Valeria Messalina
The third wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Valeria was married to
Claudius at the time of his nephew Caligula's assassination and her husband
was installed as the successor to the throne. She was only sixteen when
their union took place in 38 AD, and bore him two children.
Valeria found great freedom and power in her role as Rome's empress, but was
not particularly fond of her aging husband. She began numerous affairs
behind his back, and at one point is said to have dressed as a prostitute
and challenged the leading woman in the trade to a contest to see who could
service the most men.
In 48 AD she turned her attention to
her favorite lover, a well-connected man named Caius Silius, and decided
that she would much rather have him at her side than her unpopular and dull
husband. The two soon began a plot to murder the Emperor.
Valeria convinced Claudius that a fortune-teller had forseen that her
husband would die, and proposed a plan that he "temporarily" divorce her so
that she could take another husband who would surely be victim of the fate.
Claudius agreed to this, and Valeria staged a grand public marriage ceremony
to Silius.
Word of his wife's true
intentions soon reached the ear of Claudius, and though heart-broken, he
ordered the execution of both his wife and her lover. It is said that
Valeria was given the opportunity to commit suicide, but lacked the courage
to do so and was promptly beheaded.
