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

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 Her German bodyguard was withdrawn.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.

Agrippina had Lucius Annaeus Seneca recalled from exile in Corsica to tutor Nero, a philosopher-statesman of her own choosing rather than a figure from Britannicus's circle.

Claudius formally adopted Nero, who took the name Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. The adoption placed an outsider ahead of the natural son in name and legal standing, a highly unusual step for a Roman household with a living son of the right age.

Nero was permitted to assume the toga virilis, the toga of manhood, before his fourteenth birthday, the normal age for the ceremony. Britannicus, roughly three years younger and the natural claimant, remained in the boy's toga praetexta.

The Senate granted the newly adult Nero proconsular imperium outside Rome and the honorific title princeps iuventutis (leader of the youth), the same title Augustus had used to mark out his own intended heirs. No equivalent honour was extended to Britannicus.

Tacitus (Annals 12.41) records that at public games and ceremonies Nero appeared in triumphal or adult dress while Britannicus, still in his boy's toga, was kept visibly in the background. The staging was deliberate: the Roman public was being shown who the heir was.

Britannicus's household was progressively purged. Tutors and attendants regarded as sympathetic to his claim were replaced or removed, isolating him from any independent base of support inside the palace.

Agrippina secured the replacement of the existing command structure of the Praetorian Guard with Sextus Afranius Burrus as sole prefect. Tacitus (Annals 12.42) records the change as made explicitly "on Agrippina's advice." A single prefect who owed his position to her alone removed the risk that a rival commander might instead back Britannicus when the moment came.

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.