Claudius, AD 41 - 54 Flashcards
What does Claudius’ reign highlight?
- Fundamental issue that Rome required an autocratic ruler, but one who constantly had to mollify an urban aristocracy,
- Claudius’ reign highlights the issues with source bias; he is seemingly unfairly treated by most of the later sources.
What does Suetonius call Claudius’ accession?
(Claudius 10) ‘an extraodinary accident’
What do all sources agree of Claudius, at the time of Gaius’ assassination?
Though the location differs, they all agree that he was hiding after Gaius’ assassination.
What was Claudius the first emperor to do, according to Suetonius?
Suetonius recalls that Claudius, upon accepting the principate, ‘promised every [praetorian guard] 15,000 sesterces, which made him the first of the Caesars to purchase the loyalty of his troops’.
What coinage displays this link between Claudius and his troops?
The aureus of Claudius
Date: AD 41-45
Obverse: Laureate head of Claudius; words reading ‘Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus, pontifex maximus, with tribunician power’
Reverse: Claudius wearing a toga, clasping the hand of a long-haired soldier with shield and legionary eagle; words reading ‘With the praetorians having been received’
Significance: Claudius’ relationship with the soldiers is stressed, reinforcing the basis for his power.
What was now the real political force in Rome? What displayed this?
The army. The Praetorian Guard were the ones to find Claudius and select him as the successor to Gaius. This more than anything highlights that the senate was now a spent political force.
What does Dio write as being discussed in the Senate upon the death of Gaius?
(RH, 60.1.1) records how ‘many different views were expressed’. Some advocated for the return to the Republic. Others continued the idea of principate, with different factions suggesting their own candidates. Including Vinicianus, a member of the plot against Gaius’ life. This lack of unity and agreement within the senatorial body supports the Tiberian assumption that they were ‘men fit to be slaves’ (Tacitus, Annals 3.65)
What does Josephus write about the senate at the time of the accession of Claudius?
Remarks that ‘a return to senatorial government was totally unrealistic’ (JA 19.225) and this indeed seems to be the case as he presents the matter, with soldiery and plebs keen to maintain the principate (19.228). He writes that despite the Senate’s bravado (19.230), it is clear they actually had very little influence (19.234).
How many days passed after Gaius’ death until Claudius’ establishment as princeps?
2 days.
What did Claudius do immediately?
- Obliterated the records that a new constitution had been considered during these forty-eight hours (Suetonius, Claudius 11),
- Established a general amnesty.
What caused irreparable damage to the princep-Senate relations for Claudius?
Though Claudius may have wished for an age of moderation, his military backing put an end to the princeps being seen as first among equals. This caused much damage to Claudius’ relationship with the Senate, even though he tried to present himself as returning to the model of Augustus.
What action shows that Claudius was attempting to distance himself from Gaius’ policy?
The letter of Claudius to the Alexandrians. Sent AD 41, Claudius rejects the notion that he should be worshipped as a God, marking a deliberate break with the policy of Gaius.
What is written as the start of the Dalmatia revolt?
Camillus Scribonianus, Claudius’ lieutenant in Dalmatia ( Suetonius, Claudius 13) was encouraged by Vinicianus to turn his troops against Claudius after the execution, on spurious evidence, of Gaius Appius Silanus who was accused of plotting to murder Claudius (Dio 60.14.1-16.4).
How long did the revolt last? Why? What happened to Camillus?
The revolt was short-lived, lasting no more than five days, as Camillus could not convince sufficient forces to support his cause. Dio states that his soldiers ‘refused to listen to him any longer’ (RH 60.15.3).
Camillus’ suicide after this failure was hastily followed by his denouncement as a public enemy.
What did the Camillus revolt cause in Claudius? What was his immediate response?
- Reduced Claudius to a state of great terror,
- His immediate response was to bestow the titles ‘Claudian’, ‘Loyal’, and ‘Patriotic’ on the seventh and eleventh legions, which had remained faithful to him,
- Believed he could win the loyalty of the army as whole through a quick campaign that would provide both plunder and glory.
When was the last significant Roman campaign, before Claudius?
There had not been a significant campaign for many years, not since Drusus, Claudius’ father and Tiberius’ brother, in Germany 12-9 BC.
What coinage displayed the continued significance of Drusus’ Germany campaign in Claudius reign?
Aureus of Drusus
Date: AD 41-45
Obverse: Laureate head of Drusus; words reading ‘Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, Commander’
Reverse: Two shields crossed. with two paits of crossed spears and trumpets in front of standard; words reading ‘Over Germany’
Significance: Claudius is stressing his connection with his father as a means of ensuring the loyalty of his troops.
What relations were useful for Claudius in ensuring the loyalty of his army?
Claudius’ connections with his father, Drusus, and his brother, Germanicus, had been a major factor in securing the loyalty of the army during his early reign.
Where did Claudius decide to campaign? When was the last campaign in this area?
- Claudius’ campaign against Britain would ensure that he had military credentials of his own,
- No one had attempted an invasion of Britain since Julius Caesar 54 BC, and the military triumph that would follow a successful campaign would strengthen Claudius’ position.
How does Suetonius describe the Britain campaign?
‘of no great importance’ (Claudius 17)
When did the campaign start? How many legions were involved? Who had command?
Four legions set out under the command of Aulus Plautius in the summer of AD 43.
Who was the Roman campaign primarily directed against?
- The anti-Roman Catavellauni, who were expanding their territory and influence under the rule of the two sons of the recently deceased Cunobelinus, Togidumnus and Caratacus,
- The actions of the Catavellauni were no real threat to the Romans but provided useful justification for the campaign.
How did the campaign in Britain proceed?
- Aulus Plautius advanced to the river Medway, assisted by Flavius Vespasianus commander of the Second Legion Augusta,
- Following a decisive Roman victory here, the British tribes withdrew to the Thames where, even with Togidumnus dead, they rallied, preventing Plautius from crossing the river,
- The Romans decided to consolidate their position and sent for Claudius himself for the final stages of the campaign.
What does Suetonius write of Claudius’ crossing to Britain? What is wrong with this account?
(Claudius 17) Suggests that he was nearly wrecked twice en route to Massilia (Marseilles). Dio makes no mention of these hardships, which suggests that Suetonius may have included these allegations because it fit his overall perspective of Claudius as bumbling incompetent.
What did Claudius upon arriving in Britain?
Claudius took command of the legions, crossed the Thames, defeated the enemy and captured Camulodunum (Colchester), which had served as Cunobelinus’ capital.
What does Dio highlight of the campaign? What should be said to temper these claims?
Dio highlights the campaign’s speed and efficiency. We must, however, consider the degree of opposition which the British tribes could have offered against a Roman force now approaching 40,000 men.
What did Claudius get from the successful campaign?
- The Senate granted him and his son the title of ‘Britannicus’, and offered him the honour of celebrating a triumph,
- Claudius celebrated this triumph in AD 44, after perhaps six months absence from Rome (Suetonius, Claudius 17), although he himself may have been in Britain for as little as sixteen days.
What is written of the triumph?
Suetonius (Claudius 17) that the triumph was particularly splendid.
What coinage was minted to celebrate Claudius’ successful campaign?
Aureus of Claudius
Date: AD 46-47
Obverse: Laureate head of Claudius; words reading ‘Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus, pontifex maximus, in his sixth year of tribunician power, hailed as victorious commander 11 times’,
Reverse: Triumphal arch surmounted by an equestrian statue betweem two trophies; words reading ‘Over Britain’m
Significance: Celebration of the British triumph.
When was the construction of the triumphal arch completed?
AD 51
What did Claudius do in AD 49, mirroring the action of Augustus?
Took advantage of an archaic ceremony, last used by Augustus, that the extension of the Empire should be mirrored by extending the pomerium.
What inscription has significance relating to Claudius’ AD 49 actions?
The Cippus inscription on the Claudian extension to the pomerium,
Date: AD 49
Location: Southeast of Monte Testaccio in Rome,
Significance: Formal commemoration of Claudius’ right to extend Rome’s sacred boundary.
What continued through AD 50?
In AD 50, after a series of further battles, Caratacus was captured and brought to Rome as a prisoner. The British invasion, thus, had achieved more than even Claudius could have hoped: a solid military campaign, carried out efficiently, resulting in opportunities for political praise.
What is a key criticism of Claudius’ reign?
The role ascribed, by Claudius, to, and the treatment of, his wives and freedmen. Suetonius (Claudius 25) gives the standard view of the imperial court:
‘One might say that everythin Claudius did throughout his reign was dictated by his wives and freedmen: he practically always obeyed their whims rather than his own judgement.’
Dio (RH 60.17.8) also supports this view.
What is the general consensus of the freedmen and wives in the sources?
The sources’ opinions are almost universally negative: they were perceived as being the real powers behind the throne, accruing enormous importance and wealth (Pliny the Elder, NH 33.134) and promoting themselves well above their perceived station. In a principate which started with a rift between princeps and senate, this meant that the wound never healed.
What role did Claudius give his freedmen?
- Claudius recognised that the demands of running an empire exceeded the capacities of one man. He, thus, utilised his freedmen effectively as a civil service: an imperial secretariat,
- He did not create this bureaucratic body but he did institutionalise it.
Who are the three highlighted freedmen of importance?
- Callistus - who was in charge of petitions,
- Narcissus - Chief secretary, in charge of correspondence,
- Pallas - treasurer and chief accountant.
What does Dio write the freedmen of doing to accrue their wealth?
The senate had great resentment at the wealth the freedmen garnered, Dio states was partly due to their ‘offering for sale and peddling not merely citizenships and military commands and procuratorships and provincial governorships, but everything else as well.’ (RH 60.17.8)
What most damning action does Suetonius write the freedmen of carrying out?
Suetonius (Claudius 29) lists a series of Claudius’ actions carried out at the behest of his freedmen, though the most telling is the execution of thirty-five senators and 300 equites.
What do Tacitus and Pliny the Younger record of contemporary Senate interaction with the freedmen?
- The contemporary senate did not seem averse to courting the favour of the freedmen,
- Both sources record that the Senate authorised a bronze statue of Pallas on 23rd January AD 52.
How effective were the freedmen administration?
- This imperial secretariat was created to make up for the shortcomings of the senate,
- The Claudian administration was incredibly effective, characterised by long-term planning and an overhaul of fundamental infrastructures in which the freedmen must have played a role,
- The criticisms of the Senate about the greed of the freedmen are rather hypocritical.
Who were Claudius’ first wives? How much political significance did they have?
- First two marriages were to Plautia Urgulanilla and then Aelia Paetina,
- In his marriage to Paetina he had a daughter, Claudia Antonia,
- Both marriages were of little political significance.
Who was Claudius third wife?
Valeria Messalina, C. AD 20-48. The third wife of Claudius and seen as a negative influence upon him. Her excess was notorious at Rome, although the sources suggest that Claudius himself was oblivious to it.
How politically significant was Valeria Messalina, as wife to Claudius?
- Produced two children: Claudia Octavia, and Tiberius Claudius (later renamed Britannicus),
- Messalina was a cause of humiliation and discord for Claudius, according to our sources. Her name became a byword for sexual excess (e.g. Dio 60.17.8-18.4),
- Suetonius mentions her ‘disgraceful crimes’ and her affairs, while the satirist Juvenal delights in cataloguing her numerous adulteries.
How does Tacitus record the end of Messalina?
Tacitus records an affair with Gaius Silius culminating in their bigamus ‘marriage’ while Claudius is away at Ostia. Tacitus suggests that the pair sought to usurp the imperial position, but are prevented by Narcissus, who informed Claudius of the outrage and then leads soldiers to end the attempted coup. Messalina was executed. Although she was not mourned, she had to be replaced.
What happened in the selection of a new wife? and who was eventually chosen?
- Each freedman suggested their own candidate: Tacitus declares that this ‘wretched apart the princeps’ household.’,
- The woman eventually chosen was Pallas’ candidate, Agrippina the Younger, Claudius’ own niece,
- Agrippina had distinct advantages - blood relative of Augustus, daughter of Germanicus, and with a young son who was also a Julian. Thus, her name held powerful political association.
Who was Agrippina the younger?
AD 15-59
Niece and fourth wife of Claudius, mother of the emperor Nero and arguably the most overtly political women of the period.
What was the major influence of Agrippina at court?
- Her key influence was the promotion of her son ahead of the princeps’ own son Britannicus (Annals, 12.25-6),
- The precedence that Claudius gave him on his adoption in AD 50 (Tacitus, Annals 12.4), when he changed his name to Nero to reflect his entry into the Claudian family, showed how much influence Agrippina now exerted at court.
Who was Nero?
Born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, living AD 37-68. Nero was the son of Agrippina the Younger, adopted by Claudius in AD 50, taking the name Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. Roman emperor from 54 - 68.
What showed factionalism within the imperial court?
- In AD 54, Claudius began to hint that he was growing tired of Agrippina’s activities,
- Narcissus also seems to have actively opposed Agrippina and her promotion of Nero (Annals 12.65), highlighting the factionalism within the imperial court.
What do Suetonius and Tacitus allege Agrippina was involved in?
- Agrippina’s concern over Claudius’ possible reprisals led to an acceleration in her actions, suggesting that her relationship with Claudius was designed solely to promote Nero as successor,
- (Annals, 12.66-67; Claudius 44-45) allege Agrippina’s involvement in poisoning Claudius.
What are generally considered to be the positives of Claudius’ reign?
- Characterised by a distinct focus on administration and infrastructure (e.g Suetonius, Claudius 18; Dio 60.61-7.4),
- Healthy understanding of the value that the Romans placed on traditionalism (Claudius 22).
What early problem faced Claudius’ administration?
Upon Claudius’ accession there was only seven/eight days’ food supply remaining (Seneca, On the Shortness of Life 18.5-6).
The deprivations and excesses of Gaius had virtually bankrupted Rome, as he had squandered the fortune of 2,700 million sesterces Tiberius had left within a year.
What inscription shows Claudius’ focus on the day-to-day necessities of urban life?
Inscription from Claudius’ harbour
Date: AD 46
Location: Ostia
Significance: Commemoration of Claudius’ construction of the new harbour at Ostia.
What coinage commemorates Claudius’ response to the food shortage?
The Dupondius of Claudius
Date: Uncertain
Obverse: Head of Claudius; words reading ‘Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus, pontifex maximus, with tribunician power, hailed as victorious commander’
Reverse: Ceres, veiled and draped, sitting on an ornamental throne, holding two ears of corn in her right hand and long torch in her left; words reading ‘Augusta Ceres (goddess of corn) SC (by decree of the senate)’
What inscription tells us of the administration of Ostia?
Inscription on the Freedman Procurator of Ostia
Date: unknown
Location: Ostia
Significance: A short inscription that reiterates Claudius’ use of his imperial freedmen to oversee key areas of administration. Again reinforcing the significance of this project, as he wished to oversee the harbour directly through his de-facto civil service.
When was the construction of the Ostia harbour finished? What does this tell us of Claudius? What else did he do that supports this?
- The project wasn’t finished until perhaps AD 64, but it reinforces Claudius’ long-term planning and his desire to ensure that Rome was well-supplied beyond his reign,
- A similar strategy is shown in Claudius’ completion of Gaius’ aqueducts Anio Novus and Aqua Claudia (Pliny the Elder, NH 36.122-123). These almost doubled Rome’s supply, bringing water to all fourteen Augustan districts
What other project did Claudius attempt?
- Attempted to develop the Fucine lake area as an agricultural hot-spot,
- According to Tacitus this was carelessly completed,
- Pliny the Elder (NH 36.124) is far more positive,
- Suetonius (Clau 20) is impressed by the sheer scale of the works, using some 30,000 men, which shows the organisation capacity of Claudius’ administration.
Other than construction, what did Claudius turn his attention to? what did do in this department?
- The legal system,
- He frequently judged cases himself (Claudius, 14),
- The sources show this in a negative light: an unhealthy passion for judgement, his unpredicatability is most remarked upon which brought widespread contempt,
- However, Suetonius was biased against Claudius, easily exploiting his concern for law and legal procedure to demonstrate his ‘tyrannical zeal’.
What other role did Claudius hold?
- Claudius was censor, a magistrate responsible for updating and maintaining the census of Roman citizens, a position that Suetonius notes had lapsed for 34 years,
- Emphatically recollects the reign of Augustus, who used the lustra as a means of demonstrating the prosperity of Rome under the Augustan settlement (RG 8.2-4).
What results were gathered from Claudius’ census?
AD 48, that 5,984,072 citizens were registered under his lustrum, a notable increase from Augustus’ final quota of 4,937,000 in AD 14.
What proposal did Claudius make to change the senate?
Wanted to admit Gauls to the senate (Tacitus, Annals 11.24), this had several advantages.
What advantages were there to admitting Gauls to the senate?
- It introduced new blood into a Senate no longer fit for purpose,
- It made the Senate a more representative body for the wider empire,
- It reaffirmed the princeps’ willingness to continue to work alongside the Senate.
What do the sources say of the Senate’s relationship with Claudius?
- It is argued, overall, that the Senate had a poor relationship with Claudius,
- The sources suggest sufficient aspects to his governance that could have led to objections from the Senate,
- The sources give little evidence, however, of formal opposition.
What privilege was extended to the equestrians by Claudius?
The right to admission to the imperial presence.
What allegation seems to imply rocky relations between Claudius and the equestrians?
- The 300 executed equestrians,
- Vague anecdotes from Suetonius; seems the class wasn’t entirely favoured by Claudius and his administration.
What did Claudius do to win over the plebs?
- Secured grain and water supplies; popular measures,
- Lavished largesse and entertainment upon the people (Suetonius, Claudius 21).
What showed Claudius popularity with the plebs?
Clear from a rumour, as attested by Suetonius, of public dismay when he was reported to have been killed on the Ostia road (Cl 12). This affection from the people was a natural result of the degree of care and patronage that he had extended to the city and the people.
