Locusta (d. AD 69)

Bust of a young Roman woman from Nero’s time, marble, Indianapolis Museum of Art. An image of the period; no portrait of Locusta survives.

Locusta (died AD 69): a poisoner from Gaul in the service of the court.

She wants to survive and to earn well from knowing how to kill quietly. Locusta was convicted of poisoning, but Agrippina used her skills to do away with Claudius in AD 54. Nero ordered her to prepare poison for Britannicus, who died in AD 55. Under Galba she was executed in AD 69 (Cassius Dio 64.3).

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Image: Roman sculpture; photo: Daderot, 1st century AD, Indianapolis Museum of Art; Wikimedia Commons, public domain

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