Agrippina: The woman who made Nero emperor, but was murdered by her own son

Born on 6 November AD 15, Agrippina the Younger entered a world dominated by the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the strict expectations placed on Roman noblewomen.

Her father was Germanicus, who served as one of Rome’s most beloved generals and enjoyed strong public support, which led many to believe he would succeed Emperor Tiberius.

In AD 19, during a campaign in the East, Germanicus died suddenly and under suspicious circumstances, and as a result, ancient authors such as Tacitus and Suetonius suggested that Tiberius may have ordered his poisoning to eliminate a popular rival, although no direct evidence ever proved this claim. 

As a result, Agrippina’s mother publicly challenged the emperor and accused him of foul play, which placed their entire family in danger.

During her childhood, Agrippina witnessed the destruction of her family. Her mother and two brothers were exiled or killed, and, as such, she learned early that survival often depended on caution and alliances. 

Over time, she came to understand the limits of formal authority for women, but she also saw how influence could be gained by being close to power.

She knew that status alone would not protect her, and so she focused on how marriage and motherhood, which she used as avenues for rebuilding the family, and calculated loyalty to secure alliances could restore her family’s fortunes.

Around the age of thirteen or fourteen, Agrippina married Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, a man from a noble line but known for his cruelty and arrogance.

The marriage gave her little personal security, yet it tied her to the senatorial elite and ensured her presence at Rome’s political centre. 

In AD 37, she gave birth to Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the boy who would become Nero.

That same year, her uncle Caligula became emperor and, for a brief period, Agrippina and her sisters held special honours and appeared beside the emperor at public events.

Soon after, Caligula accused her and her sister Livilla of plotting against him, and he forced them into exile. 

At the same time, her husband died, with some ancient sources attributing his death to dropsy, though accounts vary.

Regardless, she had become largely dependent on uncertain political shifts. With no power of her own and a son too young to command influence, she entered a long period of survival by silence. 

During her exile, she remained isolated and under suspicion. Caligula’s behaviour grew increasingly unpredictable, and rumours circulated about his cruelty and possible mental instability.

Writers such as Cassius Dio later suggested that he accused his sisters of incest and treason, although these stories likely reflected public alarm rather than evidence. 

Then, in AD 41, Caligula was assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, and as a result his uncle Claudius succeeded him and restored Agrippina to Rome.

She returned to public life, and ancient sources imply that her reappearance had been apparently calculated and political, which meant that she lived under close watch while she gradually rebuilt her reputation among Rome’s political families. 

Eventually, she offered herself as a marriage candidate to the emperor, after his third wife Messalina was executed in AD 48 for an alleged coup involving her public marriage to Gaius Silius.

Many opposed the idea, since she was his niece, yet Claudius agreed. The Senate passed a special decree allowing the union, which gave Agrippina a new opportunity to pursue her political goals. 

Once married to Claudius, Agrippina moved quickly: she removed rivals, replaced household officials, and brought loyal figures into key positions.

She helped secure the return of Seneca, a well-known Stoic, from exile and arranged for him to become her son’s tutor.

She also persuaded Claudius to adopt her son formally in AD 50, which gave him the name Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus and placed him ahead of Britannicus in the line of succession. 

That adoption changed everything, as her son now effectively became heir to the empire.

Agrippina then arranged his marriage to Octavia, Claudius’ daughter from an earlier marriage.

By uniting the bloodlines, she increased Nero’s status and reduced the position of Britannicus, Claudius’ biological son. 

Soon, Agrippina exercised power as no woman had done before. Her image appeared on coins next to the emperor’s face, especially on provincial aurei and denarii issued in AD 54, which was an honour not given before to a living Roman woman.

She exercised informal power and gave instructions to foreign diplomats, although Roman law did not allow her to attend Senate meetings.

Her influence became so visible that senators and military commanders treated her as a second ruler. 

By AD 54, Claudius had grown weaker. Ancient sources claimed that Agrippina feared he might change the line of succession.

Tacitus and Suetonius reported that she poisoned him with mushrooms during a banquet, and some added that she bribed the imperial physician Xenophon to hasten his death with a poisoned feather, though these claims remain not proven.

Hours after Claudius died, she had secured Nero’s acceptance as emperor by the Praetorian Guard and the Senate. 

At sixteen, Nero entered public life as emperor, and Agrippina managed his court, attended meetings, issued instructions on his behalf, controlled access to him, and made decisions about appointments and rewards.

For the first few months, her power had gone unquestioned. 

Soon, however, Nero began to act independently. He spent more time with his freedman advisors and moved away from his mother’s allies.

As his confidence grew, he saw Agrippina as an obstacle rather than a guide. He favoured Burrus, head of the Praetorian Guard, and followed the advice of Seneca, who shifted his loyalty from mother to son. 

In AD 55, Nero removed Agrippina from the palace, and she moved to a separate residence, which ended her access to the emperor.

That same year, Britannicus died at a banquet, and witnesses believed Nero poisoned him.

With his rival gone, Nero felt no need to tolerate his mother’s presence. 

Later, he accused her of plotting against him. As a result, he planned her death in secret and, according to Tacitus, first arranged for her to be drowned at sea on a sabotaged boat that had lead panels designed to collapse.

Anicetus was a freedman and naval commander who helped build the vessel and later claimed to have killed her.

When she swam to safety, Nero ordered assassins to finish the job, and they stabbed her in her villa at Misenum.

Her murder was officially presented as a suicide, although the circumstances made this unlikely, and no formal investigation took place. 

Writers from antiquity treated Agrippina harshly, as Tacitus, who wrote in his Annals, called her driven and dangerous, while Suetonius accused her of incest, and Cassius Dio claimed she used seduction and poison to control men.

Sadly, few praised her intelligence or political talent, and they condemned her for behaviour that contemporaries described as 'masculine'. 

Since then, historians have taken a different approach. They recognise that Roman women held no legal power, yet Agrippina still found ways to direct policy and secure outcomes.

She largely acted through marriage and family ties, which she used together with influence within the court. 

She survived two exiles, outlived three emperors, and raised a son to the throne, and as a result, achieved what no other woman in Rome had done so.

Her fall came from the same strength that brought her success: the will to control events.

After her death, her body was cremated and buried in a tomb on her estate near Misenum.

Some accounts claimed Nero may have feared her ghost, which led him to consult Magi to ward off her spirit. 

Even now, historians still debate her motives, as some see her as ruthless and others as brave.

Her life has since inspired new interpretations in modern literature, feminist scholarship, and even opera, including Handel’s Agrippina, which, though highly fictionalised, shows the ongoing interest with her story.