Claudius

1
Claudius

• When the Senate voted him the triumphal regalia,
  thinking the honor
  
• beneath the imperial dignity and desiring
  the glory of a legitimate triumph, he chose
  Britain as the best place for gaining it, a land
  that had
• been attempted by no one since the Deified
  Julius and was just at that time in a state of
  rebellion because of the refusal to return
  certain
• deserters.

Will V. 1/11/02 Period G
2
General Information

• His full name was Tiberius Claudius Caesar
  Augustus Germanicus
  
• He was born at Lyons on August 10 BC and was 50
  when he became emperor
  
• He ruled from 41 to 54 AD
• He Became Emperor after Gaius was murdered
• He is thought to have had a mental disorder
• He was nephew of Tiberius and uncle of Gaius
• He was the grandson of Livia Drusilla,the wife of
  Augustus
  
• He was most likely poisoned by his wife,
  Agrippina
  

3
General Info and Rise to Power

• The father of Claudius was Nero Claudius Drusus
  Germanicus, or Drusus the Younger
  
• Druses the Younger was a Roman general and the
  son of Livia, the wife of Augustus
  
• Claudius held no office until he was 47 when he
  was appointed consul by Caligula
  
• When Caligula was murdered, so was almost all of
  the royal family
  
• The Praetorian guard found Claudius in the
  palace, and because he was the only living member
  of the royal family, they made him emperor.
  

4
Wives

• His first wife was Messalina
• At the beginning of his reign, Claudius was a
  fair minded emperor
  
• When he found out about a plot against his life
  he went into semiretirement and Messaline ran the
  empire
  
• She ruled until she staged a mock marriage with
  her lover and Claudius had her executed
  
• Then he married Agrippina
• She convinced him to make her son, Nero the
  emperor
  
• Agrippina supposedly poisoned Claudius

5
Conquest of Britain

• The First Roman to attempt to invade Britain
  was Julius Caesar. Almost 100 years later
  Claudius tried to do the same. The Roman army
  sailed from Boulogne in France and sailed across
  the English Channel to Richborough in Kent.

6
Invasion Of Britain

• The inhabitants, who were called Britons, met
  them in a bloody battle at the river Medway. The
  Romans won. Four legions went on to conquer all
  of England and parts of Scotland and Wales.

7
Conquest of Britain

• After the invasion native tribes, mainly the
  Silures, resisted for more than 30 years. In 61
  A.D. Britain became a province of Rome called
  Britannia. It was controlled by governors.
  Between 79 and 85 Gnaeus Julius Agricola
  conquered The northern part of Ireland and pushed
  further up into what is now called Scotland but
  was then called Caledonia.

8
After the Invasion

• After being conquered Britain became a
  military outpost. It took a tenth of the Roman
  army to hold it. Several towns grew. They had
  baths and amphitheatres. Also, many estates that
  were worked by slaves started to pop up.
  Otherwise the rest of the country remained as it
  was before the invasion.

9
Reasons for Conquest

• Claudius needed to appear strong to the people.
  He knew that a fast way to do this was to conquer
  something successfully. It was also to make the
  army happy because when they invaded something
  they got the booty and plunder they could find.
  It made the people happy because their empire was
  expanding.

10
Buildings

• Claudius focused his building projects on things
  that were useful such as aqueducts and harbors.
  The one I am concentrating on is the Aqua
  Claudia. It was one of nine aquaducts that led
  into the city of Rome. It was begun by Gaius in
  38 A.D. It was finished by Claudius in 52 A.D. It
  had a capacity of more then 300 million gallons a
  day. The stone arches were 109 feet tall in some
  places.

11

• This is a coin that was made for propaganda.
  The reverse features the Triumphal Arch and above
  this a man on a horse surrounded by trophies. In
  Roman times, at the spot where the enemy
  retreated, trees were covered with the enemys
  armor. The top of the arch has the word Brittania
  on it. This coin was to commemorate the invasion
  of Britain. It ties in with the main purpose of
  the invasion which was to honor himself and make
  people think he was strong.

12
End of Reign

• Before he died he married Nero to his daughter
  Octavia to insure that he would become emperor
  
• This left out his own son Brittanicus
• After Agrippina poisoned Claudius the head of the
  Praetorian guard, Sextus Afrianius Burrus, who
  worked for Agrippina, declared Nero emperor

13
Bibliography

• Book
• Levick, Barbara. Claudius.Great Britain
• Yale University Press, 1990
• Internet Sources
• Ancient Britain. Author and date updated unknown.
  Accessed 1/3/02
  
• http//encarta.msn.com
• This site was used to find information on the
  Roman invasion of Britain.
  
• Claudian Aqueduct.Author and date updated
  unknown.Accessed 1/5/02
  
• http//icweb.cc.pudeu.edu/rahun/claudian_aqueduc
  t.htm
  
• This site was used to find information on the
  Aqua Claudia

14
Bibliography

• The Roman Invasion of Britain. Author and date
  updated unknown. Accessed 1/3/02.
  http//www.schoolshistory.org.uk/romaninvasion.htm
  
• This site was used to find information on the
  Roman invasion of Britain.
  
• De Vita Caesarum. Suetonius. Date accessed
  11/20/01 http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/su
  et-claudius-rolfe.html
  
• This site was used as an ancient source on
  Claudius
  
• The Purseus Digital library.Ed. Gregory Crane.
  Accessed 11/20/01
  
• http//www.perseus.tufts.edu/