What Causes Agrippina The Younger Rise To Power

Agrippina the Younger became the most powerful woman of her time, at her height of power under Claudius she would officially have no political power, but Tacitus and Cassius Dio both believed that Agrippina had enormous amounts of power through the control she had over Claudius. Agrippina lived to see four different emperors, from someone who was claimed to have killed half her family to her own son, Agrippina climbed many obstacles to reach the unmatched career that she achieved. This career included her extreme influence in roman politics and society as well as the wealth and honours she amassed from her exploits in these areas, Agrippina the Younger was undoubtedly one of the most influential female personalities in history.

Agrippina

Agrippina’s influence in the roman society didn’t begin until she was 21, under the rule of her brother Caligula, where her status was elevated greatly. Under Caligula, her influence in roman society included being used as propaganda to strengthen the image of Caligula as being heavily connected and emotional about his family. Agrippina along with her two sisters were used on the reverse of coins which indicated each sister’s names and represented them as goddesses, along with being given the rights of the vestal virgins she was also added to the oath of allegiance. These honours however bared no responsibility or real power, and soon after she was sent into exile, losing the little influence she gained. Under the role of Claudius, Agrippina’s influence within society was at it’s peak, where she was given the greatest title a female could achieve, the title of Augusta. The marriage of Agrippina and Claudius became a common fact extremely quick due to the many coins minted to reinforce Claudius’ claim to the throne. Agrippina’s face was depicted wearing a corn ear crow which gave her huge amounts of renown throughout the empire as being the mother of the empire. She also used the money from her

Her first exploits in politics were a disaster, after being caught in a conspiracy to murder the emperor, she was exiled for treason under Caligula, after that she realised how she had to be more careful. She had learnt her lesson, as after returning from exile, Claudius was married to Messalina who had a long standing hostilities against Agrippina. She had learnt her lesson and waited to make her move after Messalina had lost power, marrying a man by the name of Crispus Passienus and supposedly left rome due to the lack of historical evidence found during this period. Once Messalina had been executed, she convinced the senate to allow for the marriage due to its incestial nature, however once she was married to Claudius however, she had no cause for caution, she began her rise to political power, she influenced the both the senate and Claudius, having them relinquish harsh relations that had formed over the previous principates. For this she achieved honours by the senate such as the right to use the Carpetanium in festivals, which shows the huge political success of this action. During this time she also used her political influence to gain honours for her son, getting Claudius to adopt him, and giving him more honours than