Portrait of Agrippina

Head portrait of Agrippina the Younger. The face, slightly turned to the right, has regular features and large eyes. Her hairdo, in the traditional Julio-Claudian style, has curls on the forehead and heavy plaits gathered in a bun at the nape of her neck. She wears a diadem on her head. This head was part of a larger-than-life sculpture associated with the imperial cult.
Agrippina the Younger (15–59), Caligula’s sister, married Claudius, her father’s brother, in the year 49 after the death of her first husband, Nero’s father. According to the historian Suetonius, she used every weapon in her arsenal to seduce her uncle and take control. As his wife, she engaged in clever political manoeuvring to ensure that Nero would inherit rather than Britannicus, son of Claudius and Messalina. Claudius adopted Nero and granted Agrippina the title of Augusta, putting Britannicus at a disadvantage in the game of succession, which was confirmed when Nero came to power after Claudius’s death in the year 54.