6 Fascinating Facts You May Not Know About Emperor Claudius
The fourth emperor of Rome had a life full of surprising things. Here are the 6 facts you should know about him.
Not every royal is lucky enough to have all the luxuries and respect as others. Claudius was one such ancient royal who was ridiculed for his disabilities by his family.
He was slightly deaf and physically weak, so that’s why his family kept him hidden from the public eye for most of his life. Due to his hidden life, his interest grew in academics since his early ages and was thus tutored by various philosophers such as Athenodorus and Livy to master oratory and history. He is said to have even impressed Augustus by his skills of oratory.
However, his life was full of fascinating facts that made him even more respectful in the eyes of the public at his time and readers find interest in his personality even today that how a comparatively weak man rose to such heights of an empire to be the fourth great emperor although his uncle, Emperor Tiberius, and other royals denied him any public office.
Here are the six Fascinating Facts that you should know about emperor Claudius:
His disabilities disbarred him from coming into political life earlier
According to historians, Claudius suffered from cerebral palsy because he had a limp, a runny nose, tremors in hands and head and sometimes foaming at the mouth.
His disabilities made him an object of disdain even for his mother and sister. His mother called him an unfinished human creature while his sister prayed that he may never rule the Romans. Later on, emperor Caligula, his nephew, would mock him publicly and he would tell his guests to pelt him with stones of dates and olives if Claudius dozes off in the dinner parties.
His disabilities may not have been a great problem but his royal family took it for embarrassment and kept him out of the public office and thus public eyes. Even when Claudius requested his uncle Tiberius to let him have a public office, he rebuked him and told him to go for the priesthood as he was a misfit for royalty and thus offices. With this hostility, his heart was neigh broken, so he took to gambling, womanizing, and drinking till late 37 A.D.
Upon the death of Tiberius, when his young nephew ascended the throne, he appointed his 46-year-old uncle as co-counsel to strengthen his position as an emperor. This allowed him to hold a public office and entered his political life that paved his way to rose to the heights of the emperor.
He was an academician and bibliophile
Claudius’ handicap didn’t discourage him to read and write. He was a bibliophile, an avid reader, and would spend most of his time reading histories.
Even though his family considered him a dullard, he was a great intellectual who impressed Emperor Augustus with his oratory and great historian Livy with his interest in history that he advised him to write. Under the influence of Livy, he wrote voluminous histories of Etruscans, Carthage, and the Roman Republic. Unfortunately, none of his works survived, but his works are used as a source by the prominent Roman historian Tacitus in his works.
He did not become emperor by his choice
Although, since his adulthood, he insisted on having any public office which was denied to him but who would have thought that this handicap would become emperor of Rome one day.
In 41 A.D., the Praetorian Guards assassinated his nephew the Emperor Caligula and his wife along with his child. This took Claudius by fear and he too ran for his life and took refuge behind a curtain on the balcony of the imperial palace. When the Guards found him on the balcony, he thought that they would kill him but to his utter amazement; they saluted him and proclaimed him as the new emperor of Rome.
Once on the throne, he proved to be worthy of rulership and has subdued almost all his enemies with the policy of stick and carrot. The Guards might have taken him a real dullard and thought they would easily manipulate him, but he proved them wrong once on the throne. He bribed the Praetorian Guards by giving them 15,000-sesterce per guard to get their support.
Even his disabilities appeared to have improved upon becoming emperor and according to historians, he claimed that he feigned his ailments all his life and he was healthy in reality. This claim put in the doubt of conspiring against his nephew and his family.
He was the first to annex Britain
As discussed earlier, they considered him a misfit for public office let alone kingship.
The senators still doubted his abilities when he became the emperor and to defy these doubts, he launched an expensive and audacious military campaign to conquer Britain in the first century A.D. The 40,000 strong troops coupled with war elephants soon conquered the Barbarian Tribes and even captured the Catuvellauni leader, Caratacus.
Claudius himself visited Britain to receive the subjugation of his new subjects and remained there for 16 days only to return and welcomed as a hero in Rome. The Senate venerated him with Triumphal that further solidified his rule. He was also unusually lenient in dealing with his enemies because he gave land to the English war leader Caratacus to live his remaining life peacefully instead of killing him.
An ill-fated lover and husband
Deception, politics, assassination, infidelity, and illness spoiled Claudius’ love and married life.
They also accused him of womanizing, and women dominated him. He was first betrothed to his distant cousin, Aemilia Lepida but this relation was broker because of political reasons. His second relation with Livia M. Camilla was also a failure because his wife suddenly died on his wedding day.
He successfully married Plautia Urgulanilla, who was the granddaughter of Livia’s confidant Urgulania, but he soon divorced his wife on the charges of adultery and suspicions. He then married Aelia Patina, a relative of Sejanus, but divorced her too for political reasons.
Then Claudius married his first cousin Valeria Messalina who gave birth to a daughter, Claudia Octavia, and a son named Britannicus. But his third marriage also ended with a great tragedy. According to historians, Messalina was unfaithful to him and had extra-marital relations with others. She even staged a mock marriage with her lovers in 48 A.D and was even charged for conspiracy of dethroning the emperor.
Claudius was left with no option but to execute her along with her lover. He married for the fourth and last time to his beautiful and charming niece, Agrippina. His last wife was more traitorous and disloyal to him than Messalina.
Even her marriage with Claudius was said to be orchestrated by her to set a scene for her son, Nero, to become emperor. According to some historians, Agrippina with others conspired against the emperor and poisoned him to death after Nero was declared as his successor.
His enigmatic death scene
Almost all the ancient historians agree to the fact that Agrippina poisoned Claudius was by giving him the deadly mushroom at diner. However, it didn’t work.
His doctor gave him another dose of the poison on the order of Agrippina to do away with him. According to Suetonius, this might have happened as Agrippina wanted her son, Nero, to ascend the throne and that’s why almost all the ancient historians have agreed to this on the valid reason for Nero’s ascension.
However, modern historians are of the view that Claudius’ death might have occurred accidentally by taking Amanita phalloides, a mushroom which is known as “Death Cap” and is highly toxic and can cause death.
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References
https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-emperor-claudius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius
