Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore

by Emma Southon

The unlikeliness of Tiberius being Augustus’s heir, lacking as he was charm, charisma and any desire to hang out with senators, led to ongoing accusations that Livia had poisoned all the other heirs so her son would be the only one left. And then poisoned Augustus for good measure. Livia then became a thorn in Tiberius’s side, forever telling him off, reading aloud to him from letters Augustus wrote to her about how much of a dick Tiberius was, getting her mates off murder charges and generally being a pain. She was also richer, more popular, more experienced and better connected than her son, and had, on top of it all, been adopted posthumously by her husband, making her her own husband’s daughter and also a Julian (because apparently the relationships in this family weren’t gross and complicated enough already for Augustus). In short, she thought she’d be a bit of a backseat driver in the Principate.