Y12 Ancient History Roman/Julio-Claudian Points Test 10 - Claudius Accession

Question 1

1. What was Claudius’ childhood and young adulthood like? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 1

• Although Claudius’ physical problems (he may have suffered from polio as a child) made him awkward and unstable on his feet, he was certainly not the fool which many of the ancient sources indicated.
• He was made aware of his inferiority growing up within the imperial family and so he devoted time to his studies.
• He spoke and wrote in Greek and became increasingly interested in history, which he studied under the guidance of the great Livy.
• He began a history of Rome while still a boy.
• When Claudius took the toga virilise, the garb of manhood, aged 14 in 5-6AD, it occurred at night (usually occurred in the day with his father).
• In the same year, 6AD, when Germanicus and Claudius presided over games in honour of their late father, Claudius appeared swathed in a pallium, the enveloping and concealing dress of an invalid.
• He was aware of his public persona as an object of curiosity and derision.
• It was the sensitivity of Romans to matters of decorum (appearance, bearing, dress and speech) that made his family hesitant to let him appear in public.
• By his early twenties, Claudius was forced to see that he had no serious part to play in public life, being only exposed to honours and priesthoods, while his family did their utmost to keep him out of public view.

Question 2

2. How did Augustus and other members of the Julio-Claudian/Imperial/Principate family think of Claudius in his youth? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 2

• Augustus and Livia were concerned about his future. Suetonius quotes Augustus in a letter to his wife, outlining his worries…
“The question is whether he had – shall I say? – full command of his five senses. If so I see nothing against sending him through the same degrees of office as his brother; the public…must not be given a chance of laughing at him or at us. I fear that we shall find ourselves in constant trouble if the question of his fitness to officiate in this or that capacity keeps cropping up. We should therefore decide in advance whether he can or cannot be trusted with offices of state generally.” (Suetonius, Claudius, 4).
• Claudius remained relatively obscure at court and it has been suggested that he survived the conspiracies and intrigues by playing the fool.
• A further letter from Augustus to Livia expresses surprise at Claudius’ ability to make a public speech…
“I’ll be damned if your grandson Tiberius Claudius hasn’t given me a pleasant surprise! How on earth anyone who talks so confusedly can nevertheless speak so well in public – with such clearness, saying all that needs to be said – I simply do not understand.” (Suetonius, Claudius, 4).

Question 3

3. What evidence was there that Claudius wasn’t entirely unsuitable/unprepared to become emperor, prior to his accession? (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 3

• However, he did hold several official positions under Augustus, Tiberius and Gaius. He presided at Games, was given a seat in the college of Augurs and the insignia of consul, and was made a college with Gaius in the consulship.
• He was therefore not totally without ability when he was thrust into the position of emperor, and on assuming power, he made every effort to associate himself with the Julian house and to appeal to all groups in Roman society.

Question 4

4. Describe Claudius’ physical traits/appearance (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 4

• It is likely in Levick’s view that Claudius suffered from cerebal palsy.
• Suetonius insisted that when standing or seated Claudius was a figure of dignity, and Seneca admits he was well-built: there was no question of deformity.
• Dio says ‘his head and hands shook slightly’, he dragged his right leg, and his being forced to learn to write with his left hand may have contributed to his stammer.

Question 5

5. Describe Claudius’ mental state and health, as reported by the primary sources (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 5

• His emotional and mental state was much commented upon, but he was no fool. He had a rash temper, as he even admitted to the people of Ostia in a court edict.
• It could be that Claudius suffered from depression too, and the psychological effects of physical frustration, for not having his body at his command.
• This he openly intimated to the Senate in 48AD, when he (quite irrelevantly) attacked the memory of a man forced to suicide for treachery ‘as a prodigy of the wrestling ring.’

Question 6

6. Describe Claudius’ education and intellectualism prior to becoming emperor, as reported by the primary sources (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 6

• Claudius was very well educated (literature, rhetoric, music, mathematics, and jurisprudence).
• He could speak very well as long as he kept to a prepared text, especially when seated.
• In his written speeches his style shows, as Bardon put it, more exact study that style.
• His interest in history led him to write several major works. In Greek, the language of scholarship, he wrote 20 books of Etruscan History and x8 of Carthaginian History.
• Though encouraged by Livy to write a History of Rome, as this was politically dangerous (he being a grandson of Marc Antony) he may have been diverted away from this.
• He was also interested in medicine: during the censorship of 47/48 he issued an edict of yew in the treatment of snake-bite.

Question 7

7. Describe Claudius’ accession, especially the role of the Praetorian Guard (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 7

• The murder of Gaius on 24th January 41 was unprecedented, but established assassination as a viable political tool.
• It also caused a constitutional crisis. After the death of a Princeps without an heir, the question was ‘Now what?’.
• The key sources for Claudius’ accession are Suetonius (Claudius, 10-11), Dio (60.3.1-7) and Josephus (19.158-64, 227-36, 254-62).
• Perhaps the most striking aspect is that, in the initial stages at least, the man himself did not play an active role.
• Suetonius (Claudius, 10) calls Claudius’ accession ‘an extraordinary accident’. While the sources disagree on the location, all agree that Claudius was discovered hiding after Gaius’ assassination.
• The PG discovered him, the significance of which cannot be overstated.
• Claudius was supposedly found hiding in the palace by some PGs.
• They carried him off to their barracks, where he was pressed to accept imperial power from them.
• This was the first time – but was not to be the last – that the Praetorian Guard interfered in the succession and that the position of emperor was ‘bought’ in the PG camp.
• Suetonius also recalls that once Claudius decided to accept the Principate, ‘he promised every praetorian guard 15,000 sesterces, which made him the first of the Caesars to purchase the loyalty of his troops.’
• After his initial fear, and encouraged by his friend Herod Agrippa, he accepted the position of emperor and bound himself to the PG by a donative of 15,000 secterces each. He never forgot his debt to the Praetorians, and repeated this payment annually.
• The commemoration of this event on Claudius’ coinage ensured that it would not be forgotten, and reinforced his reliance on the loyalty of the military.
• On the aureus of Claudius from AD41-5, Claudius is shown as receiving a praetorian guardsman, the implication being to emphasise less the fact that they proclaimed him emperor, though this is arguably unconvincing.

Question 8

8. Describe how the Senate initially reacted to Gaius’ assassination (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 8

• Dio (60.1.1) records ‘how many different views were expressed’. Some advocated a return to the republic. Others continued the idea of a Principate, with different factions suggesting their own candidates.
• Not the least of these was Vinicianus, betraying his motivation for plotting Gaius’ assassination.
• The lack of unity and agreement within the senatorial body is striking and supports the Tiberian assertion that they were ‘men fit to be slaves’ (3.65 of Annals).
• Faced with the PG’s action, the senate had little choice but to agree. Josephus 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).
• Despite the Senate’s bravado (19.230) it is clear that they actually had little influence.

Question 9

9. Describe how the Senate initially resisted Claudius’ accession, and why this failed (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 9

• The senate didn’t have the PG’s 9 cohorts, but they did have the x3 urban cohorts, 1,500 men, and the funds of the state and military treasuries.
• Two tribunes were sent to warn Claudius against attempting a violent coup, to lecture him on obedience to the senate, and according to Suetonius to request his presence to put across his point of view. (the plan being to kill him on arrival).
• Claudius sent back a diplomatic answer; he was forcibly detained in the barracks and not free to attend.
• The tribunes, browbeaten, made a vital concession on their knees that he should at least accept the Principate from the hands of his peers.
• On the 2nd day, the Senate met, but Claudius’ intransigence and the wavering of the urban cohorts meant that they began to discuss not a republic but a rival choice of princeps.
• The senate in particular must have recognised that the army, for so long the guarantee of the power of the princeps, was now the real political force in the Roman world.
• Indeed this moment more than any other highlights that the Senate was now a spent force: the military effectively settled the matter of the succession while the senate dithered.

Question 10

10. Describe what measures Claudius took after his accession to win support from the Senate (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 10

• After two days of uncertainty, Claudius was established as princeps.
• He swiftly obliterated the records that a new constitution had been considered during these 48 hours (Suetonius, Claudius 11) and established a general amnesty.
• This was sensible, but was also designed to convey immediately his avoidance of tyrannical attitudes.
• For the nobility, Claudius paid them respect, broke off all treason trials, did not prosecute senators involved in the murder of Gaius, recalled exiles, promised immunity for those who had advocated a return to republicanism.
• Claudius tried to present himself as returning to the model of Augustus.
• This is seen particularly in his attitude to the imperial cult, as exemplified in his letter to the Alexandrians in 41 where he rejects the notion that he should be worshipped as a God.
• We may suggest that this was a sound policy for an emperor keen to reinforce his parity with the senate, even though the circumstances of his accession made clear this was a façade.

Question 11

11. Describe what measures Claudius took after his accession to win support from the army and plebeians (any relevant point for 3 marks).

Answer 11

• For the PG/Army, the PG got their annual donative, he embarked on an aggressive military policy in Mauretania and Britain, chose capable generals, had a well-disciplined army, and increased morale.
For the people, Claudius gave plenty of gladiatorial shows and games, he celebrated the Secular Games only 47 years after Augustus, and achieved the triumph of the Britain campaign.

Question 12

12. Describe why the nature of his accession meant that Claudius would cast a shadow over his reign (any relevant point for 2 marks).

Answer 12

• Nevertheless, although Claudius may have wished for an era of moderation, the circumstances of his accession cast a shadow over his entire reign.
• His military backing put an end to the notion that the princeps was a first amongst equals.