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
Agrippina the Younger called back from exile to be a tutor to Nero. Messalina considered Agrippina's son a threat to her son's position and sent assassins to strangle Lucius during his siesta. The assassins fled in terror when they saw a snake suddenly dart from beneath Lucius' pillow—but it was only a sloughed-off snake-skin in his bed, near his pillow. In 47, Crispus died, and at his funeral, the rumor spread around that Agrippina poisoned Crispus to gain his estate. After being widowed a second time, Agrippina was left very wealthy. Later that year at the Secular Games, at the performance of the