The Empress Poppaea Sabina was the second wife of the infamous Emperor Nero. Ancient historians treated her harshly while knowing little about her: where she came from, her early life, and what made her the woman she was. Like most high-status Roman women she married young and lost her first two children. She was pregnant with a third when she herself died, aged 34. Mystery surrounds her final hours, as with so much of her life. But beauty, charm and intelligence could not in the end save her.