Agrippina the Younger

In Our Time: History

BBC

History

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2016

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

Agrippina the Younger was one of the most notorious and influential of the Roman empresses in the 1st century AD. She was the sister of the Emperor Caligula, a wife of the Emperor Claudius and mother of the Emperor Nero. Through careful political manoeuvres, she acquired a dominant position for herself in Rome. In 39 AD she was exiled for allegedly participating in a plot against Caligula and later it was widely thought that she killed Claudius with poison. When Nero came to the throne, he was only 16 so Agrippina took on the role of regent until he began to exert his authority. After relations between Agrippina and Nero soured, he had her murdered. With: Catharine Edwards Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London Alice König Lecturer in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews Matthew Nicholls Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Reading Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time.
0:04.3	And for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio for.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:10.8	Hello, Agrippina the Younger was for a time one of the most powerful women in the Roman
0:14.9	world.
0:15.9	Born in the early 1st century AD, she was a member of the Julia Claudian dynasty that ruled
0:21.1	the Roman Empire for many decades.
0:23.9	When her brother Collegula became Emperor, she exercised at first considerable influence.
0:28.6	As she married the Emperor Claudius, she enjoyed high status as Empress and secured that
0:32.4	position through complex political maneuvers.
0:35.3	When her teenage son Nero came to power, she effectively acted as his regent.
0:40.4	Her life was full of tremendous drama and intrigue.
0:42.9	In 39 AD, she allegedly took part in a plot against Collegula, her brother, and he sent
0:47.8	her into exile.
0:48.8	It was said that she poisoned her husband Claudius.
0:51.6	Nero eventually turned against his mother and had her killed.
0:55.0	We'd made you discuss the dark, operatic and contested life of Agrippina the Younger,
0:59.3	are Catherine Edwards, Professor of Classics and Ancient History, Burke Beck University
1:03.6	of London, Alice Kernick, Elektra in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of
1:08.4	St. Andrews, and Matthew Nichols, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of
1:12.6	Reading.
1:13.6	Catherine Edwards, Agrippina the Younger was born in about 15 AD.
	...

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