Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Early Life: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was born on 63 B.C between October 23 and November 23(1). He was born in an uncertain location in Rome. He passed away on 12 B.C at Campania, just being 51. He left behind several children through his 3 marriages. By his first wife: Caecilia Attica, he had his first daughter named Vipsania Agrippina, who was the first wife of the emperor Tiberius and who gave birth to “Drusus the Younger”: his second wife, Claudia Marcella Major gave birth to another daughter whose existence remains uncertain- her name was Vipsania Marcella. By His last wife, Julia the Elder, he had most children, five in total. Their names were Gaius Caesar, Julia the Younger, Lucius Caesar, Agrippina the Elder and Agrippa Postumus.
Family:
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa belonged to a provincial family.Which means his family began placed in the middle class then the family was later raised into royalty—the second tier of the Roman elite which meant that only the Senate was above them. Another indication is that Marcus went to school and was educated in Rome, something beyond the means of most families. It was in Rome, that the Marcus met Gaius Octavius, who was a distant relative of Julius Caesar, the famous general who was conquering Gaul. He had a close knit family connection. His father was named Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa and was the son in law of the emperor Augustus. He had an elder brother whose name was also Lucius Vippsanius Agrippa and had a sister named Vipsania Polla. “Marcus was responsible for the bloody victory over enemy Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 B.C. During Augustus‘s reign he suppressed rebellions, founded colonies, and administered various parts of the Roman Empire. Of modest birth but not a modest man, Agrippa was disliked by the Roman aristocracy. In his own interest he scrupulously maintained a subordinate role in relation to Augustus, but he felt himself inferior to no one else”(2). Basically there is nothing really known of Marcus’s early life until he is found as the companion of Octavian at Apollonia, in Illyria, at the time of Julius Caesar’s murder in 44. Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar, returned with Agrippa to Italy to make his political claim as Caesar’s heir. In 43 Agrippa is thought to have held the office of tribune of the plebs; presumably in this capacity he prosecuted the tyrannicide Cassius, then absent in the East.(3) Agrippa received the power of a tribune, which Augustus also possessed. Perhaps, too, he received an imperium majus, if he had not been granted it in 23. He participated in Augustus’ celebration of the Secular Games at Rome in 17, after which he returned to the East as vicegerent of the emperor. In 15 he accepted an invitation from Herod I the Great to visit Judaea; while in the East, he established colonies of veterans at Berytus and Heliopolis, in Lebanon. He next settled an uprising in the Bosporan kingdom on the Black Sea and set up the cultivated dynast Polemo as king. Herod led a fleet to support Agrippa in the Bosporan affair, and, when it was over, the two traveled together along the coast of western Asia Minor(1).

Overview: To summarize Marcus’s life, it began when he was an infant where he grew up adoring his country and lived and trained to one day make it in the army to fight for the country he loved. With the help of many family connections, one being the family of Julius Caesar, he had helpful ties to assist him through the ranks as he grew older and matured with his experience in battle. He raised the ranks from a regular soldier fighting front line all the way to becoming the general of the Roman Empire. His reputation and status as an officer was substantial and looked well upon—worked for what he had got even if he hadn’t had those close royal family connections.
Career:
Soldier, Tribune of the Plebs (entry into the Senate), Urban Praetor, Octavian’s leading