Early Life and Personality
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus was born on June 26, 12 BC, the youngest of five children. His father Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa died before he was born. Augustus adopted two of his son-in-law's children, making sons of these grandchildren Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. Postumus he left unadopted, so he could continue the family name.
However, upon the death of Lucius and then Gaius Caesar, Augustus finally decided to adopt both his grandson Postumus and step-son Tiberius (Postumus' stepfather) as his heirs, with Postumus first in the succession. As the designated heir, he became Marcus Julius Caesar Agrippa Postumus, while his stepfather Tiberius became "Tiberius Julius Caesar". The anxiety over who would follow in Augustus' footsteps naturally set up Postumus and Tiberius in opposition.
Although there is little clear contemporary account of him, virtually all Roman historians agree that Postumus was considered a rude and brutish sort; Tacitus defended him, but his praise was slight: the young, physically tough, indeed brutish, Agrippa Postumus. Though devoid of every good quality, he had been involved in no scandal.
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