Vipsania (wife of Varus)

Vipsania Agrippina (c. 36 BC – AD 20), often simply referred to as Vipsania, was a Roman noblewoman of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She is best known as the first wife of Publius Quinctilius Varus, the Roman general who suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9.

Vipsania was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a close friend and lieutenant of Emperor Augustus, and his first wife, Pomponia Caecilia Attica. Her parentage made her a prominent member of Roman society. She was likely born and raised within the inner circle of the Imperial family.

She married Publius Quinctilius Varus before 13 BC. This marriage linked her to a patrician family and further solidified her place within the Roman elite. They had at least one son, Publius Quinctilius Varus the Younger.

The marriage ended sometime before AD 4, when Varus married Claudia Pulchra, a granddaughter of Augustus' sister Octavia Minor and the widow of Augustus' adopted grandson, Gaius Caesar. The reasons for the divorce between Vipsania and Varus are not explicitly stated in surviving sources, but may have been politically motivated to advance Varus' career through a connection to the Imperial family.

Following her divorce from Varus, Vipsania appears to have lived a relatively quiet life. She died in AD 20. Her life offers insight into the social dynamics and political marriages that were common during the early Roman Empire.