8. Agrippina the Younger was stabbed to death on the orders of her son, Emperor Nero, after he had failed to kill her with a self-sinking boat
Agrippina the Younger (b. 15 CE), also known as Agrippina the Minor, was a Roman empress of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and mother to Nero; the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Agrippina was also granddaughter to Augustus, the younger sister of Caligula, in addition to being the niece and fourth wife of Claudius. Described by historical accounts as an ambitious and ruthless political operator, upon the death of Tiberius in 37 CE Agrippina’s brother Caligula become Imperator and Agrippina began to expand her powers; such was her unchecked and violent ambition that upon the birth of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, later Nero, her husband Domitius remarked: “I don’t think anything produced by me and Agrippina could possibly be good for the state or the people”.
Engaged in an incestuous relationship with Caligula, Agrippina participated in the failed Plot of the Three Daggers to murder her brother in 38 CE; in the aftermath of this treason, Agrippina was exiled to the Pontine Islands. However her stay was short-lived and in 41 CE Caligula was murdered by her paternal uncle Claudius, who subsequently lifted her exile and restored Agrippina’s position. Failing in her advances with the future-emperor Galba, Agrippina married – and likely murdered Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus – to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful inhabitants of Rome; later, after the execution of his third wife, Messalina, in 48 CE, Agrippina would marry Claudius to become Empress. Seeking to leverage her son into position to succeed Claudius, Agrippina ruthlessly murdered and exiled members of opposing factions. In 50 CE, Nero was formally adopted as heir by Claudius; later regretting this decision, Claudius would prepare for his natural-born son Britannicus to succeed him but died in 54 CE before enactment. It is widely believed Agrippina poisoned her husband to prevent the disinheritance of her son.
In the first months of Nero’s reign Agrippina was the true power in Rome, even granted the right to attend Senate meetings. However as Nero gradually asserted more independence, Agrippina began considering replacing her son with Brittanicus; upon learning of this plot in 55 CE, Nero had his half-brother poisoned. In 59 CE Nero resolved to eliminate the threat posed by his mother. First attempting poison, then by collapsing a roof over her bed whilst she slept, Nero’s final imaginative attempt was via a self-sinking boat; the vessel, designed to sink and drown Agrippina, failed, with his mother swimming to safety and greeted by crowds of admirers. In response to these humiliating defeats, Nero gave up the facade of subtlety and sent three assassins to stab Agrippina to death. The murder of his mother would weigh heavily on Nero, driving him to depression and madness, and, in the aftermath of a military coup, he would become the first Roman Emperor to commit suicide in 68 CE.