means. Execution After Nero's suicide, Locusta was condemned to die by the emperor Galba during his brief reign, which ended 15 January AD 69. Along with Nero's favorites Helius, Patrobius, Narcissus and "others of the scum that had come to the surface in Nero's day," she was led in chains through the city and executed. Legacy Juvenal refers to her in one of his Satires, describing a poisoner as even more skilled than Locusta. In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas, the poisoner Madame de Villefort is frequently compared to Locusta. Chapter 101 is entitled "Locusta." Locusta was one of the characters depicted in the historical film Humanity Through the Ages (1908) by director Georges Méliès. The film was an episodic depiction of humanity's brutality throughout its history, and the historic episodes depicted were chosen because they involved fratricide, murders, religious persecution, physical abuse and public humiliation, prisons and executions of prisoners, torture, and violent criminal subcultures. The film is thought to be among the lost films from its era. Locusta appears as a character in the 1965 Doctor Who story The Romans, played by Ann Tirard. Described as the "official poisoner to the court of Caesar Nero," she is portrayed as comically untroubled by the macabre nature of the service she provides. The band Macabre included a song entitled "Locusta" in their 2011 album Grim Scary Tales. In the song she is described as being one of history's first recorded serial killers who is hired by Agrippina to kill Claudius and Britannicus. The song ends with Locusta being executed in the Circus Maximus by being raped by a trained giraffe and then torn apart by wild animals. References 1st-century births 69 deaths 1st-century educators 1st-century executions 1st-century Gallo-Roman people 1st-century Roman women Ancient murderers Ancient Roman assassins Executed ancient Roman women People executed by the Roman Empire People executed for murder Poisoners Recipients of ancient Roman pardons Romans from unknown gentes Women educators Ancient businesswomen Ancient Roman businesspeople