On October 18, 33, Agrippina the Elder, granddaughter of Emperor Augustus and mother of Emperor Caligula, died in exile on the island of Pandateria as a result of refusing to eat. She fell victim to the sometimes ruthless intrigues that shaped the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and were the subject of last month's article. Agrippina was born in 14 BC as the daughter of Marcus Agrippa, the right-hand man of the first emperor Augustus. Her mother was Julia, who held a special position as the only biological child of Augustus. In the absence of a son, her father had to look elsewhere for potential successors to his leading position in Rome and found them in the extended family circle. He married his daughter off to his nephew Marcellus - probably in the hope of having male grandchildren - but he died childless after only two years of marriage.
Juliet's second marriage to Agrippa then produced the longed-for male heirs. Agrippina's two older brothers were adopted by Augustus before the birth of their younger sister and thus designated as candidates to succeed him. The siblings lost their father in infancy, and their mother Julia was possibly doomed by her childbearing blessing. As a result, she was banished from Rome when Agrippina was 12 years old. She was accused of committing adultery during her third marriage to Augustus' stepson, the later Emperor Tiberius. Today there is disagreement as to whether her immoral behavior called into question the reputation of the ruling dynasty and in particular the legitimacy of her sons and intended successors to the emperor, or whether she was involved in a conspiracy against her father, who used violations of his marriage laws as a pretext for banishment.
Already burdened with the loss of her parents at a young age, Agrippina also lost her two older brothers as a teenager. This probably not only meant a further stroke of fate for her personally, but also ruined the plans for Augustus' succession. Augustus now adopted Agrippina's younger brother, his only remaining male descendant, as well as his stepson Tiberius, who was also Agrippina's stepfather and had to adopt his own nephew Germanicus. Agrippina was married to the latter. When her younger brother and sister were also banished shortly afterwards, she remained the only descendant of the emperor who had not died or fallen out of favor. It is difficult to imagine how Agrippina must have felt at this time. On the one hand, the numerous intrigues and deaths within her family could not have left her unscathed. On the other hand, her husband Germanicus was number two in the line of succession after Tiberius and she could hope that her children would one day be at the head of the Roman state - thanks to the legitimacy that their descent from Augustus gave them. Perhaps she already suspected at the time, however, that she and her children could become the target of further intrigue for this very reason. Today we speak of Augustus as the first emperor. However, it was by no means clear to his contemporaries that he would be followed by other emperors over the centuries. Rome had gone through a period dominated by long civil wars and it was not at all clear who would lead the state after Augustus and in what constellation. This was bound to arouse covetousness.
Agrippina was considered a virtuous wife and mother and bore her husband a total of 9 children. Her mother's banishment due to accusations of immorality was no doubt a constant reminder of how important it was to conform to the ideal of a Roman matron, at least outwardly. She even accompanied her husband on a campaign to Germania. The couple enjoyed great popularity among the people and the army. Not least for this reason, they posed a threat to the position of Tiberius, who had succeeded Augustus in 14 AD. Germanicus was a serious alternative for the position of emperor and Tiberius had to fear being ousted by him. When Germanicus died during a mission to Antioch in 19 AD, it was assumed that Tiberius had eliminated his rival. Agrippina now found herself in a difficult situation. On the one hand, she certainly harbored suspicions and resentment towards Tiberius, but on the other, she could not get so close to him that he perceived her and her children as an intolerable threat. However, it was probably not in Tiberius' interest to simply remove her from the way. He treated Agrippina's two eldest sons as his successors and thus instrumentalized them for his own legitimation as Augustus' successor. The previous year, his biological son, Drusus the Younger, had died in unexplained circumstances (Topic of the Month September 2023).
Agrippina and her children continued to enjoy great popularity and had many political supporters. The scheming praetorian prefect Seian was not least responsible for her downfall - possibly because he himself aspired to be Tiberius' successor. He took action against Agrippina's allies and stirred up a mood in Tiberius against the mother of the designated successors Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar, whom he tried to play off against each other. In the year 27, the situation had come to such a head that Tiberius had Agrippina and her eldest son Nero placed under guarded house arrest. Two years later, they were accused of trying to flee to the legions stationed on the Rhine and using them to take action against Tiberius. This amounted to high treason. Nero was therefore declared an enemy of the state. He and his mother were sent into exile, from which they did not return alive. Of Agrippina's sons, only Caligula survived the reign of Tiberius and became his successor.
Don Jansen