The figure of Agrippina was molded by contemporaries and manipulated by historians.
-Judith Ginsberg, 2006, Representing Agrippina
‘She represents a political paradox of the early Roman Empire, the woman who managed to exercise great power and influence in a society that offered no constitutional role to powerful and influential women. It is this achievement, to be an empress in an empire that allowed only emperors that makes her accomplishments interesting and worthy of serious study.
- Anthony A Barrett, Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Roman Empire
53 1 Meanwhile Agrippina, obstinately nursing her anger, and attacked by physical illness, was visited by the emperor. For long her tears fell in silence; then she began with reproaches and entreaties:— "He must aid her loneliness and give her a husband; she had still the requisite youth,10 and the virtuous had no consolation but in marriage — the state had citizens who would stoop to receive the p97 wife of Germanicus and his children." The Caesar, however, though he saw all that was implied in the request, was reluctant to betray either fear or resentment, and therefore, in spite of her insistence, left her without an answer. — This incident, not noticed by the professed historians, I found in the memoirs of her daughter Agrippina11 (mother of the emperor Nero), who recorded for the after-world her life and the vicissitudes of her house.
-Tacitus
His parent Agrippina also writes that Nero, a little before the prince and the enemy in his whole principality, was begotten of his feet. it is the custom of nature to bring out a man's head, and his feet.
- Pliny the Elder
2021 HSC Examination Question 22.
To what extent did A. influence her time? Support your response using evidence from relevant sources. (15 marks)
Agrippina’s career had triggered the most anxious soul searching yet within the roman elite about the encroachment of women on to the political field. It may be no coincidence that over the course of the next century and a half, the women of the empire seem to become almost invisible.
-Annelise Freisenbruch
Agrippina’s career had triggered the most anxious soul searching yet within the roman elite about the encroachment of women on to the political field. It may be no coincidence that over the course of the next century and a half, the women of the empire seem to become almost invisible.
-Annelise Freisenbruch
The representations of Agrippina in the visual sources are conspicuously different from those we have examined in the literary tradition. Gone is the ruthless power-seeker, the wicked stepmother, the seducer turned poisoner of husbands, the mother who commits incest with her son. These constructs are now replaced by much more flattering ones, the products of the culture of the imperial dynasty itself, its supporters, or those wishing to obtain its favor. But the hostile tradition of the literary sources, as we will see, continues to leave its mark on even the most respected scholars as they confront the Agrippina of coins, sculpture, and cameos.
-Judith Ginsberg
Agrippina’s sordid popular image has eclipsed her more significant accomplishments.
-Anthony A Barrett
ANCIENT IMAGES
ANCIENT INTERPRETATIONS
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MODERN INTERPRETATIONS
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From this point on, the state was changed completely, and everything was subject to the control of a woman; however, this was a woman who was not motivated like Messalina; she did not play with the affairs of Rome like some toy for her personal pleasure. Rome was now enslaved by an almost masculine dominance. In public Agrippina showed a serious, often arrogant face; in private, there was no sign of immorality, unless it helped her in her search for power; she had an enormous desire for money which was excused with the reason that money was a means to power .
-Tacitus, Annals, Book 12, Chapter 7
2021 HSC Examination Question 22.
What are the problems with using evidence for historians studying A? Support your response using evidence from the following source and other relevant sources. (10 Marks)
As a woman, Agrippina exists only when her actions impact the lives or actions of men in the political or military sphere because in the ancient world, as a woman, she exists only through her relationship to men...there are big chunks of her life ....where we have no idea what she was doing because she wasn't impacting politics or mens public lives. Emma Southon. Agrippina 2018.