Twelfth Generation (Continued)
Family of Julia (13) & Marcus Vispanius Agrippa

16. Agrippina Major, 56G Grandmother, F. Born in 0014 BC. Agrippina died in 0033, she was 19.

During the early days of the Roman Empire, people of patrician or senatorial rank were married for political reasons. Often, a marriage was broken up because a man was ordered to divorce his wife and marry a woman who would provide a more useful alliance between powerful families. It was for this reason that Octavian, later to become Rome’s first emperor Augustus, was told to divorce his wife Scribonia and marry Livia Drusilla. There appeared to be no hard feelings between the old and the new husbands at this arrangement. In fact, T. Claudius Nero gave his ex - wife a large dowry and enjoyed himself thoroughly at her wedding to Octavian, behaving more like a father than a former husband! The making and breaking up of marriages for political reasons made for some complicated family trees during this period.

It turns out that Octavian, now the Emperor Augustus, had a daughter named Julia by his first wife. She was wedded in a political marriage to Augustus' faithful friend and loyal general, Agrippa. Their daughter was Agrippina the Elder.

Agrippina was married to Germanicus, who was descended from the Claudians, Livia's side of the family. He was a popular military commander and well - loved by the people in Rome. A goodly amount of his popularity was because he made successful raids into German territory. Though he was taking a chance with Roman legions and some said that the military adventures were foolhardy, the fact that they succeeded brought enormous glory to Germanicus, who actually earned the name "Germanicus" because of these raids.

It was probably because of this popularity that both he and Agrippina became entangled in a political web partly of their own creation. The old emperor Augustus had decided to Adopt Tiberius, the son of Livia and T. Claudius Nero. One of the conditions of this adoption was that Tiberius adopt Germanicus as his own son.

In A. D. 19, Germanicus died in the Eastern city of Antioch. Historians have been debating ever since whether it was due to natural causes or murder. In any case, Agrippina was firmly convinced that Tiberius, who had become emperor in A. D. 14, was jealous of Germanicus' popularity and had had him poisoned. Agrippina was herself a very highly respected member of Roman high society and her opinions, if voiced publicly, could be dangerous. Certainly, the reclusive and somewhat sullen Tiberius was nowhere near the popular figure the dead Germanicus had been.

Agrippina scandalized all Rome when she refused to eat or drink at a banquet given by the emperor. From that time on, Tiberius sought an excuse to be rid of her. Finally, in A. D. 29, Agrippina and her two teenage sons were accused of plotting to overthrow Tiberius. They were tried and condemned to exile.

Agrippina's son Nero committed suicide soon after the trial. Her son Drusus died of starvation while imprisoned in Rome a few years later. Agrippina was exiled to the island of Pandateria where she too died of starvation in A. D. 33. Though the official story was that she committed suicide, she was probably starved to death on the orders of the aging emperor Tiberius.






Agrippina married Germanicus Caesar (15) , 56G Grandfather, M, son of Nero Claudius Drusus, M (0038 BC-0009 BC) & Antonia Minor (12), F (0036 BC-0038). Born in 0015 BC. Germanicus Caesar died in 0019, he was 4.

Nephew and Adopted Son of Tiberius
Germanicus was the very popular nephew of the emperor Tiberius and grandson of Livia by her first marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero. Germanicus gained popularity through his excellence as a leader in the Roman army on the frontiers.
The Roman social and political system had a way of blending family relationships and political relationships in a way we would find very confusing today. Tiberius and Nero Claudius Drusus were both sons of Livia and Tiberius Claudius Nero. Livia divourced T. Claudius Nero and married Octavian (later Augustus) in 38 B. C. This was done not because of her loss of love for one man and finding it with another, but because of political convenience. Actually, all three partners got along just as happily after the divource as before, with T. Claudius Nero drinking toasts to his former wife's health at the wedding! Again, for political reasons (mainly to ensure a smooth succession), Augustus compelled his adopted son to adopt his own nephew Germanicus to be his son and heir. Tiberius was not happy about this requirement at all, and rumours perpetuated by writers such as Tacitus and Suetonius would have us believe that Tiberius was somehow responsible for Germanicus' death in A. D. 19 but there is no real evidence that Tiberius had Germanicus murdered. Later, Germanicus' widow Agrippina Senior began publicly accusing Tiberius of Germanicus' murder, and she was subsequently tried for treason and compelled to starve herself to death.

In truth, Germanicus was a popular and competent military leader who would probably have caused trouble for Tiberius in the event that he had lived, whether or not he intended to. He pushed back the German tribes beyond the Rhine as far as the Elbe and was later transferred to an Eastern post where he died of a mysterious illness.





They had the following children:
i. Gaius, 56G Uncle, M. Born on 31 Aug 0012. Gaius died in 0041, he was 28.

Born as Gaius Caesar, he became known as Caligula (Little Boot), a childhood nickname bestowed on him by the soldiers of his father, Germanicus Caesar. The deaths of his father, of his mother and of his two elder brothers, were popularly ascribed to the machinations of Tiberius, the second emperor. Caligula and his three sisters survived. Adopting his father's distinguished name, he became Gaius Caesar Germanicus.
He was held high in Tiberius' favour, but Tiberius' death was either caused or helped along by him.
Tiberius had named his grandson, Tiberius Gemellus, and Caligula joint heirs to the throne, but the Roman Senate and people chose Caligula as sole emperor. Caligula adopted Gemellus as his son but later had him murdered.
He was a clement ruler for the first six months, but he became a vicious tyrant after a severe illness. Historians believe that he probably went insane but he also may have suffered from epilepsy.
After this illness he restored treason trials and showed great cruelty and quickly squandered the vast sums Tiberius had accumulated in the state treasury. To procure the revenues needed to finance his extravagances, he then resorted to the extortion of prominent Roman citizens and the confiscation of their estates. He banished or murdered most of his relatives and had people tortured and killed while he dined. He declared himself a god and had temples erected and sacrifices offered to himself.
In 38 he executed the prefect of the Praetorian Guard, to whose support he owed his accession. He showed extravagant affection for his sisters and intended to establish a Hellenistic-type monarchy after the brother-sister marriages of the Ptolemies of Egypt.
Early in 40 Caligula marched with an army into Gaul, whose inhabitants he plundered thoroughly. He marched his troops to the northern shoreline of Gaul as a prelude to the invasion of Britain but then ordered them to collect seashells there, which he called the spoils of the conquered ocean. The Roman populace had by now grown weary of this mad and unpredictable tyrant, and several conspiracies were formed against him. In January 41, four months after his return to Rome from Gaul, Caligula was murdered at the Palatine Games. He was succeeded as emperor by his uncle Claudius.









18 ii. Agrippina, F (0015-0059)
iii. Drusilla, 56G Aunt, F. Born abt 0015.

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