Valeria Messalina (aft. 17 - abt. 48)

Born after 0017 in Rome, Italy [uncertain]

Descendants

Died about 0048 before about age 31 in Rome, Italy [uncertain]

Biography

Birth and Parents

She was born in Rome during the years 17-20 of the Common Era. ^[1]

Her parents were Domitia Lepida the Younger and Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus. She was the first daughter and second child of Domitia and her first cousin Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus. ^[2]

Her Mother was the youngest child of consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Antonia Major. Domitius had been the first husband of the future Empress Agrippina the Younger and biological father of Emperor Nero ... making Nero Messalina's first cousin despite a 17 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.

Valeria was also a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, second cousin of Caligula, and great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus.

Marriage to Emperor Claudius

Valeria Messalina or Messallina, was the third wife of the Emperor Claudius.

The emperor Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) was born 1 August in the year 10 BCE at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor; Drusus had been stationed at Lugdunum as a military legate. Afflicted with a limp and slight deafness as a child, he was excluded from public life growing up and spared being purged during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula. The last remaining adult male of his family, he was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula's assassination. An able administrator, he restored the empire's finances, constructed new roads, aqueducts and canals, and began Rome's successful conquest of Britain. When Claudius died on 13 October, 54, at the age of 63, he was succeeded by his grand-nephew and legally adopted step-son, Nero. ^[3]

Legacy

A powerful and influential woman, it was claimed she conspired against her husband and was executed.

She is one of the most maligned women in written history ... giving rise to the phrase later used on Napolean's sister, Pauline Bonaparte: "Messalina of Empire."

• Wikipedia:Valeria_Messalina

Death

She died in the year 48, CE.

Issue

Messalina and Claudius were the parents of

1. Brittanicus (d.Young abt age 14)
2. Claudia Octavia

Sources

1. ↑ Harrington_Wright 2009.ged on 05 May 2011
2. ↑ Prosopographia Imperii Romani V 88; Suetonius, Vita Claudii, 26.29
3. ↑ Wikipedia: Claudius Accessed 22 June 2022 jhd

Acknowledgements

• Janice Hardin
• Stephen Wilkinson
• Zak Young