Mother of notorious Nero and sister to Caligula, Agrippina the Younger is one of the most influential women in Roman history. Born in a time of poisonous people, lethal schemes and power madness, she plots to enthrone Nero as Emperor. It comes with a price on her head.
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Roman Conquest
In 47 AD the Roman Empire occupies Spain and much of southern Europe, Egypt and North Africa. After intense fighting in 47 the Romans conquer the tribes of Britain. At the other end of the Roman map is suppression of the 46 - 48 uprising of Zealots in Galilee.
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In Italy, Paul the Apostle begins to spread the word about Christianity. Also in 47, Romans build a fortification near the mouth of the Rhine (Rhenus), which eventually becomes the seaport city of Utrecht.
Agrippina the Younger
Julia Agrippina (15 - 59 AD) or Agrippina the Younger, is Empress of Rome from 49 to 54 AD. Born of royal lineage, she has a uncanny instinct for deception. It saves her life several times, when her son Nero tries to poison her.
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At 14 years old, in 29 AD Agrippina is wed to consul Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. In ancient Rome a girl is deemed an adult upon her first menstruation.
Her brother Caligula becomes Roman Emperor in March 37 AD. Agrippina gives birth to a son Lucius (later Nero) in December of 37 AD.
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According to ancient biographer Suetonius, Nero's father Domitius is not pleased. When congratulated for birth of his son, he claims any child born to him and Agrippina will have a detestable nature and become a public danger.
Suetonius describes Domitius as "a man loathsome in every respect". Domitius illustrates this in abundance. He kills his freedman for refusing to drink as much as he was told. The reported reason was that the freedman did not get as drunk as Domitius did.
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On the Appian Way, Domitius he deliberately runs over a child playing with a doll. At the Roman Forum, Domitius rips out the eye of an equestrian because the man openly criticizes him.
Domitius cheats merchants and bankers, and as praetor, he helps himself to the prize money of victorious charioteers. Managers complain, but Domitius decrees future prizes will be paid on the spot.
Domitius is also a lusty womanizer. Emperor Tiberius charges him with treason, adultery and incest with his sister and also with adultery with another noblewoman. Only the death of Tiberius and ascension of Caligula in 37 AD saves him.
In 41 AD Agrippina's husband Domitius dies of edema while in Pyrgi, an Estruscan city. Agrippina is left a widow and wealthy woman. After the death of Agrippina's husband, Emperor Caligula seizes the inheritance of Agrippina's young son, Lucius (Nero).
Later in 41 AD Emperor Caligula dies by assassination a plot driven by his personal bodyguards. His uncle Claudius takes the throne and is eager to restore respectability to the imperial family.
He recalls Agrippina from exile, returns her son's inheritance, and seeks for her a worthy husband. Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus is a prominent figure in the Roman Empire. An important political and military ally, he holds the consulship twice.
His wife Domitia is the emperor's cousin. Nonetheless it's more important to Claudius to clean up Agrippina's image. Passienus bows to Claudius' wishes. He divorces Domitia and becomes husband of Agrippina, as well as the stepfather of the future emperor Nero.
Passienus is a prosperous man. He holds esteemed positions and his fortune is valued at two hundred million sestertii. Agrippina convinces him to name her as his heir. He dies by apparent poisoning c. 47 AD.
Agrippina's uncle Claudius, brother to her father Germanicus, becomes Emperor after the assassination of Caligula. Claudius' third wife, Messalina, plots against him and is executed in 48 AD.
In 49 AD Agrippina charms her way into marriage with Claudius. She's his fourth wife, and he her third husband. She pressures Claudius to adopt Nero as his son. Claudius adopts the boy in 50 AD and has gold coins issued in commemoration.
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In early years, Agrippina cares deeply about Nero, or at least his potential. He's a sensitive youth and easily led. In 53 AD, when Nero is 15, she arranges his wedding to Claudius' daughter Octavia, aged 13 or 14, in calculated opposition to the Emperor's son Britannicus.
As Empress, Agrippina successfully removes the tutors of Claudius' sons. She replaces them with her own hand-picked tutors. She also convinces Claudius to replace two prefects of the Praetorian Guard, as she knows they support Brittanicus.
This canny forethought allows Nero to assume power without incident, when in 54 AD Emperor Claudius falls suddenly ill and dies. Rumor has it his demise is by Amanita phalloides or death cap mushroom poisoning.
Poison in Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, nature provides the most poisons. Plants and extracts used by poisoners include
belladonna alkaloids such as henbane, datura, deadly nightshade and mandrake
monk's hood, aka aconitum or wolf's bane;
hemlock, the plant believed to have killed Socrates;
hellebore, all parts; can cause allergic reaction if handled
colchicum, sometimes confused with wild garlic
yew, fatal even in small quantities
opium, opiates, poppy seeds of Papaver somniferum
mushrooms: death cap (Amanita phalloides); destroying angel (Amanita bisporigera)
Some poisonous plants have to potential to be medicinal in the right dosage or herbal preparation. Plant poisons are used by royals, imperials and elites as methods of assassination. Consumed by humans and other animals, they can cause painful death.
At age seventeen, Nero takes the throne as Emperor of Rome, with his young wife Octavia as Empress. Nero and Octavia dislike each other intensely.
As Nero gets older, he resents the domineering ways of his mother. He feels she is using him to retain her status as Empress, and he's right. Agrippina soon suspects treachery.
Three times Nero tries to poison her. She has faithful spies. Each time she discovers or guesses his intentions, and takes the antidote before consuming food or drink. She's at the height of power as Empress Dowager, and she seems invincible.
Nero & Poppaea
Nero becomes Emperor after the death of Claudius in 54 AD. Nero's main rival Britannicus, son of Claudius, dies of poisoning at his own banquet in 55 AD. Suspicion turns to Nero, who attributes the death of Britannicus to epilepsy.
Poppaea Sabina is a woman with ambition. In 44 AD, at fourteen years old she enters an arranged marriage with Rufrius Crispinus, leader of the Praetorian Guard of Emperor Claudius.
Rufrius is removed from his station by the Empress Agrippina the Younger. Agrippina considers Rufius loyal to the memory of Messalina, Claudius' third wife. Also, Nero hates him. Later, under Nero, he's executed.
Poppaea marries Otho, a good friend of the new Emperor Nero, seven years younger than she. According to Tacitus, Poppaea marries Otho only to get close to Nero. Nero falls madly in love with Poppaea, and she becomes his mistress.
Poppaea divorces Otho c. 58 AD and sets her sights on becoming Nero's next wife. Her ex-husband is sent to Lusitania in Portugal as governor.
In Rome divorce is simple. Just as marriage is a statement of intent to live together, divorce is a declaration of a couple's intent not to live together. Legally they must state their wish to divorce, in front of seven witnesses.
History is uncertain whether Poppaea induces Nero to murder his mother Agrippina in 59 AD but considering the situation it's highly possible. Some historians suggest Nero's desire to murder Agrippina is incited by her scheme to set his second cousin on the throne.
Assassination of Agrippina
Poppaea taunts Nero for being a "mommy's boy", increasing his resentment toward Agrippina. Later Roman writer Tacitus belittles him for being "ruled by a woman". One way or another, Nero is finally sick of being oppressed by his ruthless and calculating mother.
When his poisoning attempts fail, in 59 AD he has her royal barge rigged to fall apart at sea, and bribes the crew generously. Stories vary from a collapsing lead ceiling on her barge to an opening at the bottom of the boat.
The ceiling catches on a couch and doesn't crush her; or the boat doesn't fall apart as envisioned. Despite efforts of crew to sink the barge and drown her, Agrippina escapes and swims to shore. She hides among peasant girls in a nearby village.
Meanwhile, a friend who's with her on the barge thrashes in the water screaming "I am Agrippina," hoping for rescue. Instead she's speared and bludgeoned to death by crewmen.
Agrippina has a double canine tooth in her upper right jaw. Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder considers this a mark of good fortune. Luck seems be on her side as Agrippina hides in the peasant village.
Then again, Pliny the Elder also believes clear quartz to be permanently frozen water. Agrippina's luck doesn't hold out for long. Nero gets word of her whereabouts and sends three blade-wielding assassins to do the job.
This attempt ends in success for Nero. According to observers Agrippina's last words were "Smite my womb", taken to mean "a curse upon the evil I birthed".
Her body is cremated soon after. As news of her death spreads through the Empire, Nero receives letters of congratulations from the Roman army, senate and others for his freedom from his mother's plots.
According to historian Miriam T. Griffins, "Nero lost all sense of right and wrong and listened to flattery with total credulity" after Agrippina's death in 59. For the rest of his life, Nero believes he's haunted by the undead spirit of his mother.
Poppaea Sabina is another Roman schemer with her eye on the throne. Some historians believe her to be motivation for Agrippina's death. She convinces Nero to divorce Octavia on the grounds of infertility, and banish her to an island.
Octavia was a popular queen. Due to uprisings by the people, Nero thinks she's better off dead. In June 62 soldiers arrive on the island with an execution order. Octavia meets her demise at the age of 22. Poppaea immediately marries Nero.
End of a Dynasty
Although he initially tries to raise the Roman Empire to its accustomed heights of glory with exploration and artistic patronage, Nero's reign is tenuous. Known for a personal love of cruelty, a trait of his birth father, he brutally tortures and executes his perceived enemies.
Nero is also suspected of starting the Great Fire of Rome in 64. Tales differ. After the fire, Nero has the apostle Paul beheaded for trying to convert the imperial family. He rounds up the Christians and burns them alive. Agrippina's legacy is coming to a close.
In 68, while he's away, the senate votes Nero an enemy of the state. Abandoned by his guards and attendants, he finds four loyal men and they flee the town. He asks them to dig him a grave as he intends suicide saying, "The artist within me must die."
He loses his nerve and asks one of his retainers to kill himself first. When that doesn't happen, Nero begs them to kill him as he fears to do it himself. One obliges, and the first horseman of the search party arrives as the last of Nero's life bleeds into the ground.
The deaths of Agrippina and Nero mark the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The dynasty begins in 27 BCE with Augustus, founder of the Roman Empire, followed by Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, and ends with Nero in 68 AD.
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