2026 Reading Challenge

Join Goodreads

to see if your friends have read any of Honor Cargill-Martin’s books

Sign Up Now
Sign in with Facebook
Photo of Honor Cargill-Martin

Honor Cargill-Martin

Goodreads Author
112 followers
A twenty-four year old from London, Honor read Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Oxford, where she won a scholarship before graduating with a first-class degree in 2019. She remained at Oxford to study for a masters degree in Greek and Roman HistoryMoreA twenty-four year old from London, Honor read Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at Oxford, where she won a scholarship before graduating with a first-class degree in 2019. She remained at Oxford to study for a masters degree in Greek and Roman History, graduating with a Distinction. Honor completed a second masters in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute in London, where she was awarded a Distinction for work focusing on the art of the Italian - and especially the Venetian - Renaissance. She is currently studying for a doctorate focusing on political sex scandals in Ancient Rome at Christ Church College Oxford.

Honor has published a number of fiction titles for children and teenagers. Her first non-fiction book Messalina: A Story of Empire, Slander and Adultery tells the story of the 1st century AD Roman empress Messalina, and reflects Honor’s passion for bringing to light the untold lives of historical women and for unpicking how gender and sexuality shape how we understand history. Less

Honor Cargill-Martin’s Books

Avg rating: 3.99 1,069 ratings 196 reviews
Similar authors More books by Honor Cargill-Martin

Author Details

Born in London, The United Kingdom on July 04, 1998.
Official Website
Twitter
honorcargillm
Genre
History, Biography, Art
Member Since
February 2023

Quotes

Spread over its seven famous hills, Rome had been founded (as a result of fratricide and divine intervention, if you believed the legends of its mythical founder Romulus) in the mid-eighth century BC, but the Rome of the first century AD would have been unrecognisable from the city of even a century before. The small brick and tufa temples, raised by the competing aristocrats of the late Republic, had been replaced by huge complexes designed for politics, commerce, worship and play and clad in shining polished marble, that proved the magnificence and munificence of the emperor alone. Messalina was born during Tiberius’ reign, but she was born into a city that had been created by his predecessor Augustus. This was a place of unimaginable opulence – a living monument to the imperial power of Rome and, more subtly, to the dynastic power of its imperial family. It was a city that could not help but shape its children
Honor Cargill-Martin, Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World
Para ser una sociedad con una estructura descaradamente patriarcal y una cultura que a menudo era furiosamente misógina, a los antiguos romanos les encantaba educar a las mujeres. Parece que en los siglos I antes y después de Cristo (la época mejor documentada) un número significativo de ciudadanas, incluidas algunas que no pertenecían a la élite, estaban en parte alfabetizadas. Varios escritores mencionan, sin mostrar sorpresa, que tanto niñas como niños asistían a las escuelas elementales de precio medio que enseñaban a leer, escribir, aritmética y, en ocasiones, las bases de la literatura a los hijos de las clases medias-altas en las esquinas sombreadas de los foros de las ciudades italianas. Fragmentos de los grafitis de Pompeya, garabateados en los muros de los espacios públicos de las ciudades ("Rómula se tiró aquí a Estafilo", "Serena odia a Isidoro" "Atimeto me dejó preñada") sugieren que algunas mujeres de estratos sociales más bajos podían al menos escribir nombres y unas pocas frases.
Honor Cargill-Martin, Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World
Tags: ancient-rome, history, messalina, pompeii, sex, women, writing