Agrippina the Younger

Agrippina the Younger
Agrippina, mother of Nero
Spouse	Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus Claudius
Issue
Nero, Emperor of Rome
Father	Germanicus
Mother	Agrippina the Elder
Born	7 November 15 A.D. Oppidum Ubiorum
Died	23 March 59 A.D. (aged 43) Misenum
Burial	Misenum

Julia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger or Agrippinilla (Little Agrippina) and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina (Minor Latin for the ‘younger’, Classical Latin: IVLIA•AGRIPPINA; IVLIA•AVGVSTA•AGRIPPINA^[1], 7 November 15 or 6 November 16^[2] – 19/23 March 59) was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was a great-granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus, great-niece and adoptive granddaughter of the Emperor Tiberius, sister of the Emperor Caligula, niece and fourth wife of the Emperor Claudius, and mother of the Emperor Nero.

Agrippina the Younger has been described by both the ancient and modern sources as ‘ruthless, ambitious, violent and domineering’. She was a beautiful and reputable woman and according to Pliny the Elder, she had a double canine in her upper right jaw, a sign of good fortune. Many ancient historians accuse Agrippina of poisoning Emperor Claudius, though accounts vary.^[3]

Family

Agrippina was the first daughter and fourth living child of Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus. She had three elder brothers; Nero Julius Caesar Germanicus, Drusus Caesar and the future Emperor Caligula, and two younger sisters; Drusilla and Livilla. Agrippina's two elder brothers and her mother were victims of the intrigues of the Praetorian Prefect Lucius Aelius Sejanus.

She was the namesake of her mother. Agrippina the Elder was remembered as a modest and heroic matron, who was the second daughter and fourth child of Julia the Elder and the statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The father of Julia the Elder was the Emperor Augustus, and Julia was his only natural child from his second marriage to Scribonia, who had close blood relations with Pompey the Great and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Maternally, Agrippina was a direct descendant of Augustus.

Germanicus, Agrippina's father, was a very popular general and politician. His mother was Antonia Minor and his father was the general Nero Claudius Drusus. He was Antonia Minor's first child. Germanicus had two younger siblings; a sister, named Livilla, and a brother, the future Emperor Claudius. Claudius was Agrippina's paternal uncle and third husband.

Antonia Minor was a daughter to Octavia the Younger by her second marriage to triumvir Mark Antony, and Octavia was the second eldest sister and full-blooded sister of Augustus. Germanicus’ father, Drusus the Elder, was the second son of the Empress Livia Drusilla by her first marriage to praetor Tiberius Nero, and was the Emperor Tiberius’s younger brother and Augustus’s stepson. In the year 9, Augustus ordered and forced Tiberius to adopt Germanicus, who happened to be Tiberius's nephew, as his son and heir. Germanicus was a favorite of his great-uncle Augustus, who hoped that Germanicus would succeed his uncle Tiberius, who was Augustus's own adopted son and heir. This in turn meant that Tiberius was also Agrippina's adoptive grandfather in addition to her paternal great-uncle.

Birth and early life

Agrippina was born at Oppidum Ubiorum, a Roman outpost on the Rhine River located in present day Cologne, Germany. As a small child, she travelled with her parents throughout the empire until she and her siblings (apart from Caligula) returned to Rome to live with and be raised by Antonia. Her parents, in the meantime, journeyed to Syria to complete official duties. One year later in October, Germanicus died suddenly in Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey).

Germanicus’ death in the year 19 caused much public grief in Rome, and gave rise to rumors that he had been murdered by Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso and Munatia Plancina on the orders of Tiberius, as his widow Agrippina the Elder returned to Rome with his ashes. Agrippina the Younger was thereafter supervised by her mother, her paternal grandmother Antonia Minor, and her great-grandmother, Livia, all of them notable, influential, and powerful figures from whom she learnt how to survive. She lived on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Her great-uncle Tiberius had already become emperor and the head of the family after the death of the Emperor Augustus in 14.

First marriage to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus

After her thirteenth birthday in 28, Tiberius arranged for Agrippina to marry her paternal second cousin Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and ordered the marriage to be celebrated in Rome. Domitius came from a distinguished family of consular rank. Through his mother Antonia Major, Domitius was a great nephew of Augustus, first cousin to Claudius, and second cousin to Agrippina and Caligula. He had two sisters; Domitia Lepida the Elder and Domitia Lepida the Younger. Domitia Lepida the Younger was the biological mother of the Empress Valeria Messalina.

Antonia Major was the elder sister to Antonia Minor, and the first daughter of Octavia Minor and Mark Antony. According to Suetonius, Domitius was a wealthy man with a despicable and dishonest character, who, according to Suetonius, was “A man who was in every aspect of his life detestable," and served as consul in 32. Agrippina and Domitius lived between Antium (Anzio) and Rome. Not much is known about the relationship between them.

Reign of Caligula

During the reign of Caligula, coins like the one pictured here were issued depicting his three sisters, Drusilla, Livilla and Agrippina the Younger.

Tiberius died on March 16, 37 and her only surviving brother, Caligula, became the new emperor. Being the emperor's sister gave Agrippina some influence.

Agrippina and her younger sisters Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla received various honors from their brother, which included but were not limited to:

• They were given the rights of the Vestal Virgins like the freedom to view public games from the upper seats in the stadium.
• Coins were issued depicting images of Caligula and his sisters. Roman coins like these were never issued beforehand. The coins depicted Caligula on one side and his sisters on the opposite.
• Caligula added his sister's names in to motions. In loyalty oaths, it was, "I will not value my life or that of my children less highly than I do the safety of the Emperor and his sisters," or, if in consular motions: "Good fortune attend to the Emperor and his sisters."

Around the time that Tiberius died, Agrippina had become pregnant. Domitius had acknowledged the paternity of the child. In the early morning hours in Antium of December 15, 37, Agrippina gave birth to her first child and the first child born to Domitius, a son. Agrippina and Domitius named their son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, after the Domitius's recently deceased father. This child would grow up to become the Emperor Nero. Nero was Agrippina's only natural child.

Caligula and his sisters were accused of having incestuous relationships. During large banquets Caligula would commit incest with his sisters and also Caligula allowed his friends to sleep with his sisters in the palace. On June 10, 38, Drusilla died, possibly of a fever, rampant in Rome at the time. He was particularly fond of Drusilla, claiming to treat her as he would his own wife, even though Drusilla had a husband. Following her death, Caligula's relationship with Agrippina and Livilla changed, showing no special love or respect toward them after Drusilla's death. After this point, he was said to have gone insane.

In 39, Agrippina and Livilla, with their maternal cousin, Drusilla's widower Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, were involved in a failed plot to murder Caligula, a plot known as the Plot of the Three Daggers, which was to make Lepidus the new emperor. Lepidus, Agrippina and Livilla were contended to be lovers. Not much is known concerning this plot and the reasons behind it. At the trial of Lepidus, Caligula felt no compunction about denouncing them as adultresses, producing handwritten letters discussing how they were going to kill him.

Lepidus was executed. Agrippina and Livilla were exiled by their brother to the Pontine Islands. Caligula sold their furniture, jewellery, slaves and freedmen. In January 40, Domitius died of edema (dropsy) at Pyrgi. Nero had gone to live with his second paternal aunt Domitia Lepida the Younger after Caligula had taken his inheritance away from him. Caligula, his wife Milonia Caesonia and their daughter Julia Drusilla were murdered on January 24, 41. Agrippina's paternal uncle, Claudius, brother of her father Germanicus, became the new Roman Emperor.

Reign of Claudius

Return to Exile

Messalina holding her son Britannicus, Louvre.

Claudius ordered Agrippina and Livilla to return from exile. Livilla returned to her husband, while Agrippina was reunited with her estranged son. After the death of her first husband, Agrippina tried to make shameless advances to the future emperor Galba, who showed no interest in her and was devoted to his wife Aemilia Lepida. On one occasion, Galba's mother-in-law gave Agrippina, in a whole bevy of married women, a public reprimand and a slap in the face.^[4]

Claudius had Nero’s inheritance reinstated and arranged for Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus and Domitia Lepida the Elder (Lucius' first paternal aunt) to divorce so that Crispus could marry Agrippina. When Agrippina returned, she had nothing to return to. Agrippina married Crispus as her second husband and he became a step father to Nero. Crispus was a prominent, influential, witty, wealthy and powerful man, who served twice as consul. He was the adopted grandson and biological great, great nephew of the historian Sallust. Little is known on their relationship.

In the first years of Claudius’ reign, Claudius was married to the infamous Empress Valeria Messalina. Although Agrippina was very influential, she kept a very low profile and stayed away from the imperial palace and the court of the emperor. Messalina was Agrippina’s second paternal cousin. Among the victims of Messalina's intrigues were Agrippina's surviving sister Livilla, who was charged with having adultery with Seneca the Younger. Seneca was later called back from exile to be a tutor to Nero.

When Agrippina returned from exile, Messalina realised that Agrippina’s son was a threat to her son’s position and sent assassins to strangle Lucius during his siesta. The assassins left in terror, when a snake suddenly darted from beneath Nero’s pillow—but it was only a sloughed-off snake-skin in his bed, near his pillow.

In 47, Crispus died, and at his funeral, the rumor spread around that Agrippina poisoned Crispus to gain his estate. After being widowed a second time, Agrippina was left very wealthy. Later that year at the Secular Games, at the performance of the Troy Pageant, Messalina attended the event with her son Britannicus. Agrippina was also present with Lucius. Agrippina and Lucius received greater applause from the audience than Messalina and Britannicus did. Many people began to show pity and sympathy to Agrippina, due to the unfortunate circumstances in her life. Agrippina wrote a memoir that recorded the misfortunes of her family (casus suorum) and wrote an account of her mother’s life.

Rise to power

After Messalina was executed in 48 for conspiring with Gaius Silius to overthrow her husband, Claudius considered remarrying for the fourth time. Around this time, Agrippina became the mistress to one of Claudius’ advisers, the former Greek Freedman Marcus Antonius Pallas. At that time Claudius’ advisers were discussing which noblewoman Claudius should marry. Claudius had a reputation that he was easily controlled by his wives and freedmen. His freedmen, according to legend, presented him three possible candidates.

The freedman Tiberius Claudius Narcissus suggested Claudius to remarry his second wife Aelia Paetina, with whom he had a daughter, Claudia Antonia. Narcissus also stated that Paetina would cherish Claudia Octavia and Britannicus, Claudius's children with Messalina, in addition to Antonia.

Another freedman, Gaius Julius Callistus, was against Claudius remarrying Paetina and stated to Claudius that he divorced her before and that remarrying Paetina would make her more arrogant. Callistus suggested Lollia Paulina, Caligula's third wife and Agrippina's former sister-in-law instead.

Pallas advised Claudius that he should marry Agrippina. Pallas stated to the emperor that as Lucius was the grandson to Claudius's late brother Germanicus, by marrying Agrippina, Claudius would ally the two branches of the Claudian house and imperial family. In more recent times, it has been suggested that the Senate may have pushed for the marriage between Agrippina and Claudius to end the feud between the Julian and Claudian branches.^[5] This feud dated back to Agrippina's mother's actions against Tiberius after the death of Germanicus, actions which Tiberius had gladly punished.

Regardless, for Agrippina’s seduction, it was a help that she had the niece’s privilege of kissing and caressing her paternal uncle. Claudius was seduced by her passions.

Claudius made references to her in his speeches: "my daughter and foster child, born and bred, in my lap, so to speak". When Claudius decided to marry her, he persuaded a group of senators that the marriage should be arranged in the public interest]. In Roman society, an uncle (Claudius) marrying his niece (Agrippina) was considered an incestuous relationship, and a subject of controversy at the time.

Agrippina and Claudius married on New Year’s Day, 49. This marriage caused widespread disapproval. This was a part of Agrippina’s scheming plan to make Lucius the new Emperor. Her marriage to Claudius wasn’t based on love, but on power. She quickly eliminated her rival Lollia Paulina. In 49, shortly after marrying Claudius, Agrippina charged Paulina with black magic. Paulina did not receive a hearing. Her property was confiscated, she left Italy and on Agrippina's orders, she committed suicide.

In the months leading up to her marriage to Claudius, Agrippina's maternal second cousin, the praetor Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus, was betrothed to Claudius’ daughter Claudia Octavia. This betrothal was broken off in 48 when Agrippina, scheming with consul Lucius Vitellius the Elder, the father of the future Emperor Aulus Vitellius, had falsely charged Silanus with having open incest with his sister Junia Calvina. Agrippina did this hopefully to secure Octavia to marry her son. Consequently, Claudius broke off the engagement and forced Silanus to resign from public office. Silanus committed suicide on the day that Agrippina married her uncle and Calvina was exiled from Italy in early 49. Calvina was called back from exile after Agrippina had died. Towards the end of 54, Agrippina would order the murder of Silanus' eldest brother Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus without Nero's knowledge, so that he wouldn't be able to seek revenge against her over his brother's death.

Empress of Rome

Roman aureus depicting Agrippina and Claudius, c. 50/54

On the day that Agrippina married her uncle Claudius as her third husband/his fourth wife, she became an Empress and the most powerful woman in the Roman Empire. She also was a stepmother to Claudia Antonia, Claudius' daughter and only child from his second marriage to Aelia Paetina, and to the young Claudia Octavia and Britannicus, Claudius' children with Valeria Messalina. Agrippina removed or eliminated anyone from the palace or the imperial court whom she thought was loyal and dedicated to the memory of the late Messalina. She also eliminated or removed anyone who she considered was a potential threat to her position and the future of her son, one of her victims being Nero's second paternal aunt and Messalina's mother Domitia Lepida the Younger.

In 49, Agrippina presided over the exercises of Roman legions. The Celtic King Caratacus assumed that she, along with Claudius, was the martial leader and bowed before her throne with the same homage and gratitude as he accorded the emperor. In 50, Agrippina was granted the honorific title of Augusta, a title which, up until this point, no other imperial woman had ever received in the lifetime of her husband. She was only the third Roman woman (Livia Drusilla and Antonia Minor received this title) and only the second living Roman woman (the first being Livia) to receive this title. Also that year, Claudius had founded a Roman colony and called the colony Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensis or Agrippinensium, today known as Cologne, after Agrippina who was born there. This colony was the only Roman colony to be named after a Roman woman. In 51, she was given a carpentum which she used. A carpentum was a sort of ceremonial carriage usually reserved for priests, such as the Vestal Virgins, and sacred statues. That same year she appointed Sextus Afranius Burrus as the head of the Praetorian Guard, replacing the previous head of the Praetorian Guard, Rufrius Crispinus.

Agrippina successfully manipulated and influenced Claudius into adopting her son and having him become his successor. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus in 50 was adopted by his great maternal uncle and stepfather. Lucius’ name was changed to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus and he became Claudius’s adopted son, heir and recognised successor. Agrippina and Claudius betrothed Nero to Octavia and Agrippina arranged to have Seneca the Younger return from exile to tutor the future emperor. Claudius chose to adopt Nero because of his Julian and Claudian lineage.^[6] Agrippina deprived Britannicus of his heritage and further isolated him from his biological father and succession for the throne in every way possible. For instance, in 51, Agrippina ordered the execution of Britannicus’ tutor Sosibius because he had confronted her and was outraged by Claudius’ adoption of Nero and his choice of Nero as successor, instead of choosing his own natural son Britannicus, although it should be noted that Tiberius had chosen Caligula as successor along with his grandson Tiberius Gemellus without any problems.

Nero and Octavia were married on June 9, 53. Claudius later repented of marrying Agrippina and adopting Nero, began to favor Britannicus, and started preparing him for the throne. This was the motive that is claimed by many that Agrippina needed to eliminate Claudius. The ancient sources credited her with poisoning Claudius on October 13, 54 with a plate of poisoned mushrooms at a banquet, thus enabling Nero to quickly take the throne as emperor. Accounts vary wildly with regard to this private incident and according to more modern sources, it is quite possible that Claudius died of natural causes, a more likely cause considering that he was 63 years old.^[3]

Reign of Nero

Power struggle between mother and son

Marble bust of Nero. Antiquarium of the Palatine.

Agrippina was named a priestess of the cult of the deified Claudius. She was allowed to visit senate meetings, watch and hear the meetings behind a curtain. This evidently shows that she had real power.

In the first months of Nero’s reign Agrippina controlled her son and the empire. She lost control over Nero when he began to have an affair with the freedwoman Claudia Acte, which Agrippina strongly disapproved of and violently scolded him for. Agrippina began to support Britannicus in her attempt to make him emperor. Britannicus was secretly poisoned on Nero’s orders during a banquet in February 55. The power struggle between Agrippina and her son had begun.

Agrippina between 55 and 58 became very watchful and had a critical eye over her son. In 55, Agrippina was forced out of the palace by her son to live in imperial residence. Nero deprived his mother of all honors and powers, and even removed her Roman and German bodyguards. Nero even threatened his mother he would abdicate the throne and would go to live on the Greek Island of Rhodes, a place where Tiberius had lived after divorcing Julia the Elder. Pallas also was dismissed from the court. The fall of Pallas and the opposition of Burrus and Seneca, contributed to Agrippina's loss of authority.^[7]

Towards 57, Agrippina was expelled from the palace and went to live in a riverside estate in Misenum. While Agrippina lived there or when she went on short visits to Rome, Nero had sent people to annoy her. Although living in Misenum, she was still very popular, powerful and influential. Agrippina and Nero would see each other on short visits.

Death and aftermath

The circumstances that surround Agrippina's death are uncertain due to historical contradictions and anti-Nero bias. All surviving stories of Agrippina's death contradict themselves and each other, and are generally fantastical.

Tacitus's account

According to Tacitus, in 58, Nero became involved with the noble woman Poppaea Sabina. With the reasoning that a divorce from Octavia and a marriage to Poppaea was not politically feasible with Agrippina alive, Nero decided to kill Agrippina.^[8] Yet, Nero did not marry Poppaea until 62, calling into question this motive.^[9] Additionally, Suetonius reveals that Poppaea's husband, Otho, was not sent away by Nero until after Agrippina's death in 59, making it highly unlikely that already married Poppaea would be pressing Nero.^[10] Some modern historians theorize that Nero's decision to kill Agrippina was prompted by her plotting to set Gaius Rubellius Plautus (Nero's maternal second cousin) on the throne.^[11]

Tacitus claims that Nero considered poisoning or stabbing her, but felt these methods were too difficult and suspicious, so he settled on building a self-sinking boat.^[12] Though aware of the plot, Agrippina embarked on this boat and was nearly crushed by a collapsing lead ceiling only to be saved by the side of a sofa breaking the ceiling's fall.^[13] Though the collapsing ceiling missed Agrippina, it crushed her attendant who was outside by the helm.^[13] The boat failed to sink from the lead ceiling, so the crew then sank the boat, but Agrippina swam to shore.^[13] Her friend, Acerronia Polla, was attacked by oarsmen while still in the water, and was either bludgeoned to death or drowned. Agrippina was met at the shore by crowds of admirers.^[14] News of Agrippina's survival reached Nero so he sent three assassins to stab her.^[14]

Suetonius's account

According to Suetonius, Nero was annoyed at his mother being too watchful and tried three times to poison Agrippina, but she took the antidotes in time and survived.^[15] He then tried to crush her with a mechanical ceiling over her bed at her residence.^[15] After this failed, he devised a collapsable boat, which would either have its cabin fall in or become shipwrecked. Nero then ordered captains of a different boat to ram this boat while Agrippina was aboard.^[15] Nero heard Agrippina survived the wreck so he ordered her to be executed and framed it as a suicide.^[15]

Cassius Dio's account

The tale of Cassius Dio is also somewhat different. It starts again with Poppaea as the motive behind the murder.^[16] Nero designed a ship that would open at the bottom while at sea.^[17] Agrippina was put aboard and after the bottom of the ship opened up, she fell into the water.^[17] Agrippina swam to shore so Nero sent an assassin to kill her.^[18] Nero then claimed Agrippina plotted to kill him and committed suicide.^[19] Her reputed last words, uttered as the assassin was about to strike, were "Smite my womb", the implication here being she wished to be destroyed first in that part of her body that had given birth to so "abominable a son."^[20]

Burial

After Agrippina's death, Nero viewed her corpse and commented how beautiful she was, according to some.^[21] Her body was cremated that night on a dining couch. At his mother's funeral, Nero was witless, speechless and rather scared. When the news spread that Agrippina had died, the Roman army, senate and various people sent him letters of congratulations that he had murdered his mother.

Aftermath

During the remainder of Nero's reign, Agrippina's grave was not covered or enclosed. Her household later on gave her a modest tomb in Misenum. Nero would have his mother’s death on his conscience. He felt so guilty he would sometimes have nightmares about his mother. He even saw his mother’s ghost and got Persian magicians to scare her away. Years before she died, Agrippina had visited astrologers to ask about her son’s future. The astrologers had rather accurately predicted that her son would become emperor and would kill her. She replied, "Let him kill me, provided he becomes emperor," according to Tacitus.

Ancestry

In later literature

The Empress, by Robert DeMaria, Vineyard Press (ISBN 1-930067-05-4)

Handel's 1709 opera, Agrippina with a libretto by Vincenzo Grimani.

Perspectives on Agrippina's personality

Ancient

• Note that most ancient Roman sources are quite critical of Agrippina the Younger, because she was seen as stepping outside the conservative Roman ideals regarding the roles of women in society.
• Tacitus: Critical view, considered her vicious and had a strong disposition against her due to her femininity and influential role in politics. Perhaps the most comprehensive of Ancient sources. Others are Suetonius and Cassius Dio.

Modern

• E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen – e.a. (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933 –. (PIR²)
• Scullard: A critical view of Agrippina, suggesting she was ambitious and unscrupulous and a depraved sexual psychopath. "Agrippina struck down a series of victims; no man or woman was safe if she suspected rivalry or desired their wealth."^[22]
• Ferrero: Sympathetic and understanding, suggesting Agrippina has been judged harshly by history. Suggesting her marriage to Claudius was to a weak emperor who was, because of his hesitations and terrors, a threat to the imperial authority and government. She saw it her duty to compensate for the innumerable deficiencies of her strange husband through her own intelligence and strength of will. Pages 212ff.; 276ff.
• Barrett: A reasonable view, comparing Scullard's criticisms to Ferrero's apologies. (See Barrett, Anthony A., Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Roman Empire, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1996.)
• Salmonson, Jessica Amanda. (1991) The Encyclopedia of Amazons. Paragon House. Pages 4–5.
• Donna Hurley, Agrippina the Younger (Wife of Claudius).
• L. Foubert, Agrippina. Keizerin van Rome, Leuven, 2006.
• Opera by G.F. Händel: Agrippina

References

• Tacitus, Annales xii.1–10, 64–69, xiv.1–9
• Suetonius, De vita Caesarum – Claudis v.44 and Nero vi.5.3, 28.2, 34.1–4

Footnotes