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Vipsania redirects here: for other women named Vipsania and/or Agrippina see Agrippina

Roman imperial dynasties
Julio-Claudian dynasty

Vipsania Agrippina, daughter of Agrippa and first wife of Tiberius Augustus Children    Natural - Julia the Elder    Adoptive - Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Agrippa Postumus, Tiberius Tiberius Children    Natural - Julius Caesar Drusus    Adoptive - Germanicus Caligula Children    Natural - Julia Drusilla    Adoptive - Tiberius Gemellus Claudius Children    Natural - Claudia Antonia, Claudia Octavia, Britannicus    Adoptive - Nero Nero Children    Natural - Claudia Augusta

Vipsania Agrippina (36 BC-20) 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.

Octavianus and her father betrothed her to Tiberius before her first birthday. In 20 BC or 16 BC she married Tiberius. Their son Julius Caesar Drusus 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 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 II - Consul in 23. In 45, Pollio was exiled as an accuser of a conspiracy and later was put to death on orders from Empress Valeria Messalina. The Asinia Pollionis filia mentioned on an inscription from Tusculum may have been his daughter. He was perhaps the father (or his brother of Caius Asinius Placentinus (b. 25), nob. v. at the middle of the 1st century, and (Marcus Asinius Pollio) (b. 30), the first of them perhaps the father of Marcus Asinius Pollio Verrucosus (45 or 50 – after 81), Consul in 81, the second of them perhaps the father of Marcus Asinius Atratinus (55 – after 89, Consul of Rome in 89, any of them in turn perhaps the father of Caius Asinius M.f. Tucurianus, Proconsul in Sardinia ca 115 (Hypothesis 1). He was the grandfather of Pomponia Graecina.

• Marcus Asinius Agrippa - Consul in 25 and died in 27 (some say 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). Marcellus was a prominent and respected Senator in Claudius' and Nero’s reigns. In 60, Marcellus was involved and caught in a scandal, that a relative of a Praetor, forged his will. The associates in the scandal were disgraced and punished. Although Marcellus was disgraced and his accomplices executed, he escaped punishment because the Emperor Nero (being his third cousin) intervened to save him, reportedly because he was "great-grandson of Asinius Pollio and bore a character far from contemptible.". He is mentioned in Tacitus, Annals XII.64 and XIV.40. Marcus Asinius Marcellus had a son of the same name. The younger Marcus Asinius Marcellus was a Consul in 104 under Emperor Trajan. He was the brother or father of Asinia Marcella, Domina figl., wife of Caius Julius Quadratus Bassus, Legate at Judaea between 102 and 105, Consul of Rome in 105 and Proconsul of Asia in 105. Marcus Asinius Agrippa was perhaps the father of (Marcus Asinius Pollio) (b. 25) and Caius Asinius Placentinus (b. 30), nob. v. at the middle of the 1st century, the first of them perhaps the father of Marcus Asinius Pollio Verrucosus (45 or 50 – after 81), Consul of Rome in 81, and the second of them perhaps the father of Marcus Asinius Atratinus (55 – after 89), Consul of Rome in 89, any of them in turn perhaps the father of Caius Asinius M.f. Tucurianus, Proconsul of Sardinia ca 115. These Asinii Marcelli were from the same branch of the Claudii Marcelli which united with the family of Augustus, from the Gens Claudia.

• ... Asinius Saloninus (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 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 (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 reabilitated, 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, Caius Asinius Lepidus Praetextatus (210 – after 242), became a Consul in 242, being the son of Caius 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.[1] 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.

• Christian Settipani, Les Ancêtres de Charlemagne (France: Éditions Christian, 1989).
• Christian Settipani, Continuite Gentilice et Continuite Familiale Dans Les Familles Senatoriales Romaines A L'epoque Imperiale, Mythe et Realite, Addenda I - III (juillet 2000- octobre 2002) (n.p.: Prosopographica et Genealogica, 2002).
• Luíz Paulo Manuel de Menezes de Mello Vaz de São-Payo, A Herança Genética de Dom Afonso I Henriques (Portugal: Centro de Estudos de História da Família da Universidade Moderna do Porto, Porto, 2002).
• Manuel Dejante Pinto de Magalhães Arnao Metello and João Carlos Metello de Nápoles, "Metellos de Portugal, Brasil e Roma", Torres Novas, 1998

• Roman coinage and additional information on Vipsania Agrippina can seen at [2]