Claudius I, Roman Emperor

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Claudius I (August 1, 10 BC – October 13, AD 54) (Tiberius Claudius Drusus from birth to AD 4, then Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus from then until his accession) was the fourth Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24, AD 41 to his death in AD 54. Born in Lugdunum in Gaul (modern-day Lyon, France), to Drusus and Antonia Minor, he was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italia.

Claudius was considered a rather unlikely man to become emperor. He was reportedly afflicted with some type of disability, and his family had virtually excluded him from public office until his consulship with his nephew Caligula in AD 37. This infirmity may have saved him from the fate of many other Roman nobles during the purges of Tiberius' and Caligula's reigns; potential enemies did not see him as a serious threat to them. His very survival led to his being declared emperor after Caligula's assassination, at which point he was the last adult male of his family.

Despite his lack of political experience, Claudius proved to be an able administrator and a great builder of public works. His reign saw an expansion of the empire, including the conquest of Britain. He took a personal interest in the law, presided at public trials, and issued up to twenty edicts a day; however, he was seen as vulnerable throughout his rule, particularly by the nobility. Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position—resulting in the deaths of many senators. Claudius also suffered tragic setbacks in his personal life, one of which may have led to his murder. These events damaged his reputation among the ancient writers. More recent historians have revised this opinion.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanicus

---

(41-ass.54 apr JC) (°10 av)

---

Claudius I (EMPEROR) of ROME aka Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus; aka Tiberius Nero DRUSUS

Born: Gaul 1 Aug 10 BC Died: 13 Oct 54 poisoned by wife

---

·He was not all as he seemed. His family members mistook these physical debilities as reflective of mental infirmity and generally kept him out of the public eye as an embarrassment. A sign of this familial disdain is that he remained under guardianship, like a woman, even after he had reached the age of majority. Suetonius, in particular, preserves comments of Antonia, his mother, and Livia, his grandmother, which are particularly cruel in their assessment of the boy. From the same source, however, it emerges that Augustus suspected that there was more to this idiot than met the eye.

Nevertheless, Claudius spent his entire childhood and youth in almost complete seclusion. The normal rites de passage of an imperial prince came and went without official notice, and Claudius received no summons to public office or orders to command troops on the frontiers. When he assumed the toga virilis, for instance, he was carried to the Capitol in a litter at night; the normal procedure was to be led into the Forum by one's father or guardian in full public view. How he spent the voluminous free time of his youth is revealed by his later character: he read voraciously. He became a scholar of considerable ability and composed works on all subjects in the liberal arts, especially history; he was the last person we know of who could read Etruscan. These skills, and the knowledge of governmental institutions he acquired from studying history, were to stand him in good stead when he came to power.

·the son of Nero Claudius Drusus, a popular and successful Roman general, and the younger Antonia, he was the nephew of the emperor Tiberius and a grandson of Livia Drusilla, the wife of the emperor Augustus

0042 AD, January . ·added Pater Patriae to his titles ·called Tiberius Claudius Drusus at his birth

0004 AD . ·called Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus on the adoption of his elder brother, Germanicus, by the Emperor Tiberius

0041 AD, January 24 . ·called Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, on his accession

0037 AD . ·drawn out of obscurity by his nephew, Caligula, who made him a senator and consul

0041 AD, January 24 . ·granted Tribunician power on his accession, and renewed annually on the 25th of January,

0041 AD, January 24 . ·Imperator for the first time on his accession ·held at his death the name and titles: Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribuniciae potestatis XIV, Consul V, Imperator XXVII, Pater Patriae

0050 AD . ·persuaded to officially adopt Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, his fourth wifes son by an earlier marriage, as an heir

Attributes title Emperor title Emperor , in Roman Empire. 0041-0054 AD .

description tall but not slender, with an attractive face, becoming white

occupation Consul for the first time . 0037 AD .

occupation Consul II . 0042 AD .

occupation Consul III . 0043 AD .

occupation Consul IV . 0047 AD .

occupation Consul V . 0051 AD .

occupation Imperator II-III . 0041 AD, after January .

occupation Imperator IV-VIII . 0043-0045 AD .

occupation Imperator IX-XIV . 0045-0047 AD .

occupation Imperator XV-XVIII . 0047-0050 AD .

occupation Imperator XIX-XXVII . 0050-0052 AD .

birth 0010 B.C., August 1 , in Lugdunum (Lyon), Lugdunensis (Gaul), Roman Empire.

death 0054 AD, October 13 , in Rome, Italia, Roman Empire. · The ancient accounts are confused -- as is habitual in the cases of hidden and dubious deaths of emperors -- but their general drift is that Claudius was poisoned with a treated mushroom, that he lingered a while and had to be poisoned a second time.

burial - in the Mausoleum of Augustus in the Campia Martius, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire

Notes from this Life of the Day complete with a picture of the subject, visit http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2009-04-18 Claudius [Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus] (10 BC-AD 54), Roman emperor, was born at Lugdunum (Lyons) on 1 August 10 BC. His father was Nero Claudius Drusus, brother of the emperor Tiberius, and at the time governor of Gaul; his mother was Antonia, the daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia, the sister of the emperor Augustus. Despite this impeccable pedigree, Claudius did not advance to the offices that would have been normal for a person destined by birth for an important public career. According to Tacitus (AD 56-113) this was because he was largely blocked from such distinctions by Tiberius, who was emperor from AD 14 to AD 37, due to his 'weak-mindedness' (Tacitus, 6.46). In fact, encouraged by the great Roman historian Livy (c.64 BC-AD 12), he became a very considerable scholar, writing works on the Etruscans and the Carthaginians, on Augustus's principate, and an autobiography; none survives, but their accomplishment points to an active and focused mind, and one well versed in Greek, the language in which he wrote. His reputation as a scholar proved sufficiently durable for Robert Graves to publish his purported autobiography, I, Claudius and Claudius the God, in 1934. Claudius did suffer, however, from severe physical disabilities, one likely reason for his being debarred from significant early office. Although well built, he dragged his right leg, spoke in a stammering voice that was barely comprehensible, being 'raucous and throaty', and when angry 'would foam at the mouth and trickle at the nose'. His laughter was 'unseemly', and his head and hands shook, all features which modern scholarship tends to interpret as signs of the condition of cerebral palsy. However, Suetonius (c.AD 69-140) does note that, while he was emperor, his health was excellent except for attacks of stomach pains that may have been heartburn; indeed, he had a particular interest in medicine, and took a favourite doctor from Cos, Gaius Stertinius Xenophon, on his journey to Britain in AD 43 (Suetonius, 31). With the succession of his nephew Gaius (Caligula) in AD 37, Claudius's hopes of political advancement took a brief upturn. He held the consulship, as Gaius's colleague, from 1 July to 31 August 37, giving him his first taste of power. He several times presided at public shows in lieu of Gaius, bringing him acknowledgement from the people, who cried 'success to the emperor's uncle'. Even so, he was continually insulted, not least because he was straitened financially, having only a comparatively modest inheritance. When he was obliged to become part of the priesthood of Gaius in AD 40, involving the payment of a huge sum of money, he had to borrow from the public treasury; when he could not meet his debts, his property was put up for sale to make up the deficiency. Humiliation and contempt were in fact constant companions in Claudius's life under Gaius, not least at the instigation of the emperor himself. Indeed, Gaius became ever more loathed among the political classes, whether for his autocratic manner, his swingeing taxes, or his lack of military achievement. His near-inevitable assassination came on 24 January AD 41, by officers of the praetorian guard. It took place as he passed along a passage out of the theatre on the Palatine on his way to the palace. According to the sources, Claudius, the 49-year old scholar, apparently fearful of his own life, hid in the palace on a balcony behind some curtains; a soldier, seeing his protruding feet, hauled him out and, in Suetonius's words, 'when Claudius fell at his feet in terror, he hailed him as emperor'. Claudius was then taken to the fort of the praetorian guard and, while the senate argued about whether to restore the republic, stayed there overnight and managed to secure, partly through bribery, the support of the guard. Although the senate initially declared Claudius a 'public enemy', a month later he could enter the building, albeit with bodyguards, and be confirmed as emperor. Although Suetonius describes Claudius's elevation as 'a freak of fortune', modern historical evaluation of the evidence suggests a highly discreet behind-the-scenes involvement with Gaius's assassination, and a prior striking of deals with those who thought that they had something to lose by the restoration of the republic. Likewise, given the nature of his accession and the lack of any sort of military achievement, he would have been well aware of the need for some sort of triumph. It was a point brought home by a brief and unsuccessful revolt against him in Dalmatia the following year. Territorial acquisition must have seemed the obvious course. Here he was able to claim much of the credit for the creation of two new provinces in north Africa, Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. Although properly the result of Gaius's order to assassinate the Moorish ruler, Ptolemy, in AD 40, it was mainly Claudius's generals who suppressed the ensuing uprisings, and brought about order. Both he and the commander, Marcus Crassus Frugi, received triumphal insignia from the senate. It was Claudius's conquest of Britain that was, however, to be his greatest achievement. It was an obvious target. Not only would he be following in the footsteps of the deified Julius Caesar-and would hope to surpass him by creating a permanently held province-but Britain was known to export grain, cattle, gold, silver, iron, hides, slaves, and hunting dogs. This would help to refill a treasury depleted by Gaius's extravagant spending, but would also provide booty for his soldiers. Moreover, occupation of Britain would allow a further geographical separation of the legions; there was by now a concentration of eight along the Rhine-Danube frontier, and the revolt of AD 41 was a reminder of the dangers posed by disaffected commanders. The decision to launch the conquest, already contemplated by Gaius, cannot have been difficult. Britain at that time was ruled by a series of tribal leaders. The more advanced issued coins, mostly bearing their name, but lived in settlements of no architectural pretension, although they were often provided with quite elaborate defences of earthen banks and ditches. Until his death about AD 40, the leading figure was Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), ruler of the Catuvellauni of what is now Hertfordshire. During his long reign of some forty years, he instigated a considerable expansion of Catuvellaunian power into adjoining regions. His original base may have been at Verulamium (St Albans), but he later set up a new capital at Camulodunum (Colchester), already a royal seat of the Trinovantes. Pro-Roman in stance, Cunobelinus posed no threat to the adjacent province of Gaul; however, when his two sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus, succeeded him, matters altered, for they were both warlike and fiercely opposed to Rome. The territory of the Atrebates (modern Hampshire) was probably overrun by one or the other of them, and the ruler, Verica, expelled. He fled to Rome, and appealed to Claudius for intervention. It provided a perfect justification for the conquest. Preparations for the invasion were thorough. Not the least was the organization of the commissariat by the procurator of northern Gaul, Graecinius Laco, who was subsequently awarded the privilege of having a statue of himself erected in Rome for his work. The Britons had the reputation of being doughty fighters, and the channel, known as the Ocean, was so fearsome a barrier that initially the troops refused to embark. Eventually, however, probably in May or June AD 43, some 40,000 soldiers set sail from Gesoriacum (Boulogne). In command was Aulus Plautius, a distinguished man who came from the Balkan province of Pannonia, where he had been governor. He brought with him the ninth legion (IX Hispana) while three other legions, the II Augusta, XIV Gemina, and XX Valeria, were summoned from the Rhine; auxiliary troops were also drafted in. It was a formidable force, a comment both on the perceived strength of the opposition and on Claudius's manifest intention to succeed. Plautius had divided his invasion fleet into three. Where they landed is not known for certain, but Rutupiae (Richborough, in east Kent) is a strong probability on archaeological grounds, while another detachment may have headed for Noviomagus (Chichester) in a part of Verica's former kingdom. Initial skirmishes were followed by a great battle, which took place over two days (an unusual feature in antiquity), very likely at the River Medway. The fighting then moved on to the Thames, where the Britons were eventually ousted and Togodumnus was killed. The Romans now halted their advance, and sent for Claudius, as he had instructed. When word reached Rome, Claudius immediately began the arduous journey by sea to Massalia (Marseilles) and overland to Gesoriacum. With him were a considerable number of senior senators, doubtless brought to stop them from plotting in Rome, and also some elephants, which were commonly used in the Hellenistic world to frighten the enemy. The ancient sources disagree on Claudius's military achievements in Britain; but they were very likely real, and the Roman name for Chelmsford, Caesaromagus, may reflect his presence at a significant battle. Before long, he and the army had reached Camulodunum and captured it. When later the storming and sacking of a town, and the surrender of the British kings, was re-enacted in the Campus Martius in Rome, it was almost certainly the taking of Camulodunum that was being portrayed. Claudius is said to have stayed only sixteen days in Britain, and by early in AD 44, after some six months away, he was back in Rome. There he received a triumph (the first for a princeps or emperor since 29 BC), and the building of two celebratory arches was voted by the senate: one in Rome and the other in Gaul, where he had embarked. The triumphal arch in Rome was dedicated in AD 51, and the surviving part of the inscription records that it was put up 'by the Roman Senate and People because he [Claudius] had received the surrender of eleven British Kings, defeated without loss, and for the first time had brought barbarian peoples from beyond the Ocean under Roman rule' (Inscriptiones, 6, no. 920). A coin was struck, showing an equestrian statue of Claudius on top of an arch, inscribed DEBRITANN[IS], thus disseminating the news of the conquest throughout the empire; and a triumphal arch was erected by the citizens of Cyzicus and a relief, with Claudius subduing Britannia, at Aphrodisias. Both were places in far-off Asia Minor: it was a famous victory. Meanwhile, the Roman army pressed on in Britain. By AD 47, when Aulus Plautius returned to Rome to the great honour of an ovation, all of the territory as far as the road known as the Fosse Way (from Exeter to Lincoln) had been taken. Under the new governor, Ostorius Scapula, significant advances were made into eastern Wales and Cheshire. The Mendip lead and silver mines were in production by AD 49, and a network of forts and roads established; while Camulodunum, initially a legionary fortress, was in the same year converted into a colonia for retired legionaries. In AD 51, Caratacus himself was finally captured and taken to Rome. The new province was thus firmly established, and Claudius's own position as emperor was likewise now secure. Claudius never again left Italy, despite the annexation of other territory in the Balkans (the province of Noricum) and Lycia, in south-west Asia Minor. He was responsible for great public works, like the harbour at Ostia and aqueducts serving Rome; and he also had an active private life. He was married four times: to Plautia Urgulanilla (AD c.10); to Aelia Paetina (in AD 28 or before); to Valeria Messal(l)ina (AD c.38); and finally to Julia Agrippina (AD 49), who survived him. He died in Rome on 13 October AD 54, it is said by poison, to be succeeded by Nero. He may have been buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus, in the Campus Martius in Rome, but this is unproven. Claudius's intervention in British affairs was, literally, to change the face of the country. Although he was not responsible for the conquest of the whole province, which took decades, many of today's lowland towns and cities (not least London) originated during his principate, just as the essentials of the road network are owed to Roman engineers. Claudius, who gained so much from the conquest, would surely have taken a personal interest in these matters; it was an epoch which properly marks the beginning of British history. T. W. Potter Sources Suetonius, Claudius, ed. H. E. Butler and M. Cary (1927) + Dio's Roman history, ed. and trans. E. Cary, 7 (1924), lx + C. Tacitus, The histories [and] the annals, ed. and trans. C. H. Moore and J. Jackson, 2 (1931) + A. K. Bowman, E. Champlin, and A. Lintott, The Cambridge ancient history, 2nd edn, 10 (1996), 229-41, 503-16 + E. M. Smallwood, Documents illustrating the principates of Gaius, Claudius, and Nero (1967) + B. Levick, Claudius (1990) + S. S. Frere, Britannia: a history of Roman Britain, 3rd edn (1987) + P. Salway, Roman Britain (1981) + G. D. B. Jones and D. Mattingly, An atlas of Roman Britain (1990) + D. R. Dudley and G. Webster, The conquest of Britain (1965) + K. T. Erim, 'A relief showing Claudius and Britannia from Aphrodisias', Britannia, 13 (1982), 277-85 + S. B. Platner and T. Ashby, A topographical dictionary of ancient Rome (1929) + W. Henzen and others, Inscriptiones urbis Romae latinae, no. 920 Likenesses bronze head, BM, 832 [see illus.] · bust, Ny Carlsberg Glypothek, Copenhagen, Denmark · head, repro. in P. Salway, Oxford Illustrated history of Roman Britain (1993), 50 · head, Copenhagen, Denmark ======================================================================== © Oxford University Press, 2004. See legal notice: http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/legal/

1

---

Before he was made Caesar, his suffix was "The Germanicus", adopting "The Britanicus" after.

He is supposed to have been poissoned by his wife Julia agripina with some mushrooms.

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius ?

---

ID: I22730

Name: Tiberius Claudius Caesar Nero of Rome

Prefix: Emperor

Given Name: Tiberius Claudius Caesar Nero

Surname: of Rome

Nickname: Claudius

Name: Tiberius Claudius

Given Name: Tiberius

Surname: Claudius

Suffix: Nero Emperor of Rome

Sex: M

_UID: 7995A7EAFD50D811BE490080C8C142CCF3C6

Change Date: 10 Aug 2004

Note:

Claudius I (10 bc-ad54), Roman emperor (ad41-54).

Claudius was born Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus in Lugdunum (present-day Lyon, France). His father, Nero Claudius Drusus, was a younger brother of Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, later the Roman emperor Tiberius. Claudius held no important public office until the age of 47, when he became consul during the reign of his nephew, Emperor Caligula. When the latter was assassinated in ad41, Claudius was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard, who found him hiding in the palace. The first acts of his reign gave promise of mild and just government; but in 42, when a conspiracy against his life was uncovered, he went into semiretirement. His wife Messalina became largely responsible for administering the government for a time. She practiced cruelties and extortions without restraint. Aside from the excesses perpetrated under the influence of Messalina, Claudius's reign was that of an able administrator, both in civil and military affairs. Mauretania (present-day northern Morocco and western Algeria) was made a Roman province; the conquest of Britain was begun; and the Roman armies fought successfully against the Germans. Judea and Thrace also became Roman provinces during his rule. Claudius expended enormous sums in building, especially in the construction of the famous Claudian Aqueduct. His administration was characterized by a decline in the power of the nobility and by the practice, later commonplace, of granting responsibility and wealth to the personal followers of the emperor, including former slaves.

In 48 Claudius ordered the execution of Messalina, who had indicated her contempt for him by publicly staging a mock marriage with her lover. He then defied widespread disapproval by marrying his niece, Agrippina the Younger, under whose influence he deprived his son by Messalina, Britannicus, of his heritage, adopting instead Agrippina's son by a former marriage, Nero, later emperor of Rome. Shortly thereafter Claudius was poisoned, presumably by Agrippina. Claudius is depicted by ancient historians as being neglected, sickly, and ridiculed before coming to power; his character during his reign is described as ignorant and malicious. Modern scholars, however, tend to discount their testimony and estimate him as shrewd and able.

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

1 2 3

Birth: 1 AUG 10 BC in Lugundum (Lyons) 4 5 3

Death: 31 OCT 54

Father: Nero Claudius Germanicus Drusus b: 38 BC

Mother: Antonio Minor of Rome b: 36 BC

Father: Nero Claudius Caesar

Mother: Antonia Augusta

Marriage 1 Julia Agrippa Minor of Rome b: ABT 15 BC

Married:

Children

Genuissa (Venessa) Claudia of Rome

Marriage 2 Aemilia Lepida

Married: 6 7 3

Children

Genuissa (Venessa) Claudia of Rome

Marcus Aurelius Crispin
Sources:

Abbrev: Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet & Cecily de Nevill

Title: Ernst-Friedrich Kraentzler, Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet & Cecily de Neville (published by author 1978)evilleeville. published by author 1978.

Note:

Call number:

J.H. Garner

Page: Chart 1826, p 393

Text: Claudius, Emp of Rome

Abbrev: Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary

Title: Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary (Merriam Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts , 1995)field, Massachusetts , 1995.

Note:

Call number:

Text: Claudius, s of Nero Claudius Drusus & Antonia

Abbrev: Pullen010502.FTW

Title: Pullen010502.FTW

Note:

Call number:

Text: Date of Import: Jan 5, 2002

Abbrev: Our Family Tree

Title: Jordan & Kimble, Our Family Tree (1929)

Note:

Call number:

Text: no place

Abbrev: PrenticeNet: A Lineage to Caesar

Title: PrenticeNet: A Lineage to Caesar (WWW)

Note:

Call number:

webmaster@PrenticeNet.com

http://www.prenticenet.com/roots/surnames/ancient/2caesar.htm

Text: no place

Abbrev: Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet & Cecily de Nevill

Title: Ernst-Friedrich Kraentzler, Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet & Cecily de Neville (published by author 1978)evilleeville. published by author 1978.

Note:

Call number:

J.H. Garner

Page: Chart 1826, p 393

Abbrev: Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary

Title: Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary (Merriam Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts , 1995)field, Massachusetts , 1995.

Note:

Call number:

Text: his 1st m

Forrás / Source:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jdp-fam&i...

Claudius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other persons named Claudius, see Claudius (disambiguation).

Reign 24 January 41 – 13 October 54

Predecessor Caligula

Successor Nero, stepson by 4th wife, Agrippina

Spouse 1) Plautia Urgulanilla

2) Aelia Paetina

3) Messalina

4) Agrippina the Younger

Issue

1) Claudius Drusus (died in adolescence);

2) Claudia Antonia;

3) Claudia Octavia

4) Britannicus;

5) Nero (adoptive)

Full name

Tiberius Claudius Drusus

(from birth to AD 4);

Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus

(from AD 4 to accession);

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus

Germanicus (as emperor)

Father Nero Claudius Drusus

Mother Antonia Minor

Born 1 August 10 BC

Lugdunum, Gaul

Died 13 October 54 (aged 63)

Burial Mausoleum of Augustus

Family and early life

Roman imperial dynasties

Julio-Claudian dynasty

Chronology

Augustus 27 BC – 14 AD

Tiberius 14 AD – 37 AD

Caligula 37 AD – 41 AD

Claudius 41 AD – 54 AD

Nero 54 AD – 68 AD

Family

Gens Julia

Gens Claudia

Julio-Claudian family tree

Category:Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Succession

Preceded by

Roman Republic Followed by

Year of the Four Emperors

Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC, in Lugdunum, Gaul, on the day of the dedication of an altar to Augustus. His parents were Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia, and he had two older siblings named Germanicus and Livilla. Antonia may have had two other children who died young, as well.

His maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, Caesar Augustus' sister, and as such he was the great-great grandnephew of Gaius Julius Caesar. His paternal grandparents were Livia, Augustus' third wife, and Tiberius Claudius Nero. During his reign, Claudius revived the rumor that his father Drusus was actually the illegitimate son of Augustus, to give the false appearance that Augustus was Claudius' paternal grandfather.

Marriages and personal life

Claudius' love life was unusual for an upper-class Roman of his day. As Edward Gibbon mentions, of the first fifteen emperors, "Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct"—the implication being that he was the only one not to take men or boys as lovers. Gibbon based this on Suetonius' factual statement that "He had a great passion for women, but had no interest in men."[47] Suetonius and the other ancient authors used this against Claudius. They accused him of being dominated by these same women and wives, of being uxorious, and of being a womanizer.

Claudius married four times. His first marriage, to Plautia Urgulanilla, occurred after two failed betrothals (The first was to his distant cousin Aemilia Lepida, but was broken for political reasons. The second was to Livia Medullina, which ended with the bride's sudden death on their wedding day). Urgulanilla was a relation of Livia's confidant Urgulania. During their marriage she gave birth to a son, Claudius Drusus. Unfortunately, Drusus died of asphyxiation in his early teens, shortly after becoming engaged to the daughter of Sejanus. Claudius later divorced Urgulanilla for adultery and on suspicion of murdering her sister-in-law Apronia. When Urgulanilla gave birth after the divorce, Claudius repudiated the baby girl, Claudia, as the father was one of his own freedmen. Soon after (possibly in AD 28), Claudius married Aelia Paetina, a relation of Sejanus. They had a daughter, Claudia Antonia. He later divorced her after the marriage became a political liability (although Leon (1948) suggests it may have been due to emotional and mental abuse by Aelia).

In AD 38 or early 39, Claudius married Valeria Messalina, who was his first cousin once removed and closely allied with Caligula's circle. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter Claudia Octavia. A son, first named Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, and later known as Britannicus, was born just after Claudius' accession. This marriage ended in tragedy. The ancient historians allege that Messalina was a nymphomaniac who was regularly unfaithful to Claudius — Tacitus states she went so far as to compete with a prostitute to see who could have the most sexual partners in a night[48] — and manipulated his policies in order to amass wealth. In AD 48, Messalina married her lover Gaius Silius in a public ceremony while Claudius was at Ostia. Sources disagree as to whether or not she divorced the emperor first, and whether the intention was to usurp the throne. Scramuzza, in his biography, suggests that Silius may have convinced Messalina that Claudius was doomed, and the union was her only hope of retaining rank and protecting her children.[49] The historian Tacitus suggests that Claudius's ongoing term as Censor may have prevented him from noticing the affair before it reached such a critical point.[50] Whatever the case, the result was the execution of Silius, Messalina, and most of her circle.[51] Claudius made the Praetorians promise to kill him if he ever married again.

Despite this declaration, Claudius did marry once more. The ancient sources tell that his freedmen pushed three candidates, Caligula's former wife Lollia Paulina, Claudius's divorced second wife Aelia, and Claudius's niece Agrippina the younger. According to Suetonius, Agrippina won out through her feminine wiles.[52] The truth is likely more political. The coup attempt by Silius probably made Claudius realize the weakness of his position as a member of the Claudian but not the Julian family. This weakness was compounded by the fact that he did not have an obvious adult heir, Britannicus being just a boy. Agrippina was one of the few remaining descendants of Augustus, and her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (later known as Nero) was one of the last males of the imperial family. Future coup attempts could rally around the pair, and Agrippina was already showing such ambition. It has been suggested in recent times that the Senate may have pushed for the marriage to end the feud between the Julian and Claudian branches.[53] This feud dated back to Agrippina's mother's actions against Tiberius after the death of her husband Germanicus, actions which Tiberius had gladly punished. In any case, Claudius accepted Agrippina, and later adopted the newly mature Nero as his son.

Nero was made joint heir with the underage Britannicus, married to Octavia and heavily promoted. This was not as unusual as it seems to people acquainted with modern hereditary monarchies. Barbara Levick notes that Augustus had named his grandson Postumus Agrippa and his stepson Tiberius joint heirs.[54] Tiberius named his great-nephew Caligula joint heir with his grandson Tiberius Gemellus. Adoption of adults or near adults was an old tradition in Rome when a suitable natural adult heir was unavailable. This was the case during Britannicus' minority. S.V. Oost suggests that Claudius had previously looked to adopt one of his sons-in-law to protect his own reign.[55] Faustus Sulla, married to his daughter Antonia, was only descended from Octavia and Antony on one side — not close enough to the imperial family to prevent doubts (that didn't stop others from making him the object of a coup attempt against Nero a few years later). Besides which, he was the half brother of Messalina, and at this time those wounds were still fresh. Nero was more popular with the general public as the grandson of Germanicus and the direct descendant of Augustus.

Forrás / Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius

---

Emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus 42

   * Born: Bef 0100, Aug 1, 0010 B.C., Lugdunum (modern Lyons) 41,42

* Marriage (1): Valeria Messalina
* Marriage (2): Julia Agrippina before 0100 in married 49 A.D.
* Marriage (3): Plautia Urgulanilla
* Marriage (4): Aelia Paetina
* Died: Bef 0100, Oct 13, 0054 42
Cause of his death was He was poisoned by his fourth and last wife, Agrippina.

Another name for Tiberius was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Brittanicus.

bullet General Notes:

Claudius (Tiberius Dmsus Nero Claudius Caesar) was the great uncle and stepfather of Nero. When Caligula was murdered, in 41 A.D., there remained this Claudius, his uncle, who was now 51 years of age but who, as the butt of the family, had been excluded from the functions of the government, neglected, ill -treated, and allowed to divide his time

between low company and literary studies. He was known as "Claudius, the Idiot or the Stutterer." No one had considered him a serious candidate save the shrewd Herod Agrippa II., who, having successfully schemed for the elevation of Caligula and reaped a rich reward, was silently meditating a second coup. Perhaps instead of being weak minded, Claudius merely feigned madness in order to escape poisoning. On his father's side he was descended from

Appius Claudius, a Roman decemivir in 450 B.C., whose name survives in the Appian Way. Born in Lyons

(Lugdunum), 10 B.C., Claudius in 43 A.D. determined to carry out the conquest of Britain which Augustus had meditated, but decided to postpone, if not to forego. Seneca records with a sneer that Claudius "had determined to see every German, Gaul , and Briton in a toga." He sent Aulus Platius against Caractacus, in 43 A.D., and himself soon joined his victorious army in time to see the crossing of the Thames and the fall of Colchester, Cymbeline's capital, and to receive the "submission of the eleven British kings." These successes, gained only with the hardest fighting, led him to make treaties with the British chiefs (See Wurts, pp. 155-156). After but sixteen days in the island he returned to

celebrate his triumph, leaving his generals to carry on. This was the most notable achievement of the reign of Claudius, who was also the builder of the conduit Aqua Claudius and other public works. He married four times: (1) Plautia Urgulanilla, who died on her wedding day, (2) Aelia Paetina, whom he divorced, and (3) *Valeria Messalina, aged sixteen, an exceedingly wicked woman, mother of little Octavia, had the title of Augusta conferred upon her, whom he

also divorced. Then at age forty-eight, he married (4) Agrippina the Younger, his niece, who was already twice a widow, daughter of Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus. Claudius conferred the title of Augusta upon her. By her first husband, Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, she had a son Nero. She was also married the second time to Caius Crispus. Her problem was to become the wife of Claudius, to get rid of his son, Britannicus, and make Nero, by adoption, heir to the Empire. The fact that she was Claudius' niece did not deter her, but gave her opportunities for fond intimacies that stirred the old ruler in no avuncular manner. She, at the age of thirty-two, while Claudius was fifty-seven, became the 4th wife of her uncle. The Senate approved, the Praetorians laughed, and Agrippina reached the throne. Claudius, to whom she gave poison and caused his death on October 13, 54 A.D. On that day her son, Nero, was proclaimed Emperor.

notes or source:

HBJ & ancestry.com

Medical Notes:

He had a disability which is now known to have been Cerebral Palsy. 43

bullet Noted events in his life wer

---

ID: I67180

Name: Claudius I of ROME

Suffix: Roman Emperor

Title: Roman Emperor

Sex: M

Birth: in 10 B.C.,Lugdunum,Gaul

Death: in 54 A.D.

Note:

Sources: Kraentzler 1826; Collins; Pfafman; Robinson.

Pfafman: Roman Emperor, 41-54 A.D. Poisoned by fourth wife, Agrippa, who was mother of Nero. He extended the Roman Empire over Britain, built the Claudian Way, and founded Colchester, Essex County, the oldest recorded town in Britain, which was destroyed about 60 A.D. by Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni.

K: Claudius, Emperor of Rome.

Robinson: Claudius, ruled 41-54 A.D.

Change Date: 12 JUL 2000 at 21:32:36

---

Born : 1 aug 10 BC

---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius

---

Kejsare Tiberius Claudius Nero av Romarriket

Blev högst 64 år.

Far: General, Guvernör Nero Claudius Germanicus Drusus av Romarriket (38 f.Kr. - 9 f.Kr.)

Mor: Antonia d.y. av Romarriket (36 f.Kr. - 37)

Född: 10-08-01 f.Kr. Lugundum (Lyons)

Död: före 54-10-13

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Familj med Julia Agrippina d.y. av Romarriket (15 - 59)

Barn:

Genvissa (Venessa Julia) av Romarriket (- 50)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Familj med ?

Barn:

Servilla av Rom

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Noteringar

Fjärde kejsaren i Rom efter Augustus, Tiberius och Caligula. Stammade och hade klumpfot, varför man inte högaktade honom förrän han som kejsare visat sin driftighet. Erövrade och koloniserade Britannien. Eventuellt förgiftad av hustrun. Begravd i Augustusmausoleumet.

Claudius, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, fødd 1. august 10 fvt., død 13. oktober år 54. Claudius var den fjerde keisaren av Romarriket frå 24. januar 41, av den julisk-claudiske ætta. Claudius vart utropa til romersk keisar av pretorianargarden, nærast ved eit slumpehøve. Han etterfylgde Caligula av Romarriket. Han var den fyrste keisaren som ikkje vart fødd i Italia. Claudius vart fødd i Lugdunum i Gallia, som son av Drusus og Antonia Minor. Han var òg den fyrste keisaren som vart utnemnd av Pretorianargarden i motsetnad til det romerske senatet. Claudius synte seg å vera ein god keisar som lét byggja imponerande byggverk og tok nye provinsar opp i Romarriket. På Claudius si tid vart riket utvida mellom anna på dei britiske øyane. Kona Messalina har vorte skulda for mange illgjerningar. Claudius lét henne til slutt avretta. Claudius si andre kone, Agrippina d.y., forgifta han slik at han døydde i år 54. Ho ville sikra trona til sin son Nero av Romarriket. Ho hadde fått Nero i sitt fyrste ekteskap med Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.

Claudius vart ikkje rekna som noko keisaremne. Omdømet fortel at han leid av nokre vanskar med førleiken, og slekta hadde halde han utanfor alle offentlege embete til Caligula gjorde han til romersk konsul i 37. At han var noko vanfør, kan ha berga livet hans under utreinskingane i åra Tiberius og Caligula rådde. Det at han overlevde førde til at han vart utropa til keisar etter at Caligula vart snikmyrda i 41. Då var han den siste som var att på mannssida i heile slekta. Sjølv om han mangla politisk røynsle, synte han seg snart som ein dugande styrar. Medan han rådde vaks imperiet, og romersk Britannia vart lagt under Roma. Han var personleg oppteken av lovverket, var til stades ved rettstingingar, gjerne så mange som tjue om dagen. Men han vart rekna som sårbar, særskild av adelen i Roma. Han var støtt tvungen til å rette opp stillinga si i høve til det romerske senatet, og avretta mange senatorar. I privatlivet leid han óg nederlag, og dette førte sistpå til at han vart forgifta. Desse hendingane skada omdømet hans hjå samtidshistorikarane, men nyare forsking har retta på dette.

Julisk-Claudiska dynastin

Julisk-Claudiska dynastin är benämningen på den dynasti som utgjordes av de fem första romerska kejsarna som tillhörde den julianska ätten, samma ätt som Julius Caesar - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius och Nero. Kejsar Augustus adopterades av Julius Caesar, men härstammade från ätten. Kejsartiden inleddes efter att Octavianus besegrat Marcus Antonius och Kleopatra i den sista av en lång rad inbördeskrig i senrepublikens Rom. Octavianus var adoptivson till Julius Caesar men till skillnad från sin adoptivfar var han noga med att inte reta upp aristokratin i senaten. Han var fast besluten att en gång för alla göra slut på inbördeskrigen och skapa en stabil statsmakt, och han var övertygad om att det krävdes envälde för att nå dit. Octavianus var dock väl medveten om att Caesar blivit mördad just för att han utropat sig till diktator på livstid och hade ambitioner på att bli kung. Därför gick han mycket försiktigare fram än adoptivfadern och knöt mer och mer makt till sig bakom en fasad av att republiken levde kvar. Från och med år 27 f.Kr. var hans officiella titel princeps, den främste medlemmen i senaten. I realiteten var han dock envåldshärskare och blev från och med nu även benämnd Augustus, den upphöjde. Kejsartiden hade inletts. För att skapa en riktigt stabil stat genomförde Augustus ett atort antal reformer för att bringa ordning i den tidigare kaotiska förvaltningen. De viktigaste åtgärderna presenteras ovan Augustus lyckades i sina ambitioner och de kommande 200 åren var Romarriket nästan förskonat från inbördeskrig. Augustus genomförde också en stor ombyggnad av Rom vars befolkning nu var omkring en miljon. Utrikespolitiskt vidgades riket ytterligare med bl.a. erövringar av vad som nu är södra Tyskland, Alpområdet och de få landområden runt Medelhavet som ännu inte kontrollerades av Rom. Under kort tid ockuperade man också hela området mellan Rhen och Elbe men tvingades dra sig tillbaka efter att armén drabbats av ett förkrossande nederlag mot germanska stammar år 9 e.Kr. Gränsen mellan Romarriket och Germanien kom sedan att gå utmed Rhen-Donau. För att säkra efterföljden adopterade Augustus Tiberius som efterträdde honom. Tiberius blev kejsare år 14 och han skulle inneha kejsartiteln fram till sin död år 37. Tiberius saknade Augustus karisma men var en mycket skicklig administratör och skicklig militär ledare. Inrikespolitiskt brottades han med stora familjära problem när det gällde tronföljden. Den tänkte tronarvingen, brorsonen Germanicus avled år 19. Tiberius egen son Drusus d.y. blev nu tronarvinge men avled år 23, troligen mördad. Germanicus änka Agrippina d.ä. blev landsförvisad efter en konflikt med Tiberius. Till slut blev det Germanicus son, Caligula som efterträdde Tiberius. Roms andre kejsare genomförde inga större erövringar utan satsade i första hand på att säkra rikets gränser mot Germanien. Caligula var kejsare åren 37-41) hette egentligen Gajus Julius Caesar Germanicus. Efter att först ha varit omtyckt bland såväl senatorer som krigsmakten urartade hans styre och han skall ha gjort sig skyldig till otroliga grymheter. Han spenderade också gigantiska summor på lyxliv och diverse olika spektakel i rikets huvudstad. Hans livsstil som i mångt och mycket liknande de österländska monarkernas retade många senatsmedlemmar som fortfarande hade en illussion om att republiken levde kvar. Efter flera misslyckade mordförsök mördades Caligula till slut av officerare i praetoriangardet, kejsarens livvakt. Claudius (regerade 41-54) blev Romarrikets fjärde kejsare. Claudius fullständiga namn var Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus var dotterson till Marcus Antonius. Claudius var som ung sjuklig och hade problem med att han stammade när han pratade. Trots att han aldrig var tänkt som kejsare upphöjde pretoriangardet honom till kejsare efter att Caligula mördats. Claudius visade sig emellertid vara en handlingskraftig regent. Han omdanade och effektiviserade förvaltningen och även utrikespolitiskt var han framgångsrik. Under Claudius regenttid införlivades flera nya provinser i riket, år 43 genomfördes också en invasion av brittiska öarna och några år senare sträckte sig Romarriket ända upp till nuvarande Skottland. Claudius var sedan år 49 gift med Agrippina d.y. och för att säkra tronfölden åt sin son Nero lät hon år 54 giftmörda sin make. Nero (regerade 54-68) blev den siste kejsaren inom den julisk-claudiska dynastin. Nero adopterades av Claudius och förlovade sig med adoptivfaderns dotter Octavia som Claudius hade fått i ett tidigare äktenskap. Neros mor, Agrippina d.y., lyckades övertala Claudius att utse Nero till sin efterträdare i stället för sin egen son, Britannicus. Trots detta lät Nero mörda sin mamma år 59, Britannicus hade mördats redan år 55. Neros regeringstid präglades av motsättningar med senaten, och vid flera tillfällen utfördes utrensningar av verkliga och inbillade fiender inom senatsaristokratin. År 64 genomförde han de första organiserade förföljelserna av kristna. En stor brand i Rom (troligen beordrad av kejsaren själv) blev formell orsak till förföljelserna som kostade många kristna livet. Nero misstänks ha anlagt branden för att kunna bygga ett palats på Esquilinen. Palatset var gigantiskt - 50,6 hektar stort - med bland annat en staty på Nero själv som var 37 meter hög. Konflikterna med senaten fortsatte och blev akut år 68. Efter att senaten förklarat kejsaren vara fiende till det romerska folket valde han att begå självmord.

---

Claudius (41-54 A.D.)

Garrett G. Fagan

Pennsylvania State University

Introduction

Ti. Claudius Nero Germanicus (b. 10 BC, d. 54 A.D.; emperor, 41-54 A.D.) was the third emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. His reign represents a turning point in the history of the Principate for a number of reasons, not the least for the manner of his accession and the implications it carried for the nature of the office. During his reign he promoted administrators who did not belong to the senatorial or equestrian classes, and was later vilified by authors who did. He followed Caesar in carrying Roman arms across the English Channel into Britain but, unlike his predecessor, he initiated the full-scale annexation of Britain as a province, which remains today the most closely studied corner of the Roman Empire. His relationships with his wives and children provide detailed insights into the perennial difficulties of the succession problem faced by all Roman Emperors. His final settlement in this regard was not lucky: he adopted his fourth wife's son, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus , who was to reign catastrophically as Nero and bring the dynasty to an end. Claudius's reign, therefore, was a mixture of successes and failures that leads into the last phase of the Julio-Claudian line.

Early Life (10 BC - 41 A.D. )

Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC at Lugdunum in Gaul, into the heart of the Julio-Claudian dynasty: he was the son of Drusus Claudius Nero, the son of Augustus's wife Livia , and Antonia, the daughter of Mark Antony. 1 His uncle, Tiberius , went on to become emperor in AD 14 and his brother Germanicus was marked out for succession to the purple when, in AD 4, he was adopted by Tiberius . It might be expected that Claudius, as a well-connected imperial prince, would have enjoyed the active public life customary for young men of his standing but this was not the case. In an age that despised weakness, Claudius was unfortunate enough to have been born with defects. He limped, he drooled, he stuttered and was constantly ill. 2 His family members mistook these physical debilities as reflective of mental infirmity and generally kept him out of the public eye as an embarrassment. A sign of this familial disdain is that he remained under guardianship, like a woman, even after he had reached the age of majority. Suetonius, in particular, preserves comments of Antonia, his mother, and Livia , his grandmother, which are particularly cruel in their assessment of the boy. From the same source, however, it emerges that Augustus suspected that there was more to this "idiot" than met the eye. 3 Nevertheless, Claudius spent his entire childhood and youth in almost complete seclusion. The normal rites de passage of an imperial prince came and went without official notice, and Claudius received no summons to public office or orders to command troops on the frontiers. 4 When he assumed the toga virilis , for instance, he was carried to the Capitol in a litter at night; the normal procedure was to be led into the Forum by one's father or guardian in full public view. How he spent the voluminous free time of his youth is revealed by his later character: he read voraciously. He became a scholar of considerable ability and composed works on all subjects in the liberal arts, especially history; he was the last person we know of who could read Etruscan. 5 These skills, and the knowledge of governmental institutions he acquired from studying history, were to stand him in good stead when he came to power.

It should not be forgotten that Claudius's wing of the family suffered terribly in the internal struggles for succession that racked the imperial house. His father died on campaign when Claudius was only one year old, and his beloved brother, Germanicus, succumbed under suspicious circumstances in AD 19. His only other sibling to reach adulthood, Livilla, became involved with Sejanus and paid the ultimate price in the wake of the latter's fall from grace in AD 31. Through all this turmoil Claudius survived, primarily through being ignored as an embarrassment and an idiot. 6

Claudius's fortunes changed somewhat when his unstable nephew, Gaius (Caligula), came to power in the spring of 37 A.D. Gaius , it seems, liked to use his bookish, frail uncle as the butt of cruel jokes and, in keeping with this pattern of behavior, promoted him to a suffect consulship on 1 July 37 A.D. At 46 years of age, it was Claudius's first public office. Despite this sortie into public life, he seemed destined for a relatively quiet and secluded dotage when, in January 41, events overtook him. 7

Accession (24-25 January, 41 A.D.)

Arguably the most important period of Claudius's reign was its first few hours. The events surrounding his accession are worthy of detailed description, since they revealed much about the true nature of the Augustan Principate.

In the early afternoon of 24 January 41 A.D., the emperor Gaius was attending a display of dancers in a theater near the palace. Claudius was present. Shortly before lunch time, Claudius took his leave and the emperor decided that he, too, would adjourn for a bath. As Gaius was making his way down an isolated palace corridor he was surrounded and cut down by discontented members of his own bodyguard. In the aftermath of the assassination -- the first open murder of a Roman emperor -- there was widespread panic and confusion. The German elements of the emperor's bodyguard, who were fiercely loyal to their chief, went on the rampage and killed indiscriminately. Soldiers of the larger Praetorian Guard began looting the imperial palace. According to the best-known tradition, some Guardsmen found Claudius cowering behind a curtain and, on the spot, they declared him their emperor and carried him off to their camp. In this story, a hapless Claudius falls into power entirely as a result of accident, and very much against his will. It is not hard to see why, with its implicit theme of recusatio imperii , it is the story of his accession that Claudius himself favored. 8 Vestiges, however, can be traced of another tradition that paints a somewhat different picture. In this version, the Guardsmen meet in their camp and discuss the situation facing them in light of Gaius's murder. Their pleasant, city-based terms of military service were in jeopardy. They needed an emperor. Fixing their intentions on Claudius as the only surviving mature member of the Julio-Claudian house, they sent out a party of troops to find him and bring him back to their camp so he could be acclaimed emperor, which is what happened. In this story, the elevation of Claudius to the purple was a purposeful plan on the part of the soldiers, even if Claudius remains a passive and reluctant partner in the whole process. 9

The possibility has to be entertained that Claudius was a far more active participant in his own elevation than either of these traditions let on. There is just reason to suspect that he may even have been involved in planning the murder of Gaius -- his departure from the theater minutes before the assassination appears altogether too fortuitous. These possibilities, however, must remain pure speculation, since the ancient evidence offers nothing explicit in the way of support for them. On the other hand, we can hardly expect them to, given the later pattern of events. The whole issue of Claudius's possible involvement in the death of Gaius and his own subsequent acclamation by the Praetorian Guard must, therefore, remain moot. 10

Despite the circumstances that brought him there, the hours following Claudius's arrival at the Praetorian Camp and his acceptance as emperor by the Senate are vital ones for the history of the Principate. Events could have taken a very different course, but that they worked out as they did speaks volumes as to how far seven decades of the Augustan Principate had removed Rome from the possibility of a return to the so-called free Republic.

News of Gaius's death prompted a meeting of the Senate. Initially, there was talk of declaring the Republic restored and dispensing with emperors altogether. Then, however, various senators began proposing that they be chosen as the next princeps . Debate was in progress when news reached the senators that the Guard had made the decision for them: Claudius, the soldiers' choice, was sitting in the Praetorian Camp. 11 The main historical difficulty in what happened next is due to confusion in Josephus's account (which is the fullest). In one version, the Senate sent two tribunes to the Camp to demand that Claudius step down. Once in the Camp, however, the tribunes were cowed by the ardent support for Claudius among the soldiers and instead requested that he come to the Senate to be ratified as emperor. In Josephus's alternate version, however, Herod Agrippa is summoned by the senators and employed as an envoy between the Camp and the Senate. 12 Clearly, Josephus is conveying two traditions about these events, one Roman (featuring the tribunes), the other Jewish (highlighting the role of Herod Agrippa). Suetonius, naturally enough, follows the Roman tradition, as does Dio in his main account; interestingly, the latter shows awareness of some participation on the part of Herod Agrippa in a later passage. 13

Regardless of how the negotiations were conducted, the Senate quickly realized it was powerless in the presence of several thousand armed men supporting Claudius's candidacy. The impotence that the esteemed council had experienced time and again when dealing with the military dynasts of the Late Republic was once more revealed to all, and the meeting dissolved with the fate of the Empire left undecided. When the Senate met again later that night in the Temple of Jupiter Victor, it found its numbers much depleted, since many had fled the city to their country estates. The senators assessed their military strength: they had three or four urban cohorts under the command of the City Prefect, numbering perhaps 3,000 men. With these, they occupied the Forum and Palatine. Plans were laid to arm some ex-slaves to provide reinforcements. By these actions the senators were accepting that supreme power in post-Augustan Rome could be achieved only by military force; all questions of legal niceties were irrelevant. But the Senate could not control their troops -- they all deserted to the Praetorian Guard, with whom they shared the Camp. 14

Now completely powerless, the senators hurried off to the Praetorian Camp to pay their respects to Claudius. On 25 January 41 A.D. Claudius was formally invested with all the powers of the princeps , becoming Ti. Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. (Since Claudius had no legal claim to it whatsoever, the appearance of "Caesar" in his imperial name marks the first step in this word's transmutation from a family name to a title denoting ruler, and so begins a tradition that stretches into the modern era with "Kaiser," "Czar," and possibly "Shah.")

These events have been treated in some detail because of their immense historical importance. Gaius was the first emperor of Rome to be openly murdered, and Claudius's accession marks the first overt and large-scale intrusion of the military into post-Augustan politics. The basic fact of the Principate, which had always been implicit in the Augustan settlement but heretofore carefully disguised, was now made plain: the emperor's position ultimately rested not on consensus but on the swords of the soldiers who paid him homage. From one perspective, the Principate had been revealed for what it truly was -- an exercise in managing the military's loyalties, and not a form of government rooted in law and consensus. The Senate, in attempting to block Claudius with troops of their own, had acquiesced in this structure of power. For ever afterward, emperors sat on the throne on the sufferance of the troops they commanded, and a loss of army loyalty necessarily entailed a loss of power, usually accompanied by the loss of the incumbent's life. But the harder lessons in these realities lay in the future; for the moment order had been restored, and Claudius embarked on his reign in relative security.

The Early Years: Britain, Freedmen, and Messalina (AD 41 - 48)

Among Claudius's first acts was the apprehension and execution of Gaius's assassins. Whatever his opinion of their actions, politics and pietas required that Claudius not be seen to condone men who murdered an emperor and a member of his own family. 15 He also displayed immediate understanding of the centrality of the military to his position and sought to create a military image for himself that his prior sheltered existence had denied him. Preparations got under way soon after his accession for a major military expedition into Britain, perhaps sparked by an attempted revolt of the governor of Dalmatia, L. Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus, in 42 A.D.. The invasion itself, spearheaded by four legions, commenced in the summer of 43 and was to last for decades, ultimately falling short of the annexation of the whole island (if indeed that was Claudius's final objective at the outset). This move marked the first major addition to the territory of the Roman empire since the reign of Augustus .16 Claudius himself took part in the campaign, arriving in the war zone with an entourage of ex-consuls in the late summer of 43 A.D. After a parade at Camulodunum (Colchester) to impress the natives, he returned to Rome to celebrate a triumph in 44 A.D. His military credentials had been firmly established. 17

The sources are united in portraying Claudius as a dupe to his imperial freedmen advisors as well as to his wives. It is possible that the hostile stance of the elite toward Claudius extended back into his reign -- he was, after all, a usurper who had been foisted on the aristocrats by the soldiers. If so, Claudius's reliance on his freedmen may have stemmed from this circumstance, in that the ex-slaves were (as far as he was concerned) more trustworthy than the sullen aristocracy. For whatever reasons, there is no doubt that Claudius's reign is the first era of the great imperial freedman. To be sure, the secretariat had existed before Claudius and members of it had achieved some prominence (notably Helicon and Callistus under Gaius ), but the rise of powerful individuals like Narcissus, Polybius, and Pallas was a distinctive mark of Claudius's reign. The power of these men was demonstrated early on when the emperor chose Narcissus as his envoy to the legions as they hesitated to embark on their invasion of Britain. 18 According to our sources, the freedmen were frequently to exert less beneficent influences throughout Claudius's reign.

In 38 A.D. Claudius had married Valeria Messalina, a scion of a noble house with impressive familial connections. Messalina bore him a daughter (Octavia, born in 39) and a son (Britannicus, born in 41): she was therefore the mother of the heir-apparent and enjoyed influence for that reason. In the sources, Messalina is portrayed as little more than a pouting adolescent nymphomaniac who holds wild parties and arranges the deaths of former lovers or those who scorn her advances; and all this while her cuckolded husband blunders on in blissful ignorance. Recently, attempts have been made to rehabilitate Messalina as an astute player of court politics who used sex as a weapon, but in the end we have little way of knowing the truth. 19 What we can say is that either her love of parties (on the adolescent model) or her byzantine scheming (on the able courtier model) brought her down. While Claudius was away in Ostia in AD 48, Messalina had a party in the palace in the course of which a marriage ceremony was performed (or playacted) between herself and a consul-designate, C. Silius. Whatever the intentions behind it, the political ramifications of this folly were sufficiently grave to cause the summary execution of Messalina, Silius, and assorted hangers-on (orchestrated, tellingly, by the freedman Narcissus). 20 Claudius was now without a wife.

The Rise of Agrippina and Claudius's Death (48-54 A.D.)

In our sources, the death of Messalina is presented as initiating a scramble among the freedmen, each wishing to place his preferred candidate at Claudius's side as the new empress. In the end, it was Pallas who prevailed when he convinced Claudius to marry Agrippina the Younger. The marriage took place within months of Messalina's execution. Agrippina was a colorful figure with extensive and far-reaching imperial connections: she was the daughter of Claudius's brother, Germanicus, and a sister of Gaius Caligula , by whom she had been exiled for involvement in the conspiracy of Gaetulicus; moreover, she had been married before. She therefore brought to the marriage with Claudius -- which necessitated a change in the law to allow uncles to marry their brothers' daughters -- a son, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus . Agrippina's ambitions for this son proved the undoing of Claudius. 21

The years between his marriage to Agrippina in 48 and his death in 54 were difficult ones for Claudius. Whether or not sources are right to portray him as a dupe of his wives and freedmen throughout his reign, there can be little doubt that Agrippina's powerful personality dominated Claudius's last years. Her position, openly influential in a manner unlike any previous empress, was recognized by those attuned to imperial politics, and she appears more and more prominently in official inscriptions and coins. In 50 the Senate voted her the title "Augusta," the first prominent imperial woman to hold this title since Livia -- and the latter had only held it after Augustus's death. She greeted foreign embassies to the emperor at Rome from her own tribunal, and those greetings were recorded in official documents; she also wore a gold-embroidered military cloak at official functions. It is a sign of her overt influence that a new colony on the Rhine bore her name. 22 Agrippina's powerful position facilitated the advancement of her son Domitius and was, in turn, strengthened by it. Claudius already had a natural son, Britannicus, who was still a minor. Domitius , at 13, was three years older. Now Claudius began to advance Domitius through various signs of favor, the most important being his adoption as Claudius's son on 25 February AD 50. Henceforth Domitius was known as Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar and known to posterity simply as "Nero". But Claudius openly advanced Nero in other ways, too: the emperor held the consulship in 51, which was the year Nero took the "toga of manhood," and that event was itself staged several months before the customary age for Roman teenagers; Nero was granted imperium proconsulare outside the city, addressed the Senate, appeared with Claudius at circus games (while Britannicus appeared still in the toga of a minor), and was hailed as "Leader of the Youth" ( princeps iuventutis ) on the coinage; in AD 53 Nero married Claudius's daughter, Octavia. 23 All of these are sure signs of preference in the ever-unstable imperial succession schemes. The main difficulty for modern scholars lies in how to explain Claudius's favoring of Nero over his natural son, Britannicus; the reasons remain a matter of intense debate. 24

No matter what the reasons were, there can be little doubt that Nero , despite his tender age, had been clearly marked out as Claudius's successor. Agrippina, according to Tacitus, now decided it was time to dispose of Claudius to allow Nero to take over. The ancient accounts are confused -- as is habitual in the cases of hidden and dubious deaths of emperors -- but their general drift is that Claudius was poisoned with a treated mushroom, that he lingered a while and had to be poisoned a second time before dying on 13 October 54 A.D. At noon that same day, the sixteen-year-old Nero was acclaimed emperor in a carefully orchestrated piece of political theater. Already familiar to the army and the public, he faced no serious challenges to his authority. 25

Claudius and the Empire

The invasion and annexation of Britain was by far the most important and significant event in Claudius's reign. But several other issues deserve attention: his relationship with and treatment of the aristocracy, his management of the provinces and their inhabitants, and his judicial practices, and his building activities. Before looking at these subjects, however, we should note that the long-lived notion that Claudius initiated a coherent policy of centralization in the Roman Empire -- evidenced in the centralization of provincial administration and judicial actions, in the creation of a departmental bureaucracy, his interference in financial affairs, and so on -- has been decisively disproven by a recent biography of Claudius. 26 Whatever actions Claudius took in regard to the various wings of government, he did so without any unifying policy of centralization in mind.

Claudius's relationship with the Senate did not get off to a good start -- given the nature of his succession and the early revolt of Scribonianus with its ensuing show trials -- and it seems likely that distrust of the aristocracy is what impelled Claudius to elevate the role of his freedmen. During his reign, however, Claudius made efforts to conciliate Rome's leading council, but he also embarked on practices that redounded to his detriment, especially those of sponsoring the entrance men considered unworthy into the Order and hearing delicate cases behind closed doors ( in camera ). In the last analysis, the figures speak for themselves: 35 senators and several hundred Knights were driven to suicide or executed during the reign. The posthumous vilification of Claudius in the aristocratic tradition also bespeaks a deep bitterness and indicates that, ultimately, Claudius's relationship with the Senate showed little improvement over time. His reviving and holding the censorship in 47-48 is typical of the way the relationship between Senate and emperor misfired: Claudius, no doubt, thought he was adhering to ancient tradition, but the emperor-censor only succeeded in eliciting odium from those he was assessing. 27

Claudius was remembered (negatively) by tradition as being noticeably profligate in dispensing grants of Roman citizenship to provincials; he also admitted "long-haired" Gauls into the senatorial order, to the displeasure of the snobbish incumbents. Both of these practices demonstrate his concern for fair play and good government for the provinces, despite his largely sedentary reign: under Claudius are attributed the first issues of standing orders ( mandata ) from emperor to governor. 28 In the organization of the provinces, Claudius appears to have preferred direct administration over client kingship. Under him the kingdoms of Mauretania, Lycia, Noricum, and Thrace were converted into provinces. Stable kingdoms, such as Bosporus and Cilicia, were left untouched. A good example of the pattern is Herod Agrippa I. This client prince had grown up at Rome and had been awarded tetrarchic lands in Galilee by Gaius (Caligula) . As we saw above, he had been involved in the accession of Claudius and, as a reward for services rendered, he was granted Judaea and Samaria in addition to his former holdings. He fell from grace, however, when he suspiciously extended Jerusalem's walls and invited other eastern kings to a conference at Tiberias. He died suddenly in 44 A.D., after which his former kingdom again came under direct Roman rule. 29

One feature of Claudius's reign that the sources particularly criticize is his handling of judicial matters. While he was certainly diligent in attending to hearings and court proceedings -- he was constantly present in court and heard cases even during family celebrations and festal days -- the sources accuse him of interfering unduly with cases, of not listening to both sides of a case, of making ridiculous and/or savage rulings, and of hearing delicate cases in closed-door private sessions with only his advisors present. The most celebrated and infamous of the latter cases is that of Valerius Asiaticus, the Gallic ex-consul and one-time friend of Claudius, who fell from grace in 47, reputedly at Messalina's instigation. His case was heard in the emperor's bedroom and Asiaticus was forced to suicide. Even if a survey of surviving rulings by Claudius do not show him making silly decisions, his judicial practices caught such attention that Seneca's Apocolocyntosis ends with a courtroom scene with Claudius as the accused: he is not allowed to make his defence, is convicted, and condemned to be a powerless courtroom clerk. Such an image must have been most pleasing to the senatorial imagination. 30

Finally, there is Claudius's building activities. Public building was de rigueur for Roman emperors, and ancient accounts of individual reigns routinely include mention of imperial munificence. Matters hydraulic account for Claudius's greatest constructional achievements, in the form of a new aqueduct for the city of Rome, a new port at Portus near Ostia, and the draining of the Fucine Lake. The sources are at pains to highlight the almost catastrophic outcome of the latter project, but its scale cannot be denied. Suetonius's assessment that "his public works were grandiose and necessary rather than numerous" is entirely correct 31 .

Conclusion

Robert Graves' fictional characterization of Claudius as an essentially benign man with a keen intelligence has tended to dominate the wider public's view of this emperor. Close study of the sources, however, reveals a somewhat different kind of man. In addition to his scholarly and cautious nature, he had a cruel streak, as suggested by his addiction to gladiatorial games and his fondness for watching his defeated opponents executed. 32 He conducted closed-door ( in camera ) trials of leading citizens that frequently resulted in their ruin or deaths -- an unprecedented and tyrannical pattern of behavior. He had his wife Messalina executed, and he personally presided over a kangaroo court in the Praetorian Camp in which many of her hangers-on lost their lives. He abandoned his own son Britannicus to his fate and favored the advancement of Nero as his successor. While he cannot be blamed for the disastrous way Nero's rule turned out, he must take some responsibility for putting that most unsuitable youth on the throne. At the same time, his reign was marked by some notable successes: the invasion of Britain, stability and good government in the provinces, and successful management of client kingdoms. Claudius, then, is a more enigmatic figure than the other Julio-Claudian emperors: at once careful, intelligent, aware and respectful of tradition, but given to bouts of rage and cruelty, willing to sacrifice precedent to expediency, and utterly ruthless in his treatment of those who crossed him. Augustus's suspicion that there was more to the timid Claudius than met the eye was more than fully borne out by the events of his unexpected reign.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (see also the bibliographies for Gaius and Nero)

Barrett, A. A. Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire . New Haven, 1996.

Braund, D. Augustus to Nero: A Sourcebook on Roman History, 31 BC - A.D. 68. London, 1985.

Eck, W., A. Caballos, and F. Fernández. Das Senatusconsultum de Cn. Pisone Patre . Munich, 1996.

Ehrhardt, C. "Messalina and the Succession to Claudius." Antichthon 12 (1978): 51-77.

Sherk, R. K. The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian. Cambridge, 1988.

Levick, B. Claudius . New Haven, 1990.

Momigliano, A. Claudius: The Emperor and his Achievement .2Oxford, 1961.

Schwartz, D. R. Agrippa I: The Last King of Judaea. Tübingen, 1990.

Scramuzza, V. M. The Emperor Claudius . London, 1940.

Sherwin-White, A. N. The Roman Citizenship 2. Oxford, 1973.

Smallwood, E. M. Documents Illustrating the Principates of Gaius, Claudius, and Nero . Cambridge, 1967.

Strocka, V.M. (ed.) Die Regierungszeit des Claudius . Mainz 1993.

Sutherland, C. H. V. Coinage in Roman Imperial Policy . London, 1951.

________. The Roman Imperial Coinage. Vol. 1 ,2London, 1982. (= RIC )

Talbert, R. J. A. The Senate of Imperial Rome. Princeton, 1984.

Vivo, A. de. Claudio e Tacito: Storia e codificazione letteraria . Naples, 1980.

Wellesley, K. "Can You Trust Tacitus?" GaR 1 (1954): 13-33.

Wiseman, T.P. Flavius Josephus: Death of an Emperor. Exeter 1991.

NOTES

1 The main ancient literary sources for Claudius's reign are: Tac. Ann . 11-12; Dio 59.1-60(61).4; Seneca, Apocolocyntosis ; Suet. Claudius . Supplementary information is found in Josephus, and inscriptions and coins are collected in Smallwood, Documents (many of the latter's entries are translated in Braund or Sherk). Birth: Suet. Claud. 2.1.

2 Defects: Suet. Claud . 2.1-2. Claudius may have suffered from cerebral palsy, but medical diagnoses in the absence of physical remains and at a distance of 2,000 years are not the soundest.

3 Antonia, reports Suetonius [ Claud. 3.2], used to call him "a half-formed monster" and berated fools as "more stupid than my son Claudius." These assessments may well derive from the imperial archives, to which Suetonius had access. For citations from Augustus's correspondence that reveal a more balanced view of the young Claudius, see Suet. Claud . 4. Recent confirmation of Claudius's low status in the dynasty comes from the SC de Cn. Pisone Patre (AD 20): in the lengthy praises of members of Germanicus's family, Claudius, Germanicus's brother, is barely mentioned (line 148) ; see W. Eck et al. ,Das Senatusconsultum de Cn. Pisone Patre (Munich, 1996), ll. 136-50.

4 He did hold an augural priesthood, but nothing else. The flimsiness of Augustus's bequest to him, in naming him an heir in the third degree among complete strangers, is a further indication of his almost total marginalization from the center of the dynasty, see Suet. Claud . 4.7.

5 Suet. Claud . 3.1, 41-42. Among his works, which were composed in Greek and Latin and none of which survive, were: 43 books of Roman history, 21 books of Etruscan history, and 8 on Carthaginian; a book on philology; a rhetorical defence of Cicero; and an autobiography in 8 books. The latter have been fictionalized by Robert Graves in his masterly novels "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God."

6 Suetonius ( Claud .5-6) records various incidental honors and respects paid to him from various quarters, such as his representation on two occasions of the equestrian order as their patron. However, as he was an under-utilized and therefore accessible member of the imperial house, it would have been more surprising had some party not attempted to use him as an avenue of approach into more powerful inner circles.

7 Consulship and rough treatment under Gaius: Suet. Claud . 7-9.

8 Suet. Claud . 10; Dio 60.1.2-3a. Josephus ( AJ 19.212-20) is largely in agreement, but unwittingly contradicts an earlier passage in his work (see next note). Another possibility (see Scramuzza, 56-57) is that Josephus in AJ 19.212-20 is portraying the sequel of the events he describes in AJ 10.162-65.

9 The tradition of the "active Guard" is preserved in Jos. AJ 19.162-65.

10 The danger here is that we enter a pattern of circular reasoning: because Claudius was involved in the assassination and his own accession, he suppressed the evidence and put out the "hapless accession" story; therefore, the absence of evidence for his active involvement is to be read as proof of it! Levick (29-39) skirts this sort of logic, but falls short of endorsing it.

11 Suet. Claud . 10.1-3; Dio 60.1.3a; Jos. AJ 19.229, BJ 2.206-7.

12 Tribunes: Jos. AJ 19.229-35; Herod Agrippa: Jos. AJ 19.239-45.

13 Suet. Claud . 10.3; Dio 60.1.4 (tribunes), 60.8.2 (allusion to Herod Agrippa's role). Josephus's account of these Roman events, in fact, is part of an extended, self-contained subdivision of his AJ that could easily be entitled "The Adventures of Herod Agrippa Among the Romans." There is just cause to doubt the degree of prominence he affords Herod in these events, but that the Jewish prince played some role is hardly to be doubted.

14 Depleted Senate: Jos. AJ 19.248-49. Senatorial military strength and actions: Suet. Claud . 10.4; Jos. AJ 19.188, 242, BJ 2.205. Desertions: Dio 60.1.4; Jos. AJ 19.259-60, BJ 2.211-12. The most likely reason for the sudden desertion of the Senate's troops late on 24 January was not fear of a restored Republic or an unwillingness to fight their comrades (as Josephus claims in the AJ and BJ ,locc. citt. , respectively), but the announcement on the evening of that day of Claudius's huge donative to the urban and provincial troops (Jos. AJ 19.247, Suet. Claud .loc. cit .).

15 Suet. Claud . 11.1; Dio 60.3.4; Jos. AJ 19.268-71. Chaerea had virtually ensured his own death by insisting that Claudius be killed along with Gaius.

16 Scribonianus's rebellion: Suet. Claud . 13.2; Dio 60.15-16; Tac. Hist . 1.89, 2.75, Ann . 12.52.2. The invasion of Britain has been analyzed in minute detail by many British scholars: e.g ., S. Frere, Britannia ,3(London, 1987), 16-80; J. Peddie, Invasion: The Roman Conquest of Britain (New York, 1987); P. Salway, Roman Britain (Oxford, 1981), 65-99; G. Webster and D. Dudley, The Roman Conquest of Britain ,2(London, 1973). Claudius's initial objective may have been the annexation of the southern shoreline only; see Levick, 137-48.

17 The bombastic inscription from his (lost) triumphal arch, now in a courtyard of the Musei Capitolini in Rome, declares that "he received the surrender of eleven British kings who had been defeated without loss in battle, and was the first to bring barbarian peoples from across the Ocean under the sway of the Roman people" ( CIL 6.920 = ILS 216). There were other military actions. Claudius inherited a war in Mauretania from Gaius's reign and, once fighting subsided, organized the former kingdom into two provinces (Mauretania Tingitana and Caesariensis) perhaps as early as AD 43; he subdued trouble in Lycia and annexed the region as a province, probably around AD 47 or 48; and he saw fighting along the Rhine and Danube frontiers; for all this, see Levick, 149-61. By the end of his reign, he had been hailed as imperator twenty-seven times (see, e.g., CIL 6.1256 = ILS 218), more than any emperor until Constantine the Great.

18 On the imperial freedmen, see Levick, 53-79; Scramuzza, 5-34. Claudius's relations with the aristocracy: Levick, 93-103. Narcissus and the legions: Dio 60.19.2-3. A classic example of the growing power of the freedmen is Claudius's abolition of the senatorial post of quaestor Ostiensis and its replacement with a freedman procurator portus Ostiensis in 44; see Suet. Claud . 24.2.

19 Messalina was Claudius's third wife: previous unions with Plautia Urgulanilla and Aelia Paetina had failed for various reasons; see Suet. Claud . 26.1-2. Messalina's influence is indicated by her appearance on the obverse of coins of Claudius's reign (where one would expect the head of the emperor), or in the cameo now in Paris depicting Messalina, Octavia, and Britannicus. Messalina's excesses are reflected in such sources as Sen. Apoc ., passim and Juv. Sat . 6 and 10.

20 Messalina's fall: Tac. Ann . 11.26-37; Suet. Claud . 26; Dio 60(61).31.1-5; Sen. Oct . 257-61.

21 Timing of marriage: Tac. Ann . 12.6-8. Agrippina's life and connections: Barrett, Agrippina , 1-94 (before marriage to Claudius).

22 Augusta: Dio 60(61).33.2a. Greeting ambassadors: Tac. Ann . 12.37.5; Dio 60(61).33.7. Cloak: Pliny HN 33.63, Dio 60(61).33.3. Colony: Tac. Ann . 12.27.1-2. Tacitus, typically, contrives the most biting aphorism to describe Agrippina's ascendancy: "she presided over an almost masculine servitude" ( adductum et quasi virile servitium -- Ann . 12.7.5).

23 Adoption: Tac. Ann . 12.25; Suet. Claud . 27, Nero 7; Dio 60(61).32.22. Toga virilis and public appearances: Tac. Ann . 12.41-42; Suet. Nero 7; Dio 60(61).32.5, 33.2c, 33.9. Imperium proconsulare : Tac. Ann . 12.41.2. Princeps Iuventutis : C.H.V. Sutherland, Coinage in Roman Imperial Policy (London, 1951), pp.143-44 and id ., RIC 126 (nos. 75. 80, 82) (many of these coins also celebrate Agrippina independently of Claudius -- e.g. , Sutherland, Coinage , 146 and id. ,RIC , 125 [no. 75] -- a sure sign of her overt influence). Marriage to Octavia: Tac. Ann . 12.58.1; Dio 60(61).33.11.

24 Tacitus is unequivocal in attributing Nero's advancement to Agrippina's efforts ( studiis matris at Ann . 12.9.2). Modern attempts to counter this judgment ( e.g. , Scramuzza, 91-92) are unconvincing, though Barrett's ( Agrippina , 95-142) portrayal of Agrippina and Claudius acting in concert has its attractions. Tacitus portrays Pallas, Agrippina's ally, as persuading Claudius to advance Nero for reasons of state, slyly appealing to the sort of historical precedents he knew would appeal to Claudius's antiquarian sensibilities (Tac. Ann . 12.25). It is noteworthy that in his epigraphically preserved speech to Lugdunum (dated to AD 48, and thus before Nero was a factor), Claudius had referred to just such precedents regarding monarchic succession (Smallwood, Documents , no. 369.8-27). Levick (69-79) argues for the "pairing" of Britannicus and Nero in a joint-succession scheme she sees extending back to Augustus. However, her "dynastic collegiality" format for the imperial succession is rather thin for evidence and, tellingly, was not realized even once when power changed hands in the first century AD. Barrett ( Agrippina ,loc. cit .) argues that Claudius intended to promote Nero from the outset, since the prince could claim direct descent from Augustus and that this claim buttressed his own regime. This position seems a little stretched, since Claudius must have known that to do so would result in Britannicus's death (as indeed it did, within weeks of Nero's accession; see Tac. Ann . 13.15-17). Another possibility, little more than mentioned in the modern authorities but entirely possible, is that Claudius saw some flaws in Britannicus that turned him toward Nero (Tac. Ann . 13.16.5).

25 Death of Claudius: Tac. Ann . 12.64-67; Suet. Claud . 43-44; Dio 60(61).34.1-3. Scramuzza (92-93) believes that Claudius died naturally, and Barrett ( Agrippina , 139-42) leans in the same direction, on the basis that the confused and conflicting accounts of our sources make murder unlikely. Levick (76-77), while stating that murder cannot be proven, nonetheless finds Claudius's death altogether too timely to have been natural. The aging emperor had fallen ill frequently in the years leading up to his death, but the fortuitous timing of his death is indeed highly suspicious.

26 Proponents of centralization: e.g., Momigliano, passim ; H.H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero 5(London, 1985), 292-95. Disproven: Levick, 81-91.

27 Consulting the House: Claudius's record of attendance at meetings of the Senate is among best for the emperors; see R.J.A. Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (Princeton, 1984), 174-84, esp. 176-77. Conciliatory gestures: he declared amnesty for senators implicated in Gaius's death (Dio 60.3.5-4.2); he adopted a general demeanor of deference to the House (Suet. Claud . 12.1-2, 35.1); he rose to greet consuls and dressed unassumingly for meetings (Dio 60.6.1, 9); and so on. Unworthy senators: e.g. , Tac. Ann . 11.20.4-21.4. Numbers of dead: Sen., Apoc. 14.1 (who numbers 35 senators and 221 equites ); Suet. Claud . 29.2 (35 senators and over 300 equites ). Censorship: Tac. Ann . 11.13, Suet. Claud . 16.

28 Excessive grants of citizenship: Sen. Apoc . 3.3; his grant of citizenship en masse to the Alpine tribe of the Anauni ( CIL 14.85 = ILS 206) is a particularly famous example. Levick (165) has pointed out, however, that in the indices of provincial citizens "Claudii" are far outweighed by "Iulii" or "Flavii," suggesting that the tradition has exaggerated this tendency of Claudius's; see also see A.N. Sherwin-White The Roman Citizenship 2(Oxford, 1973), 237-50. Admission of Gauls to the senate: Tac. Ann . 11.23-25; Smallwood, Documents , no. 369 (see also K. Wellesley, "Can You Trust Tacitus?", GaR 1[1954]: 13-33). Mandata : Levick, 164.

29 Career of Herod Agrippa I: D.R. Schwartz, Agrippa I: The Last King of Judaea (Tübingen, 1990); above, nn. 12-13.

30 Hearing cases: Suet. Claud . 14, Dio 60.4.3, 17.1. Suetonius ( Claud . 14-15) sums up his judicial failings with many examples; see also Dio 60.5.6-7. Closed hearings: Tac. Ann . 11.2.1, 13.4.2. Valerius Asiaticus and survey of rulings: Levick, 61-63 (with sources in notes) and 123-26, respectively. Seneca: Apoc . 12-14 (where there are many echoes of Suetonius's charges).

31 Suet. Claud. 20 (quote at 20.1: opera magna potius et necessaria quam multa perfecit ). See also F.C. Bourne, The Public Works of the Julio-Claudians and Flavians (Princeton, 1946), 42-48; Levick, 108-11.

32 Cruelty: Suet. Claud . 34.

Copyright 1998, Garrett G. Fagan. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.

---

Född: 10-08-01 f.Kr. Lugundum (Lyons)

Död: före 54-10-13

Noteringar

Fjärde kejsaren i Rom efter Augustus, Tiberius och Caligula. Stammade och hade klumpfot, varför man inte högaktade honom förrän han som kejsare visat sin driftighet. Erövrade och koloniserade Britannien. Eventuellt förgiftad av hustrun. Begravd i Augustusmausoleumet.

Claudius, egentligen Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, född den 1 augusti 10 f.Kr., död den 13 oktober 54 e.Kr., var det romerska rikets fjärde kejsare från den 24 januari 41. Han tillhörde den julisk-claudiska ätten. Claudius föddes i Lugdunum i Gallien, i nuvarande Lyon, Frankrike. Hans föräldrar var Drusus och Antonia d.y.. Han var den förste kejsaren som var född utanför Italien.

---

iNFO FROM http://www.genealogy4u.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I52719&...

The Emperor Claudius

41-54

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was born in 10 BC to Nero Claudius Drusus and his wife Antonia. Although he came from a royal blood line, his family had a very low opinion of his abilities and often ignored him. Labeled an invalid from birth because of physical disabilities including partial paralysis, stammering, slobbering, and limping, he was the last person his family thought would inherit the throne and serve as Roman Emperor. An outcast in his home environment, Claudius turned to the study of history to occupy his time. He authored various works about orthographic reform of the Roman alphabet and a work defending Cicero, a republican politician and orator. Claudius also enjoyed playing dice games.

Claudius' rise to power came after Emperor Gauis (Caligula), his nephew, was unexpectedly murdered on January 1, AD 41. Claudius became heir to the throne, to many a Roman's dismay. The soldiers, courtiers, freedman, and foreigners were his main support although the senatorial aristocracy also offered to back the new emperor. Many Romans sought to have Claudius assassinated because of his cruel and ruthless discussions and actions with members of the senate and knighthood. It is thought by some that he even executed senators on occasion. Despite this conflict Claudius did respect these agencies and gave new opportunities to them both.

Claudius' reign is marked with an expansion of the Roman Empire. He invaded and conquered Britain in AD 43 and captured Camulodunum. There he started a colony of veterans and built client-kingdoms to protect the small populated land. Claudius also took over North Africa and annexed Mauretania, where he established two provinces as well. Around AD 49 he also annexed Iturea and allowed the province of Syria to control it, trying not to come into conflict with the Germans and the Parthians.

In the area of civil administration he encouraged urbanization. The judicial system improved under his reign and he favored the modern extension by individual and collective grants in Noricum. Claudius also made many administrative innovations. He increased his control over finances and province administration and gave jurisdiction of fiscal matters to the governors under him in the senatorial provinces.

Claudius' personal life was wrought with conflicts that ultimately led to his undoing. He married three times. His first wife, Boudicca, started a revolt, and his second wife had a strong sexual appetite that led her to conspiracy and ultimately, her execution. Claudius' third time was not a charm either. He decided to stay within the family and married his niece, Aggripina. She was very influential over Claudius to the point where he adopted her son Nero. Then she fed Claudius a dinner containing poisonous mushrooms which killed him. Her main motive was that her precious son, Nero, might inherit the throne.

Although Claudius was generally thought of as a weak leader and was labeled, even by his own family, as someone not worthy to rule; he made notable contributions to the development of the Roman empire. He conquered and colonized Britain, established provinces in North Africa, and he urbanized and innovated his civil administration. He died an unnecessary and tragic death at the hand of his own wife and was succeeded by his adopted son, Nero .

SURNAME: Also shown as Germanicus

GIVEN_NAMES: Also shown as Claudius Tiberius Drusus Nero

BIRTH: Also shown as Born Lyon, France.

BIRTH: Also shown as Born 10 Aug 0010 BC

AKA: Also known as Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Germanicus

---

TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS II DRUSUS NERO

BIRTH: in Lugundum, Gaul - now Lyons, Rhone-Alpes, France

DEATH: 51 A.D.

FATHER: Drusus Nero TIBERIUS I CLAUDIUS

MOTHER: Antonia AUGUSTA

FIRST MARRIAGE: Agrippina II verch GERMANICUS in Lugundum, Gaul - now Lyons, Rhone-Alpes,

France

CHILDREN:

1. Julia Gerunda verch TIBERIUS DRUSUS NERO - Abt 10 A.D. in Lugundum, Gaul - now Lyons,

Rhone-Alpes, France

2. Tiberius Claudius III TIBERIUS DRUSUS NERO - Abt 12 A.D. in Lugundum, Gaul - now Lyons,

Rhone-Alpes, France

DEATH: 68 A.D.

SECOND MARRIAGE: Abt 14 A.D. - Valeria MESSALINA in Lugundum, Gaul - now Lyons, Rhone-Alpes,

France

CHILDREN:

3. Octavia verch TIBERIUS II DRUSUS NERO - Abt 15 A.D.

4. Britanica verch TIBERIUS II DRUSUS NERO - Abt 18 A.D.

5. Genuissa 'Vanessa' of Rome verch TIBERIUS II DRUSUS NERO - Abt 20 A.D. in Ludgundum, Gaul -

now Lyons, Rhone-Alpes, France

---

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) (Tiberius Claudius Drusus from birth to AD 4, then Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus from then until his accession) was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54. Born in Lugdunum in Gaul (modern-day Lyon, France), to Drusus and Antonia Minor, he was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italia.

He was reportedly afflicted with some type of disability, and his family had virtually excluded him from public office until his consulship with his nephew Caligula in AD 37. This infirmity may have saved him from the fate of many other Roman nobles during the purges of Tiberius' and Caligula's reigns; potential enemies did not see him as a serious threat to them. His very survival led to his being declared emperor (reportedly because the Praetorian Guard insisted) after Caligula's assassination, at which point he was the last adult male of his family.

Despite his lack of political experience, Claudius proved to be an able administrator and a great builder of public works. His reign saw an expansion of the empire, including the conquest of Britain. He took a personal interest in the law, presided at public trials, and issued up to 20 edicts a day; however, he was seen as vulnerable throughout his rule, particularly by the nobility. Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position. This resulted in the deaths of many senators. Claudius also suffered setbacks in his personal life, one of which may have led to his murder. These events damaged his reputation among the ancient writers, though more recent historians have revised this opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius

---

He died due to Poisoned by his wife, Agrippina II, on October 13th, 0054

---

Keiser Claudius ble mest kjent for sine erobringer i Britania

---

Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus] (10 BC-AD 54), Roman emperor, was born at Lugdunum (Lyons) on 1 August 10 BC. His father was Nero Claudius Drusus, brother of the emperor Tiberius, and at the time governor of Gaul; his mother was Antonia, the daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia, the sister of the emperor Augustus. Despite this impeccable pedigree, Claudius did not advance to the offices that would have been normal for a person destined by birth for an important public career. According to Tacitus (AD 56-113) this was because he was largely blocked from such distinctions by Tiberius, who was emperor from AD 14 to AD 37, due to his 'weak-mindedness' (Tacitus, 6.46). In fact, encouraged by the great Roman historian Livy (c.64 BC-AD 12), he became a very considerable scholar, writing works on the Etruscans and the Carthaginians, on Augustus's principate, and an autobiography; none survives, but their accomplishment points to an active and focused mind, and one well versed in Greek, the language in which he wrote. His reputation as a scholar proved sufficiently durable for Robert Graves to publish his purported autobiography, I, Claudius and Claudius the God, in 1934. Claudius did suffer, however, from severe physical disabilities, one likely reason for his being debarred from significant early office. Although well built, he dragged his right leg, spoke in a stammering voice that was barely comprehensible, being 'raucous and throaty', and when angry 'would foam at the mouth and trickle at the nose'. His laughter was 'unseemly', and his head and hands shook, all features which modern scholarship tends to interpret as signs of the condition of cerebral palsy. However, Suetonius (c.AD 69-140) does note that, while he was emperor, his health was excellent except for attacks of stomach pains that may have been heartburn; indeed, he had a particular interest in medicine, and took a favourite doctor from Cos, Gaius Stertinius Xenophon, on his journey to Britain in AD 43 (Suetonius, 31). With the succession of his nephew Gaius (Caligula) in AD 37, Claudius's hopes of political advancement took a brief upturn. He held the consulship, as Gaius's colleague, from 1 July to 31 August 37, giving him his first taste of power. He several times presided at public shows in lieu of Gaius, bringing him acknowledgement from the people, who cried 'success to the emperor's uncle'. Even so, he was continually insulted, not least because he was straitened financially, having only a comparatively modest inheritance. When he was obliged to become part of the priesthood of Gaius in AD 40, involving the payment of a huge sum of money, he had to borrow from the public treasury; when he could not meet his debts, his property was put up for sale to make up the deficiency. Humiliation and contempt were in fact constant companions in Claudius's life under Gaius, not least at the instigation of the emperor himself. Indeed, Gaius became ever more loathed among the political classes, whether for his autocratic manner, his swingeing taxes, or his lack of military achievement. His near-inevitable assassination came on 24 January AD 41, by officers of the praetorian guard. It took place as he passed along a passage out of the theatre on the Palatine on his way to the palace. According to the sources, Claudius, the 49-year old scholar, apparently fearful of his own life, hid in the palace on a balcony behind some curtains; a soldier, seeing his protruding feet, hauled him out and, in Suetonius's words, 'when Claudius fell at his feet in terror, he hailed him as emperor'. Claudius was then taken to the fort of the praetorian guard and, while the senate argued about whether to restore the republic, stayed there overnight and managed to secure, partly through bribery, the support of the guard. Although the senate initially declared Claudius a 'public enemy', a month later he could enter the building, albeit with bodyguards, and be confirmed as emperor. Although Suetonius describes Claudius's elevation as 'a freak of fortune', modern historical evaluation of the evidence suggests a highly discreet behind-the-scenes involvement with Gaius's assassination, and a prior striking of deals with those who thought that they had something to lose by the restoration of the republic. Likewise, given the nature of his accession and the lack of any sort of military achievement, he would have been well aware of the need for some sort of triumph. It was a point brought home by a brief and unsuccessful revolt against him in Dalmatia the following year. Territorial acquisition must have seemed the obvious course. Here he was able to claim much of the credit for the creation of two new provinces in north Africa, Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana. Although properly the result of Gaius's order to assassinate the Moorish ruler, Ptolemy, in AD 40, it was mainly Claudius's generals who suppressed the ensuing uprisings, and brought about order. Both he and the commander, Marcus Crassus Frugi, received triumphal insignia from the senate. It was Claudius's conquest of Britain that was, however, to be his greatest achievement. It was an obvious target. Not only would he be following in the footsteps of the deified Julius Caesar-and would hope to surpass him by creating a permanently held province-but Britain was known to export grain, cattle, gold, silver, iron, hides, slaves, and hunting dogs. This would help to refill a treasury depleted by Gaius's extravagant spending, but would also provide booty for his soldiers. Moreover, occupation of Britain would allow a further geographical separation of the legions; there was by now a concentration of eight along the Rhine-Danube frontier, and the revolt of AD 41 was a reminder of the dangers posed by disaffected commanders. The decision to launch the conquest, already contemplated by Gaius, cannot have been difficult. Britain at that time was ruled by a series of tribal leaders. The more advanced issued coins, mostly bearing their name, but lived in settlements of no architectural pretension, although they were often provided with quite elaborate defences of earthen banks and ditches. Until his death about AD 40, the leading figure was Cunobelinus (Shakespeare's Cymbeline), ruler of the Catuvellauni of what is now Hertfordshire. During his long reign of some forty years, he instigated a considerable expansion of Catuvellaunian power into adjoining regions. His original base may have been at Verulamium (St Albans), but he later set up a new capital at Camulodunum (Colchester), already a royal seat of the Trinovantes. Pro-Roman in stance, Cunobelinus posed no threat to the adjacent province of Gaul; however, when his two sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus, succeeded him, matters altered, for they were both warlike and fiercely opposed to Rome. The territory of the Atrebates (modern Hampshire) was probably overrun by one or the other of them, and the ruler, Verica, expelled. He fled to Rome, and appealed to Claudius for intervention. It provided a perfect justification for the con