He protected the haruspices (diviners) and probably Romanized the cult of the Phrygian deity Attis. According to his The Twelve Caesars, ancient h… Find out more about how the BBC is covering the. The Senate had to pass a special decree to authorise what would otherwise have been an illegal incestuous union. He ate his final meal in his palace the following day. Son of the Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia, Claudius was related to the emperors Tiberius and Augustus. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. 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. Even later, several attempts on Claudius’s life involved senators and knights. Claudius Nero Germanicus, Ancient History Encyclopedia - Biography of Claudius, Claudius - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Constantly ill and irritatingly clumsy, he had a bad stammer and a permanently runny nose, his head twitched and he dribbled. After Gaius’s murder on January 24, 41, the Praetorian Guards, the imperial household troops, made Claudius emperor on January 25. In 48 Claudius’s young and promiscuous third wife, Valeria Messalina, attempted a coup against him with her latest lover, Gaius Silius. Claudius was assassinated by his wife, Agrippina. Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC in Gaul (now France) into the Roman imperial family. In 49 he annexed Iturea (northeastern Palestine) to the province of Syria.

Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The imperial family looked down on him because of his ill health, unattractive appearance, clumsiness, and coarseness.

Though paying homage to the dignity of the Senate (to whose administration he returned the provinces of Macedonia and Achaea) and giving new opportunities to the knights, Claudius was ruthless and occasionally cruel in his dealings with individual members of both orders. During the play's progression he takes a turn for the worse by first resorting to spying, and, when that fails, murder. Found hiding behind curtains in the palace, shaking with fright, when Caligula was murdered in AD 41, he was made emperor by the Praetorian Guard. He improved in detail the judicial system, and, in his dealings with the provinces, he favoured a moderate extension of Roman citizenship by individual and collective grants: in Noricum, a district south of the Danube comprising what is now central Austria and parts of Bavaria, for instance, five communities became Roman municipalities. She was 33 to Claudius’s 58 and she had a 12-year-old son by a former marriage, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, better known as Nero. Read more. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudius-Roman-emperor, Public Broadcasting Service - Biography of Claudius, British Broadcasting Corporation - Biography of Claudius, UNRV History - Messalina, Agrippina and the Death of Claudius, Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors - Biography of Ti. It was said that she asked the officer to finish her by thrusting his sword into her womb, the womb that had borne Nero. He also annexed Mauretania (41–42) in North Africa, of which he made two provinces (Caesariensis in the east and Tingitana in the west), Lycia in Asia Minor (43), and Thrace (46). Professor of Ancient History, University College, University of London, 1951–75. Claudius, in full Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, original name (until 41 ce) Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, (born August 1, 10 bce, Lugdunum [Lyon], Gaul—died October 13, 54 ce), Roman emperor (41–54 ce), who extended Roman rule in North Africa and made Britain a province. In 48 AD Messallina went through a marriage ceremony with the consul Silius as part of a plot against Claudius. A statue of Claudius, c.41 AD Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who had overseen Nero’s education, wrote a mocking account of ‘The Pumpkinification of the Divine Claudius’. Claudius’s appointment to consul under the reign of his elder brother’s son Gaius (Caligula) occurred in 37. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In a surviving letter addressed to the city of Alexandria, he asked Jews and non-Jews “to stop this destructive and obstinate mutual enmity.” Although personally disinclined to accept divine honours, he did not seriously oppose the current trend and had a temple erected to himself in Camulodunum. According to the biographer Suetonius in Claudius, during a period of troubles Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome for a short time; Christians may have been involved. From the very beginning he emphasized his friendship with the army and paid cash for his proclamation as emperor. The Senate, which had meanwhile been discussing the restoration of the republic, was forced resentfully to acquiesce. He drooled, stammered, and limped - an easy target for cruel jokes by the ever-abusive Caligula. He also wrote on dice playing, of which he was fond. Another account, reported by Suetonius, had a dish of poisoned mushrooms given by Agrippina herself and said the second attempt involved poisoned gruel or a poisoned enema. Death of the Emperor Claudius Claudius died on 13 October AD 54. As a young man, ignored and left to his own devices by his family, but encouraged by Livy, who spotted his talent, he wrote histories of Etruria and Carthage, began a history of Rome and wrote a historical treatise on the Roman alphabet.

© Copyright 2020 History Today Ltd. Company no. In 42 many senators supported the ill-fated rebellion of the Governor of Dalmatia. Claudius died on 13 October 54 AD after being poisoned, probably on the orders of Agrippina who feared Claudius would appoint Britannicus his heir over her son Nero.

He also heard trials in private, rather than allowing senators to be judged by their peers. 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. Roman opinion was convinced that Agrippina had poisoned him. As Pharaoh of Egypt, Claudius adopted the royal titulary Tiberios Klaudios, Autokrator Heqaheqau Meryase… It was a lingering, painful death. His public works include the reorganization of the grain supply of Rome and construction of a new harbour at Ostia, which was later improved by the emperor Trajan. Agrippina quickly appointed her own supporters to important positions and persuaded Claudius to adopt Domitius - who took the name Nero - as his son. Omissions? Claudius invaded Britain in 43.

The Senate quickly followed suit and when Nero delivered the expected eulogy of the dead Emperor, the senators sniggered. Roman tradition is unanimous: Claudius was poisoned by Agrippina on October 13, 54 CE, though the details differ. Gertrude drinks poison from a cup that Claudius meant for Hamlet.  © As a young man Claudius was made a member of various religious colleges, but he became consul only under the reign of his older brother’s son Gaius (Caligula) in 37. Claudius was sufficiently a figure of fun to survive the murderous reign of his nephew Caligula. The Etruscan history may have had original material: his first wife, Plautia Urgulanilla, had Etruscan blood, and her family was probably able to put Claudius in touch with authentic Etruscan traditions. Author has 1.6K answers and 7.6M answer views. He adopted the name "Caesar" as a cognomen, as the name still carried great weight with the populace. Claudius’s decision to invade Britain (43) and his personal appearance at the climax of the expedition, the crossing of the Thames and the capture of Camulodunum (Colchester), were prompted by his need of popularity and glory. Claudius died on 13 October 54 AD after being poisoned, probably on the orders of Agrippina who feared Claudius would appoint Britannicus his heir over her son Nero. By family tradition and antiquarian inclinations, Claudius was in sympathy with the senatorial aristocracy; but soldiers and courtiers were his real supporters, while freedmen and foreigners had been his friends in the days of neglect. Britannicus died in 55. The coup failed, Messalina killed herself and Silius was executed. He visited the island for 16 days, to preside over the capture of Colchester, the capital of the new province, and then returned to Rome in triumph. Claudius I was the emperor who added Britain to the Roman Empire. Claudius is seen at the beginning of the play to be a capable monarch as he deals diplomatically with such issues as the military threat from Norway and Hamlet's depression.

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Claudius planted a colony of veterans at Camulodunum and established client-kingdoms to protect the frontiers of the province; these were afterward a source of trouble, such as the revolt in 47 of Prasutagus, client-king of the Iceni, and later the general revolt instigated by his wife Boudicca (also called Boadicea).