La Mort d’Agrippine

La Mort d’Agrippine is a tragedy written by Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, published in 1654. The play is noted for its daring ideas and passionate, direct dialogue, making it suitable for theatrical performance. It was suspected of blasphemy at the time of its publication.1

The play's subject matter is the death of Agrippina, referring to Julia Agrippina, the mother of the Roman emperor Nero. She was a powerful figure who influenced Nero's early reign and was suspected of poisoning her second husband and possibly Emperor Claudius. Agrippina was eventually murdered on Nero's orders. While Edmond Rostand's later play Cyrano de Bergerac is more widely known, Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a 17th-century French satirist and dramatist whose works explored science-fantasy and political satire.231