The Julio-Claudian Dynasty was the first family to rule the Roman Empire, and they have gone down in history as one of the most fantastical and interesting characters in the history of Rome. Ranging from the first emperor Augustus to the last, dissolute Nero, the emperors of the first dynasty established the political office that was to occupy such a prominent place in later history. This article will give a brief biography of Claudius, the fourth of the Roman Emperors.
Family
According to the BBC, Claudius was born to Drusus (son of Augustus’s wife Livia Drusilla) and his wife Antonia (the daughter of Octavia and the Triumvir Marc Antony). In addition to a sister, he also had a brother named Germanicus, who became a very popular and successful general due to his campaigns against the Germanic tribes. He also had several nieces and nephews, including the future emperor Caligula and his sister Agrippina (who would later become Claudius’s wife). From his marriage with his cousin Valeria Messalina he also had two children, a son and a daughter, both born out of his marriage with Messalina.
Reign
According to the Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors, Claudius was never intended to inherit the position occupied by such powerful men as Augustus and Tiberius, due in large part that he was considered something of an idiot because of a stammer and a tremor that sometimes afflicted him. For much of his life he lived in the shadows of the imperial family, content to reside peacefully in the scholar’s life that seemed to have been destined for him.
All of this changed, however, with the assassination of his nephew Caligula. Members of the Praetorian Guard, who were responsible for the death of Caligula, found Claudius hiding behind the curtains, and immediately raised him to the throne, informing the Senate of their choice.
Claudius proved to be a capable and wise ruler, especially in comparison to his predecessor. He oversaw the final conquest of Britain, and was for the most part a just emperor, although he was responsible for the deaths of several people, including his own wife (who may have been plotting against him and was almost certainly having an affair). However, he was known for relying too much on the advice of freedmen, although this might be a bias from later sources rather than strict historical truth.
Death and Succession
After the execution of Messalina, Claudius took to wife his niece Agrippina, a marriage designed to unite the two feuding branches of the imperial family. This ultimately led to his downfall, as Agrippina is believed to have poisoned him to make way for her own son, who would later become known as the Emperor Nero. Shortly after his death, Claudius’s son Brittanicus was murdered, and his daughter (Nero’s wife) would meet a similar fate somewhat later.
Claudius is well-known to contemporary audiences due to Robert Graves’s novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, both of which are told from the aging emperor’s point of view. He was portrayed by the able British actor Derek Jacobi in the BBC adaptation of Graves’s novel.
Sources
“Claudius.” The BBC.
“Claudius.” The Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors.
