Her brothers Lucius and Gaius Caesar were the adoptive sons of Augustus, and were his heirs until their deaths in AD 2 and 4, respectively.

Following the model of her stepgrandmother Livia, she spent the time following Germanicus' death supporting the cause of her sons Nero and Drusus Caesar.

This put her and her sons at odds with the powerful Praetorian prefect Lucius Aelius Sejanus, who began eliminating their supporters with accusations of treason and sexual misconduct in AD 26.

Agrippa acted as tribune in the Senate to pass important legislation and, though he lacked some of the emperor's power and authority, he was approaching the position of co-regent.

Cassius Dio says the adoption of the boys coupled with the games served to introduce a new era of peace – the Pax Augusta.

[18][19] Some of the currency issued in 13–12 BC, the aurei and denarii, make it clear that her brothers Gaius and Lucius were Augustus' intended heirs.

Their father was no longer available to assume the reins of power if the Emperor were to die, and Augustus had to make it clear who his intended heirs were in case anything should happen.

Augustus sent her a letter with her son's party, which read:[25] Yesterday I arranged with Talarius and Asillinus to bring your boy Gaius on the fifteen day before the Kalends of June, if it be the will of the gods.

During the mutiny, Agrippina brought out their sixth child, Gaius, and made preparations to take him away to a safer town nearby.

[30] Agrippina was pregnant on their journey east and, on the way to Syria, she gave birth to her youngest daughter Julia Livilla on the island of Lesbos.

She landed at the port of Brundisium in southern Italy where she was met with huge crowds of sympathizers; a praetorian escort was provided by the emperor in light of her rank as the wife of a governor-general.

Agrippina may have suspected Tiberius' involvement in the death of her husband and, with Germanicus dead, she no longer had any familial ties to the emperor.

Historian Richard Alston says it is likely that either Tiberius or Livia were behind the exile of Agrippina's sister Julia the Younger and the death of Postumus.

It has been suggested that to achieve this, Agrippina commissioned the Great Cameo of France and presented it to Tiberius as a personalized gift that positioned the family of Germanicus around the emperor.

[41][42] With Tiberius away from Rome, the city would see a rise of politically motivated trials on the part of Sejanus and his supporters against Agrippina and her associates.

Tacitus reports a letter being sent to the Senate from Tiberius denouncing Agrippina for her arrogance and prideful attitude, and Nero for engaging in shameful sexual activities.

However, Anthony A. Barrett notes that Agrippina was fully aware that a woman in ancient Rome could not hold power in her own right.

In a contrast, Tacitus has Agrippina the Elder merely standing on a bridge waving the soldiers passing by, whereas her daughter eclipses her by presiding over a military tribunal and accepting gifts from foreign ambassadors.

[27] Despite being sympathetic to her as a victim of imperial oppression, he uses expressions like "excitable", "arrogant", "proud", "fierce", "obstinate", and "ambitious" to describe Agrippina.

[25] Historian Lindsay Powell says Agrippina enjoyed a normal marriage and continued to show her devotion to Germanicus after his death.

He says she was regarded by the Roman people as, quoting Tacitus, "the glory of the country, the sole surviving offspring of Augustus, the solitary example of the good old times.

Suetonius also records that Augustus, who held strict views on self-restraint and respectable speech, cautioned Agrippina not to speak "offensively".

The women of the imperial family in particular are depicted by Tacitus as having a notable prominence in the public sphere as well as possessing a ferocity and ambition with which they pursue it.

He emphasizes their role in connecting genetically back to Augustus, a significant factor in the marriages of the emperors and princes of the dynasty.

In an example of Agrippina assuming auctoritas, he says:[55] Sed femina ingens animi munia ducis per eos dies induit militibusque, ut quis inops aut saucius, vestem et fomenta dilargita est.

tradit C. Plinius, Germanicorum bellorum scriptorum, stetisse apud principium po[n]ti[s], laudes et grates reversis legionibus habentum But throughout those days, a femina, mighty of spirit, donned the apparel of a dux, and she distributed clothing or bandages to the soldiers, whoever might be needy or suffering.

Gaius Plinius, the chronicler of the German wars, relates that she stood at the head of the bridge, offering congratulatory praises to the legions as they returned.

Using the above epithet, "(femina) ingens animi" ("..[a woman], great for her courage"),[56] he assigns a haughty attitude to Agrippina that compels her to explore the affairs of men.

[61] The easiest phase of portraits to identify are those dating to the time of Caligula, when a fair abundance of coins were minted with an image of his mother on them.

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