CLAUDIusClaudius was born in Lugdunum in

Gaul on 1 August 10AC under the name of Tiberius Claudius Drusus, the third son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor, after Germanicus and Livilla.

youthClaudio was a young member of the leading family of Rome and, as such, one would expect that he had participated in public life as expected of someone of his rank, but he did not. During his whole youth, he was kept out of sight of the people because he was born with physical defects (which in the Roman society were despised). The members of his family believed that his being constantly ill, his drooling and his stuttering were a symptom of mental weakness. In addition, since the family believed that his condition depended also on a lack of will, it was held under the tutelage of a teacher beyond the age of majority; Claudius himself complained that he had been assigned a barbarian as a tutor, whose job was to teach him a hard discipline. Only Augustus said to be surprised by the oratory skills of his nephew, but did not give him any public office. Similarly, when Claudius asked permission to begin the cursus honorum, the new emperor, Tiberius gave him the ornamenta consularia, the symbols of consular rank, but denied a more active role.

Rise to powerUnder Caligula, his grandson, Claudio obtained the consulate for two months. He became Princeps in 37, while continuing to be frowned upon. He underwent a process in which he was accused of forgery; he had to pay 8,000,000 gold for admission to a college of priests, losing all his possessions. After the murder of Caligula 41 the Praetorians were faced with the problem of finding a surviving member of the Julio-Claudian family to put on the throne. Many of them had been murdered, while Claudio was able to escape from every conspiracy, because no one had considered him as a dangerous opponent. Claudio, having bribed the Praetorian Guard, was awarded the Principality by force of arms.

Management of powerClaudio is described by Latin sources as a reserved meditative man and, a scholar of Etruscan and Carthaginian history, with a weak and impressionable personality.Actually, he was capable and balanced as an emperor:• he reorganized and made more efficient the state

administration, giving great power to freedmen;• he healed the public finances, which had been

depleted by Caligula;• he created major public works to improve the living

conditions of his subjects: he built aqueducts, roads and canals in the peninsula and in the provinces;

• he achieved important successes in foreign policy and added new provinces to the empire.

Centrilized administrationClaudio created a centralized bureaucratic system, with the task of coordinating the activities of the government. He intended to directly control, through trusted people, the bureaucratic apparatus which received and organized practices throughout the empire, the governors relations.It was divided into sectors (taxation, finance, legislation, etc), managed by imperial officials recruited from freedmen (freed slaves by himself) loyal to him. Already in the Republican era it was a tradition of important families to entrust the administration of their assets to slaves or freedmen most capable and faithful.The presence of new officials sparked a deep discontent among knights and senators, who saw themselves marginalized from the state administration.One of the most important acts of Claudio’s government was granting citizenship to the inhabitants of Gaul and the ability to access the Senate to families of higher status, .

Relationship with the senateClaudius, following the work of Augustus, attempted to establish a working relationship with the Senate, making use of the Senatus consultus and preserving the social status of the Senators. Claudio was the first emperor to accept members of the Senate from the provinces, because he wanted the support of the best minds of the empire.Therefore he revised the senatorial list, introducing men who had also gained merit in the province. His major contrast with the Senate it was due to the positioning of power of the freedmen-bureaucrats.

Religious policyClaudius did not seem hostile to Christianity and other religions.In 47 d.C., he celebrated the secular games of the eighth centenary of the foundation of Rome.In 49 he enlarged the pomerium, the ancient sacred enclosure of Rome, to include the Aventine and the Campus Martius.He was tolerant of cults which were not considered dangerous to public order. He suppressed Druidism in the empire, took on a liberal attitude towards the Jews and restored their religious freedom, but expelled the entire Jewish community from Rome.He was tolerant towards Christians.

Public works Claudius accomplished socially

useful works which were characterized by the desire to innovate the Empire. The emperor finished the aqueduct begun by Caligula. He also restored the Aqua Virgo, and improved the lines of communication in Italy and in the provinces, and also increased their number, with the construction of the Via Claudia Valeria and Claudia Augusta. He reclaimed the Fucino plane with the excavation of an emissary which flowed into the Liri river, thus favoring the agricultural exploitation in the region.

CONQUISTE MILITARIMilitary conquests

MAURITANIABRITAINTRACIA E NORICUMLYCIA

MAURITANIAThe revolt of Mauretania, which followed the assassination of King Ptolemy by order of Emperor Gaius Caligula, was drowned in blood after four hard years of struggle (41-44). Mauretania was divided into two provinces, the Mauretania and the Caesariensis Tingitana, which were entrusted to an imperial procurator.

BRITAinIn 43 he began the conquest of Britain, nearly a century after Julius Caesar. Beyond the political, economic and military motivations of the expedition, there was an important psychological reason: to prove to everyone to be the worthy son of the conqueror of Germany, Druze.

TRACIA E NORICUMClaudius decided to annex Thrace, which was in a state of anarchy (after the assassination of its sovereign), in 46. He won the free territories up to the Danube and the regions of part of Rhaetia and Noricum. So she decided to strengthen European borders along the Rhine and had to admit some Gallic citizens among the Roman magistrates.

lYciaLycia, where the riots occurred, became a province in 43. In the East, Claudio rewarded his friend Herod Agrippa I for the help lent in the past: he had him sit on the throne of Judea, that was a Roman province since 6. This operation was part of the installation of a bureaucracy of officials loyal to the Princeps. On the death of Agrippa in 44, Judea again became a Roman province, administered by procurators.

Succession to the powerMessalina, wife of Claudius, gave him a daughter, Claudia Octavia, and a son to whom his father gave the nickname of Britannicus. She, who was a woman of great cruelty, had conspired, along with his lover, the consul Gaius Silius, to kill Claudius and take his place. But the plot was discovered, and she was killed in 48. The new wife -- niece of Claudius, daughter of Germanicus, and great-grandchild of Augustus -- Agrippina had a son whose name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the future Emperor Nero. The wedding was celebrated in the 48, and Agrippina became the new Augusta, enjoying unprecedented privileges. At the same time, she started a series of intrigues to discredit the son of Claudius, Britannicus, in favor of her son Domitius Ahenobarbus. Ambitious and unscrupulous, Agrippina was guilty of a series of crimes, making use of poison or false indictments. Her son Nero was adopted by Claudius at the age of thirteen (in 50), as the guardian of the youngest Britannicus (five years younger); in 51, he got the toga virilis, the title of Princeps Iuventutis, the imperium proconsular outside Roma; in 53, he married Claudia Octavia, daughter of Claudius.

deathEmperor Claudius died in 54 after eating a plate of poisonous mushrooms, given to him by Agrippina and Locusta.Agrippina planned this conspiracy to seize power; the principality was designated to Nero.