Editing Messalina (section)

==Erasure from memory==
In Messalina's time, the condemnation of ''damnatio memoriae'' followed on an offence within the context of the [[Roman imperial cult]]. The cult was directed from above by members of the imperial circle through official initiatives within the pro-imperial power structure. It was effective among the wider public, however, only insofar as there was personal assent. Theoretically the sentence of ''damnatio memoriae'' was supposed to erase all mention of the offender from the public sphere. The person's name was gouged from inscriptions and even from coinage. Sculptures might be smashed or at the very least would be dismounted and stored away out of sight.

Such measures were not totally effective and several images of Messalina have survived for one reason or another.<ref>Eric R. Varner, "Portraits, Plots, and Politics: "Damnatio memoriae" and the Images of Imperial Women", ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'', [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4238780?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents Vol. 46 (2001), pp. 41–93]</ref> One such is the doubtfully ascribed bust in the [[Uffizi Gallery]] that may in fact be of Agrippina, Messalina's successor as wife of Claudius (see above). Another in the [[Louvre]] is thought to be of Messalina holding her child Britannicus.  In fact it is based on a famous Greek sculpture by [[Cephisodotus the Elder]] of [[Eirene (goddess)|Eirene]] carrying the child [[Ploutos]], of which there were other Roman imitations.<ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eirene_Ploutos_Glyptothek_Munich_219_n1.jpg Wikimedia]</ref>

[[File:Arte romana, claudio e messalina su un cocchio, I sec.JPG|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Messalina guides the dragon chariot in the triumph of Claudius. [[Sardonyx]] [[Cameo (carving)|cameo]] plaque in [[Vitreous enamel|enamelled]] frame. ([[Bibliothèque nationale de France|Cabinet des Médailles]], Paris)]]
Some of the surviving engraved gems that feature Messalina were also indebted to ancient Greek models. They include the carved [[sardonyx]] of Messalina accompanied by Claudius in a dragon chariot, which commemorated his part in the [[Roman conquest of Britain]].  This was modelled on depictions of [[Dionysus]] and [[Ariadne]] after his Indian victory and is now in the [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]] (Cabinet des Médailles).<ref>[http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/img.htm?id=5576 Gallery of Ancient Art]</ref> In its Roman adaptation, Messalina is in front guiding the chariot while Claudius stands behind her steadying his flying robe. The piece was once in the collection of [[Peter Paul Rubens]], who made an ink sketch of it, although identifying the woman erroneously as Agrippina.<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/29392811773 Photo on Flickr]</ref> However, there is another version of this victory celebration known as the Hague cameo, which may be a later imitation. In a chariot drawn by [[centaur]]s, the laurel-wreathed Messalina reclines in the post of honour, bearing the attributes of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]]. Beside her sits Claudius with one arm about her neck and Jupiter's thunderbolt in his other hand. In front stands the child Britannicus in complete armour, with his elder sister Octavia next to him.<ref>C.W.King, ''Handbook of Engraved Gems'' (London 1885), [https://archive.org/details/handbookengraved00king/page/n63/mode/2up p. 57]</ref><ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Batavia_cameo.jpg The Hague cameo]</ref>

Yet another carved sardonyx now in the national library of France represents a bust of the laureled Messalina, with on either side of her the heads of her son and daughter emerging from a [[cornucopia]].<ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cameo_Messalina_Cdm_Paris_Chab228.jpg The Paris cameo]</ref> This too once belonged to Rubens and a Flemish engraving after his drawing of it is in the [[British Museum]].<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1891-0414-1238 BM Museum number 1891,0414.1238]</ref> A simple white portrait bust of the empress is also held by the Bibliothèque nationale.<ref>[https://www.romeandart.eu/en/art-cameos-jewels-ancient-rome.html Cameo Jewels of Ancient Rome]</ref> A portrait oval in yellow [[carnelian]] was once recorded as being in the collection of Lord Montague;<ref>Copperplate engraving by Thomas Worlidge from James Vallentin's ''One Hundred and Eight Engravings from Antique Gems'', 1863, [https://www.alamy.com/portrait-of-messalina-roman-empress-wife-to-claudius-on-yellow-cornelian-from-lord-montagues-collection-copperplate-engraving-by-thomas-worlidge-from-james-vallentins-one-hundred-and-eight-engravings-from-antique-gems-1863-image211158405.html  #65]</ref> another in sardonyx once belonged to the [[Antikensammlung Berlin]].<ref>[https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj20515186/mi03943f12/?part=0 Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin]</ref>

[[File:MessalineLisisca.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Messalina working in a brothel: etching by [[Agostino Carracci]], late 16th century]]
Two authors especially supplemented the gossip and officially dictated versions recorded by later historians and added to Messalina's notoriety. One such story is the account of her all-night sex competition with a prostitute in Book X of [[Pliny the Elder]]'s ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'', according to which the competition lasted "night and day" and Messalina won with a score of 25 partners.<ref>Online translation, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D10 X ch.83]</ref>

The poet [[Juvenal]] mentions Messalina twice in his satires. As well as the story in his tenth satire that she compelled [[Gaius Silius (lover of Messalina)|Gaius Silius]] to divorce his wife and marry her,<ref>Satire X, translated by A. S. Kline, [http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/JuvenalSatires10.htm#_Toc284248936 lines 329–336]</ref> the [[Satire VI|sixth satire]] contains the notorious description of how the Empress used to work clandestinely all night in a brothel under the name of the She-Wolf.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/JuvenalSatires6.php|title=Juvenal (55–140) – The Satires: Satire VI|website=poetryintranslation.com}}</ref> In the course of that account, Juvenal coined the phrase frequently applied to Messalina thereafter, ''meretrix augusta'' (the imperial whore). In so doing, he coupled her reputation with that of [[Cleopatra]], another victim of imperially directed [[character assassination]], whom the poet [[Propertius]] had earlier described as ''meretrix regina'' (the harlot queen).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fmVADwAAQBAJ&q=%22+Meretrix+Augusta%22&pg=PT133|title=Satire|first=John T.|last=Gilmore|date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134106332|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The earlier propaganda against Cleopatra is described as "rooted in the hostile Roman literary tradition".<ref>Margaret M. Miles, "Cleopatra in Egypt, Europe and New York" in ''Cleopatra: A Sphinx Revisited'', University of California 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ND9DQF2mOnkC p. 17]</ref> Similar literary tactics, including the suggestive mingling of historical fact and gossip in the officially approved annals, is what has helped prolong the scandalous reputation of Messalina as well.