ABSTRACT
The first five years of Nero’s reign were dominated by his relations with his mother. There were two areas of contention. On the one hand Agrippina pressed even harder than she had done under Claudius for a full share of power, for a partnership in empire. On the other hand she guarded her position jealously against anyone, whether wife or mistress, who threatened her influnce over Nero. She even fought fire with fire, forming some sort of alliance with Nero’s first wife, Octavia, in a desperate attempt to bring Nero to heel. But on the whole Agrippina’s few years as an emperor’s mother were not felicitous. She was constantly striving to come from behind, to equalize a minus, but history had passed her by. Nero’s advisers saw no future for the regime in continuing to treat the Principate as a branch of the Domus. Agrippina’s tragedy was that she was unable to accept the change.
