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The place and date of her birth are unknown but by about 5 BC she had married Germanicus, the step-grandson of the Emperor Augustus. The well-regarded Germanicus was a candidate for the succession and had won fame campaigning in Germania and Gaul, where he was accompanied by Agrippina. This was most unusual for Roman wives, as convention required them to stay at home, and earned her a reputation as a model for heroic womanhood. She bore him two daughters in Gaul, a boy and Agrippina Minor in the Rhine frontier.
Agrippina and Germanicus travelled to the Near East in AD 19, incurring the displeasure of the emperor TiberiusTiberius Claudius Nero Caesar ( November 16, 42 BC March 16, AD 37) was the second Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from AD 14 until his death. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian—son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia—and was the adopted. He quarrelled with Gnaeus Calpurnius PisoGnaeus Calpurnius Piso Roman statesman, was consul in 7 BC, and subsequently governor of Spain and proconsul of Africa. In AD 17 Tiberius appointed him governor of Syria, with secret instructions to thwart Germanicus, to whom the eastern provinces had bee, the governor of SyriaThe Syrian Arab Republic is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The border with Israel is subject to dispute, pending the resolution of outstanding conflicts over possession of the Gola, and died in AntiochThis is about one of the cities called Antioch in Asia Minor, now Turkey. See Antioch (disambiguation) for other places called Antioch. The city of Antioch-on-the-Orontes (modern Antakya is located in what is now Turkey. It was founded near the end of the in mysterious circumstances. It was widely suspected that Germanicus had been poisoned – perhaps on the orders of Tiberius himself – and Agrippina returned to Rome to avenge his death. She boldly accused Piso of the murder of Germanicus. To avoid public infamy, Piso committed suicide.
From 19 to 29Alternate uses, see Number 29 Centuries: 1st century BC 1st century 2nd century Decades: 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s Years: 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Events Romans captured Sofia. Jesus Christ baptized by John the Baptist., Agrippina remained in Rome, becoming increasingly involved with a group of senators who opposed the growing power of Tiberius' favourite Sejanus. Her relations with the emperor became increasingly fraught as she made it clear that she believed that he was responsible for the death of Germanicus. Tiberius also evidently feared that she might seek to secure the throne for her own children. In 26Alternate uses, see Number 26 Centuries: 1st century BC 1st century 2nd century Decades: 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s Years: 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Events Pontius Pilate is appointed as Prefect of Judaea. Tiberius Retires t, the emperor rejected her request that she be allowed to marry again.
Agrippina and her sons Drusus and Nero CaesarNero Caesar (AD 6 AD 33) was a close relative to the Roman Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He was born in AD 6 to Germanicus and Agrippina the elder. His paternal grandparents were Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor, daughter of Marcus Antoniu were arrested in 29 on the orders of Tiberius. They were tried by the Senate and Agrippina was banished to the island of Pandataria (now called Ventotene) in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Campania, where she died on October 18, 33 in suspicious circumstances. The official story was that she had starved herself to death, but it seems equally likely that she was starved on the orders of the emperor. After her death, Tiberius convinced the senate to revoke all her former privileges and declared her birthday to be a day of ill-omen.
Agrippina had nine children by Germanicus, several of whom died young. Drusus died of starvation after being imprisoned in Rome and Nero Caesar either committed suicide or was murdered after his trial in 29. Only two of her children are of historical importance: Agrippina Minor, also known as Agrippina the Younger, and Gaius Caesar, who succeeded Tiberius under the name of Caligula. Despite Tiberius' enmity towards Caligula's elder brothers, he nonetheless made Caligula and his cousin Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs to his property.
Agrippina was regarded by contemporaries as being a woman of the highest character and exemplary Roman morals. There is a portrait of her in the Capitoline Museum at Rome and a bronze medal in the British Museum showing her ashes being brought back to Rome by order of Caligula.
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