Product Description

Barrett argues that Agrippina - mother of Nero, wife of Claudius and brother to Caligula - has been misunderstood and had much influence and power in her own right.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264722 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

From the Back Cover
Agrippina the Younger attained a level of power in first-century Rome unprecedented for a woman. According to ancient sources, she achieved her success by plotting against her brother, the emperor Caligula, murdering her husband, the emperor Claudius, and controlling her son, the emperor Nero, by sleeping with him.
Drawing on the latest archaeological, numismatic and historical evidence, Barrett argues that Agrippina has been misjudged. Although she was ambitious, she made her way through ability and determination rather than by sexual allure, and her political contributions to her time seem to have been positive. After Agrippina's marriage to Claudius there was a marked decline in the number of judicial executions and there was close co-operation between the Senate and the Emperor. The settlement of Cologne, founded under her aegis, was a model of social harmony. The first five years of Nero's reign, while she was still alive, were the most enlightened of his rule. According to Barrett, Agrippina's one failing was her relationship with her son, the monster of her own making, who had her murdered in horrific and violent circumstances.
In this provocative and stimulating biography - the first on Agrippina in English - Anthony Barrett paints a startling new picture of this influential woman.

Customer Reviews

A rare and fascinating commodity, Agrippina.
Antony Barrett, as a historian and biographer, accomplishes more in this work than providing a persuasive case as to why Agrippina the Younger has been misjudged and requires rehabilitation. One of the additional values of this biography of Agrippina, is the appreciation that the reader obtains as to the reality of maintaining ongoing political balance between the elite who comprised the executive and legislative branches of Roman government. Agrippina, as a daughter, sister, niece, wife and mother, was a lifelong protagonist in this politic, playing for personal survival or Julio-Claudian family pre-eminence and dynastic continuation. The end of the Republican political compromise is thrown into relief by Antony Barrett's focus on the diplomatic balance that Agrippina rationally maintained, and the political chaos which preceded, punctuated and followed her life is better explained by our understanding of her work methods in various political partnerships. Agrippina was, and remains, a rare and fascinating commodity.