Messallna
Messall'na Stati'lia
granddaughter of T. Statilius Taurus, cos. A. D. 11, was the third wife of the emperor Nero, who married her in A. D. 66. She had previously espoused Atticus Vestinus, cos. in that year, whom Nero put to death without accusation or trial, merely that he might marry Messallina. After Nero's death Otho, had he been successful against Vitellius, purposed to have married her, and in the letters he sent to his friends before he destroyed himself, were some addressed to Messallina. (Tac. Ann. 15.68; Suet. Nero 35, Oth. 10.) There are only Greek coins of this empress. [W.B.D]