Emperor Claudius Born: Rome's Unlikely Ruler Arrives

Claudius had a limp, a stammer, and a tendency to twitch and drool, which is probably why the Julio-Claudian family kept him alive while murdering everyone else. He was seen as harmless, possibly stupid, and certainly beneath notice. His own mother, Antonia Minor, reportedly called him "a monster of a man, not finished by nature." His grandmother Livia ignored him. Augustus, his great-uncle, kept him out of public view. Born Tiberius Claudius Drusus in Lugdunum (modern Lyon, France) on August 1, 10 BC, he was the grandson of Mark Antony and the brother of the celebrated general Germanicus. His physical disabilities excluded him from the political and military career expected of a man of his rank. He turned instead to scholarship, writing histories of the Etruscans and the Carthaginians, both of which have been lost. When the Praetorian Guard assassinated Caligula on January 24, 41 AD, soldiers searching the palace found Claudius hiding behind a curtain. They dragged him out and declared him emperor. The Senate, which had briefly considered restoring the Republic, had no choice. The Praetorians had made their decision. Claudius turned out to be a surprisingly capable administrator. He reorganized the imperial bureaucracy, expanding the role of freedmen as professional civil servants. He launched the construction of the harbor at Ostia to improve Rome's grain supply. He built aqueducts, including the Aqua Claudia, which brought water to Rome over sixty miles of arches and channels. His most ambitious project was the invasion of Britain in 43 AD. He personally traveled to the island for sixteen days to accept the surrender of Camulodunum (modern Colchester). It was a propaganda triumph: the bookish emperor nobody had taken seriously now had a military conquest to his name. He was awarded a triumphal arch and named his son Britannicus. His private life was less stable. His first two marriages ended badly. His third wife, Messalina, was executed for conspiracy. His fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger, is widely believed to have poisoned him with mushrooms on October 13, 54 AD, so that her son from a previous marriage, Nero, could become emperor. He was 63.