ABSTRACT
Julia Agrippina was the fourth of the surviving children of Germanicus Caesar and the elder Agrippina, and the eldest of their three daughters; Germanicus’ marriage to Agrippina and Augustus’ insistence in ad 4 that he be adopted by Tiberius ensured that in the popular mind this family was viewed as representing the true line of descent from Augustus. The younger Agrippina was born on 6 November ad 15, while her parents were on the Rhine, where her father commanded the eight legions of the two Germanies. Tradition has put her birthplace at Ara Ubiorum (Cologne), which was later, in ad 50, promoted to the status of colonia, and renamed Colonia Claudia Ara Augusta Agrippinensium. Thus the former tribe of the Ubii were henceforth to be known as the Agrippinenses.
