Vipsania Agrippina

Vipsania Agrippina

Not to be confused with Agrippina the Elder, Agrippa's daughter by Julia the Elder.

Vipsania Agrippina (36 BC-20 AD) was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa from his first wife Pomponia Caecilia Attica, granddaughter of Cicero's friend and knight Titus Pomponius Atticus. Her maternal grandmother was a descendant of Marcus Licinius Crassus. By marriage, she was a great-niece to Quintus Tullius Cicero.

Octavian and her father betrothed her to Tiberius before her first birthday. In 20 BC or 16 BC she married Tiberius. Their son Drusus the Younger was born in 13 BC.

Agrippa died in March, 12 BC. He was married to Julia the Elder, daughter of Augustus. Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce Vipsania and marry Julia. Tiberius reportedly loved Vipsania and disapproved of Julia. Vipsania was at the time pregnant, and from the shock lost the baby.

Tiberius divorced her against his will in 11 BC (non sine magno angore animi, Suetonius Vita Tiberii 7), and never ceased to rue his action. On one occasion Tiberius caught sight of Vipsania and followed her with an intent and tearful gaze (Suetonius, ibid.). Precautions were taken to avoid further embarrassing meetings with her.

In 11 BC she married Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus, a Senator and son of the famous orator Gaius Asinius Pollio. They had at least six sons. Vipsania Agrippina died in AD 20, a few days after the ovation of her son Drusus, which took place on 28 May.

Tiberius hated Gallus, not least because Gallus claimed that Drusus was his own son. In 30, at Tiberius' instigation, the Senate was to declare Gallus a public enemy (Cassius Dio 58.3). He died in prison in 33, of starvation.

Vipsania and Gallus' known sons were:

• Gaius Asinius Pollio - Consul in 23; exiled as an accuser of a conspiracy and later was put to death on orders from Empress Valeria Messalina.

• Marcus Asinius Agrippa - Consul in 25 and died in the end of 26. Tacitus (Annals 4.61) describes him as "not unworthy of his ancestors". His son Marcus Asinius Marcellus was Consul in 54 along with Marcus Acilius Aviola (at the time the Emperor Claudius died).

• Asinius Saloninus or (Gnaeus Asinius Saloninus) (sometimes wrongly called Salonius), died in 22. Tacitus describes him as an ‘eminent’ person. Saloninus was intended to marry one of the granddaughters of Emperor Tiberius (Tacitus, Annals 3.75).

• Servius Asinius Celer. He was consul suffectus in 38. From Emperor Caligula he purchased a fish at an enormous price. He is mentioned in the satire, by Seneca, The Pumpkinification of Claudius, where he is listed among the many people killed by that emperor. His death probably occurred sometime before mid-47. Asinius Celer seems to have had a daughter by the name of Asinia Agrippina, though her existence is obscure.

• Asinius Gallus or (Lucius Asinius Gallus) (sometimes wrongly called Gallo). In 46 he conspired against Claudius and was forced to go into exile. Cassius Dio (60.27.5) describes him as being "very small and ugly". Later rehabilitated, he became Consul in 62.

• Gnaeus Asinius. His existence is recorded by the townsfolk of Puteoli, whose patron he was. Nothing else is known about him. He may have been identical with Asinius Saloninus or the foregoing Asinius Gallus. Since the Asinius Gallus seems to have been the Lucius Asinius Gallus who became a Consul in 60, by exclusion of parts the Gnaeus Asinius must be the Asinius Saloninus.

A descendant of Vipsania and Gallus, Pomponia Graecina, became a distinguished lady. Pomponia might have been a Christian and lived an unhappy long life. Pomponia married Aulus Plautius. Plautius was a general in the conquest of Britain, which he received as a military ovation. Nero murdered their son, reportedly because Agrippina the Younger, mother of Nero, was in love with him and encouraged him to bid for the throne.

Another descendant or otherwise relative, Gaius Asinius Lepidus Praetextatus (210 – after 242), became a Consul in 242, being the son of Gaius Asinius Lepidus, Suffect Consul of Rome in 222 and wife (Vettia) (b. 190 or 195).

Tacitus states that Vipsania was the only one of Agrippa's children to die without violence. She was one of the most prominent women of her time. Between 21-23, Julius Caesar Drusus honored her memory with statues, coins and inscriptions.