Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from AD 49 to 54, the fourth wife and niece of emperor Claudius, and the mother of Nero.
Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the great-granddaughter of Augustus (the first Roman emperor) and the daughter of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. Her father, Germanicus, was the nephew and heir apparent of the second emperor, Tiberius. Agrippina's brother Caligula became emperor in AD 37. After Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, Germanicus' brother Claudius took the throne. Agrippina married Claudius in AD 49.
Agrippina has been described by modern and ancient sources as ruthless, ambitious, domineering, and using her powerful political ties to influence the affairs of the Roman state, even managing to successfully maneuver her son Nero into the line of succession. Claudius eventually became aware of her plotting, but died in AD 54 under suspicious circumstances, potentially poisoned by Agrippina herself.Tacitus, Annals XII.66; Cassius Dio, Roman History LXI.34; Suetonius, The Lives of Twelve Caesars, Life of Claudius 44; Josephus is less sure, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XX.8.1. She exerted significant political influence in the early years of her son's reign, but eventually fell out of favor with him and was killed in AD 59. Physically, Agrippina was described as a beautiful and reputable woman; and, according to Pliny the Elder, had a double canine in her upper right jaw, which was regarded as a sign of good fortune in Ancient Rome.
Family
Agrippina was the first daughter and fourth living child of Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus.
She had three elder brothers, Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar, and the future emperor Caligula, and two younger sisters, Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla. Agrippina's two eldest 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.
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: Livilla and Claudius, making the pair Agrippina's aunt and uncle, respectively. Not only would Claudius later serve as Roman emperor, he would also go on to take Agrippina, his own niece, as his wife.
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 AD 9, Augustus ordered Tiberius to adopt Germanicus, who happened to be Tiberius's nephew, as his son and heir. Germanicus was a favourite of Augustus, who hoped that he would succeed Tiberius, who was Augustus's adopted son and heir and then emperor following Augustus' death in AD 14. 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 on 6 November in AD 15, or possibly AD 14, at Oppidum Ubiorum, a Roman outpost on the Rhine River located in present-day Cologne, Germany.Gaius Stern, "Caligula's Three Sisters" suggests that the sisters of Caligula were born at two-year intervals – Agrippina in AD 14, Drusilla in AD 16, and Livilla in AD 18, contra Suetonius "the girls were born in three consecutive years." Tac. Ann 2.54 disproves Suetonius' claim, placing Livilla's birthday in AD 18. Note the births of Agrippina the Younger and Drusilla are only 10 months apart if Suetonius is correct. But Drusilla was clearly born in AD 18. A second sister Julia Drusilla was born on 16 September AD 16, also in Germany.Lindsay Powell Germanicus (Pen and Sword 2013), 116, cites = ILS 1837, = ILS 194, = ILS 195, for the birth and location of Julia Drusilla.
Agrippina's place of birth is disputed, with Cologne being seen as a likely place considering how Agrippina would favor the city and the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium being established at her prompting there.
Suetonius however claims that both of Germanicus's eldest daughters were born in Trier in Gaul.
As a small child, Agrippina travelled with her parents throughout Germany until she and her siblings (apart from Caligula) returned to Rome to live with and be raised by their paternal grandmother Antonia. Tiberius gave her father Germanicus supreme command over the empire's eastern provinces, so in AD 18 her parents departed for Syria. According to Tacitus, their third daughter Julia Livilla was born en route on the island of Lesbos, probably on 18 March.Tacitus, Annals. 2.54. See also local inscriptions found by Lindsay Powell Germanicus (Pen and Sword 2013), p. 132 n. 96, , and others, as well as local coins.
In October of AD 19 Germanicus died suddenly in Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey). His death caused much public grief in Rome and though it was officially attributed to illness, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (the governor of Syria) and his wife Munatia Plancina were widely suspected of poisoning him. His daughter Agrippina was then four years old; thereafter she was supervised by her mother, her paternal grandmother Antonia Minor, and her great-grandmother, Livia. She lived on the Palatine Hill in Rome.Mark, Harrison W. (2026, January 22). Agrippina the Elder. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Agrippina_the_Elder/
Marriage to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus
After her thirteenth birthday in AD 28, Tiberius arranged for Agrippina to marry her paternal first cousin once removed Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and ordered the marriage to be celebrated in Rome.Tacitus, Annals 4.75. 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 first cousin once removed to Agrippina and Caligula. He had two sisters; Domitia Lepida the Elder and Domitia Lepida the Younger. Domitia Lepida the Younger was the 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. Domitius, who was, according to Suetonius, "in every aspect of his life detestable," served as consul in AD 32. Agrippina and Domitius lived between Antium and Rome. Not much is known about the relationship between them.
Reign of Caligula
Public role and political intrigues
Tiberius died on 16 March AD 37, and Agrippina's 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 honours from their brother, which included but were not limited to
receiving the rights of the Vestal Virgins, such as the freedom to view public games from the upper seats in the stadium; being honoured with a new type of coinage, depicting images of Caligula and his sisters on opposite faces; having their names added to motions, including loyalty oaths (e.g., "I will not value my life or that of my children more highly than I do the safety of the Emperor and his sisters") and consular motions (e.g., "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. On 15 December AD 37, in the early morning, in Antium, Agrippina gave birth to a son. Agrippina and Domitius named their son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, after Domitius' recently deceased father. This child would grow up to become the emperor Nero. Nero was Agrippina's only natural child. Suetonius states that Domitius was congratulated by friends on the birth of his son, whereupon he replied "I don't think anything produced by me and Agrippina could possibly be good for the state or the people".
Caligula and his sisters were accused of having incestuous relationships. On 10 June AD 38, Drusilla died, possibly of a fever, rampant in Rome at the time. Caligula 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 showed no special love or respect toward the surviving sisters and was said to have gone insane.
In AD 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 accused of being 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 adulteresses, producing handwritten letters discussing how they were going to kill him. The three were found guilty as accessories to the crime.
Exile Lepidus was executed. According to the fragmentary inscriptions of the Arval Brethren, Agrippina was forced to carry the urn of Lepidus' ashes back to Rome. Agrippina and Livilla were exiled by their brother to the Ponza, in Pontine Islands, an archipelago of small volcanic islands about 70 miles away from Rome.
Caligula sold their furniture, jewellery, slaves and freedmen. In January of AD 40, Domitius died of edema (dropsy) at Pyrgi. Lucius 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 24 January AD 41. Agrippina's paternal uncle, Claudius, brother of her father Germanicus, became the new Roman emperor.
Reign of Claudius
Return from exile
Claudius lifted the exiles of Agrippina and Livilla. 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 on the future emperor Galba. He showed no interest, being devoted to his wife Aemilia Lepida. On one occasion, Galba's mother-in-law gave Agrippina a public reprimand and a slap in the face before a whole bevy of married women.C. Suetonius Tranquillus Suetonius. Twelve Caesars: Galba.
Claudius had Lucius' inheritance reinstated. Lucius became more wealthy despite his youth shortly after Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus divorced Lucius' aunt, Domitia Lepida the Elder (Lucius' first paternal aunt) so that Crispus could marry Agrippina. They married, and Crispus became a step-father to Lucius. Crispus was an influential, 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 about their relationship, but Crispus soon died and left his estate to Nero.
During the first years his reign, Claudius was married to the Empress Valeria Messalina. Messalina was Agrippina's paternal second cousin. Among the victims of Messalina's intrigues were Agrippina's surviving sister Livilla, who was charged with adultery with Seneca the Younger. Although Agrippina was very influential at this time, she kept a low profile and stayed away from the imperial palace and the court of the emperor.