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Family Sheet

HUSBAND
Name: Emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus Of Rome(41-54) Note Born: 1 Aug 0010 B.C. at Lugundum Lyons , , , Gaul France Married: at Abt. 49 Ad , , , Died: 13 Oct 3054 Other Spouses: Plautia Urgulanilla
Aemilia Lepida
Valeria Messalina
Aelia Paetina
Father: Nero Claudius Drusus General; Gov. Of Gaul Mother: Antonia ''the Younger'' Augusta
WIFE
Name: Julia Agrippina Ii ''the Younger'' Born: at Abt. 15 Ad , , , Died: at Abt. 59 Ad , , , Other Spouses: Gnaeus Domiticus Ahenobarbus Father: Germanicus Caesar Mother: Vipsania Agrippina I ''the Elder''
CHILDREN

NOTES
1). Claudius I 10 BC AD 54 , Roman emperor AD 41 54 . C l a u d ius was born TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO GERMANI C U S i n Lu gdunum present day Lyon, France . His father , N er o Cl audiu s Drusus, was a younger brother of Tiberi us C lau diu s Nero Caesar, later the Roman emperor Tiberi us. C laud iu s held no i mportant public office until th e age o f 47 , whe n he becam e consul during the reign o f his neph ew, E mpero r Caligula . When the latter was ass assinated i n AD 4 1, Cla udius was p roclaimed emperor b y the Praetori an Guar d, wh o found him hi ding in the pal ace. The firs t acts o f his re ign gave promis e of mild a nd just govern ment bu t in 42, w hen a conspirac y agains t his life wa s uncovered , he went i nto semiretireme nt. His wife Messa lina becam e largely resp onsible for admi n istering the go vernment fo r a time. She p racticed crue ltie s and extorti ons withou t restraint. Asid e from th e excesse s perpetrat ed under th e influence of Mes salina , Claudius s reign wa s that of a n able administrator , b oth in civil an d milit ary affairs . Mauretania present day northern Morocc o an d western Al geria was made a R oma n province the conqu e st of Britai n was begun and t he Rom an armies fought succ e ssfully aga inst the Germans . Judea a nd Thrace also beca me R oman prov inces during h is rule. Cla udius expended en ormou s sums i n building, e specially in th e constructio n of the f amou s Claudian Aq ueduct. His admini stration wa s characteriz e dby a decli ne in the power of th e nobilit y and by the pr a ctice, la ter commonplace, of gran ting re sponsibility an d we alt h to the personal followers o f th e emperor, includ ing f o rmer slaves. In 48 Claudius ord er ed the execution o f M essal ina, who had indicated her co n tempt for him by pu b licly sta ging a mock marriage wit h he r lover. He then d e fied widespr ead disapproval by ma rryin g his niece, Agr ipp ina the Younge r, under whose inf luenc e he deprived h is so n by Messalina ,Britannicus, o f his he ritage, adop ting in stead Agrippina s son by a fo rmer marri age, Nero , later e mperor of Rome. Sh ortly ther eafter Claud ius wa s poisoned , presumably by Agrip pina. C laudius is dep ict ed by ancien t historians as being n egle cted, sickly, a n d ridiculed be fore coming to power h i s character duri ng h is reign is d escribed as ignorant a nd m alicious. Mo dern sc holars, howe ver, tend to discoun t thei r testimon y and esti mate him a s shrewd and able. S ource C laudiu s I, Microso ft R Enc arta R 98 Encyclop edia. c 19 93 1997 Microsof t Corporat ion. All rights re served. T IBERIUS C LAUDIUS CAESAR AU GUSTUS GERMAN ICUS , original nam e unti l AD 41 TIBERIU S CLAUDIUS NER O GERMAN ICUS Roman em pero r AD 41 54 , wh o extended Rom an rule in N orth Afric a an d made Britai n a province. Early life. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus, a popular and succes s f u l R oman general, and the younger Antonia, he was th e n ep he w o f the emperor Tiberius and a grandson of Livi a Dr usi lla , th e wife of the emperor Augustus. Ill healt h, un attr acti ve appearance, clumsiness of manner, and c oarsen ess o f tas te di d not recommend him for a public l ife. Th e impe rial f amil y seems to have considered him s omethin g of a n embarra ssmen t, and he was long left to h is own p rivat e studies an d amus ements. It was the histo rian Liv y who r ecognized an d encour aged his inclinatio n for hist orical s tudies. Claud ius wrot e a pamphlet def ending th e republica n politician a nd orato r Cicero, wh o was execu ted by the t riumvirs and , having di scovere d that it wa s difficult t o speak freel y on the civi l wa rs toward th e end of the Ro man Republic , he began a hi s tory of Rom e with the princip ate of August us. He compo sed 2 0 book s of Etruscan and 8 b ooks of Cartha ginian hi story, al li n Greek an autobiogra phy and a hist orica l treatis e o n the Roman alphabet wit h suggestions fo r o rthographi cal re form which as empero r he later trie d n ot very suc cessfull y to implement. He a lso wrote o n dice p laying, o f which h e wasfond. All hi s works ar e lost, an d their i mportance ca nnot be measured . The Et ruscan histor y may h ave had origina l material hi s firs t wife, Plauti a Urgul anilla, had Etrusc an blood, an d he r family was prob abl y able to put Claudiu s in touch w it h authentic Etrusc a n traditions. After divorc ing Urgul a nilla, he in turn m arr ied Aelia Paetina, Valeri a Messa lin a, who was his wif e a t his accession, and, finall y , Agrip pina the Younger . By h is first three wives he ha d f ive children, of who m Drusu s and Claudia died befor e he bec am e emperor. A s a young ma n Claudius was mad e a member o f v arious reli gious colleges , but he becam e consul only u nde r the reig n of his older b rother s so n Gaius Caligula i n 37. The re was, however, l ittle co rdiality between th e two. Emperor and colonizer Power came to Claudius unexpectedly after Gaius mu r d e r o n Jan. 24, 41, when he was discovered tremblin g i n t h e pala ce by a soldier. The Praetorian Guards, th e im peri a l househ old troops, made him emperor on Januar y 25 . By f am ily tradi tion and antiquarian inclinations , Clau dius wa s i n sympath y with the senatorial aristocr acy bu t soldie rs a nd courtie rs were his real supporter s, whil e freedme n an d foreigner s had been his friends i n the da ys of negl ect . Initially, t heattitude of the S enate wa s at best am bigu ous. In 42 man y senators suppor ted the i ll fated rebe llio n of the Governo r of Dalmatia . Even lat er, several at tempt s on Claudius li fe involv ed senator s and knights. T houg h paying homage to t hedi gnity of th e Senate to whos e adm inistration he return e d the provin ces of Macedonia a nd Ach aea and giving ne w op portunitie s to the knights, C laudiu s was ruthless a nd occas ionall y cruel in his dealin gs wit h individual m embers of bo th orders. From the ver y beginni ng he empha sized his frien d ship with the army an d paid cas h for hi s proclamation a s em peror. Claudius decision to invade Britain 43 and his per s o n a l appearance at the climax of the expedition, the c ro ss i n g of the Thames and the capture of Camulodunum C olc hes te r , were prompted by his need of popularity an d glo ry . Bu t co ncern with the anti Roman influence of t he Dru i d pries thood , which he tried to suppress in Gaul , an d a g eneral i nclina tion toward expanding the fronti ers w ere ot her reaso ns. Cla udius planted a colony of ve teran s at Cam ulodunum a nd estab lished client kingdoms t o prot ect the f rontiers o f the prov ince these were aft erwar d a source o f trouble , such as th e revolt in 47 o f Prasu tagus, client king of t he Iceni, an d later the g eneral r evolt instigat ed by his w ife Boudicc a also cal led Boadi cea . He also a nnexed Maure tania 41 42 in No rth Africa , of which he ma de two provin ces Caesarie nsi s in the ea st and Tingitan a in the west , Lycia in As i a Minor 43 , and Thrace 46 . Though he enl arged th e kingd om ofHer od Agrippa I, he l ater made Judae a a pr ovince on A grippa s death in 44. I n 49 he annexed It ure a northeaster n Pa lestine to the pr ovince of Syria . H e was careful no t t o involve the empir e in major war s wit h the Germans a nd th e Parthians. Claud ius supporte d Roma n control of Ar menia, b ut in 52 he pref erred th e collaps e of the pro Ro man governm ent to a war w ith Pa rthia, leavi ng a difficul t situation t o his success or. In the civil administration, many measures demonstrat e C l a u dius enlightened policy. He improved in detail t he j ud ic ia l system, and, in his dealings with the provi nces , h e fa vou red a moderate extension of Roman citizen shi p by i ndivi dual and collective grants in Noricum , a dis trict s outh o f th e Danube comprising what is no w centra l Austri a and pa rts o f Bavaria, for instance, f ive commu nities be came Roma n muni cipalities. He encoura ged urbani zation an d planted s evera lcolonies, for exam ple, at Cam ulodunum a nd at Coloni a Agri ppinensis moder n Cologne i n Germany i n 51. In hi s religio us policy Cl audius respec ted traditio n he revive d old reli gious ce remonies, cele brated the fe stival of th e Secular Game s in 47 three da ys and night s of games an d sacrifice co m memorating the 8 00th birthda y of Rome , mad e himsel f a cens or in 47, an d extended i n 49 the pomeriu m of Ro me i.e., th e boundar y of the are a in which only Ro ma n gods could be wo rshipp ed and magist rates ruled with c i vil, not military, po wer s . He protect ed the haruspice s d iviners and probab l y Romanized the c ult of the Phr ygian d eity Attis. Accor din g to the biograp her Suetoniu s in Claud ius, during a p erio dof troubles Cl audius exp elled the Jew s from Rome f or a sh ort time Chri stians m ay have been inv olved. Else where he c onfirmed exi stin g Jewish rights and p rivileges , and in Alex andria h e tr ied to protect the Jew s withou t provoking Egyptian na ti onalism. In a surviving l ette r addressed to the ci t y o f Alexandria, he asked Jews a n d non Jews to stop t his d e structive and obstinate mutu a l enmity. Althoug h personal l y disinclined to accept di vin e honours, he d id not serio usl y oppose the current tr end a nd had a tem ple erected t o hims elf in Camulodunum . His pub lic work s include the re organiza tion of the gra in supply o f Rom e and constructio n of a ne w harbour at O stia, which w a s later improved b y the emperor Trajan. Administrative innovations. Claudius general policy increased the control of the e m p e r or over the treasury and the provincial administrat i o n a n d apparently gave jurisdiction in fiscal matter s t o h is o w n governors in the senatorial provinces. H e crea te d a ki n d ofcabinet of freedmen, on whom he bes towed h ono urs, t o s uperintend various branches of the a dministr atio n. An i mpre ssive series of documents, suc h as a spee ch fo r the ad missi on of Gauls to the Senat e recorded o n a part ly defect ive in scription at Lugdunu m Lyon , th e edict fo r the Anau ni a n Alpine populatio n who had usu rped the ri ghts of Rom an cit izenship and w hom Claudius c onfirmed i n these rights , an d the aforem entioned lette r to the cit y of Alexandri a ad 4 1 , surv ive as evidenc e of his perso nal style of go vernment pe dantic, uninhib ited, alternate ly humane and wr athful , a nd ultimately de spotic. The insc ription from Lugd unu m is a n interestin g comparison with t he version of t h e historia n Tacitus i n his Annals, whic h gives an acco un t of the sam e speech . The speech as reco rded in the i nscri ption, in spi te o f irrelevance, inconse quence, an d fondnes s for digressi o n much of which is abs ent in t he version o f Tacitus , sh o ws that Claudius kne w what h e wanted and th at he apprec iate d the latent force s of R oman tradition. His marriage with Messalina ended in 48, when she appar e n t l y conspired against him and, according to Tacitus , co nd uc te d a public marriage ceremony with her lover , Gaiu s Si liu s . Messalina and Silius were killed, and C laudiu s marr ie d hi sniece Agrippina, an act contrary t o Roma n law, wh ic h he t herefore changed. To satisfy Agr ippina s lust fo r po wer, Cl audius had to adopt her so n Lucius D omitius Ah enoba rbus la ter the emperor Nero , to the dis advantage o f hi s own son Britannicus. In ad dition, the n ew commande r of t he guards, A franius Burru s, was protect ed by Agripp ina. Ro man traditio n is unani mous in statin g that Claudiu s was po isoned by Agr ippin a on Oct. 13, A D 54, though th e detail s differ. A versi on of poisonin g by mushrooms pre vailed. L ucius Annaeus S en eca, the pol itician and satiris t, who ha d been exile d by Cl audius a t his accession but h ad been re called a t Agrippina s urg ing to educate Nero, d erided th e dea d emperor and his ap otheosis duly decree d by the Sen at e in the satire Apo c olocyntosis divi Claud ii The Pum p kinification of the Di v ine Claudius the ti tle and it s ex act meaning are bot h sub ject to dispute . The picture of Claudius that appears in this work h a s m u c h in common with that of later Roman historians w h o gi v e de tails of the unpopular side of Claudius admi ni strat io n. Th e Apocolocyntosis ridicules his physica l app earanc e a nd hi sspeaking ability and casts aspersi ons o n his ab ilit ies a s a judge, depicting him as arbit rary of givin g lega l judg ments without a fair hearin g and o f summaril y orderi ng th e executions of relatives , senato rs, and kni ghts. Tacitus, Suetonius, and the later historian Dio Cassi u s a t t ribute Claudius mistakes to infirmity of charact e r an d t h e influence of his wives and freedmen. They ec h o th e host il ity of the upper classes against an emper o r who , in spit e of his words, had been unfavourable t o t hem. T hat this t radi tion is one sided is shown by th e su rvivin g document s of th e reign and the energy wit h whic h Claudi us carrie d out th e affairs of government . Source www.eb. comClaudiu s I 10 B CAD 54 , Roman emp eror A D 41 54 . Cl audius wa s born TIBER IUS CLAUDIUS DR USUS NER O GERMANICU S in Lugdunu m present da y Lyon, Fra n ce . Hi s father, Ner o Claudius Dr usus, was ayo unger b rother o f Tiberius Claud ius Nero Caesa r , later th e Rom an empero rTiberius. Claudi us held no impo rtant publi c o ffice unti l the age o f 47,w hen he became co nsul duri n g the reig n of his nephew, Empe ror Caligula.Whe n the l atte r w as a ssassinated in AD 41 , Claudius was proc laim edempero r b ythe Praetorian Guard , who found h im hidi n g in the pa l ace. Thefirst acts of h is reign gave promi s e of mild an d ju st government but i n42, when a consp irac y agains t his lif e was uncovered, h e went intosemir etireme nt. H i s wife Mess alina became lar gely responsib le foradmi nis tering the gover nment for a ti me. She p ra cticed cruelt i es andextortions wi thout restra int. Asid e from the exces s es perpetrated unde r the influe nce o f Messalina, Claudi us s reign was that o f an ableadm ini strator, both in civ i l a nd military affairs . Mauretan i a present day norther n Moroc co and western Alger ia w a s mad e a Romanprovince the con quest of Britain wa s b egu n and the Roman armie s foughtsuc cessfull y agains t t he G ermans. Judea and Thr ace also beca me Romanprovin ces dur in g his rule. Claudi u s expended enor mous sums i n building , especially in th e construction of th e famou s Claudian A q ue duct. Hisadmi nistration was charact eriz ed by a declin e in t he power o f thenobility and b y t h e practice, late r commonp lace, o f grantingresponsi bility a nd wealth to th e persona l foll ower s of the emp eror,includ ing former sla ves. In 4 8 Cla udius ordered th e execution o f Messalina, w ho had indi ca ted hercontemp t for him by p ub licly stagin g a mock marr i age with he r lover. Hethen defie d widesprea d disapprova l b y marr y ing his niece, Agrippin a theYounge r, under wh ose in fl uence he deprived his son b y Messalina ,B ritanni cus, o f h is heritage, adopting instea d Agrippin a s son b y afo rmer ma rriage, Nero, late r empero r of Rome . Shortl y th ereafter Cl audiuswas poisoned, presum ably b y Agrippi na . Claudiu s is d epicted by ancienthistori ans a s bein g n eglected, sickly, an d ridiculed before comin g t o powe r his character during hi s reign is described a s i gnor a nt andmalicious. Modern schol ars , however, ten d t o di sc ount their testimony andestimat e him as shrewd a nd a b le . Source Claudius I, Microsoft R Encarta R 9 8 En cy c lopedia. c 1993 1997 Microsoft Corpor a tion. Al l ri gh t s reserved. TIBERIU S CLAUDIU S C AES A R AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS, original name unti l AD 41 T IBER IU S CLAUDIUS NE RO GERMANICUS Roman emperor A D 415 4 , wh o extendedRoman rule in North Africa and made B r i t a in a p rovince. Early life. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus, a popular and succes s f u l R oman general,and the younger Anton ia, he was th e n ep he w o f the emperor Tiberius and agrandson of Livi a Dru sil la , th e wife of th e emperor Augustus. Ill heal th,una ttra cti ve ap pearance, clumsiness of manner, and c oarsene s s o f ta stedi d not recommend him for a public l ife. Th e imper ial f amil y seems tohave considere d him s omethin g of an e mbarra ssmen t, and he was long leftto hi s own pr ivate stud ies an d amus e ments. It was the histo rian Liv y whorecogni zed an d encour aged his inclinatio n for histo rica l studie s.Claud ius wrot e a pamphlet def ending the r epublican poli tician a nd orator Cicero, w h o was execute d by the triumvi rs and , having dis cover ed that itwas di fficult to spea k free l y on the civi l w ars toward the en d of theRoman Re public , he began a his t ory of Rome wit h th e principate o fAugust us. He compos ed 2 0 books of Et ruscan and 8 books o f Cartha ginianhist ory , al l inGreek an autobiography a nd a hist orica l treatise o n theRoma n alphabet with sugges t ions fo r o rthographical re form which asemperor he late r tried n o t very successfull y t o imple ment. He also wrot eon dic e pl aying, of whic h h e was fond. All his works ar e lost , and t heirim porta nce ca nnot be measured. The Etru sca n history m ay have ha d origina lmaterial his first w i f e, Plautia Urg ulanilla , had Etrusc an blood, andher fam i ly was probably a ble t o put Claudi u s in touchwith aut h enticEtruscan tradi tio ns. After divor cing Urgulanilla , h e in turn married Ael i a Paetina, Valeri a Messalina , who w as his wife at his ac c ession, and, finally , Agri ppina t h e Younger. By his fi rs t three wives he had f iv echildren , of whom Drusus an d Clau dia died bef ore he be c ame emper or. As ayoung ma n Claudiu s was made a membe r of va rious r eligious colleg es , buth e became consul o nly under t he re ign of his old er brother s son Gaius Ca ligula in 3 7 . Th ere was, howe ver, little c ordiality b etween the two. Emperor and colonizer Power came to Claudius unexpectedly after Gaius mu r d e r o n Jan. 24, 41,when he was discovere d tremblin g i n t h e pala ce by a soldier. ThePraetorian Guards, th e imp eri a l househo ld troops , made him emperor onJanuar y 25 . By f am ily tradit ion and antiquarian inclinations , Clau diusw a s i n sympath y with the senatorial aristocr acy bu t sold iers a ndcourtier s were his real suppor ter s, whil e freedm en an d foreigner s hadbeen his friends i n the day s of negl ect. I nitially, t h e attitude of theS enate wa s at best am biguous . In 42 man y senators suppor ted the i ll fatedreb e llion o f the Governo r of Dalmatia . Even lat er, several at tempts o nClaudius lif e involve d se nator s and knights. T hough pay ing homage to t hedignity of th e Senate to whos e administr atio n he return e d the provi ncesof Macedonia a nd Achaea a nd giving new o pp ortunitie s to the knigh ts , Claudius wa s ruthless an d occasi onall y cruel in his dea lings withindi vidual mem bers of b o t horders. From the ve ry beginning h e emphas izedhis fr iend ship with the army an d paid cash f o r hi s proclamati on asem peror. Claudius decision to invade Britain 43 and his per s o n a l appearance atthe climax of the exp edition, the c ro ss i n g of the Thames and the captureof Camulodunum Co lch est er , were prompte d by his need of popularity and glor y. B u t co ncern with the anti Roman influence of th e Dru i d pr ie sthoo d,which he tried to suppress in Gaul , an d a genera l i nclina tion towardexpanding th e fronti ers w ere other r easo ns. Cla udius planted a colony ofvet eran s at Camulodun um an d esta b lished client kingdoms t o pro tect thefrontie rs o f the pro vince these were afte rwar d a sourc e of tro uble , suchas th e revolt in 47 o f Prasu tagus, client kin g of th e Iceni, an d laterth e g eneral r evolt instigated b y his wi fe Boudicc a also calledBoadic ea . He also annexe d Maureta n ia 41 4 2 in North Africa , of whichhe made tw o province s Caes arien sis in the eas t and Tingi tana in t hewest , Ly ci a in Asia M inor 43 , and Thrace 46 . Thoug h he enlarg e d thekingdo m o f Her od Agrippa I, he later ma de Judae a a p rovince on A grippa sdeath in 44. In 49 he an nex e d Iture a northeaster n Pa lestine to theprovince o f S yria. He wa s careful no t t o involve th e empire in maj o r warswith th e Germans a nd th e Parthians. Claudius supp o rted Roman cont rol of Ar menia, b ut in 52 he preferre d th e collapse of th e pro Ro man governm entto a war wit h Parth ia , leaving a di fficul t situation t o his succes sor. In the civil administration, many measures demonstrat e C l a u dius enlightened policy. He improv ed in detail t he j ud ic ia l system, and, inhis dealings with the provin ces , h e fav our ed a moder ate extension ofRoman citizens hi p by i ndivid ua land collective grants in Noricum, ad ist ric t s outh o f th e Danube comprising what is now cen tra l Austri a andpar ts o f Bavaria, for instanc e, five c ommu nities be came Roma nmuni cipalities. He encouraged ur baniz ation an d planted se ver a lcolonies,for example, a t Camu lodunum a nd at Coloni a Agr ippinensis modern Colo gne i n German y i n 51. In hi s religi ous policy Claudiu s respe cted traditio n he revive d old reli gious ceremo n ies, cel ebrated the fe stival of th eSecular Ga mesin 4 7 three da ys and nights o f games an d s acrificecom memo rating the 8 00th birthday o f Rome , mad e himself a cen s or in 47,an d extended i n 4 9 the pomeriu m of Rome i.e ., th e bounda ry of the areai n which only Rom an gods cou ld be w o rship ped and magistra tes ruled withciv il, no t military, p ower s . He protecte d the haruspice s d ivi ners andprobab l y Romanized the cu lt of the Phrygian d e ity Attis. Accor din g to thebiog raph er Suetonius in Cl audi us, during a p erio d oftroubles Cla udiusexpelled th e Jew s from Rom e f or a sh ort time Chris tians may hav e beeninv olved. Elsew here he co nfirmed exist ing Jewi s h rights an d privileges ,and in Alexa ndria he tr ied t o protect the Jew s withou t provoking Egyp t iannation ali sm. In a surviving l ette r addressed to the cit y of Ale x andria,he asked Jew s a n d non Jews to stop this d estru c tive and obstinat e mutua lenmity. Although personal l y dis incl ined to acc ept divin e honours, he didnot ser iousl y oppose the curre nt trend an d had a templ e erect ed tohims e lf in Camulodu num. His publ ic works include t he reorganiz a tion ofthe g rain s upply o f Rome and const ruction of a n e w harbour a t Ostia,which wa s later impro ved by the emp e ro r Trajan. Administrative innovations. Claudius general policy increased the control of the e m p e r or over thetreasury and the provin cial administrat i o n a n d apparently gavejurisdiction in fiscal matter s t o hi s o w n governors i n the senatorialprovinces. H e crea te d a ki n d ofcabinet of freedmen, on whom he bes towedho no u rs, t o s uperintend various branches of the a dministr ati on. Anim pres sive series of documents , suc h as a spee ch f or the ad missi on ofGauls to the Senate r ecorded o n a part ly defecti ve in s cription atLugdunum Lyon , th e edict fo r the Anaun i a n Alpine population w ho hadusur ped th e ri ghts of Roma n cit izenship and who m Claudius c onfirmed int hese rights , and t he aforement i oned lette r to the cit y of Alexandria ad 41 , surviv e as evidenc e of his person al style of go v ernment peda ntic, uninhib ited, alternatel y humane and wrat hful, a n d ultimatelydes potic. Th e inscr iption from Lugdun um i s a n interestin g comparison withth e version of the his t orian T ac itusi n his Annals, whic h gives anaccount of t h e same sp eech . The speech as recor ded in the i nscript ion , inspit e o f irrelevance, inconseq uence, and fondnes s fo r digres sion much ofwhic h is abse nt in the versio n of Ta citus , shows t hat Claudius knew w hathe wanted a nd that h e a p preciated th e latent forces o f Roman trad ition. His marriage with Messalina ended in 48, when she appar e n t l y conspiredagainst him and, accord ing to Tacitus , co nd uc te d a public marriageceremony with her lover, G aiu s Sil ius . M essalina a nd Silius were killed,and Clau diu s marri ed h is niece Agrippina, an act contrary to Ro ma n law, whi ch h e ther efore changed. To satisfy Agrippi na s lust fo r power ,Claudi us had to adopt her s on Luci us D omitius Ah enobarbu s late r theemperor Nero , to th e disa dvantage o f his ow n son Br itannicus. Inaddition , the ne w commande r of the g uards, Afra nius Burrus, wa s protecte dby Agri pp ina. Roma n tradition i s unanimou s in statin g that Claudiu s waspoiso ned by Agrippi na o n Oct . 13, A D 54, though th e details di ffer. Aversi on of poisoning b y mushrooms prev ailed. Luci u s Annaeu s Sene ca, thepoliti cian and satirist , who had be en exil ed by Clau dius at hi s accessio nbut ha d been recall ed a t Agrippina s urgin g to educate Nero, de rided thedea d e mperor and h i s apot heosis duly decreed b y the Senat e in thesatire Ap ocolo cyntosis divi Claudii The Pu m pkin ification of the D iv ineClaudius the titl e and i ts exac t meaning are both s u bject to dis pute . The picture of Claudius that appears in this work h a s m u c h in common withthat of later Roma n historians w h o gi v e de tails of the unpopular side ofClaudius admin is trati on . Th e Apocolocy ntosis ridicules his physicala ppe aranc e an d hi s speaking ability and casts aspersion s o n hi s a bilit iesa s a judge, depicting him as arbitra ry of givin g lega l judg ments withouta fair he aring an d o f summaril y orderi ng th e executions of relatives,sen ator s, and knig hts. Tacitus, Suetonius, and the later historian Dio Cassi u s a t t ributeClaudius mistakes to infirm ity of charact e r an d t h e influence of hiswives and freedmen. They ec h o the h osti li ty of the u pper classes againstan emper o r who, i n spit e o fhis words, had been unfavourable t o t hem.Th a t this t radi tion is one sided is shown by th e su rvivin g document s ofth e reign and the energ y wit h whic h Claudi us carrie d out th e affairs ofgovernment . Source www.eb.c om !BIRTH edwardiii.ged, edwardiii.ged !DEATH edwardiii.ged, edwardiii.ged