CLAUDIUS 41AD Cidrama Caria Horse AUTHENTIC Ancient Roman / Greek Coin i57253

Item: i57253

Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Roman Emperor: 41-54 A.D. –
Leaded
Bronze 20mm (5.53 grams) of Cidrama in Caria

Reference:

RPC I 2878; SNG Copenhagen 195
ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ, laureate head right.
ΠΟΛεΜΩΝ CεΛεΥΚΟΥ ΚΙΔΡΑΜΗΝΩΝ, horse trotting right.

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Authenticity.

Claudius –
Roman Emperor
: 41-54 A.D.

| Son 
of 

Nero Claudius Drusus and 
Antonia | Brother of
Germanicus and 
Livilla | 
Husband of Plautia Urgulanilla, Aelia Paetina, 
Valeria Messalina and Agrippina 
Junior | Father of
Britannicus, 
Claudia Octavia and Claudia Antonia | Granduncle 
and adoptive step-father of 
Nero | Nephew of 
Tiberius | Grandson of
Livia, 
Mark 
Antony and
Octavia | Uncle of 
Nero Caesar, 
Drusus Caesar, 
Caligula, 
Agrippina 
Junior, 
Drusilla, Julia Livilla, Tiberius Gemellus, Germanicus Gemellus and 
Livia Julia | Brother-in-law of Gaius Caesar, Drusus and 
Agrippina Senior 
|

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.

//

 Family 

and early life

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.

In 9 BC, Drusus unexpectedly died on campaign in Germania, possibly from 

illness. Claudius was then left to be raised by his mother, who never remarried. 

When Claudius’ disability became evident, the relationship with his family 

turned sour. Antonia referred to him as a monster, and used him as a standard 

for stupidity. She seems to have passed her son off on his grandmother Livia for 

a number of years. 

Livia was little kinder, and often sent him short, angry letters of reproof. He 

was put under the care of a “former mule-driver” 

to keep him disciplined, under the logic that his condition was due to laziness 

and a lack of will-power. However, by the time he reached his teenage years his 

symptoms apparently waned and his family took some notice of his scholarly 

interests. In AD 7, Livy

was hired to tutor him in history, with the assistance of Sulpicius 

Flavus. He spent a lot of his time with the latter and the philosopher

Athenodorus

. Augustus, according to a letter, was surprised at the clarity 

of Claudius’ oratory. 

Expectations about his future began to increase.

Ironically, it was his work as a budding

historian
 

that destroyed his early career. According to Vincent Scramuzza and others, 

Claudius began work on a history of the

Civil Wars

that was either too truthful or too critical of Octavian. 

In either case, it was far too early for such an account, and may have only 

served to remind Augustus that Claudius was Antony’s descendant. His mother and 

grandmother quickly put a stop to it, and this may have proved to them that 

Claudius was not fit for public office. He could not be trusted to toe the 

existing party line. When he returned to the narrative later in life, Claudius 

skipped over the wars of the second triumvirate altogether. But the damage was 

done, and his family pushed him to the background. When the

Arch

of Pavia
 

was erected to honor the imperial clan in AD 8, Claudius’ name (now Tiberius 

Claudius Nero Germanicus after his elevation to

paterfamilias

of Claudii Nerones on the adoption of his brother) was 

inscribed on the edge—past the deceased princes,

Gaius
 

and Lucius

, and Germanicus’ children. There is some speculation that the 

inscription was added by Claudius himself decades later, and that he originally 

did not appear at all.

When Augustus died in AD 14, Claudius — then 23 — appealed to his uncle

Tiberius
to 

allow him to begin the

. Tiberius, the new emperor, responded by granting 

Claudius consular ornaments. Claudius requested office once more and was 

snubbed. Since the new emperor was not any more generous than the old, Claudius 

gave up hope of public office and retired to a scholarly, private life.

Despite the disdain of the imperial family, it seems that from very early on 

the general public respected Claudius. At Augustus’ death, the

, or knights, chose Claudius to head their delegation. When his 

house burned down, the Senate demanded it be rebuilt at public expense. They 

also requested that Claudius be allowed to debate in the senate. Tiberius turned 

down both motions, but the sentiment remained. During the period immediately 

after the death of Tiberius’ son,

Drusus

, Claudius was pushed by some quarters as a potential heir. This again 

suggests the political nature of his exclusion from public life. However, as 

this was also the period during which the power and terror of the Praetorian

Sejanus
was 

at its peak, Claudius chose to downplay this possibility.

After the death of Tiberius the new emperor

Caligula
 

(the son of Claudius’ brother

Germanicus
) 

recognized Claudius to be of some use. He appointed Claudius his co-consul in AD 

37 in order to emphasize the memory of Caligula’s deceased father Germanicus. 

Despite this, Caligula relentlessly tormented his uncle: playing practical 

jokes, charging him enormous sums of money, humiliating him before the Senate, 

and the like. According to

Cassius 

Dio
, as well a possible surviving portrait, Claudius became very sickly and 

thin by the end of Caligula’s reign, most likely due to stress.

 Reign

 Accession 

as emperor

On 24 January, AD 41, Caligula was assassinated by a broad-based

conspiracy

(including Praetorian commander

Cassius Chaerea

and several

Senators

). There is no evidence that Claudius had a direct hand in the

assassination

, although it has been argued that he knew about the plot — 

particularly since he left the scene of the crime shortly before his nephew was 

murdered. 

However, after the deaths of

Caligula’s wife
 

and daughter, it became apparent that Cassius intended to go beyond the terms of 

the conspiracy and wipe out the imperial family. In the chaos following the 

murder, Claudius witnessed the

German
guard 

cut down several uninvolved noblemen, including many of his friends. He fled to 

the palace to hide. According to tradition, a Praetorian named Gratus found him 

hiding behind a curtain and suddenly declared him

princeps
. 

A section of the guard may have planned in advance to seek out Claudius, perhaps 

with his approval. They reassured him that they were not one of the battalions 

looking for revenge. He was spirited away to the Praetorian camp and put under 

their protection.

The Senate quickly met and began debating a change of government, but this 

eventually devolved into an argument over which of them would be the new

Princeps
. 

When they heard of the Praetorians’ claim, they demanded that Claudius be 

delivered to them for approval, but he refused, sensing the danger that would 

come with complying. Some historians, particularly

Josephus
, 

claim that Claudius was directed in his actions by the

Judean

King

Herod Agrippa

. However, an earlier version of events by the same ancient 

author downplays Agrippa’s role 

— so it is not known how large a hand he had in things. Eventually the Senate 

was forced to give in and, in return, Claudius pardoned nearly all the 

assassins.

Claudius took several steps to legitimize his rule against potential 

usurpers, most of them emphasizing his place within the Julio-Claudian family. 

He adopted the name “Caesar” as a

cognomen
— 

the name still carried great weight with the populace. In order to do so, he 

dropped the cognomen “Nero” which he had adopted as paterfamilias of the Claudii 

Nerones when his brother Germanicus was adopted out. While he had never been 

adopted by Augustus or his successors, he was the grandson of Octavia, and so 

felt he had the right. He also adopted the name “Augustus” as the two previous 

emperors had done at their accessions. He kept the honorific “Germanicus” in 

order to display the connection with his heroic brother. He deified his paternal 

grandmother Livia in order to highlight her position as wife of the divine 

Augustus. Claudius frequently used the term “filius Drusi” (son of Drusus) in 

his titles, in order to remind the people of his legendary father and lay claim 

to his reputation.

Because he was proclaimed emperor on the initiative of the Praetorian Guard 

instead of the Senate — the first emperor thus proclaimed — Claudius’ repute 

suffered at the hands of commentators (such as

Seneca

). Moreover, he was the first Emperor who resorted to

bribery
as a 

means to secure army loyalty. Tiberius and Augustus had both left gifts to the 

army and guard in their

wills
, 

and upon Caligula’s death the same would have been expected, even if no will 

existed. Claudius remained grateful to the guard, however, issuing coins with 

tributes to the praetorians in the early part of his reign.

 Expansion 

of the empire

Under Claudius, the empire underwent its first major expansion since the 

reign of Augustus. The provinces of

Thrace
,

Noricum
,

Pamphylia
,

Lycia
, and

Judea
were

annexed
 

under various circumstances during his term. The annexation of

Mauretania
, 

begun under Caligula, was completed after the defeat of rebel forces, and the 

official division of the former client kingdom into two imperial provinces.  The 

most important new expansion was the

conquest of Britannia

.

In AD 43, Claudius sent

Aulus Plautius

with four

legions
 

to Britain (Britannia) after an appeal from an ousted tribal ally. 

Britain was an attractive target for Rome because of its material wealth — 

particularly mines and

slaves
. It 

was also a haven for Gallic

rebels and the like, and so could not be left alone much longer. 

Claudius himself traveled to the island after the completion of initial 

offensives, bringing with him reinforcements and elephants. The latter must have 

made an impression on the

Britons

when they were used in the capture of

Camulodunum

. He left after 16 days, but remained in the provinces for some 

time. The Senate granted him a

triumph

for his efforts, as only members of the imperial family were allowed 

such honors. Claudius later lifted this restriction for some of his conquering 

generals. He was granted the honorific “Britannicus” but only accepted it on 

behalf of his son, never using the title himself. When the British general

Caractacus

was captured in AD 50, Claudius granted him

clemency

. Caractacus lived out his days on land provided by the Roman state, 

an unusual end for an enemy commander.

Claudius conducted a

census
in AD 48 

that found 5,984,072 Roman citizens, 

an increase of around a million since the census conducted at Augustus’ death. 

He had helped increase this number through the foundation of Roman colonies that 

were granted blanket

citizenship

. These colonies were often made out of existing communities, 

especially those with elites who could rally the populace to the Roman cause. 

Several colonies were placed in new provinces or on the border of the empire in 

order to secure Roman holdings as quickly as possible.

 Judicial 

and legislative affairs

Claudius personally judged many of the legal cases tried during his reign. 

Ancient historians have many complaints about this, stating that his judgments 

were variable and sometimes did not follow the law. 

He was also easily swayed. Nevertheless, Claudius paid detailed attention to the 

operation of the judicial system. He extended the summer court session, as well 

as the winter term, by shortening the traditional breaks. Claudius also made a 

law requiring plaintiffs to remain in the city while their cases were pending, 

as defendants had previously been required to do. These measures had the effect 

of clearing out the docket. The minimum age for jurors was also raised to 25 in 

order to ensure a more experienced jury pool.

Claudius also settled disputes in the provinces. He freed the island of

Rhodes
from 

Roman rule for their good faith and exempted

Troy from taxes. 

Early in his reign, the

Greeks
and

Jews

of Alexandria

sent him two embassies at once after riots broke out between the 

two communities. This resulted in the famous “Letter to the Alexandrians”, which 

reaffirmed Jewish rights in the city but also forbade them to move in more 

families en masse. According to

Josephus
, 

he then reaffirmed the rights and freedoms of all the Jews in the empire. 

An investigator of Claudius’ discovered that many old Roman citizens based in 

the modern city of Trento

were not in fact citizens. 

The emperor issued a declaration that they would be considered to hold 

citizenship from then on, since to strip them of their status would cause major 

problems. However, in individual cases, Claudius punished false assumption of 

citizenship harshly, making it a capital offense. Similarly, any freedmen found 

to be impersonating equestrians were sold back into slavery.

Numerous edicts were issued throughout Claudius’ reign. These were on a 

number of topics, everything from medical advice to moral judgments. Two famous 

medical examples are one promoting

Yew
 

juice as a cure for snakebite, 

and another promoting public flatulence for good health. 

One of the more famous edicts concerned the status of sick slaves. Masters had 

been abandoning ailing slaves at the

temple 

of Aesculapius
to die, and then reclaiming them if they lived. Claudius 

ruled that slaves who recovered after such treatment would be free. Furthermore, 

masters who chose to kill slaves rather than take the risk were liable to be 

charged with murder.

 Public 

works

Claudius embarked on many public works throughout his reign, both in the 

capital and in the provinces. He built two

aqueducts

, the

Aqua 

Claudia
, begun by

Caligula
, 

and the Anio Novus

. These entered the city in AD 52 and met at the famous

Porta Maggiore

. He also restored a third, the

Aqua Virgo
.

He paid special attention to transportation. Throughout

Italy
and the 

provinces he built roads and canals. Among these was a large canal leading from 

the Rhine
to the 

sea, as well as a road from Italy to Germany — both begun by his father, Drusus. 

Closer to Rome, he built a navigable canal on the

Tiber
, leading to

Portus
, his new 

port just north of

Ostia

. This port was constructed in a semicircle with two

moles

and a lighthouse at its mouth. The construction also had the effect of 

reducing flooding in Rome.

The port at Ostia was part of Claudius’ solution to the constant grain 

shortages that occurred in winter, after the Roman shipping season. The other 

part of his solution was to insure the ships of grain merchants who were willing 

to risk traveling to Egypt in the off-season. He also granted their sailors 

special privileges, including citizenship and exemption from the

Lex Papia-Poppaea

, a law that regulated marriage. In addition, he repealed 

the taxes that Caligula

had instituted on food, and further reduced taxes on communities 

suffering drought
 

or famine
.

The last part of Claudius’ plan was to increase the amount of arable land in 

Italy. This was to be achieved by draining the

Fucine lake

, which would have the added benefit of making the nearby river 

navigable year-round.  A 

tunnel was dug through the lake bed, but the plan was a failure. The tunnel was 

crooked and not large enough to carry the water, which caused it to back up when 

opened. The resultant flood washed out a large gladiatorial exhibition held to 

commemorate the opening, causing Claudius to run for his life along with the 

other spectators. The draining of the lake was revisited many times in history, 

including by emperors

Trajan
and

Hadrian
, and

Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II

in the

Middle 

Ages
. It was finally achieved by the Prince

Torlonia

in the 19th century, producing over 160,000 acres (650 km²) 

of new arable land. 

He expanded the Claudian tunnel to three times its original size.

 Claudius 

and the Senate

Because of the circumstances of his accession, Claudius took great pains to 

please the Senate. During regular sessions, the emperor sat among the Senate 

body, speaking in turn. When introducing a law, he sat on a bench between the 

consuls in his position as Holder of the Power of

Tribune
(The 

emperor could not officially serve as a Tribune of the Plebes as he was a

Patrician

, but it was a power taken by previous rulers). He refused to 

accept all his predecessors’ titles (including

Imperator
) 

at the beginning of his reign, preferring to earn them in due course. He allowed 

the Senate to issue its own bronze coinage for the first time since Augustus. He 

also put the imperial provinces of

Macedonia

and

Achaea

back under Senate control.

Claudius set about remodeling the Senate into a more efficient, 

representative body. He chided the senators about their reluctance to debate 

bills introduced by himself, as noted in the fragments of a surviving speech:

If you accept these proposals, Conscript Fathers, say so at once and 

simply, in accordance with your convictions. If you do not accept them, 

find alternatives, but do so here and now; or if you wish to take time 

for consideration, take it, provided you do not forget that you must be 

ready to pronounce your opinion whenever you may be summoned to meet. It 

ill befits the dignity of the Senate that the consul designate should 

repeat the phrases of the consuls word for word as his opinion, and that 

every one else should merely say ‘I approve’, and that then, after 

leaving, the assembly should announce ‘We debated’.

In AD 47 he assumed the office of

with

Lucius Vitellius

, which had been allowed to lapse for some time. He struck 

the names of many senators and equites who no longer met qualifications, but 

showed respect by allowing them to resign in advance. At the same time, he 

sought to admit eligible men from the provinces. The

Lyons Tablet

preserves his speech on the admittance of Gallic senators, in 

which he addresses the Senate with reverence but also with criticism for their 

disdain of these men. He also increased the number of

Patricians

by adding new families to the dwindling number of noble lines. 

Here he followed the precedent of

Lucius Junius Brutus

and

Julius Caesar

.

Nevertheless, many in the Senate remained hostile to Claudius, and many plots 

were made on his life. This hostility carried over into the historical accounts. 

As a result, Claudius was forced to reduce the Senate’s power for efficiency. 

The administration of Ostia was turned over to an imperial

Procurator

after construction of the port. Administration of many of the 

empire’s financial concerns was turned over to imperial appointees and freedmen. 

This led to further resentment and suggestions that these same freedmen were 

ruling the emperor.

Several

coup

attempts were made during Claudius’ reign, resulting in the deaths of 

many senators.

Appius Silanus

was executed early in Claudius’ reign under questionable 

circumstances. Shortly after, a large rebellion was undertaken by the Senator 

Vinicianus and

Scribonianus

, the governor of

Dalmatia
 

and gained quite a few senatorial supporters. It ultimately failed because of 

the reluctance of Scribonianus’ troops, and the

suicide
of 

the main conspirators. Many other senators tried different conspiracies and were 

condemned. Claudius’ son-in-law

Pompeius Magnus

was executed for his part in a conspiracy with his father 

Crassus Frugi. Another plot involved the consulars Lusiius Saturninus, Cornelius 

Lupus, and Pompeius Pedo. In AD 46,

Asinius Gallus

, the grandson of

Asinius Pollio

, and Statilius Corvinus were exiled for a plot hatched with 

several of Claudius’ own freedmen.

Valerius Asiaticus

was executed without public trial for unknown reasons. 

The ancient sources say the charge was

adultery
, 

and that Claudius was tricked into issuing the punishment. However, Claudius 

singles out Asiaticus for special damnation in his speech on the Gauls, which 

dates over a year later, suggesting that the charge must have been much more 

serious. Asiaticus had been a claimant to the throne in the chaos following 

Caligula’s death and a co-consul with the Statilius Corvinus mentioned above. 

Most of these conspiracies took place before Claudius’ term as

Censor

, and may have induced him to review the Senatorial rolls. The 

conspiracy of

Gaius 

Silius
in the year after his Censorship, AD 48, is detailed in the section 

discussing Claudius’ third wife,

Messalina

. Suetonius states that a total of 35 senators and 300 knights were 

executed for offenses during Claudius’ reign. 

Needless to say, the necessary responses to these conspiracies could not have 

helped Senate-emperor relations.

 The 

Secretariat and centralization of powers

Claudius was hardly the first emperor to use

freedmen
to 

help with the day-to-day running of the empire. He was, however, forced to 

increase their role as the powers of the

Princeps
 

became more centralized and the burden larger. This was partly due to the 

ongoing hostility of the senate, as mentioned above, but also due to his respect 

for the senators. Claudius did not want free-born magistrates to have to serve 

under him, as if they were not peers.

The secretariat was divided into bureaus, with each being placed under the 

leadership of one freedman.

Narcissus

was the secretary of correspondence.

Pallas

became the secretary of the treasury.

Callistus

became secretary of justice. There was a fourth bureau for 

miscellaneous issues, which was put under

Polybius

until his execution for treason. The freedmen could also officially 

speak for the emperor, as when Narcissus addressed the troops in Claudius’ stead 

before the conquest of Britain. Since these were important positions, the 

senators were aghast at their being placed in the hands of former slaves. If 

freedmen had total control of money, letters, and law, it seemed it would not be 

hard for them to manipulate the emperor. This is exactly the accusation put 

forth by the ancient sources. However, these same sources admit that the 

freedmen were loyal to Claudius. 

He was similarly appreciative of them and gave them due credit for policies 

where he had used their advice. However, if they showed treasonous inclinations, 

the emperor did punish them with just force, as in the case of Polybius and 

Pallas’ brother,

Felix

. There is no evidence that the character of Claudius’ policies and 

edicts changed with the rise and fall of the various freedmen, suggesting that 

he was firmly in control throughout.

Regardless of the extent of their political power, the freedmen did manage to 

amass wealth through their positions.

Pliny the Elder

notes that several of them were richer than

Crassus

, the richest man of the

Republican

era.

 Religious 

reforms

Claudius, as the author of a treatise on Augustus’ religious reforms, felt 

himself in a good position to institute some of his own. He had strong opinions 

about the proper form for state religion. He refused the request of Alexandrian 

Greeks to dedicate a temple to his divinity, saying that only gods may choose 

new gods. He restored lost days to festivals and got rid of many extraneous 

celebrations added by Caligula. He reinstituted old observances and archaic 

language. Claudius was concerned with the spread of eastern mysteries within the 

city and searched for more Roman replacements. He emphasized the

Eleusinian mysteries

which had been practiced by so many during the 

Republic. He expelled foreign astrologers, and at the same time rehabilitated 

the old Roman soothsayers (known as

haruspices

) as a replacement. He was especially hard on

Druidism

, because of its incompatibility with the Roman state religion and 

its proselytizing

activities. It is also reported that at one time he expelled 

the Jews from Rome, probably because the appearance of Christianity had caused 

unrest within the Jewish community. 

Claudius opposed proselytizing in any religion, even in those regions where he 

allowed natives to worship freely. The results of all these efforts were 

recognized even by Seneca, who has an ancient Latin god defend Claudius in his 

satire.

 Public 

games and entertainments

According to Suetonius, Claudius was extraordinarily fond of games. He is 

said to have risen with the crowd after gladiatorial matches and given 

unrestrained praise to the fighters . 

Claudius also presided over many new and original events. Soon after coming into 

power, Claudius instituted games to be held in honor of his father on the 

latter’s birthday.. 

Annual games were also held in honor of his accession, and took place at the 

Praetorian camp where Claudius had first been proclaimed emperor.. 

Claudius performed the

Secular games

, marking the 800th anniversary of the founding of Rome. 

Augustus had performed the same games less than a century prior. Augustus’ 

excuse was that the interval for the games was 110 years, not 100, but his date 

actually did not qualify under either reasoning. 

Claudius also presented naval battles to mark the attempted draining of the 

Fucine lake, as well as many other public games and shows.

At Ostia, in front of a crowd of spectators, Claudius fought a

killer whale

which was trapped in the harbor. The event was witnessed by

Pliny the Elder

:

A killer whale was actually seen in the harbor of Ostia, locked in 

combat with the emperor Claudius. She had come when he was completing 

the construction of the harbor, drawn there by the wreck of a ship 

bringing leather hides from Gaul, and feeding there over a number of 

days, had made a furrow in the shallows: the waves had raised up such a 

mound of sand that she couldn’t turn around at all, and while she was 

pursuing her banquet as the waves moved it shorewards, her back stuck up 

out of the water like the overturned keel of a boat. The emperor ordered 

that a large array of nets be stretched across the mouths of the harbor, 

and setting out in person with the

Praetorian

cohorts gave a show to the Roman people, soldiers 

showering lances from attacking ships, one of which I saw swamped by the 

beast’s waterspout and sunk. — “Historia Naturalis” IX.14-15.

Claudius also restored and adorned many of the venues around Rome. The old 

wooden barriers of the Circus Maximus were replaced with ones made of 

gold-ornamented marble. 

A new section of the Circus was designated for seating the senators, who 

previously had sat among the general public. 

Claudius rebuilt Pompey’s Theater after it had been destroyed by fire, throwing 

special fights at the rededication which he observed from a special platform in 

the orchestra box.

 Death, 

deification, and reputation

The general consensus of ancient historians was that Claudius was murdered by 

poison — possibly contained in mushrooms or on a feather — and died in the early 

hours of 13 October, AD 54. Accounts vary greatly. Some claim Claudius was in 

Rome 

while others claim he was in Sinuessa. 

Some implicate either

Halotus
, his 

taster,

Xenophon

, his doctor, or the infamous poisoner

Locusta
as 

the administrator of the fatal substance. 

Some say he died after prolonged suffering following a single dose at dinner, 

and some have him recovering only to be poisoned again. 

Nearly all implicate his final wife, Agrippina, as the instigator. Agrippina and 

Claudius had become more combative in the months leading up to his death. This 

carried on to the point where Claudius openly lamented his bad wives, and began 

to comment on Britannicus’ approaching manhood with an eye towards restoring his 

status within the imperial family. 

Agrippina had motive in ensuring the succession of Nero before Britannicus could 

gain power.

In modern times, some authors have cast doubt on whether Claudius was 

murdered or merely succumbed to illness or old age. 

Some modern scholars claim the universality of the accusations in ancient texts 

lends credence to the crime. 

History in those days could not be objectively collected or written, so 

sometimes amounted to committing whispered gossip to parchment, often years 

after the events, when the writer was no longer in danger of arrest. Claudius’ 

ashes were interred in the

Mausoleum of Augustus

on 24 October, after a funeral in the manner of 

Augustus.

Claudius was deified by Nero and the Senate almost immediately. 

Those who regard this homage as cynical should note that, cynical or not, such a 

move would hardly have benefited those involved, had Claudius been “hated”, as 

some commentators, both modern and historic, characterize him. Many of Claudius’ 

less solid supporters quickly became Nero’s men. Claudius’ will had been changed 

shortly before his death to either recommend Nero and Britannicus jointly or 

perhaps just Britannicus, who would have been considered an adult man according 

to Roman law only in a few months.

Agrippina had sent away Narcissus shortly before Claudius’ death, and now 

murdered the freedman. The last act of this secretary of letters was to burn all 

of Claudius’ correspondence—most likely so it could not be used against him and 

others in an already hostile new regime. Thus Claudius’ private words about his 

own policies and motives were lost to history. Just as Claudius has criticized 

his predecessors in official edicts (see below), Nero often criticized the 

deceased emperor and many of Claudius’ laws and edicts were disregarded under 

the reasoning that he was too stupid and senile to have meant them. 

This opinion of Claudius, that he was indeed an old idiot, remained the official 

one for the duration of Nero’s reign. Eventually Nero stopped referring to his 

deified adoptive father at all, and realigned with his birth family. Claudius’ 

temple was left unfinished after only some of the foundation had been laid down. 

Eventually the site was overtaken by Nero’s Golden House.

The

Flavians

, who had risen to prominence under Claudius, took a different tack. 

They were in a position where they needed to shore up their legitimacy, but also 

justify the fall of the Julio-Claudians. They reached back to Claudius in 

contrast with Nero, to show that they were good associated with good. 

Commemorative coins were issued of Claudius and his son Britannicus—who had been 

a friend of the emperor

Titus
. When 

Nero’s Golden House was burned, the Temple of Claudius was finally completed on 

Caelian Hill. 

However, as the Flavians became established, they needed to emphasize their own 

credentials more, and their references to Claudius ceased. Instead, he was put 

down with the other emperors of the fallen dynasty.

The main ancient historians

Tacitus
,

Suetonius

, and

Cassius 

Dio
all wrote after the last of the Flavians had gone. All three were 

senators or equites. They took the side of the Senate in most conflicts 

with the princeps, invariably viewing him as being in the wrong. This resulted 

in biases, both conscious and unconscious. Suetonius lost access to the official 

archives shortly after beginning his work. He was forced to rely on second-hand 

accounts when it came to Claudius (with the exception of Augustus’ letters which 

had been gathered earlier) and does not quote the emperor. Suetonius painted 

Claudius as a ridiculous figure, belittling many of his acts and attributing the 

objectively good works to his retinue. 

Tacitus wrote a narrative for his fellow senators and fitted each of the 

emperors into a simple mold of his choosing. 

He wrote Claudius as a passive pawn and an idiot—going so far as to hide his use 

of Claudius as a source and omit Claudius’ character from his works. 

Even his version of Claudius’ Lyons tablet speech is edited to be devoid of the 

emperor’s personality. Dio was less biased, but seems to have used Suetonius and 

Tacitus as sources. Thus the conception of Claudius as the weak fool, controlled 

by those he supposedly ruled, was preserved for the ages.

As time passed, Claudius was mostly forgotten outside of the historians’ 

accounts. His books were lost first, as their antiquarian subjects became 

unfashionable. In the second century,

Pertinax
, 

who shared his birthday, became emperor, overshadowing commemoration of 

Claudius.

 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.” 

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 

— 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. 

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. 

Whatever the case, the result was the execution of Silius, Messalina, and most 

of her circle. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

 Claudius’ 

affliction and personality

The historian

Suetonius

describes the physical manifestations of Claudius’ affliction in 

relatively good detail. 

His knees were weak and gave way under him and his head shook. He stammered and 

his speech was confused. He slobbered and his nose ran when he was excited. The

Stoic

Seneca

states in his

that Claudius’ voice belonged to no land animal, and 

that his hands were weak as well; 

however, he showed no physical deformity, as Suetonius notes that when calm and 

seated he was a tall, well-built figure of

. 

When angered or stressed, his symptoms became worse. Historians agree that this 

condition improved upon his accession to the throne. 

Claudius himself claimed that he had exaggerated his ailments to save his own 

life.

The modern diagnosis has changed several times in the past century. Prior to

World 

War II
,

infantile paralysis

(or polio) was widely accepted as the cause. This is the 

diagnosis used in

Robert Graves

‘

Claudius novels

, first published in the 1930s. Polio does not explain many 

of the described symptoms, however, and a more recent theory implicates

cerebral palsy

as the cause, as outlined by Ernestine Leon.

Tourette syndrome

is also a likely candidate for Claudius’ symptoms. 

As a person, ancient historians described Claudius as generous and lowbrow, a 

man who sometimes lunched with the

plebeians

. 

They also paint him as bloodthirsty and cruel, overly fond of both

gladiatorial
 

combat and executions, and very quick to anger (though Claudius himself 

acknowledged the latter trait, and apologized publicly for his temper). 

To them he was also overly trusting, and easily manipulated by his wives and 

freedmen. 

But at the same time they portray him as paranoid and apathetic, dull and easily 

confused. 

The extant works of Claudius present a different view, painting a picture of an 

intelligent, scholarly, well-read, and conscientious administrator with an eye 

to detail and justice. Thus, Claudius becomes an enigma. Since the discovery of 

his “Letter 

to the Alexandrians” in the last century, much work has been done to 

rehabilitate Claudius and determine where the truth lies.

 Scholarly 

works and their impact

Claudius wrote copiously throughout his life.

Arnaldo Momigliano

states that during the reign of Tiberius — which covers the peak of Claudius’ 

literary career — it became impolitic to speak of republican Rome. The trend 

among the young historians was to either write about the new empire or obscure 

antiquarian subjects. Claudius was the rare scholar who covered both. Besides 

the history of Augustus’ reign that caused him so much grief, his major works 

included an

Etruscan

history and eight volumes on

Carthaginian
 

history, as well as an Etruscan Dictionary and a book on dice playing. Despite 

the general avoidance of the imperatorial era, he penned a defense of

Cicero
against 

the charges of Asinius Gallus. Modern historians have used this to determine 

both the nature of his politics and of the aborted chapters of his civil war 

history. He proposed a reform of the

Latin alphabet

by the addition of

three new letters

, two of which served the function of the modern letters

W and Y. He officially instituted the change during his censorship, 

but they did not survive his reign. Claudius also tried to revive the old custom 

of putting dots between different words (Classical Latin was written with no 

spacing). Finally, he wrote an eight-volume autobiography that Suetonius 

describes as lacking in taste. 

Since Claudius (like most of the members of his dynasty) heavily criticized his 

predecessors and relatives in surviving speeches, 

it is not hard to imagine the nature of Suetonius’ charge.

Unfortunately, none of the actual works survive. They do live on as sources 

for the surviving histories of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Suetonius quotes 

Claudius’ autobiography once, and must have used it as a source numerous times. 

Tacitus uses Claudius’ own arguments for the orthographical innovations 

mentioned above, and may have used him for some of the more antiquarian passages 

in his annals. Claudius is the source for numerous passages of

Pliny’s

.

The influence of historical study on Claudius is obvious. In his speech on 

Gallic senators, he uses a version of the founding of Rome identical to that of 

Livy, his tutor in adolescence. The detail of his speech borders on the 

pedantic, a common mark of all his extant works, and he goes into long 

digressions on related matters. This indicates a deep knowledge of a variety of 

historical subjects that he could not help but share. Many of the public works 

instituted in his reign were based on plans first suggested by

Julius Caesar

. Levick believes this emulation of Caesar may have spread to 

all aspects of his policies. 

His censorship seems to have been based on those of his ancestors, particularly

Appius Claudius Caecus

, and he used the office to put into place many 

policies based on those of Republican times. This is when many of his religious 

reforms took effect and his building efforts greatly increased during his 

tenure. In fact, his assumption of the office of Censor may have been motivated 

by a desire to see his academic labors bear fruit. For example, he believed (as 

most Romans) that his ancestor Appius Claudius Caecus had used the censorship to 

introduce the letter “R”
 

and so used his own term to introduce his new letters.

 In 

literature and film

Probably the most famous fictional representation of the Emperor Claudius 

were the books

and

(released in 1934 and 1935) by

Robert Graves

, both written in the

first-person

to give the reader the impression that they are Claudius’

autobiography

. Graves employed a fictive artifice to suggest that they were 

recently discovered, genuine translations of Claudius’ writings. Claudius’ 

extant letters, speeches, and sayings were incorporated into the text (mostly in 

the second book, Claudius the God) in order to add authenticity.

In 1937 director

Josef von Sternberg

made an unsuccessful attempt to film

, with

Charles Laughton

as Claudius. Unfortunately, the lead actress

Merle 

Oberon
suffered a near-fatal accident and the movie was never finished. The 

surviving reels were finally shown in the documentary The Epic That Never Was 

in 1965, revealing some of Laughton’s most accomplished acting. The motion 

picture rights have been obtained by

Scott 

Rudin
, with a theatrical release planned for 2010.

Graves’s two books were also the basis for a

thirteen-part British television adaptation

produced by the

BBC

. The series starred

Derek 

Jacobi
as Claudius and

Patrick Stewart

as Sejanus, and was broadcast in 1976 on

BBC2
. It was 

a substantial critical success, and won several

BAFTA

awards. The series was later broadcast in the

United States

on

in 1977. The DVD release of the television series 

contains the “The Epic that Never Was” documentary.

Claudius has been portrayed in film on several other occasions, including in 

the 1979 motion picture

, the role being performed by

Giancarlo Badessi

in which the character was depicted as an idiot, in 

complete contrast to

Robert Graves

‘ portrait of Claudius as a cunning and deeply intelligent man. 

In the parody

, which advertises itself as a remake of the 

original film, Claudius is portrayed by

Glenn 

Shadix
.

On television, the actor

Freddie Jones

became famous for his role as Claudius in the 1968 British

television
 

series The Caesars while the 1985 made-for-television

miniseries

A.D. features actor

Richard Kiley

as Claudius. There is also a reference to Claudius’ 

suppression of one of the coups against him in the movie

, though the incident is entirely fictional.

In literature, Claudius and his contemporaries appear in the historical novel

The Roman by

Mika 

Waltari
. Canadian-born science fiction writer

A. 

E. van Vogt
reimagined Robert Graves’ Claudius story in his two novels

Empire of the Atom and The Wizard of Linn.

 Ancestry