Nero and Agrippina

Nero and Agrippina

This panel shows Agrippina crowning her young son Nero with a laurel wreath.  She carries a cornucopia, a symbol of Fortune and Plenty, and he wears the armor and cloak of a Roman commander, with a helmet on the ground at his feet.  The scene refers to Nero's accession as emperor in AD 54, and belongs before AD 59 when Nero had Agrippina murdered.  (from the description of the panel in the Museum of Aphrodisias).


The Sebasteion was a complex of structures that served as a municipal imperial cult sanctuary.  It was dedicated to Aphrodite, the main deity of Aphrodisias, and to the "gods Sebastoi"—that is to the "August Ones," namely Julius Caesar and his successors.  Local elite persons built it to solidify their ties with Rome.  Its construction began during the reign of Tiberius and continued into the reign of Nero.