Quick questions on Agrippina the Younger as mother of Nero: HSC Ancient History

Agrippina had spent the previous five years preparing Nero for the succession. Claudius's regret about the adoption (Tacitus, Annals 12.64 onwards) was a developing threat. Tacitus and Suetonius both report that Agrippina poisoned Claudius, with help from the Gallic poisoner Locusta and (in one version) the doctor Xenophon. Anthony Barrett notes that ancient writers uniformly accept the poisoning but the historical evidence is circumstantial.

The opening of Nero's reign showed Agrippina at her highest point of public power.

Two men, both placed by Agrippina, would prove the agents of her decline.

Within a year of the accession Nero took as mistress Claudia Acte, a freedwoman of Greek or Asian origin. Agrippina was furious. Acte was below the dignity of an emperor and outside Agrippina's control. Tacitus (Annals 13.13) describes Agrippina's reaction in detail: rage, threats of bringing Britannicus forward, public scenes.

Britannicus turned 14 in February AD 55, the age at which he could put on the toga virilis and become a public adult. Agrippina's threats to support him against Nero made him an immediate danger. Tacitus (Annals 13.15 to 13.17) records the event:

Within months of Britannicus's death Nero removed Agrippina from the palace. She was assigned to the former house of Antonia Minor (Nero's great-grandmother). Her German bodyguard was withdrawn. Her receptions of senatorial visitors stopped.

Junia Silana, a personal enemy of Agrippina, accused her of plotting to set Rubellius Plautus on the throne in place of Nero. Tacitus (Annals 13.19 to 13.22) preserves the story: the accusation reached Nero in the middle of the night; Nero ordered Burrus to arrest his mother; Burrus insisted on hearing her defence first; Agrippina rebutted the charges in a dramatic interview; Nero relented, the accusers were exiled, and Pallas (who had been linked to the charge) was dismissed.

From AD 55 to early AD 59 Agrippina lived in semi-retirement at the Domus Antoniae and at a villa at Baiae on the Bay of Naples. She remained Augusta. She received visitors. She had no political role.

Anthony Barrett (1996). Treats AD 54 to early AD 55 as Agrippina's brief peak: she managed the succession and dominated the first months. From mid AD 55 she was excluded; by AD 56 she was politically irrelevant.

The body was held inside the palace. Britannicus and the sisters Octavia and Antonia were detained. Astrologers were consulted about the auspicious hour.

At midday Burrus, the Praetorian Prefect Agrippina had installed in AD 51, led Nero from the palace to the Castra Praetoria. The cohort on duty hailed Nero imperator. The remaining cohorts followed.

The Senate voted Nero the imperial powers within hours.

Within weeks Claudius was deified by senatorial decree. Agrippina became flamen (priest) of the Cult of the Deified Claudius and oversaw the building of a temple to him on the Caelian hill. The deification gave her the new title sacerdos Divi Claudii.

Nero's first watchword to the Guard. Suetonius (Nero 9) and Tacitus (Annals 13.2) cite it as evidence of her dominance.

The first aurei and denarii of Nero's reign (AD 54) show Agrippina and Nero in jugate portraits on the obverse. The legend AGRIPP. AUG.