Colonia Agrippīna
or simply
Agrippīna. The modern
Cologne (Köln); a town on the left bank of the Rhine. There are medals of Colonia
Agrippinensis, and the name is found in inscriptions. The place was originally called Oppidum
Ubiorum (
Tac. Ann. i. 36), and was the chief
town of the Ubii; but afterwards Agrippina, the wife of Claudius and
daughter of Germanicus, who was born at Oppidum Ubiorum while her father was in command there,
prevailed on Claudius in A.D. 51 to send a colony of veterans thither. From that time the
place was called after her name. Vitellius was at Cologne when the soldiers proclaimed him
emperor (
Vitell. 8).