page_title: Agrippina the Elder
section_title: Life after Germanicus
hierarchical_section_title: Agrippina the Elder / Life after Germanicus
caption_attribution_description: Arte romana, gran cammeo della ste chapelle con esaltazione della dinastia giulio-claudia, 23 dc ca., livia maggiore, druso cesare e agrippina
context_page_description: Vipsania Agrippina, commonly referred to as Agrippina the Elder, was a prominent member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was born in c. 14 BC the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a close supporter of Rome's first emperor Augustus, and Augustus' daughter Julia the Elder. At the time of her birth, her brothers Lucius and Gaius were the adoptive sons of Augustus and were his heirs until their deaths in AD 2 and 4, respectively. Following their deaths, her cousin Germanicus was made the adoptive son of Tiberius as part of Augustus' succession scheme in the adoptions of AD 4 in which Tiberius was adopted by Augustus. As a corollary to the adoption, Agrippina was wed to Germanicus in order to bring him closer to the Julian family.
  She is known to have traveled with him throughout his career, taking her children everywhere they went. In AD 14, Germanicus was deployed in Gaul as governor and general. While there, the late Augustus sent her son Gaius to her unspecified location. She liked to dress him in a little soldiers' outfit complete with boots for which Gaius earned the nickname "Caligula".
context_section_description: Her marriage to Germanicus had served to unite the imperial family. Agrippina may have suspected Tiberius' involvement in the death of her husband and, with Germanicus dead, she no longer had any familial ties to the emperor. Historian Richard Alston says it is likely that either Tiberius or Livia were behind the exile of Agrippina's half-sister and the death of Postumus. He notes the death of Agrippina's mother, who starved herself to death amidst her exile in AD 14, linking her death to Tiberius' disdain for her.
  Agrippina was vocal about her feelings claiming that Germanicus was murdered to promote Drusus the Younger as Tiberius' heir, and worried that the birth of the Younger Drusus' twin sons would displace her own sons in the line of succession. Her fears proved to be unfounded, with her son Nero receiving the toga virilis ("toga of manhood") from Tiberius and the Younger Drusus on 7 June AD 20. Further, Nero was promised the office of quaestor five years before the ordinary age and was wed to Tiberius' granddaughter Julia. Agrippina's second oldest son Drusus was given similar honors and was also promised the office of quaestor in advance when he reached his fourteenth year in AD 23.
  At about this time, Tiberius' Praetorian Prefect Sejanus was becoming powerful in Rome and began feuding with Drusus the Younger. While the exact causes of the feud are unknown, it ended when the Younger Drusus died of seemingly natural causes on 14 September AD 23. After the death of Tiberius' son, Agrippina wanted to advance the careers of her sons, who were all potential heirs for Tiberius. To achieve this, Agrippina presented the Great Cameo of France to Tiberius. It was a personalized gift that positioned the family of Germanicus around the emperor. The work was designed to convince Tiberius to choose her children as his heirs. It is likely she was the one who commissioned the Great Cameo of France.
  Ultimately, the death of Tiberius' son elevated her own children to the position of heirs. Her sons were the logical choice, because they were the sons of Germanicus and Tiberius' grandsons were too young. Nero was becoming popular in the Senate due in part, Tacitus says, to his resemblance with his father. The rise of her children was threatening to Sejanus' position. Resultantly, Sejanus began spreading rumors about Agrippina in the imperial court. The coming years were marked with increasing hostility between Sejanus and Agrippina and her sons. This effectively caused factions to rise in the aristocracy between her family and Sejanus.
caption: Great Cameo of France detail depicting Livia (left), Drusus (center), and Agrippina the Elder (right).[33]
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