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Home / People / Agrippina the Younger

Historical person

Agrippina the Younger

15–59

Agrippina the Younger was a great-granddaughter of Augustus, a sister of Caligula, the wife and niece of Claudius, and the mother of Nero. After surviving exile under Caligula, she returned to prominence, married Claudius in AD 49 and secured Nero’s adoption and succession. Ancient sources accuse her of poisoning Claudius and attempting to dominate Nero’s reign, although their hostile accounts are difficult to separate from Roman prejudice against politically active women. Nero had her killed in AD 59.

Agrippina is one of the most frequently fictionalised women of imperial Rome. Robert Graves gives her a formidable role in I, Claudius and Claudius the God, while Margaret George’s The Confessions of Young Nero presents her through Nero’s troubled relationship with his ambitious mother. Modern novels often revisit the ancient stereotype of the murderous empress, balancing it against the political skill required for a woman to survive within the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

Historical context

Historical periods linked to Agrippina the Younger

Imperial Rome 27 BCE–284 CE Julio-Claudian Dynasty 27 BCE–68 CE Reign of Claudius 41–54 CE Reign of Nero 54–68 CE

Series

Series featuring Agrippina the Younger (6 series)

Eagles of the Empire in Order

by Simon Scarrow 24 books 4.5

The Eagles of the Empire series follows Roman soldiers Macro and Cato from the reign of Claudius into that of Nero. Their service takes them through the invasion and occupation of Britain, Mediterranean piracy, revolt, imperial court intrigue and Rome’s eastern wars, combining military campaigning with the politics…

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The Nero Trilogy in Order

by Conn Iggulden 3 books 4.4

The Nero Trilogy recounts the rise and fall of Nero through the ambitions of his mother Agrippina and the lethal politics of the Julio-Claudian court. It begins with Nero’s childhood, follows his elevation over Britannicus and ends with revolt, imperial collapse and his death.

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Claudius Series in Order

by Robert Graves 2 books 4.4

The Claudius Series is Robert Graves’s two-volume fictional memoir of the Roman emperor Claudius and the Julio-Claudian dynasty. I, Claudius follows the imperial family from Augustus to Caligula through Claudius’s wary, observant voice, while Claudius the God covers his own reign and the forces that undermine it. Together…

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Vespasian in Order

by Robert Fabbri 9 books 4.4

The Vespasian series follows Titus Flavius Vespasianus from obscure young nobleman and soldier to the imperial contender who will found the Flavian dynasty. The novels use Vespasian’s career to move through the Julio-Claudian court, frontier warfare, Britain, Armenia, North Africa, Judaea and the civil-war crisis of AD 69.…

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Political Intrigue in Ancient Rome in Order

by Paul Doherty 5 books 4.3

Political Intrigue in Ancient Rome moves between the Julio-Claudian court and the transformed empire of Constantine I. Domina follows Agrippina the Younger’s struggle for influence as wife of Claudius and mother of Nero. The four Claudia mysteries then shift to the early fourth century, where an imperial agent…

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Nero Series in Order

by Margaret George 2 books 4.0

Margaret George’s Nero duology reconstructs the life of Rome’s last Julio-Claudian emperor, beginning with a childhood in which imperial blood makes Nero a target and ending with the collapse of his reign. Told largely through Nero’s own perspective, the series follows his passage through the courts of Caligula…

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