Agrippina I
b. 14 B.C.E., Rome; d. C.E. 33, island of Pandateria (modern-day Ventotene)
Julia Vipsania Agrippina, also known as Agrippina I or Agrippina the Elder, was the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus and played a key role in the succession struggles under Tiberius (ruled C.E. 14–37). She married Germanicus, a popular general who posed a threat to the emperor and died under suspicious circumstances in C.E. 19. When the emperor’s son died, Agrippina’s children came into the line of succession; tensions mounted as she made no secret that she suspected Tiberius of involvement in her husband’s death. In C.E. 29, Agrippina and her children were arrested under Tiberius’ orders and she was banished, dying in exile—most likely of starvation—in C.E. 33.
