Mark Antony, the great-grandniece of Augustus Caesar and a cousin of the Emperors Caligula, Claudius and Nero, but the high degree of inbreeding in her family appears to have created in Messalina the same sort of sadistic, hypersexual insanity as it did in her imperial cousins. Little is known of her childhood and adolescence, but after Caligula became Emperor in her late teens (37 CE) she became wealthy and influential and was soon married off to the 48-year-old Claudius as his third wife.
The first few years of their marriage were relatively stable, and Messalina bore two children, Claudia Octavia in 39 and Britannicus in 41 (it is possible that Claudia was actually Caligula’s daughter, but Britannicus was probably legitimate). But on January 24th of 41 Caligula was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard and Claudius was elevated to the throne, making Messalina empress. Claudius was very fond of her, so this was not merely a title; she was granted many honors and privileges and the Senate would even have granted her the title of Augusta (making her co-ruler with Claudius) had he permitted it. But even without such official power she was able to use her influence to have her enemies (and possible challengers to her son’s future succession) exiled or even executed.
As so often happens to unstable people thrust into high positions, Messalina became increasingly cruel, tyrannical and erratic. She is also known to have been what modern psychology terms a nymphomaniac; though some scholars have proposed that this may be mere propaganda, the sheer number of the ancient sources making the claim (including Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny and Juvenal) and their agreement on the particulars (not to mention the fact that sexual pathology seems to have run in her family) seems to make this possibility an unlikely one. Many sources say that Messalina used sex to increase her personal power among politicians and other powerful men (including foreign dignitaries), and that she could be paid to use her influence on the Emperor for whatever outcome the payer desired.
But her whoredom was not merely figurative; Messalina also owned a lupanar under an alias and charged her patrician friends to organize orgies for them. Nor was her participation limited to the administrative end of the business; she is said to have worked not as a famosa (courtesan) but rather as a proseda, a common brothel prostitute – and not in her own business but someone else’s, disguised by an ash-blond wig and the stage name Lycisca (“Wolf Girl”). Considering her wealth and position, it should be obvious that Messalina’s whoredom was a sexual fetish for her rather than a business. And considering the dire consequences had she been found out, I think we can safely consider it evidence of advanced mental illness as well. But Messalina’s boldness only grew; in 46 or 47 CE she even challenged the prostitute Scylla (who was noted for her endurance) to a competition to determine who could bed the most men in one night; Scylla gave up around dawn, leaving the harlot empress the victor.
Is it possible her husband was unaware of her activities? In Claudius’ day many people thought him a fool or an idiot because he stuttered, and thus believed that he was simply too dim to see what everyone else could. But later writers such as Robert Graves have suggested that Claudius was actually a shrewd and reasonable man who had no desire for power and thus allowed others to think him a fool so as to avoid the intrigues in which his family was constantly embroiled; certainly his reign supports that view. Even after power was thrust upon him, he preferred not to “rock the boat”, and thus allowed his wife’s antics until she eventually forced him to act.
The events which were to seal Messalina’s fate began early in 47 CE; gossip about her behavior had spread throughout Rome, and her popularity was sharply in decline. She came to believe that her cousin Agrippina had replaced her in Claudius’ affections and that he would soon make Agrippina’s son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (the future Emperor Nero) his heir; she therefore ordered the young man’s assassination, but he escaped death because his assassins fled after seeing what they considered to be an ill omen. Later that year she entered into an affair with the handsome Senator Gaius Silius and eventually forced him to divorce his wife; the increasingly-paranoid Messalina then decided to protect her son’s succession by having her husband assassinated so as to advance Silius to the purple as her consort and acting emperor, pending the majority of Britannicus. In the latter part of 48 she even staged a mock marriage to Silius while her husband was in Ostia inspecting the construction of a new harbor, and these goings-on were reported to Claudius by his loyal freedman Tiberius Claudius Narcissus.
The enraged Claudius ordered her immediate execution; accordingly, an officer of the Praetorian Guard was dispatched to the Lucullan Gardens, where Messalina was working on a letter which attempted to explain her behavior to her husband. As was usual for condemned Romans of noble birth Messalina was offered the option of killing herself, but she was unable to do it and so was decapitated by the officer in the presence of her mother. When the news of her death was brought to Claudius at a feast, he did not react but merely asked for more wine; he later asked why the Empress was not in attendance, but this may have merely been a ploy to distance himself from her execution by feigning ignorance of it. In the next few days Claudius betrayed no sign of emotion, either positive or negative, which seems to support the idea that he had already decided to rid himself of her long before and was merely looking for a good excuse.
Ironically, Messalina’s actions brought about the very events she wanted so desperately to prevent; just a few months after her death Claudius married Agrippina the Younger and adopted Ahenobarbus (now renamed Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus) as his heir. Four years later Nero married Messalina’s daughter Claudia Octavia, and two years after that he had his brother-in-law Britannicus poisoned. Finally, he had Claudia Octavia murdered in 62 CE so he would be free to contract a more advantageous marriage. Messalina’s line was thus extinguished, but her name has come down through the centuries as the archetype of the promiscuous, treacherous noblewoman.
All of which has about as much to say about the morals of a run-of-the-mill prostitute as the career of a certain Austrian Corporal says about the morals of failed artists.
Exactly! 🙂
Have you seen the I, Claudius series?
But of course! Actually, we plan to start re-watching it next week. 🙂
Yay, more history. I find historical prostitutes fascinating. 🙂
Are you ever going to run out of historical hookers? Not for a while, I’d imagine. There’s still the Honolulu Harlot, the woman upon whom the Violet character from Pretty Baby was based, Aileen Wournos (for a particularly horrible example), and hey, there’s always Shamhat, from before history was divided from mythology (assuming it ever was). And those were just ones I thought of off the top of my brain.
This guy might have more, though I imagine you’ve heard of any he has: http://wondersmith.com/heroes/
Mary Magdalene.
There’s NO evidence from the Bible that she was a prostitute.
The Mary Magdalene lie goes with 1 of my other favorites: St. Paul was gay! (Eyeroll). That 1 fits also with the ASS-umptions that I call “Internet diagnosis”. This is where you can say “You’re gay OR you’re gay AND in the closet” from just 1 post on the Internet. That’s 1 example. 1 of my favorites was from a death penalty board I used to be on: Anyone who came on there AGAINST the death penalty in any way was told: You’re with that group (or any group) that are doing more than talking. You’re working with them 24 hours a day to get rid of the DP in every murder case”. Aren’t ASS-umptions great? And lies about Biblical people with no evidence IN the Bible to back them up? (Eyeroll)
Laura, considering the dearth of information about Biblical figures we couldn’t call any tradition about any of them a “lie”, because we don’t know the truth. The idea that Mary was a prostitute is a tradition dating back to the 6th century, and the idea that Paul was homosexual (the word “gay” obviously doesn’t apply for such a dour man) is a modern psychological theory based on his recorded correspondence. The former has no scriptural evidence while the latter is based entirely on scriptural evidence, but while neither is provable they certainly could be called neither “lies” nor “assumptions” because they are neither intentional falsehoods nor widespread ideas taken without any support.
As far as that goes, there’s no way to know that she wasn’t a prostitute or that Paul wasn’t gay. I’m of course no Biblical scholar, but I always saw Paul as more asexual than homosexual.
I was going by the Biblical record ONLY in my original posts. Sorry if I wasn’t clear enough.
Yes, the tradition thing can be fascinating. I 1st learned about it years ago as I’m 1 of the believers that has read up on her beliefs for years. I didn’t just take everything in the Bible as real and the mentality of “it says what it says and that’s it and none of it should be checked out/questioned, etc.” (unfortunately, some believers do think it shouldn’t be checked out, etc., and also pride themselves on that mentality). Anyway, tradition CAN BE and IS used by some (not all) to make attacks on believers and people in the Bible. This is upsetting to believers and it should be. But, you are right in that at least some things in tradition COULD be true. I tend to get more defensive than I should be on this whole thing because so many have used tradition to make the personal attacks. But, that doesn’t mean tradition doesn’t have ANY value. It does. It’s also a reminder of what you say about how little we do know about people in the Bible. I’ve always found that frustrating as would love to know everything there is about at least a few of them.
The idea that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute is a Western Christian idea, introduce by Pope Gregory I in a speech in 591.
The belief is not common in the Christian East. In fact, she is regarded as having been a virgin all her life and the devil thought she was going to be the one to bear Jesus so he sent demons to trouble her.
And I see Maggie already covered this in her post mentioned below…
I did her way back in July.
I prefer to think of Mary Magdalene as a completely unrepentant whore…but hell that’s just me 😉
I had no idea Paul was purported to be gay; that’s news to me. Are we talking about the same guy who was a violent murderer of christians until his conversion on the road to damascus? Then again, I guess murderers can be gay, too.
Yes, this talk has been going around for years. If you’re a Christian like me, you hear or read it QUICK, believe me (eyeroll). It goes with all the stereotypes/blanket statements about Christians. Paul REPENTED of the murders and I bring him up every chance I get to the people who say no murderer can ever repent, if they do it’s fake, etc. This is usually from the 1’s who have never had a family member and/or friend murdered. Paul’s actions/words show his repentance was real as it lasted over time. Yes, murderers can be gay. They can also be straight and/or bisexual. They fit all kinds of other categories besides the “murder” 1.
A closeted homosexual, not “gay”; big difference. Paul was clearly misogynistic and had strong anti-sex issues (“It is better to marry than to burn,” etc), so some historical psychologists have pointed out that these behavior patterns are very common among repressed homosexuals. No one ever suggested that he acted those impulses out, merely that he was very troubled by them and so they shaped his personal feelings in a way which is not unusual in such cases.
Well I certainly never imagined St. Paul sounding or acting like Nathan Lane as Albert in The Birdcage.
“They say Alexander the Great was gay. Talk about gays in the military!”
Something the 1’s who say that Paul hated all sex leave out: where he said for married people to NOT use sex as a weapon, i.e., not deny each other sex. I’ve seen at least a few BITCHES pull this over the years. I’m very glad not all women do this. The misogynistic thing CAN come from people who take certain Scriptures out of context, especially the 1 about women talking in church. At least some of this stuff about him is part of “those Christians: what stupid, not “with it”, frigid, totally repressed, hate all sex losers they are”. In other words, if they choose to put strict limits on the sex they have, they’re wrong, repressed, boring, etc. RIGHT! Actually, anyone who chooses to be sexually conservative shouldn’t be made fun of, etc. I’m sick and tired of it along with many other believers. There’s not as many repressed gays (my word of choice…gasp!) who are Christians as many think. There’s at least a few churches in the city I live for Christian gay, bisexual, etc., people. The city I last lived in had ever more. There’s a denomination of the Baptist Church in the US that’s specifically FOR gay, bisexual, etc., Baptist people. This doesn’t mean that the gay thing isn’t still a problem that needs a LOT of work. There’s still way too many preachers, etc., who won’t even give these people a chance in ANY way. The same is going on with alcoholics OR reformed alcoholics, unfortunately, as I’ve found out personally online. Actually, as a bisexual Christian, my experiences in regards to that with the pastors at the church I go to (when I do go, which isn’t enough) has been totally positive. That was a relief! They’ve never treated me any different once I told them this about me. Yes, historical psychology can be great (not being sarcastic here, I mean it), but can also be used as a weapon against those who choose a certain way of being sexually. Like I said before, I’m not the only believer who’s very tired of the ###*** said about the Christians and ANYONE who chooses to be sexually conservative. Thanks for listening.
While I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said here, I note that for the last several days your messages have had an angry tone. Did this blog kick your cat or something?
I mean, she probably deserved it, but still…
I’m feeling overwhelmed in some areas, to be honest. I’m sorry if I’ve caused any upset.
This was a great post.
Thanks, Gorbachev; I do one column on a whore from history every month. You can click on the “biography” or “history” category for the others. 🙂
Every month?
Eventually, someone will do you.
I mean, do a blog post on you.
Well, just about! The previous ones were Ching Shih, Josie Arlington, Madame de Pompadour, Mata Hari, the five victims of Jack the Ripper, the Yellow Rose of Texas (not quite a whore but related), Theodora and Phryne.
As for a biography of me…that’s a flattering thought! 🙂
BTW
Mary Magdalene probably wasn’t a whore.
She might have been Jesus’ wife.
Some evidence for it.
(not just the novel movie sort)
I did a column on that, too. 😉
[…] Madame Pompadour and Theodora won their titles via whoring, the Princess de Caraman-Chimay and the Empress Valeria Messalina had their titles first. And some, alas, never get to enjoy their fame; the five victims of Jack […]
Just splurged on the Honolulu Harlot book.
When I read that Messalina won a competition with the prostitute Scylla and it said she had sex with 25 men in one night I thought that doesn’t sound very many. Many of the prostitutes in Soho get through that number and more every day. On one site however it states that she got through 25 MORE men than Scylla, quite a different matter. It’s funny to think that it’s 2,000 years since that night and people are still talking about it. Do you think that people will still be talking about what you used to get up to Maggie in 2,000 years time? Have you done anything that naughty?
[…] them more meaningful, somehow! The Milliner, 1900 Messaline, 1900 (FYI, Messaline, according to this article, “was the great-granddaughter of Mark Antony, the great-grandniece of Augustus Caesar and a […]
Sounds like my kinda girl
Just watched a newer movie called “Nymphomaniac” (which was really good btw) & a reference was made by one of the actors early on about Valeria Messalina which sparked my interest. Googled her name & ended up here getting a fascinating historical tale that I really enjoyed. The commentary above is full of great stuff, had me laughing continually. Really great site/blog, thanks for the read…
I wonder whether Claudius had her killed because she had become a Christian. That is a very definite possibility given the tumultuous relationship the Roman emperors had with early Christianity. Character assassination was possibly ordered to prevent any association with Christianity which could have been blasphemous at that time. After all, much of the information about her sexual excesses comes from writers who wrote much later after her death and probably didn’t know her personally. Such thing happen now. Why not then?