Claudius
Claudius
9 av. J.-C. — 54
Rome antique
Fourth Roman emperor (41–54 AD), Claudius succeeded Caligula. Despite physical disabilities that long kept him on the margins of power, he proved to be a skilled administrator, reformer, and conqueror of Britain.
Key Facts
- Born on August 1, 10 BC (or 9 BC according to some sources) in Lugdunum (Lyon)
- Proclaimed emperor in 41 AD by the Praetorian Guard following the assassination of Caligula
- Conquest of Britain (present-day England) in 43 AD
- Reformed imperial administration by relying on capable freedmen
- Died in 54 AD, most likely poisoned by his wife Agrippina the Younger
Works & Achievements
A twenty-volume work on Etruscan civilization, now lost. It stands as a testament to Claudius's exceptional scholarship — he learned the Etruscan language in order to write it.
An eight-volume history of Carthage written in Greek, now lost. Pliny the Elder and other ancient authors quoted from it, praising the quality of his research.
A military campaign led by General Aulus Plautius, crowned by Claudius's personal appearance on the battlefield. It established the Roman province of Britannia and earned the emperor a formal triumph in Rome.
Two monumental aqueducts carrying water from the Simbruini Mountains over a distance of more than 70 km. Inaugurated in 52 AD, they rank among the most impressive aqueducts ever built in Rome.
Claudius professionalized the imperial bureaucracy by creating specialized secretariats covering finances, correspondence, and petitions, entrusted to capable freedmen — a lasting innovation in the governance of the Empire.
Anecdotes
Claudius was long despised by his own imperial family, who considered him unfit due to his disabilities (a limp, a stammer, and tremors). His grandmother Livia, wife of Augustus, called him 'a monster that nature had begun but never finished.' Yet this marginalization saved him from the successive purges of Tiberius and Caligula, as no one saw him as a threat.
In 41 AD, following the assassination of Caligula, Claudius hid behind a curtain in the palace, paralyzed with fear. A soldier of the Praetorian Guard found him, and his comrades hoisted him onto their shoulders, carrying him in triumph and proclaiming him emperor. Claudius thus became the first Roman emperor imposed by the army rather than designated by the Senate.
Claudius was a passionate scholar: before becoming emperor, he had written a history of the Etruscans in twenty volumes and a history of Carthage in eight volumes, both now lost. He even invented three new letters for the Latin alphabet, which he had engraved on official inscriptions — they disappeared after his death, deemed useless by his successors.
In 48 AD, Claudius discovered that his wife Messalina had publicly entered a bigamous marriage with her lover Gaius Silius, in what appeared to be an attempted coup. Claudius, in a state of shock, reportedly kept asking on his way back, 'Am I still emperor?' before finally ordering her execution. This episode illustrates his emotional vulnerability despite his very real political authority.
Primary Sources
He was subject to sudden fits of anger and passion […] His gait was unsteady due to the weakness of his knees; his games and conversation, even in ordinary times, had something of an unseemly quality.
Claudius, always under the dominion of his freedmen and his wives, acted more like a slave than a prince; he distributed honors, military commands, and impunity for crimes according to the whims of each.
What is so novel, I ask you, in my proposing to admit into this order men from Gallia Comata, now subdued, now long since initiated into our customs and civilization?
The Aqua Claudia was brought to Rome by the Emperor Claudius over a distance of forty-five miles, at enormous expense, for the convenience and adornment of the City.
Key Places
Birthplace of Claudius in 10 BC. The Claudian Tablets, a bronze inscription preserved at the Gallo-Roman Museum, bear witness to the speech he delivered in defense of the rights of the Gauls.
The imperial residence from which Claudius governed the Empire. It was here that the Praetorian Guard discovered him following the assassination of Caligula, and where he died in AD 54.
The first Roman capital of Britain following the conquest of AD 43. Claudius traveled there in person to celebrate his victory — one of the very few military expeditions of his reign.
Claudius commissioned a large artificial harbor here to secure Rome's grain supply, a major logistical reform that safeguarded the food supply of the capital.