Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome

Episode 2

The Rivals

Professor Catharine Edwards explores the dramatic lives of two women at the heart of power in 1st-century imperial Rome. One is Messalina, whose scandalous reputation lives on 2,000 years after her bloody and dramatic death. The other is Agrippina - sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero - an extraordinary woman who was not only a skilled and ambitious politician but also a murderer and ultimately a murder victim.

Episode 3

The Outsiders

Professor Catharine Edwards follows the stories of four very different women across centuries which saw the Roman Empire utterly transformed. Among them are the slave turned imperial consort Caenis, the empress Julia Domna - a Syrian who was commemorated in fascinating ways as far away as York - and Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine and a force in converting the empire to Christianity.