Messalina: A Novel

Raffaello Giovagnoli was an Italian philologist, historian, and writer whose oeuvre includes a book of poetry, plays, literary essays, and serious historical studies. However, he achieved worldwide fame thanks to his historical novels set in ancient Rome. The novel "Messalina" tells of the dark years of the reign of the ancient Roman emperor Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, known as Caligula. His tyranny, cruelty, ruthless arbitrariness, and insane antics ultimately led to a conspiracy against him. Messalina, the wife of Claudius, Caligula's uncle, a cunning and determined woman, was also among the conspirators... The book is intended for lovers of historical adventure novels and everyone interested in the history of ancient Rome.