[1] She exerted significant political influence in the early years of her son's reign, but eventually fell out of favor with him and was killed in AD 59.

Physically, Agrippina was described as a beautiful and reputable woman; and, according to Pliny the Elder, had a double canine in her upper right jaw, which was regarded as a sign of good fortune in Ancient Rome.

[5][6] As a small child, Agrippina travelled with her parents throughout Germany until she and her siblings (apart from Caligula) returned to Rome to live with and be raised by their paternal grandmother Antonia.

Her parents departed for Syria in AD 18 to conduct official duties, and, according to Tacitus, the third and youngest sister was born en route on the island of Lesbos, namely Julia Livilla, probably on 18 March.

[citation needed] After her thirteenth birthday in AD 28, Tiberius arranged for Agrippina to marry her paternal first cousin once removed Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and ordered the marriage to be celebrated in Rome.

At the trial of Lepidus, Caligula felt no compunction about denouncing them as adulteresses, producing handwritten letters discussing how they were going to kill him.

According to the fragmentary inscriptions of the Arval Brethren, Agrippina was forced to carry the urn of Lepidus' ashes back to Rome.

On one occasion, Galba's mother-in-law gave Agrippina a public reprimand and a slap in the face before a whole bevy of married women.

Later that year, Messalina and Britannicus attended the performance of the Troy Pageant at the Secular Games, where Agrippina was also present with Lucius.

After ending his marriage, Claudius considered remarrying for the fourth time and his advisers began discussing which noblewoman he should marry.

Agrippina's marriage to Claudius was not based on love, but power – possibly being a part of her plan to make her son Lucius the new emperor.

[19] Silanus committed suicide on the day that Agrippina married her uncle, and Calvina was exiled from Italy in early AD 49.

Agrippina removed or eliminated anyone from the palace or the imperial court whom she thought was loyal and dedicated to the memory of the late Messalina.

She also eliminated or removed anyone whom she considered was a potential threat to her position and the future of her son, one of her victims being Lucius' second paternal aunt and Messalina's mother Domitia Lepida the Younger.

Neither ancient nor modern historians of Rome have doubted that Agrippina had her eye on securing the throne for Nero from the very day of the marriage – if not earlier.

In AD 49, Agrippina was seated on a dais at a parade of captives when their leader the Celtic King Caratacus bowed before her with the same homage and gratitude as he accorded the emperor.

In her capacity as Augusta, Agrippina quickly became a trusted advisor to Claudius, and by AD 54, she exerted a considerable influence over the decisions of the emperor.

Statues of her were erected in many cities across the Empire and her face appeared on official Roman coins unambiguously, a first for a living empress.

[citation needed] According to Cassius Dio, Agrippina was often present with Claudius in public, seated on her own platform, when he was transacting government businesses or receiving foreign ambassadors.

Ancient sources say she poisoned Claudius on 13 October AD 54 with a plate of deadly mushrooms at a banquet, thus enabling Nero to quickly take the throne as emperor.

Accounts vary wildly with regard to this private incident, and according to more modern sources, it is possible that Claudius died of natural causes, being 63 years old.

She enjoyed imperial prerogatives: being allowed to visit the senate meetings from behind a curtain, and appearing as a partner to her son in the official coinage and statues.

But, as their relationship grew more hostile, Nero gradually began to deprive his mother of honours and power, and even removed her Roman and German bodyguards.

[33] In late AD 58, Agrippina and a group of soldiers and senators were accused of attempting to overthrow Nero, and it was said they planned to move with Gaius Rubellius Plautus.

[38] Tacitus claims that Nero considered poisoning or stabbing her, but felt these methods were too difficult and suspicious, so he settled on – after the advice of his former tutor and freedman Anicetus – building a self-sinking boat.

[40] Her friend Acerronia Polla was attacked by oarsmen while still in the water, and was either bludgeoned to death or drowned, since she was exclaiming that she was Agrippina, in the hope of being saved.

After months of attempting to humiliate her by depriving her of her power, honour, and bodyguards, he also expelled her from the Palatine, followed by the people he sent to "pester" her with lawsuits and "jeers and catcalls".

Afterwards, he rigged up a machine in her room which would drop her ceiling tiles onto her as she slept, but she once again escaped death after she received word of the plan.

When the news spread that Agrippina had died, the Roman army, senate, and various people sent him letters of congratulations that he had been saved from his mother's plots.

[50][51][52] She is remembered in De Mulieribus Claris, a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in 1361–62.