Agrippina the Younger
Agrippina the Younger was the sister of one emperor, the wife of another and the mother of a third, and was murdered by her son. Born in AD 15 at the Rhine fort that became Cologne, she was the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, and her early life was shaped by the destruction of her family: her mother and two brothers died in exile or prison under Tiberius. Her surviving brother Caligula became emperor in AD 37 and heaped honours on his sisters, then in AD 39 exiled her for alleged involvement in a conspiracy. Claudius recalled her in AD 41. In AD 49 she married Claudius, her own uncle, which required a change in the law on incest. She then secured the position of her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus systematically: Claudius adopted him as Nero in AD 50, ahead of his own son Britannicus; Seneca was recalled from exile to tutor him; Burrus was made sole praetorian prefect; and Nero married Claudius's daughter Octavia. She was given the title Augusta, appeared on coinage with the emperor, and received foreign embassies — an unprecedented public role for a woman in Roman politics. Claudius died in AD 54, widely believed to have been poisoned by mushrooms on her instruction, and Nero acceded at sixteen. She attempted to govern through him and was progressively excluded, particularly after his affair with Poppaea Sabina. In AD 59 Nero had a collapsing boat built to drown her; she swam ashore, and he sent assassins. Tacitus reports that she told them to strike her womb.
- Lived: 15 CE – 59 CE
- Nationality: Roman
- Roles: politician
