Agrippina_Essay_and_Sources

Ancient and modern sources contributing to main aspects of her life. SOURCE 1: Gemma Claudia Family Background. The archaeological source the “Gemma Claudia” provides great insight to the powerful bloodline Agrippina was born into. The Roman onyx cameo supports this with the image of her power being shown through standing beside her husband Claudius and also opposite her parents Germanicus and Agrippina the elder, all strong contributions to the Julian-Claudian dynasty. The cameo is seen as two pairs of confronting busts coming out of cornucopia. Agrippina the younger is wearing the corona spicea, two sheaves of grain and a poppy- attributes of the goddess tyche the protector of cities. The cameo must be seen in the context of time when Claudius needed to re-establish his political position. It reinforces his link to Agrippina’s illustrious parents and to his wife link to Augustus. Both are depicted as gods while her parents represent the military sphere. Other modern sources also have stated that “Agrippina was born to power and also it shadow,” this can link to the similarities that Agrippina the younger carried on from her mother Agrippina the elder. This involved such roles as Agrippina being a wife of a hero, carrier of the bloodline, mother of an emperor, a significant figure in dynasty politics and a hero to the people. In M.T Griffins book on Nero, he suggests that “the techniques of the two women were very similar. Both cultivated the military, both had links with the nobility” demonstrating the mother and daughter close connection. Source 2: Returning of Family Background Germanicus’s Ashes. The death of Germanicus in what can only be described as dubious circumstances greatly affected Tiberius' popularity in Rome, leading to the creation of a climate of fear in Rome itself. Agrippina the younger was only a child when her father’s death occurred but she still stood bravely beside her mother in the returning of Germanicus’s ashes. Agrippina the elder suggested by Tacitus was “exhausted by grief and unwell, but impatient of anything that postponed revenge, she took a ship with Germanicus’s ashes and her children.” After Germanicus’s death the ambitious Agrippina the elder became a threat to the principate and to Sejanus as said by Tacitus her supporters formed a politicial faction known as the Partes Agrippinae. Source 3: