Rome: Claudius

Question 1

Evidence Claudius tried to have a good relationship with the senate

Answer 1

1. Returned Achaea and Macedonia in 44AD plus the right to mint coins
2. 52AD records senate members dedicating a bronze statue to him (Tacitus and Pliny) and 41AD issues a statement saying he will not be worshipped as a god
3. “Advised individuals concerned to consider their own case and apply for permission to renounce senatorial rank” Tacitus

Question 2

Evidence Claudius had a bad relationship with the senate

Answer 2

1. Suetonius 25 “everything he did was dictated by his wives and freedmen”
2. Dio Cassius 60.17.8 “offering for sale and peddling not merely citizenships and military commands and procuratorships and provincial governments but everything else as well”
3. Suetonius 29 “The senate resented the imperial bureaucracy and the freedmen who took on many jobs which had previously been the senate’s”

Question 3

Suetonius 15

Answer 3

“promised every man 15,000 sesterces, which made him the first of the Caesars to purchase the loyalty of his troops”

Question 4

What made Agrippina a strong candidate for Empress?

Answer 4

1. Messalina had been executed for infidelity and plans to overthrow Claudius
2. Agrippina was the granddaughter of the deified Augustus, making her loyal to the principate and had a son who could be heir
3. She had many political connections, such as her father being Germanicus (loyalty from troops)

Question 5

Suetonius Claudius 36

Answer 5

“Nor did Messalina’s insulting behaviour destroy ay of the extravagant love her bore her so much as terror that she planned to over power her lover”

Question 6

Tacitus on the Gauls of the Senate

Answer 6

“nobles who had long standing treaties with Rome were granted senatorial privileges”

Question 7

Suetonius 18 (and why is it important)

Answer 7

“Once, after a series of droughts had caused a scarcity of grain, a mob stopped Claudius [..] pelted him so hard with curses and stale crusts [..] he took all possible steps to import grain, even during winter months- insuring merchants against the loss of their ships”

• senators had been murdered over this before

Question 8

Evidence Claudius had a good relationship with the plebeians

Answer 8

1. Build aqueducts, roads and began port Ostia, Suetonius mentions while he was away a rumour he had died spread and there was widespread sadness
2. 44AD Britain military campaign
3. Suetonius 18 (see flashcard)

Question 9

To what extent was there discontentment in Claudius’s reign

Answer 9

1. Senate declares republic 48 hours after Gaius’s murder
2. Suetonius 25 and Dio Cassius 60.17.8
3. Names 7th and 11th legions “loyal”, “Claudian”, “patriotic” for not revolting

Question 10

To what extent was there contentment in Claudius’s reign

Answer 10

1. Claudius grants the senate and Praetorian guards pardons despite the actions after Gaius’s murder
2. 43AD-54AD British campaign, attempted by Caesar and is known as “expander of the empire”
3. Revolt of Vinician, Suetonius 17 “of no great importance”