Birthday Greetings # 50

Happy birthday to Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Roman emperor.  More commonly known (by us at least) as Claudius.  Claudius (or Clavdivs as his name appeared in print) was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.  That's the one that started with Julius Caesar and ended with Nero our boys successor.  Claudius was actually the grandson of Marc Antony and Augustus Caesar's sister.  This made him a reasonably close member of the imperial family and as such Augustus would have been expecting him to take on a job at the family firm.

Unfortunately Claudius wasn't in great shape.  We're not entirely sure what was wrong with him but he was somewhat deaf, walked with a limp and tended to lose control of his limbs and speech when under stress.  He might have been epileptic or suffering from mild cerebral palsy or possibly he was just a nervous guy with a limp.  Being a member of the imperial family was enough to make anyone nervous.  What his disability meant though was that he couldn't (or at least wasn't trusted to) take his place in public affairs as befitted the new rulers of Rome.  His family more or less despised him and while Augustus himself wasn't deliberately cruel he did have grave doubts about the wisdom of launching Claudius on a public career, so he didn't.

Claudius stayed at home, studying history while his varying relatives took centre stage in the affairs of the empire.  This might help to explain why he lived so long.  Claudius was a young man when Augustus died, under the reign of the gloomy, paranoic Tiberius he kept largely out of the way.  He was dragged into the limelight by his nephew Caligula when that worthy took over the throne and shared a consulship with him.  Caligula's main purpose seems to have been to have a general court jester and whipping boy to hand and Claudius performed this role as though his life depended on it.  It did, the principal thing keeping him alive was the fact that his imperial relatives didn't think he was worth killing.
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How long Claudius would have gone on like this is anyone's guess but he wasn't put to the test.  One of the dangers of being a member of the imperial family is that if you're not careful someone will proclaim you emperor while you're not looking or, in the case of Claudius, hiding behind a curtain.  After a couple of wild and crazy years Caligula managed to annoy the most important people in Rome.  Such people can be defined as those who have access to both the emperor and sharp bits of metal.  A conspiracy butchered Caligula and then for good measure went on and butchered some other people too.  A number of them were close friends of Claudius and our boy limped for the exit as fast as he could go.  Not fast enough, some of the Praetorians grabbed him and proclaimed him emperor.

Somewhat nervously Claudius settled down to rule the empire.  According to the ancient historians he was a bit of a disaster.  They claimed he was ruled by his freedmen and his women.  There is probably some truth in that.  Nobody who manages to marry both Messalina and Agrippina can claim to good judgement where women are concerned.  As for "being ruled by his freedmen" those freedmen were the imperial bureaucracy who actually ran the empire while their lords and masters raved, seduced gods and made their horses consuls.  Listening to them and taking their advice doesn't seem like a bad idea for a nervous inexperienced ruler in not the best of health.

Despite the bad press the empire was in much better shape when Claudius died than when he inherited.  He conquered Britain (not him personally although he did turn up to cheer the troops on) annexed a bunch of other territories and instituted a public works programme.  He also paid great attention to the law courts and frequently sat in judgement himself.  He was mad keen on gladiatorial games and admitted that he had a hasty temper.  Still by comparison with Caligula (nutjob), Tiberius (depressive paranoic) and Nero (self indulgent thug) Claudius is possibly the first emperor since Augustus himself that you might have around to dinner.

Or at least you would if you weren't a senator.  The senate didn't really like Claudius.  His reputation as an idiot preceded him and the senate rather resented the Praetorian Guard announcing him as emperor without reference to them.  There were plots and conspiracies and the executions which followed their discovery didn't make Claudius any more popular.  At least with the senate.  As I have noted in the past being hated by the senate was almost a prerequisite for being liked by anyone else.  Claudius was liked by the equestrian order (somewhat important), the mob (a little bit important) and the army (absolutely critical).  With this lot on side he could deal with the senate if only at the price of his posthumous reputation.

Claudius died from eating mushrooms.  There is a hint that they were poisoned.  Actually every single historian states explicitly that they were poisoned.  The perp?  Agrippina, his latest wife.  The motive?  She had a son from a previous marriage for whom she had ambitions of an imperial nature.  Claudius had his own son (courtesy of Messalina on one of the occasions when she wasn't sleeping with somebody else) but this boy was younger than Agrippina's brat.  If Claudius lived long enough for the lad to come of age he would surely be most likely to succeed.  So Agrippina killed her husband while his son was still a boy and got her son placed on the imperial throne instead.  So goes the story.  At this remove its a little difficult to be sure but if anyone was capable and likely to do it that person was Agrippina.

Claudius died, was deified and promptly forgotten by his stepson (Nero), his own son was quietly murdered a few months after Nero took power.  Possibly the ancient historians were onto something at least about Claudius and his choice of women.  Claudius's reputation went into eclipse until the 1930s when Robert Graves wrote a pair of books about him. Now of course he's all anyone can talk about.