AGRIPPINA THE ELDER

14 BCE – 33 Ce

As with many Roman tales, murder plays a huge part in Agrippina the Elder’s. When she went to the east with her husband, Germanicus Caesar, he mysteriously died in 19 CE. Agrippina had her suspicions and when she returned to Rome, she openly blamed Emperor Tiberius. A long reign of hostility between the two followed, not helped by Sejanus’s interventions, and Agrippina was arrested and exiled. She never lived to see her younger son become emperor – but that could be for the best, because that son was Caligula.

To add insult to injury the day Agrippina died was declared a holiday by Emperor Tiberius

When Sejanus told Agrippina that Tiberius wanted to poison her she refused all of his food