Meretrix Augusta: The Treatment of Messalina in Tacitus and Juvenal

Abstract

Messalina's position at the pinnacle of power available to women in the Roman principate coupled with her notorious conduct made the empress an excellent target for Roman authors in the subsequent generations. In particular, Juvenal and Tacitus used Messalina and her illicit activities in their condemnations against the erosion of traditional Roman values. In this thesis I examine the Latin text of Juvenal and Tacitus with special attention being paid to sound, vocabulary, structure, humour, and technical skills, and how the two authors employ these to enhance their literary portrait of Messalina. Also, I contrast the two portraits of the empress and discuss the causes of any similarities and differences found in them. In the end the reader is provided with an exhaustive look at the Latin and how the writers manipulate it in order to skew their audience' perception of Messalina.