History of Europe

What is your happiness? Thinking about human well-being throughout the life of Julia Agrippina (Small Agrippina)

"Every happy family is similar, but each unhappy family has its own unfortunate shape."

This word is the opening sentence of Anna Karenina of Russian literary master Leo Tolstoy in the 19th century, but when I see this sentence, I think of the leading role Agrippina first.

She was of the blood of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, who would enjoy unprecedented prosperity, she became the emperor's wife, and her son became the emperor.

She is, in a sense, the most privileged woman in history, but she is also one of the most unfortunate women in world history.

This time, let's take a look at Agrippina, who remains a villain in world history.

She was born as a descendant of God, the daughter of a hero

As mentioned at the beginning, Agrippina is the daughter of the great Agrippina, the blood of the god Augustus, and at the same time the daughter of the Roman hero Germanicus.

It can be said that her brother was the third Roman emperor Caligula and was the most blessed birth of humankind who lived in imperial Rome or in the first century.

Nevertheless, it was hard to say that her first half of her life was very happy.

Agrippina was born in Cologne, Germany, where her father Germanicus was assigned, and after that, she followed her father to Syria and other places, but suffered the misfortune that her father died.

She then turned her 13 years old, and Agrippina was ordered by Tiberius to marry a Roman influential man named Gnaeus Domitius Ahenovabes.

This man named Domitius is a man whose only bad reputation remains in history books, and there is a good description of his child being trampled on a horse, wearing national money, and being executed by a person who criticized himself. It was a person without.

It can be said that the Roman Empire was already crazy at this time, as even such a person was appointed to the Consul, which was second only to the emperor.

That alone is quite difficult, but unfortunately she is exiled after her mother, Agrippina the Elder, confronts Tiberius and is exiled.

But in 37 BC Tiberius died, and his brother Caligula became the third emperor of the Roman Empire.

At the same time, Agrippina gave birth to Nero, who would later become the emperor, and this time seems happy but not so.

The first reason for her was that her husband died during the reign of Caligula, but her brother Caligula had dressed her heritage, and the other was that Caligula was with her sisters. There were rumors that he was incest.

The former is true and the latter has no evidence.

However, it is certain that her sister and her husband have been exiled to the island because she is threatening her position from her current Caligula.

It cannot be said that this was in fact unrooted by looking at the actions of her posterity Agrippina.

As the emperor's wife

Agrippina was able to return to Rome when Caligula was assassinated.

She married a consul-experienced man named Passienus during this period, who died a few years later, and she seems to have inherited a significant amount of heritage.

She has been married three times, but she has died prematurely on her husband three times.

Her third marriage partner is Claudius, the 4th Roman emperor.

Claudius became Germanicus, the younger brother of his father, so he became an uncle, and initially there was great opposition from the Senate, but the two forcibly get married.

Behind him, a Greek secretary named Pallas, who was the secretary of Claudius, seems to have been dying, all of which is said to have been to make Nero the next emperor.

Claudius was a man who was not interested in the family and was freeing her in the days of his ex-wife Messalina.

Claudius would have been a very convenient husband for Agrippina.

Agrippina wanted Claudius' power, and she gave her the honorific title of Augusta (Empress).

This is the female version of Augustus, a mausoleum that is usually given after her death, but she gives it to her during her lifetime, a complete outrage.

She succeeded in adopting her son Nero to Claudius and was steadily laying the groundwork. Should it be said that the blood of Augustus, who is good at the number of tactics, appears in this area?

She appointed one of Rome's best philosophers, Seneca, and the military talented Bruce as her son's educator, and continued to serve as Nero's supporter after her emperor's inauguration.

On the other hand, it also keeps Britannicus, the real child of Claudius, away from Claudius.

Meanwhile, Claudius died suddenly.

Officially, he was supposed to have died of a mushroom-cooking addiction, but people at the time thought that Agrippina had killed Claudius. Modern people think so too. However, there is no evidence.

As the emperor's mother

The death of Emperor Claudius and the inauguration of Emperor Nero became known to the world at exactly the same time.

By the time people learned of the death of Emperor Claudius, Nero was already surrounded by the Guards. Like Claudius, Nero had the backing of the Guards Corps. Naturally, this is probably due to Agrippina's hand-cranking.

Agrippina is a woman who writes her memoirs, which is rare for a woman, and she is well-educated and her political skill is excellent.

It is said that the five years of Nero's reign were good politics, but it coincides with the time when Agrippina was alive.

Agrippina is a fairly aggressive and vanity character, and she has changed her name from the land of Cologne (then named Oppidum Ubiorm) to Colonia Agrippa.

However, since this name was also the name of Augustus' right-hand man named Agrippa (she is also the grandfather of Agrippina), Agrippina itself was quite disliked, but the name itself was even welcomed.

Pathetic end

Agrippina was finally killed by her beloved son.

No one in history would have been killed so badly as a woman.

The reason why Nero killed his mother is one of the problems that Roman historians are worried about.

The worst is that Agrippina sexually abused her son and forced her incest, but like her incest with her Caligula, it's completely unfounded.

There is a psychological term called "Agrippina complex", which is used to refer to the phenomenon that her mother pours too much love and her son goes crazy, but the origin is this Agrippina and Agrippina. It is named with reference to the relationship between Nero and Nero.

Nero initially presented his mother with a scenic trip. She was willing to board the ship at the suggestion of her beloved son, but the ship was designed to sink. Agrippina was saved because she was good at swimming, but Nero tried to go to the Guards to make sure to assassinate, but the Guards were more likely to be strongly rejected by the side that followed Agrippina rather than Nero. I sent a bad guy to my mother.

The reason may be that the Guards were the grandson of Agrippa and could not have killed the daughter of Germanicus. The moment her villain came, Agrippina realized everything about her and said to point to her own abdomen.

"Nero was born from here. Stab here."

Thus Agrippina was a rare stab and ended her spectacular life.

It can be said that she died of the most fortunate person, the least fortunate.