essay Flashcards
Paragraphs?
intro family links strategic marriage nero patronage/political alliances sexual relationships murder conclusion
Family Links: topic sentence
Agrippina supposedly used her family links to key political figures and her family bloodline of both the Julio and Claudian bloodline, which were Rome’s two greatest families, to access great amount of power and influence.
Family Links: Links
She was the sister, wife and mother of an emperor. Her brother became Emperor Gaius (Caligula), her uncle and later husband became Emperor Claudius and her son Nero, would also become Emperor.
Family Links: germanicus
Agrippina was the daughter of Germanicus who provided her with popular support. Suetonius describes Germanicus as being someone who was courageous, handsome and someone who could of won respect and affection by the people. Through this, Agrippina was able to use the favourable reputation of Germanicus among the people for her own status, supported by Barrett.
Family Links: nero
Furthermore, Agrippina perhaps gained the most power during the reign of Nero, using and controlling him to run the state under her influence
Family Links: brother and relatives
It can also be seen that she may have had multiple ‘close’ relationships with some of her brothers and relatives to gain status.
Family Links: concluding sentence
Family links gave Agrippina considerable power and influence in Ancient Rome, utilizing it to her greatest extent for her prestige.
Strategic marriages: topic sentences
It can be seen that Agrippina’s marriages, arranged by her family when she was younger, and Agrippina herself, allowed her to access considerable power and influence.
strategic marriage: first marriage
Her marriage to Domitius Ahenobarbus was a union, which gave her connections to a wealthy and upper class family and resulted in the birth of her son, Nero. Ahenobarbus provided her with protection and security; during the time attacks were being made on her family
Strategic marriage: Claudius
. However, it was after her marriage to Emperor Claudius that she was able to form personal and political alliances and access a great amount of power. She was able to gain influence over the Praetorian Guard, replacing the prefects with a man loyal to her, Burrus and frequently appeared on coins. Tacitus reports that Pallas supported this marriage and initially supported Agrippina’s opinions and desires.
Startegic marriage: last sentence
This marriage allowed Agrippina to arguably access the most amount of power held by any other Roman woman.
Nero: topic sentence
Imperial woman played a key role in determining succession, receiving an opportunity to wield power and influence through their son. Therefore, Agrippina’s maneuvering of her son, Nero, into power became her prime preoccupation
Nero: way to get him emperor
Agrippina’s marriage to emperor Claudius allowed Nero to be adopted into the family and become the emperor’s heir. As Claudius passed away, Nero’s early years as Emperor allowed Agrippina to gain power and influence, having control over her seventeen-year-old son.
Nero: After his succession/symbolic powers
After his succession, he showed Agrippina with a number of honours, appointed her as priestess of the cult of the divine Claudius who had been deified, granted two lictors, and was allowed to travel in the covered carpetum, which were an act of great significance and status. The most significant of Nero’s actions were featuring Agrippina on Roman coins, as she had been during Claudius’ reign. These were all symbolic powers
Nero: real power
. But, she was also able to exercise real power, such as removing of the threats of her position and attending a session of the Senate when they were attempting to change the laws passed during Claudius’ reign. As Bauman states, “Agrippina had achieved the unthinkable; she had attended a meeting of the senate.”
Nero: last sentence
Nero provided Agrippina with power and influence due to her manipulation of her son, as Suetonius reports that Nero turned all his public and private affairs to Agrippina’s management.
Patronage/Political Alliances: topic se
Arguably, Agrippina also gained power and influence through patronage and political alliances she established over the course of her time. The key figures who played a part in her power were Seneca, Burrus, and the freedman Pallas and Narcissus.
Patronage/Political Alliances:pallas
Pallas supported her role as Claudius’ wife and influenced his decision to marry her. He pushed for the adoption of Nero into the family and gave her access to the financial affairs of the state, as Barrett reports, “Pallas’ position would have given Agrippina unique access to the financial operation of the state”.
Patronage/Political Alliances: Burrus
Burrus, who later became the prefect of the Praetorian Guard because of Agrippina’s influence over Claudius, ensured her protection and added strength to her position. Burrus was able to ensure that a loyal Praetorian Guard would rally behind the new emperor, Nero after Claudius’ death. He also dissuaded Nero from immediately killing Agrippina, motivated by both loyalty and patronage of owing his position to her.
Patronage/Political Alliances: Seneca
Seneca also had patronage to Agrippina by returning from exile. He became Nero’s tutor and Agrippina wished to build to her reputation and political influence by associating herself with a man of such major literary figure who would later become one of Nero’s most influential advisors
Patronage/Political Alliances: LAst sen
These key figures extended Agrippina’s power and influence in the state by patronage and political alliances.
Sexual relationships: topic
It is believed that Agrippina gained much of her power through sexual relationships and seduction to gain influence and status.
Sexual r/p: Claudius
It is thought that she seduced her uncle, Claudius, persuading him to marry her and make Nero heir, supported by Tacitus who stated that she payed frequent visits to Claudius and won his heart. This marriage ultimately led to Nero becoming Emperor who would then be manipulated and used for Agrippina’s power in Rome
Sexual r/p: politicians
Some ancient sources also accuse Agrippina of having relations with politicians to be able to influence decisions. Such as one of Claudius’ advisors, Freedman Pallas, before marriage to Claudius.
Sexual r/p; last sen
By using seduction, Agrippina was able to cleverly wield power and influence for her own status in Rome.
Murder: topic sen
Many sources indicate that Agrippina may have used the method of murder to access power and influence within her context
Murder: Claudius
Some state that Agrippina organised the murder of her husband, Claudius, as he began to become aware of her scheming to gain power and reconciled with his true son, Britannicus, forming a threat to Nero becoming the heir/emperor. Agrippina may have ordered the poisoning of him to Locusta, the poisoner. The poisoning failed the first time but succeeded the second time when she made Xenophan, Claudius’ doctor, kill him. Tacitus reports that “while pretending to help Claudius to vomit, he put a feather dipped in a quick poison down his throat”, ultimately killing Claudius.
Murder: Britannicus’ tutor
Due to the threat of Britannicus, it is also believed that she ordered his tutor to be killed to isolate Britannicus
Murder: last sent
Although Agrippina herself did not commit any murder, she organized them to benefit her and increase power and influence in Ancient Rome.
Conclusion?
Agrippina the Younger accessed great amount of power and influence within her context through different methods. She used her family lineage to her advantage and exploited Germanicus’ reputation to the full for her own. She married Claudius to ensure that Nero would become his next emperor and, manipulated and controlled Nero when he became emperor to pass all of his private and public affairs to her management. She made sure that she would receive patronage from those she gave favours to and formed political alliances with people who were important in the management of the state. Agrippina exploited her womanhood to seduce her uncle, Claudius, into marrying her and formed sexual relationships with politicians so she would be able to influence decisions, and finally, organized murders to benefit her and her son, when she needed to dispose threats and enemies. By using these various methods, Agrippina was able to access the most power any woman came close to in Ancient Rome.
