Ambitious mother

FABIAN

Dear Anupa,

The murder of Caligula caused pandemonium in Rome. Claudius, Caligula's uncle, was scared. According to Suetonius, "In great terror at the news of the murder, he (Claudius) stole away to the balcony and hid among the curtains which hung before the door. As he cowered there, a common soldier, who was prowling about at random saw his feet, and intending to ask him who he was, pulled him out and recognised him; and when Claudius fell at his feet in terror, he hailed him as emperor."

Claudius was 50 when he became emperor. Though his grandmother was Livia, the formidable wife of Emperor Augustus, and his maternal grandfather, was Marc Antony, Claudius with his unsteady head, stammer, and tendency to dribble, had an unhappy childhood. His mother hated him and called him "monster of a man". When Caligula made him a senator and consul in AD 37, Claudius was surprised.

As emperor, the first thing he did was to avenge the murder of Caligula. At 15, Claudius was betrothed to Aemilia Lepida, a great granddaughter of Augustus; but the match was broken for political reasons. Then he was to marry, Livia Medulina, who died on the day of wedding; Plautia Urgulanilla the first woman he married had to be divorced for adultery; the children born of that union were not less unlucky: the son, Claudius, was choked to death by a pear he threw into the air and caught in his mouth; the daughter Claudia was disowned by her father; After a couple of failed marriages he fell in love with Agrippina, Caligula's younger sister.

Under Claudius who avoided an open clash with the Senate there was increasing centralisation of power with his aides, freed men, having the major say in all matters. Apart from Narcissus (chief secretary), other powerful freed men were Pallas (finance) and Callistus (petitions).

Claudius, to the surprise of his contemporaries, set out a military expedition to Britain and was successful. He added five new territories to the empire: Britain, Thrace, Lycia (Asia Minor), Mauritania and Noricum (part of Austria).

When Claudius married Agrippina he was 58. Agrippina had only one goal: to make her son from a previous marriage, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus better known as Nero, the next emperor.

To start with, Agrippina and Pallas persuaded Claudius to adopt the young man officially, he was three years older than Claudius's son Britannicus. Soon Agrippina declared him Princeps Iuventutis (Leader of Youth). She replaced the commander of the Praetorian Guard and put Afranius Burrus there. In 5 AD, Nero married Octavia, the daughter of Claudius. But Agrippina was impatient as Claudius refused to die, though he was ill . With the help of Locusta, an expert poisoner on the palace payroll and Halotus, the imperial taster Claudius ate his favourite mushrooms suitably poisoned. But to Agrippina's horror Claudius only developed diarrhoea. Not wanting to take any chance, she made Xenephon the court physician drop a stronger dose of poison down the imperial throat on a feather which he was using to help Claudius to vomit.

Claudius died on the night of October 12/13 54 and Nero's succession was smooth.

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