Definition: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (60?-12 B.C.) was a renowned Roman general and close friend of Octavian (Augustus).
Some of Agrippa's Achievements
Agrippa was consul first in 37 B.C., making him consul at the unusually young age of 23, according to Syme, in The Roman Revolution.* He was also governor of Syria. As general, Agrippa defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.
Agrippa's Wives
Upon his victory at Actium, Augustus awarded his niece Marcella to Agrippa for a wife. In 21 B.C., Augustus married his own daughter Julia to Agrippa. By Julia, Agrippa had a daughter Agrippina, and three sons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar and Agrippa Postumus.
*I've used the date of Agrippa's first consulship to count backwards, but aside from my own earlier inaccuracy, this may not be the best way to determine the date.
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"Agrippa was most likely born in 63
B.C.E. (possibly 64 B.C.E). Please refer to your primary
sources (Dio) and your secondary sources (Syme, Reinhart,
Wright and Shipley will suffice). If you are short on time,
Meyer Reinhold's (Columbia 1933)
dissertation gives a lovely overview of the
subject."
Colin Forester-Hoare
Undergraduate Student of History and Classics
Supplemental Instructor
Carthage College
Kenosha, WI 53140
