At this point the time had come for the tour to end. Sophia closed off with some final remarks. “As we have seen, this coin comes from an important moment in Roman history. A very ambitious woman reached her peak, passing from “wife of” to “mother of”; in terms of the actual power she had, it is believed that during her son’s first five years of reign she was in truth the de facto leader. Later Roman historians such as TacitusTacitus: Annales, XI - XIV. and SuetioniusSuetonius: Vita Divi Claudi; Vita Neroni. depicted Agrippina as a self-interested woman who used and abused her influence to eliminate her rivals and secure her own position and the succession of Nero. The writings of these authors reflect the prejudices they had to women, especially those who held more power than they should have. But despite this, there may have laid some truth behind it. As Wood noted, “the nature of court politics and of the constant struggle for succession in a monarchical system can indeed promote viciously self-interested actions.”Wood, Susan: Imperial Women: A Study in Public Images, 40 B.C. - A.D 68, (Leiden, 1999) 257.