Agrippina II
b. C.E. 15, Oppidum Ubiorum on the Rhine; d. C.E. 59, Rome
Julia Agrippina, also known as Agrippina II, Agrippina the Younger, and Agrippinilla, was the daughter of Agrippina I and Germanicus, a Roman general. Like her mother, she was a key figure in succession intrigues. She functioned as a behind-the-scenes advisor in affairs of state through powerful political ties—she was the sister of Caligula and married her uncle Claudius, the third and fourth Roman emperors. She maneuvered Nero, her son by an earlier marriage, into the line of succession; Claudius became aware of her plotting, but died in C.E. 54, perhaps poisoned by Agrippina, and Nero took the throne. Agrippina exerted a commanding influence in the early years of his reign, but in C.E. 59 he put an end to her machinations by having her murdered.
