HOME                                    Roman Emperor Claudius

Introduction

Claudius Nero Germanicus (b. 10 BC, d. 54 A.D.; emperor, 41-54 A.D.) was the third emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Like Julius Caesar, he warred against the people of Britain but, unlike Julius, he was successful. He added Britain as a Roman province. His relationships with his wives and children showed how difficult it was to leave an heir to the throne. His final decision was not a good one: he adopted his fourth wife's son, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, known to us as  Nero, who would bring the line of Julius Caesar 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, a member of the line of Julius Caesar: he was the son of Drusus (related to Augustus Caesar) and Antonia, the daughter of Mark Antony.  His uncle, Tiberius,
went on to become emperor in AD 14 and his brother Germanicus was chosen to be the next emperor by Tiberius. Claudius did not enjoy the active public life for young men of his standing because he was unfortunate enough to have been born with defects. He limped, he drooled, he stuttered and was constantly ill.  His family members assumed that this meant he was also mentally weak and kept him out of the public eye as an embarrassment. He remained under guardianship, like a woman, even after he had reached adulthood.  Antonia, his mother, and Livia(Augustus' wife), his grandmother, were particularly cruel to the boy, calling him "a half-formed monster" and using phrases as "more stupid than my son Claudius." Augustus suspected that there was more to this "idiot" than met the eye. Nevertheless, Claudius spent his entire childhood and youth almost completely hidden away. Claudius received no summons to public office or orders to command troops on the frontiers. When he received the toga of a man, for instance, he was carried to the Capitol secretly at night; the normal procedure was to be led into the Forum by one's father or guardian in full public view. In his great amount of free time he read . He became knowledgeable on all subjects in the liberal arts, especially history; he was the last person we know of who could read Etruscan. And he wrote in Greek and Latin : 43 books of Roman history, 21 books of Etruscan history, and 8 on Carthaginian history, and an autobiography in 8 books. None survived.
    His father died while at war when Claudius was only one year old, and his beloved brother, Germanicus, died suspiciously in AD 19.  Through all this Claudius survived, perhaps because he was simply ignored as an embarrassment and an idiot.

When his unstable nephew, Caligula, came to power in the spring of 37 A.D.

he liked to use his bookish, weak uncle Claudius as the victim of cruel jokes and, as a joke, made him consul on 1 July 37 A.D. At 46 years of age, it was Claudius's first public office. Having no real power, he seemed destined for a relatively quiet old age when, in January 41, events changed.

Gaining the throne (24-25 January, 41 A.D.)

The most important period of Claudius's reign was its first few hours. In the early afternoon of 24 January 41 A.D., the emperor Caligula was attending a theater near the palace. Claudius was present. Shortly before lunch time, Claudius took his leave and the emperor decided that he, too, would leave for a bath. As Caligula was making his way down an isolated palace corridor he was surrounded and killed by angry members of his own bodyguard- the first open murder of a Roman emperor .There was widespread panic and confusion. The German members of the emperor's bodyguard, who were fiercely loyal to their chief, went on the rampage and killed anyone they found. Soldiers of the larger Praetorian Guard began looting the imperial palace. Some Guardsmen found Claudius hiding behind a curtain and, on the spot, they declared him their emperor and carried him off to their camp. Claudius falls into power entirely as a result of accident, and very much against his will.
News of Caligula's death prompted a meeting of the Senate. At first, there was talk of declaring the Republic restored and getting rid of emperors altogether. Then various senators began volunteering for the job of emperor. 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.  The Senate sent two tribunes to the Camp to demand that Claudius step down. Once in the Camp, however, the tribunes were intimidated by the soldiers and politely asked Claudius to come to the Senate to be accepted as emperor. The Senate quickly realized it was powerless in the presence of several thousand soldiers supporting Claudius. Many senators then left the city quickly to their country estates. Other senators hurried off to the Praetorian Camp to pay their respects to Claudius. On 25 January 41 A.D. Claudius was received all the powers of the emperor. He became known as Ti. Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.
    Caligula was the first emperor of Rome to be openly murdered, and Claudius is the first emperor to be forced upon Rome by the army. The emperor's power rested not on votes but on the swords of the soldiers who supported him. If he lost the army's loyalty he lost power, and usually his life.
The Early Years (AD 41 - 48)
 Claudius's first act was to catch and execute Caligula's assassins.  Claudius could not be seen as someonne who agreed with murdering an emperor and a member of his own family. He also understood that he needed to look good to the military. Preparations got under way soon after beoming emperor for a major war against Britain.  The invasion itself,  by four legions, began in the summer of 43 and lasted for decades. It was said "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". Britain was the first addition to the territory of the Roman empire since the reign of Augustus. Claudius himself took part in the campaign, arriving in the war zone 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. He was now a soldier and conqueror.
    Although he had been married twice before, In 38 A.D. Claudius married Valeria Messalina,  a noble woman with impressive family connections. They had a daughter (Octavia, born in 39) and a son (Britannicus, born in 41): Ancient writers speak of Messalina as a pouting adolescent who held wild parties and arranged the deaths of  those who scorned her advances; and all this while her  husband was ignorant. While Claudius was away,  Messalina had a party in the palace. A marriage ceremony was performed (or playacted) between herself and an important politician. Whatever she was thinking, Claudius took it badly and executed her, the politician, and several other party-goers.  Claudius was now without a wife.

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

    Claudius was convinced to marry Agrippina the Younger.
The marriage took place soon after Messalina's execution. Agrippina  was the daughter of Claudius's brother, Germanicus, therefor he was marrying his niece. And she had been married before and had a son, Domitius Ahenobarbus. Agrippina's ambitions for this son proved fatal for Claudius.
    The years between his marriage to Agrippina in 48 and his death in 54 were difficult ones for Claudius. Agrippina's powerful personality dominated Claudius's last years.  Unlike any previous empress,  she appeared on the face of coins, showing how influential she had become . In 50 the Senate voted her the title "Augusta," or "first woman" . Agrippina began to help advance her son Domitius toward becoming the future emperor although Claudius already had a natural son, Britannicus. Domitius, at 13, was three years older.  Claudius adopted Domitius who was known as Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus Caesar , known to us as "Nero".
Nero was allowed to speak to 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"  .In AD 53 Nero married Claudius's daughter, Octavia. All of these are sure signs of preference that Nero, despite his young age, had been clearly marked out as Claudius's successor. (Shortly after Nero became emperor  Britannicus was murdered. )
    According to the Roman writer Tacitus, Agrippina now decided it was time to dispose of Claudius to allow Nero to take over. Claudius was given a poisoned mushroom, but he didn't die 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 . Already familiar to the army and the public, he faced no serious challenges to his authority.

Claudius and the Empire

Claudius was criticized  as being too generous in granting Roman citizenship to conquered people; he also allowed "long-haired" Gauls to be senators. He was accused of interfering  with court cases, of not listening to both sides of a case, of making ridiculous and/or savage rulings.
On a positive note, there is Claudius's building activities. Claudius's greatest construction achievement was a new aqueduct for the city of Rome, a new seaport built near the city of Rome, and the draining of a Lake.
Conclusion
Claudius also had a cruel streak. He was apparently addicted to gladiator games, and he was fond of watching his enemies executed.  He had his wife Messalina executed, and he personally presided over a trial  in which many of her supporters lost their lives. He abandoned his own son Britannicus 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 unstable young man on the throne. At the same time, his reign was marked by some successes: the invasion of Britain, stability and good government in the provinces.  Careful, intelligent, aware and respectful of tradition, but given to bouts of rage and cruelty,  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 true.