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and the most bitter opponent of Emperor TIBERIUS and LIVIA. The feud that she conducted with them
cost her most of her family, her friends, and eventually her life. Her mother was sent into exile on
Pandateria after instigating one of the most sordid sex scandals in Roman history.
Married to the brilliant GERMANICUS, son of Tiberius' brother, Drusus, their union was a happy one and
she bore him nine children. Germanicus and Agrippina both cherished republican ideals, a fact that did not
endear them to Emperor Tiberius or to his mother Livia. Equally, Agrippina could be harsh, outspoken
and easily angered. Her support of Germanicus was unflagging as he grew in stature in the Empire and as
Tiberius and Livia began to cast suspicious eyes on them both.
Her devotion was often demonstrated, as during the mutiny of the German legions in 14 A.D. Agrippina
stayed at Germanicus' side until the situation became so critical that it was necessary for her to retire to
safety, but her departure so shamed the mutineers that the revolt quickly lost momentum. It was during
this campaign that the future Emperor GAIUS "CALIGULA" was born to her, and he quickly became a
favorite of the soldiers on the frontier. In another campaign against the Chatti and the Germanic tribes
under Arminius, Agrippina worked to keep panic from spreading through the great Roman camp on the
Rhine by personally distributing food and clothing to the inhabitants. Lucius Aelius SEJANUS, Tiberius'
henchman, warned the emperor about this activity and the ensuing popularity of Agrippina and
Germanicus among the people of Rome and the Empire.
In 17 A.D., Tiberius ordered Germanicus to the East, and once again Agrippina followed him. In Rome,
meanwhile, supporters of Germanicus were beginning to clash openly with supporters of Tiberius and
with those of Tiberius' son, Drusus. Gnaeus Piso, Tiberius' governor of Syria, was drawn into the affair
on behalf of the emperor. As a result, Germanicus died under mysterious circumstances on September 26,
19 A.D., an event that turned Agrippina into an avenging fury. She had always been distant from Tiberius
and Livia, but now she regarded them with open hostility. She marched in the Roman funeral of her
husband and announced that Tiberius and Livia had slain their own rival. The Romans responded to her
grief and to her accusations, but their support could not protect her from Tiberius' revenge.
Sejanus plotted her destruction with his usual deliberate pace, working all the time on Tiberius' animosity
for her. Agrippina did not help her cause either. She begged Tiberius to give his consent for her to
remarry and then scolded him for the persecution of her friends and allies. When dining with him she
refused to eat some apples offered to her by the emperor, thus antagonizing Tiberius; Sejanus had warned
Agrippina against accepting the apples from Tiberius' hands, knowing it would offend the emperor.
In 29, Agrippina was condemned and exiled to the island of Pandateria, where her mother Julia had