Agrippina the Younger to more modern sources, it is possible (but exceedingly convenient) that Claudius died of natural causes; Claudius was 63 years old. Agrippina was named a priestess of the cult of the deified Claudius. She was allowed to visit senate meetings, watching and hearing the meetings from behind a curtain. In the first months of Nero's reign Agrippina controlled her son and the Empire. She lost control over Nero when he began to have an affair with the freed woman Claudia Acte, which Agrippina strongly disapproved of and violently scolded him for. Agrippina began to support Britannicus in her attempt to
Roman Emperors during the Fall of the Western Empire Zeno was temporarily displaced in Constantinople by Verina's brother ("i.e.", Leo I's brother-in-law and Leo II's great uncle-in-law) "Basiliscus", but regained his position as emperor a year later. On his death, Ariadne married the court functionary "Anastasius I", and thereby elevated him to Emperor by virtue of marrying the Empress. Roman Emperors during the Fall of the Western Empire The office of Roman Emperor underwent significant turbulence in the fourth and fifth centuries, particularly under the period of the Dominate. In the West, where the fall of the Western Roman Empire was underway, its holders became puppets of a succession