Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early EmpireAgrippina the Younger attained a level of power in first-century Rome unprecedented for a woman. According to ancient sources, she achieved her success by plotting against her brother, the emperor Caligula, murdering her husband, the emperor Claudius, and controlling her son, the emperor Nero, by sleeping with him. Modern scholars tend to accept this verdict. But in his dynamic biography--the first on Agrippina in English--Anthony Barrett paints a startling new picture of this influential woman. Drawing on the latest archaeological, numismatic, and historical evidence, Barrett argues that Agrippina has been misjudged. Although she was ambitious, says Barrett, she made her way through ability and determination rather than by sexual allure, and her political contributions to her time seem to have been positive. After Agrippina's marriage to Claudius there was a marked decline in the number of judicial executions and there was close cooperation between the Senate and the emperor; the settlement of Cologne, founded under her aegis, was a model of social harmony; and the first five years of Nero's reign, while she was still alive, were the most enlightened of his rule. According to Barrett, Agrippina's one real failing was her relationship with her son, the monster of her own making who had her murdered in horrific and violent circumstances. Agrippina's impact was so lasting, however, that for some 150 years after her death no woman in the imperial family dared assume an assertive political role. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - nandadevi - LibraryThingI don't know why they did it, it's a publisher's thing. But the font is so small and densely packed as to make this almost unreadable. But it does match the author's style... Obviously a very worthy ... Read full review
AGRIPPINA: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire
User Review - KirkusOne of history's most notorious monsters is rehabilitated as a politically successful woman whose power and reputation in first-century Rome fell victim to Roman sexism. Barrett (Classics/Univ. of ... Read full review
Contents
Background | 1 |
Daughter | 22 |
Sister | 40 |
Niece | 71 |
Wife | 95 |
Mother | 143 |
The End | 181 |
Sources | 196 |
The Year of Agrippina the Youngers Birth | 230 |
SC on Gold and Silver Coins of Nero | 243 |
305 | |
325 | |
Other editions - View all
Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire Anthony A. Barrett No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
accession adoption affair Agrippina allowed appears appointment Augustus authority Britannicus brother brought Burrus Caesar Caligula carried certainly charge claim Claudius clearly close coins course daughter death described died Domitius Drusus earlier early effect Elder emperor evidence face fact father felt final followed Germanicus given guard honour husband imperial important influence interest involved issue Italy Julia later Lepidus Livia Livilla Lucius marriage married Messalina mother murder Narcissus natural Nero Nero's noted Octavia Pallas perhaps period play Pliny poison political position praetorian prefect probably received recorded reference reign reports role Roman Rome says seems Sejanus senate Seneca sense serious sister sources status story succession Suet Suetonius suggests supposedly Tacitus Tiberius tradition turn wife woman women Younger