Valeria Messalina was the third wife of the and a central figure in the early Julio-Claudian dynasty .
: Authors continue to revisit her story. For example, Nathanael Richards' Tragedy of Messallina and other works keep her name synonymous with the intersection of femininity and political danger.
: Her downfall occurred in A.D. 48 when she allegedly married her lover, the senator Gaius Silius , while still legally wed to the Emperor—an act interpreted by many historians as a failed coup attempt.