Pomponia Graecina the emperor Caligula and Agrippina the Younger, who was the mother of Nero and wife of Claudius. Other notable ancestors on her mother's side include the historian and senator Gaius Asinius Pollio, who was consul in 40 BC. Pomponia married Aulus Plautius (d. by 65 AD), the senator and general who led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD, for which he later received a military ovation, and who governed Roman Britain until 47 AD. A younger Aulus Plautius, probably their son, was murdered by the emperor Nero, supposedly because Nero's mother Agrippina had fallen in love with him
Claudia Acte became emperor in 54 AD, after his great-uncle/stepfather died—apparently poisoned, in the belief of contemporary historians, by his niece/wife, Agrippina, Nero's mother. A year into Nero's reign, encouraged by Seneca the Younger and Burrus, and against Agrippina the Younger's wishes, Nero took Acte as his mistress. Seneca especially was concerned that his young student would not be satisfied with his wife, Octavia, and might indulge in risky sexual exploits. This made Acte appear a safe outlet and a source of separation from Agrippina. Seneca and Burrus were on uneasy terms with Agrippina and were nervous about her political influence and