Agrippina
Narrative content
2. Suetonius
3. Tacitus
6. Emperor Nero
Commentaries on the Sources
2. Tacitus on Agrippina the Elder
3. Sources on Agrippina the Younger's early life
4. Tacitus on the reign of Claudius
5. Suetonius on the reign of Claudius
6. Visual images of Agrippina the Younger and Claudius
7. Tacitus on the reign of Nero
8. Suetonius on the reign of Nero
9. Visual images of Agrippina the Younger and Nero
10. Tacitus and Suetonius on the death of Agrippina
Themes for Debate
1. Claudius's relations with the Senate
2. The role and influence of Claudius's freedmen
4. Claudius’s relationship with Agrippina and its impact on his reign
5. The roles of Seneca and Burrus in Nero’s early years as emperor
6. Agrippina’s role in the early years of Nero’s reign
7. Agrippina's death - deconstructing Tacitus
8. Agrippina's character, achievements and significance
Links:
The following websites will help you:
Essential: although written for an Australian exam, this book provides an excellent set of notes on Agrippina.
Too detailed for GCSE, the definitive biography of the reign is by Anthony Barratt, Agrippina (1996) - but try to read the Foreword (pp. xii-xv).
The Old King Log episode of the BBC's I Claudius (1976) includes the series's interpretation of Agrippina - what do you think of it?