Agrippa Postumus

Agrippa Postumus
Full name
Birth to adoption: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus After adoption: Marcus Julius Caesar Agrippa Postumus
House	Julio-Claudian Dynasty
Father	Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Mother	Julia the Elder
Born	26 June 12 BC
Died	20 August AD 14 Planasia

For the personal name, see Postumus (praenomen).

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus (26 June 12 BC – 20 August AD 14), also known as Agrippa Postumus or Postumus Agrippa, was a son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. His maternal grandparents were Roman Emperor Augustus and his second wife Scribonia.^[1]

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus was born on June 26, 12 BC, the youngest of five children. His father Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa died before he was born. Augustus adopted two of his son-in-law's children, making sons of these grandchildren Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. Postumus he left unadopted, so he could continue the family.

However, upon the death of Lucius and then Gaius Caesar, Augustus finally decided to adopt both Postumus and his step-son Tiberius as his heirs, with Postumus first in the succession. As the designated heir, he became Marcus Julius Caesar Agrippa Postumus, while his stepfather became Tiberius Julius Caesar. The anxiety over who would follow in Augustus' footsteps naturally set up Postumus and Tiberius in opposition.

Although there is little clear contemporary account of him, virtually all Roman historians agree that Postumus was considered a rude and brutish sort; Tacitus defended him, but his praise was slight: [He was] the young, physically tough, indeed brutish, Agrippa Postumus. Though devoid of every good quality, he had been involved in no scandal.

There has never been a clear consensus on why it happened, but in 9 AD, Augustus banished Postumus to the small island of Planasia. Tacitus suggests that he was always disliked and shunned by Livia, as he stood in the way of her son Tiberius succeeding to the throne after Augustus. A banishment (and eventual execution) for merely being rude and unpleasant, though, is a harsh sentence. Thus, some modern historians theorize he was involved in a conspiracy against Augustus.^[2] Postumus was held under intense security.^[3]

Postumus' sister Julia the Younger was banished around the same time and her husband, Lucius Aemilius Paullus was executed in a conspiracy against Augustus.^[4] Also, a conspiracy to rescue Postumus and Julia was planned and was foiled.^[4]

In any case, Postumus's banishment did ensure Tiberius's priority as Augustus's heir. Tacitus (Ann. 1.3) reports a rumor that Augustus paid a highly covert visit to the island in 13 AD to apologize to his adopted son and give him notice of plans to return him to Rome. Augustus was accompanied by a trusted friend, Fabius Maximus, and swore him to secrecy about the matter; Maximus then told his wife, Marcia, who mentioned it to Livia. Maximus was soon found dead, and Marcia subsequently claimed she was responsible for his death. Dio's version (56.30) reports the island visit as fact, though the brief account is likely based on Tacitus' account (Ann. 1.1) and does not mention Fabius and Marcia. It is dubious whether this tale has any veracity.

Regardless of Augustus' supposed visit, the emperor died the following year without having removed Postumus from Planasia and without including him in his will. Around Augustus' death, Postumus was executed by his guards with some accounts contradicting whether it happened before or after. Accounts are also inconsistent on who ordered the death and these existed almost from the start, when Tiberius immediately and publicly disavowed the act upon being notified of it (Tacitus, Ann. 1.5). Some suggested that Augustus may have ordered the execution, while others place the blame on either Tiberius or Livia (with or possibly without Tiberius's knowledge) (Suetonius, Lives, Tiberius 22), taking advantage of the confusing initial political situation upon Augustus' death.^[5]

Postumus was impersonated after his death that took place in 20 August 14 AD by Clemens.

In fiction

Robert Graves' work I, Claudius suggests that, through Livia's influence, Augustus grew to dislike him, and Graves even creates a fictional incident in which Postumus is framed by Livia and her granddaughter Livilla for attempted rape of the latter. Graves also has Postumus escaping his execution by impersonation of the freed slave Clemens, rather than Clemens being an imposter who claimed to be Postumus. In the television adaptation by Jack Pulman, the character dies after Augustus's death on Planasia with Sejanus becoming the assassin. The character is portrayed by John Castle.

Ancestry

Sources

1. ^ Plate, William (1867), "Agrippa, Postumus", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, pp. 78, http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0087.html 
2. ^ Norwood, Frances, "The Riddle of Ovid's Regelatio", Classical Philology (1963) p. 153
3. ^ Suetonius, The Lives of Caesars Life of Augustus 65
4. ^ ^{a b} Suetonius, The Lives of Caesars Life of Augustus 19
5. ^ Pappano, Albert, "Agrippa Postumus", Classical Philology, 1941, p. 43