Agrippina the Younger
(This is page two; click here
for page one.)
Agrippina continued for several years to share power with her husband Claudius. But by 54 AD Agrippina had a problem. Claudius' own son Britannicus (with his earlier wife Messalina) was thirteen, and would soon be old enough to rule if Claudius died. Claudius was beginning to think that he would rather hand power over to his own son than to Agrippina and Nero (who was now 17). Rather than lose power, Agrippina poisoned Claudius with mushrooms, and from then on she ruled
the Roman Empire as the regent for her son Nero.
Agrippina was 39 years old when she killed Claudius. She kept power for a while.
But in the end Nero decided he wanted to rule on his own. Agrippina threatened to support Britannicus instead of Nero, and to have Nero killed, and Nero was scared enough by this to decide to kill Agrippina himself. It took several tries - first Nero tried cutting a hole in her bedroom ceiling so it would fall on her in the night, then he tried smashing a hole in the bottom of a small boat she was using, but she swam to shore. Finally Nero's guards found her and just stabbed her to death. Agrippina died in 59 AD, when she was 44 years old.
First page about Agrippina
Nero
More about the Julio-Claudian emperors
For more on the Julio-Claudians, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Classical Rome, by John Clare (1993). For kids, the whole political history from beginning to end.
Oxford First Ancient History, by Roy Burrell (reissued 1997). For kids. It skips around a lot, not trying to tell everything, just highlights.
The Romans: From Village to Empire, by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola, and Richard Talbert (2004). Okay, it's a little dry, but it is up to date and has all the facts you could want.
The Roman Revolution, by Ronald Syme (1960). Still a classic.
From
the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68
by H. H. Scullard (1959, 5th edition 1990). Another classic.
More about the Julio-Claudians
Year of the Four Emperors
Main Roman history page
Email to a friend |
Save to del.icio.us/digg | Get more help with your question | How do I cite this page?
