Agrippina the Younger's background and rise to prominence, including her marriages to Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus, her exile under Caligula, and her return under Claudius

What this dot point is asking

NESA expects you to trace Agrippina the Younger's rise from her first marriage in AD 28 to her marriage to Claudius in AD 49: the dynastic match with Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, the birth of the future Nero, the unprecedented honours and the political collapse under her brother Caligula, the exile to the Pontian Islands, the rescue and recall by her uncle Claudius, the second marriage to Passienus Crispus, and the manoeuvring at Claudius's court after the fall of Messalina that culminated in the third marriage.

The answer

Marriage to Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (AD 28)

Tiberius arranged Agrippina's first marriage when she was about 13 years old. Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus was a senator about 30 years older, descended from Octavia (Augustus's sister) and Mark Antony. The Domitii Ahenobarbi were one of the great Republican gentes.

Domitius had a brutal reputation. Suetonius (Nero 5) calls him "in every part of his life a detestable man." He was charged with treason, adultery, and incest with his sister Domitia Lepida shortly before Tiberius died in AD 37; the charges were dropped on Tiberius's death.

The marriage was childless for nine years.

Birth of Lucius Domitius (15 December AD 37)

The future emperor Nero was born at Antium on 15 December AD 37, ten months after Caligula's accession. Suetonius records the omens: an astrologer predicted he would rule and kill his mother; she replied (in Suetonius's version), "Let him kill me, provided he becomes emperor."

The boy was named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. He would become Nero only on adoption by Claudius in AD 50.

Honours under Caligula (AD 37 to 39)

Caligula succeeded Tiberius on 16 March AD 37 and immediately elevated his three sisters.

Vestal rights. The Senate decreed that the three sisters (Agrippina, Drusilla, Julia Livilla) should have the rights and privileges of the Vestal Virgins. Suetonius (Caligula 15) records the unprecedented honour.

Inclusion in the oath. "I will hold neither myself nor my children dearer than Gaius and his sisters" was the new senatorial oath of allegiance (Suetonius, Caligula 15).

Coinage. A sestertius of AD 37 to 38 shows the three sisters on the reverse as the personifications Securitas, Concordia, and Fortuna. Agrippina (eldest) is Securitas.

Public statues. Agrippina and her sisters were depicted in public.

The honours were exceptional. Roman sisters of an emperor had never been so publicly elevated. The honours also made the sisters into potential targets when Caligula's relationship with them broke down.

The conspiracy of Lepidus and the exile (AD 39)

The honours collapsed in AD 39 with the conspiracy of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the widower of Drusilla (who had died in AD 38 and been deified as Diva Drusilla). Lepidus conspired with the governor of Upper Germany, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, against Caligula. Caligula uncovered the plot during a journey to the Rhine.

Lepidus and Gaetulicus were executed. Agrippina and Julia Livilla were charged with complicity (Suetonius reports that Agrippina had been Lepidus's lover). They were stripped of their honours and exiled to the Pontian Islands (Pontia, the small island off the Campanian coast where Agrippina the Elder had also been exiled).

Caligula compounded the humiliation: Agrippina was required to carry an urn containing Lepidus's ashes back to Rome on her journey into exile, in deliberate parody of Agrippina the Elder's famous return with Germanicus's ashes from Antioch in AD 19.

Her property was confiscated. Her two-year-old son Lucius (Nero) was placed in the household of his paternal aunt Domitia Lepida, where he was reportedly raised by a dancer and a barber (Suetonius, Nero 6).

Death of Domitius Ahenobarbus (AD 40)

Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus died of dropsy in AD 40 while Agrippina was in exile. His estate was seized by Caligula.

Recall by Claudius (AD 41)

Caligula was assassinated by the Praetorian tribune Cassius Chaerea on 24 January AD 41. The Praetorian Guard hailed Claudius emperor. Within weeks Claudius recalled Agrippina and Julia Livilla from exile and restored their property and honours.

Julia Livilla did not survive long. Within the year she was implicated in adultery with the philosopher Seneca, exiled again, and put to death (probably by Messalina, Claudius's wife, who saw her as a rival). Seneca was exiled to Corsica.

Second marriage to Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus (around AD 41 to 42)

Passienus Crispus was a wealthy senator, twice consul (AD 27 and AD 44), and one of the most distinguished orators of the period. He had previously been married to Domitia, sister of Agrippina's first husband Domitius Ahenobarbus.

He divorced Domitia to marry Agrippina. He died around AD 47, leaving his fortune to Agrippina and her son. Suetonius (Nero 6) reports that he was rumoured to have been poisoned by Agrippina.

The marriage to Passienus was a step back from the imperial sphere into senatorial wealth, but it gave Agrippina financial security and the resources for political manoeuvring.

Manoeuvring at Claudius's court (AD 48 to 49)

Claudius's third wife Valeria Messalina, mother of Britannicus and Octavia, fell from power in AD 48 after her public "marriage" to the consul-designate Gaius Silius during Claudius's absence at Ostia. Narcissus (Claudius's freedman secretary) ordered her execution.

Claudius needed a new wife. Three candidates were proposed by his three principal freedmen:

• Narcissus supported Aelia Paetina, Claudius's second wife (divorced earlier, mother of Antonia).
• Callistus supported Lollia Paulina (formerly engaged to Caligula).
• Pallas supported Agrippina.

Pallas's argument (preserved in Tacitus, Annals 12.2) was that Agrippina would bring the Julio-Claudian bloodline back into the dynastic line through her descent from Augustus, and that her son Lucius could be united with Claudius's daughter Octavia.

The marriage required a senatorial decree because Roman law forbade marriage between uncle and niece. The Senate complied (Tacitus, Annals 12.5 to 12.7) and the marriage took place at the start of AD 49.

Modern interpretations

Anthony Barrett (Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Empire, 1996) treats the pre-Claudian career as a slow accumulation of dynastic resources: family prestige under Tiberius, political honours under Caligula, financial wealth under Claudius. Each setback is followed by a stronger return.

Susan Wood (Imperial Women, 1999) emphasises the visual record. The coins and statues of AD 37 to 39 established Agrippina's public profile; the recall in AD 41 restored it.

Judith Ginsburg (Representing Agrippina, 2006) reads Tacitus's account of the manoeuvring at Claudius's court as a literary set piece, structured by the three freedmen's speeches.

How to read a source on this topic

Section III sources on Agrippina's rise typically include Tacitus on Claudius's marriage debate (Annals 12.1 to 12.7), Suetonius on the conspiracy of Lepidus, or coins of AD 37 to 38 with the three sisters. Three reading habits.

First, attend to the chronology. The three marriages map onto three political phases (Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, Claudius again). Confusing them loses marks.

Second, watch for Tacitus's literary patterning. Annals 12.1 to 12.7 is a debate scene with the three freedmen as speakers. Modern historians (Ginsburg) read this as Tacitean composition rather than verbatim record.

Third, integrate ancient and modern sources. The coins of AD 37 to 38 confirm the public honours; Tacitus describes their political function.

Common exam traps

Conflating the marriages. Three husbands (Domitius Ahenobarbus, Passienus Crispus, Claudius) with three different political contexts.

Forgetting the exile. AD 39 to 41 in the Pontian Islands. The reversal of fortune is a major theme.

Confusing the children. Agrippina had only one son, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (later Nero), by her first husband.

Treating the marriage to Claudius as automatic. It required overcoming the rival candidates and a senatorial decree on the incest law.

In one sentence

Agrippina the Younger rose from her dynastic first marriage to Domitius Ahenobarbus in AD 28 (which produced the future Nero in AD 37) through the unprecedented public honours granted by her brother Caligula in AD 37 to 39, the catastrophic exile to the Pontian Islands after the conspiracy of Lepidus in AD 39, the recall by her uncle Claudius in AD 41, the wealth-building second marriage to Passienus Crispus around AD 41 to 47, and the freedman-managed succession contest at Claudius's court in AD 48 to 49 that ended with her third marriage to her uncle and her elevation to Augusta.