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CLAUDIUS [TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NE...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 465 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLAUDIUS [TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS See also:DRUSUS See also:NERO GERMANICUS] , See also:Roman See also:emperor A.D. 41-54, son of Drusus and Antonia, See also:nephew of the emperor Tiberius, and See also:grandson of Livia, the wife of See also:Augustus, was See also:born at Lugdunum (See also:Lyons) on the 1st of See also:August 10 B.C. During his boyhood he was treated with contempt, owing to his weak and timid See also:character and his natural infirmities; the fact that he was regarded as little better than an See also:imbecile saved him from See also:death at the hands of Caligula. He chiefly devoted himself to literature, especially See also:history, and until his See also:accession he took no real See also:part in public affairs, though Caligula honoured him with the dignity of See also:consul. He was four times married: to Plautia Urgulanilla, whom he divorced because he suspected her of designs against his See also:life; to Aelia Petina, also divorced; to the infamous See also:Valeria See also:Messallina (q.v.); and to his niece See also:Agrippina. In A.D. 41, on the See also:murder of Caligula, Claudius was seized by the See also:praetorians, and declared emperor. The See also:senate, which had entertained the See also:idea of restoring the See also:republic, was obliged to acquiesce. One of Claudius's first acts was to proclaim an See also:amnesty for all except See also:Cassius Chaerea, the See also:assassin of his predecessor, and one or two others. After the See also:discovery of a See also:conspiracy against his life in 42, he See also:fell completely under the See also:influence of Messallina and his favourite freedmen See also:Pallas and See also:Narcissus, who must be held responsible for acts of See also:cruelty which have brought undeserved odium upon the emperor. There is no doubt that Claudius was a liberal-minded See also:man of kindly nature, anxious for the welfare of his See also:people. Humane regulations were made in regard to freedmen, slaves, widows and orphans; the See also:police See also:system was admirably organized ; See also:commerce was put on a See also:sound footing; the provinces were governed in a spirit of liberality; the rights of citizens and See also:admission to the senate were extended to communities outside See also:Italy.

The speech of Claudius delivered (in the See also:

year 48) in the senate in support of the See also:petition of the Aeduans that their senators should have the See also:jus petendorum honorum (claim of admission to the senate and magistracies) at See also:Rome has been partly preserved on the fragment of a See also:bronze tablet found at Lyons in 1524; an imperial See also:edict concerning the citizenship of the Anaunians (15th of See also:March 46) was found in the See also:southern See also:Tirol in 1869 (C.I.L. v. 5050). Claudius was especially fond of See also:building. He completed the See also:great See also:aqueduct (Aqua Claudia) begun by Caligula, drained the See also:Locus Fucinus, and built the See also:harbour of See also:Ostia. Nor were his military operations unsuccessful. See also:Mauretania was made a Roman See also:province; the See also:conquest of See also:Britain was begun; his distinguished See also:general Domitius See also:Corbulo (q.v.) gained considerable successes in See also:Germany and the See also:East. The intrigues of Narcissus caused IVIessallina to be put to death by See also:order of Claudius, who took as his See also:fourth wife his niece Agrippina, a woman as criminal as any of her predecessors. She prevailed upon him to set aside his own son See also:Britannicus in favour of Nero, her son by a former See also:marriage; and in 54, to make Nero's position secure, she put the emperor to death by See also:poison. The See also:apotheosis of Claudius was the subject of a See also:lampoon by See also:Seneca called apokolokyntosis, the " pumpkinification " of Claudius. Claudius was a prolific writer, chiefly on history, but his See also:works are lost. He wrote (in See also:Greek) a history of See also:Carthage and a history of See also:Etruria: (in Latin) a history of Rome from the death of See also:Caesar, an autobiography, and an See also:essay in See also:defence of See also:Cicero against the attacks of Asinius See also:Gallus. He also introduced three new letters into the Latin See also:alphabet: J for the consonantal V, ) for BS and PS, F for the intermediate sound between I and U.

End of Article: CLAUDIUS [TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO GERMANICUS]

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