Agrippina the Elder
(14 BC-33 AD)
BIRTH
14 BC
PLACE
Athens, Greece
NAME
Vipsania Agrippina
DEATH
33 AD
PLACE
Ventotene, Italy
FAMILY
STEP FATHER
Tiberius
(42 BC-37 AD)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
NOT YET RESEARCHED
NOT YET RESEARCHED
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Agrippina the Elder was a granddaughter of Augustus, wife of Germanicus and mother of the emperor Caligula. She accompanied Germanicus on his travels and brought his ashes back to Italy after his death in AD 19. Her suspicions about his death and hostility toward Tiberius placed her at the center of imperial family struggles. Exiled to Pandateria in AD 29, she died there in AD 33. Ancient accounts describe starvation but differ over the circumstances.
EARLY LIFE
Vipsania Agrippina was born in 14 BC, the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder, the only child of Augustus. She was one of five children, including Gaius and Lucius Caesar, whom Augustus adopted as heirs. Her father died in 12 BC, when she was about two, and her mother was exiled in 2 BC. Agrippina was raised in the household of Augustus and Livia. Around AD 5 she married Germanicus, the adopted son of Tiberius, and they had nine children, six of whom survived to adulthood.
Agrippina accompanied Germanicus on campaign in Germany. In AD 15, when a false report of disaster led soldiers to prepare to destroy the Rhine bridge, she stood at the bridge and prevented it.
She went with Germanicus to the East, and after he died near Antioch in AD 19, she carried his ashes back to Rome and accused Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso of his murder.
Agrippina believed Tiberius was hostile to her family and openly resented him. Encouraged by Sejanus, Tiberius placed her under house arrest in AD 27 and in AD 29 exiled her to Pandateria, where she died in AD 33, reportedly of starvation.
CAREER
DEATH
Agrippina the Elder was a granddaughter of Augustus, wife of Germanicus and mother of the emperor Caligula. Ancient accounts describe starvation but differ over the circumstances. Agrippina accompanied Germanicus on campaign in Germany. In AD 15, when a false report of disaster led soldiers to prepare to destroy the Rhine bridge, she stood at the bridge and prevented it. She went with Germanicus to the East, and after he died near Antioch in AD 19, she carried his ashes back to Rome and accused Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso of his murder. Agrippina believed Tiberius was hostile to her family and openly resented him. Encouraged by Sejanus, Tiberius placed her under house arrest in AD 27 and in AD 29 exiled her to Pandateria, where she died in AD 33, reportedly of starvation. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
PARK
Baths of Agrippa, Rome
PARK
Forum of Augustus, Rome
Piazza del Grillo 1, Rome, Lazio, Italy
PARK
House of Augustus, Palatine Hill
Via di San Gregorio 30 (Palatine Hill entrance), Rome, Lazio, Italy
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Agrippina the Elder, Germanicus’s wife and Caligula’s mother, distinct from Agrippina the Younger. The Germanicus and Caligula biographies concern her husband and son. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Imperial Women of Rome: Power, Gender, Context — Mary T. Boatwright. [Collective imperial biography and historical study] Find on Amazon
2. Imperial Women: A Study in Public Images, 40 B.C.–A.D. 68 — Susan E. Wood. [Collective imperial and visual-biographical study] Find on Amazon
3. Germanicus: The Magnificent Life and Mysterious Death of Rome's Most Popular General — Lindsay Powell. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
4. Caligula: A Biography — Aloys Winterling. [Related biography of her son] Find on Amazon
5. The Annals — Tacitus. [Primary imperial narrative] Find on Amazon
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