Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Emperor Claudius

Starting point is 00:00:00 Tiberius, Claudius Caesar Augustus Dramanicus, known to history as simply Claudius, was the fourth emperor of Rome. Of the emperors that came before him, and all those who came after him, he was the most unlikely of emperors. Up until the moment he became emperor, no one during his entire life seriously thought of him as emperor material. And when he became emperor, he surprised everyone. Learn more about Emperor Claudius and a surprising rise to power on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story

Starting point is 00:00:50 that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Claudius was born Tiberius Claudius Drususus in the year 10 BC into the the Roman imperial family. His father was Drusus, an extremely competent and popular commander. Drusus gained fame by fighting Germanic tribes in the north. Drusis may have been one of only four Roman generals in history to have achieved its greatest and rarest military honor, the Spolia Opima.

Starting point is 00:01:30 The Spolia Opima was only awarded to a general who defeated another enemy general in single combat and then looted their armor and weapons. Drusus was the son of Livia and her first husband, Tyberius Claudius Nero. When Livia married Augustus, Augustus adopted Drus and his brother, and future emperor, Tiberius. On Claudius's mother's side, he also had an impeccable pedigree. His mother was Antonia Minor, the youngest daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, the sister of Augustus. Despite being a member of the imperial family, Claudius was not like his other relatives. For his entire life, Claudius was shunned, ostracized, and ridiculed by his own family. And the reason for this was that Claudius was what we would call today disabled.

Starting point is 00:02:14 We aren't exactly sure what ailment inflicted Claudius, as the Romans were not very good at diagnosing such things. From what historians tell us, his knees were weak, he would walk with a limp, his head would often shake from side to side, and he would stammer when he talked, sometimes appearing confused. If he became angry or agitated, which he often did, his condition would worsen, slobbering with a runny nose. And at top of all that, he was hard of hearing. By all accounts, he had no visible physical deformities, however. Subsequent historians have tried to diagnose what afflicted Claudius.

Starting point is 00:02:47 A popular theory is that he suffered from some illness as a child, perhaps something like polio or measles, which then affected him for the rest of his life. Current theories posit that he may have had cerebral palsy or Tourette's syndrome. Romans of that time had no empathy or understanding of people with disabilities. In their view, people like Claudius suffered these ailments due to a lack of willpower or intelligence. As such, Claudius was an embarrassment to the imperial family. His father, Drusis, died when he was only two years old. His mother Antonia supposedly described Claudius as, quote, a monstrosity of a human being, one that nature began and never finished. His sister,

Starting point is 00:03:26 Lovilla, reportedly prayed to the gods that Claudius would never become emperor. His mother basically abandoned raising Claudius and passed him off to his grandmother Livia. She was only marginally better. They eventually hired him. a mule driver to look after him under the theory that he just needed discipline. His family assumed that because of his physical ailments, Claudius must have been stupid. As we will see, Claudius was actually anything but. All of the other young men in the imperial family were given civil or military assignments to prepare them for a future career in politics.

Starting point is 00:04:01 Claudius was not. As a teenager, Claudius took an interest in history, and the Roman historian Livy was actually hired to tutor him. He befriended the stoic philosopher Athena Doris, as well as the future king of Judea, Herod Agrippa, who was raised in the imperial court. Not only was Claudius not an idiot, he proved to be highly intelligent, something that his grandfather, the Emperor Augustus, may have realized just before he died. With an ability to focus on history and not having any other obligations,

Starting point is 00:04:29 he began to write a history of the Roman civil wars that took place a generation before him. These were the civil wars that brought his family to power. What Claudius wrote never saw the light of day and copies of it never survived, but by all accounts, what he wrote was a brutally honest account of the rise to power of Julius Caesar and Augustus. It was, in fact, too honest. It didn't conform to the narrative that the imperial family was trying to create, and it reminded everyone in the family that Claudius was also the grandson of Mark Antony, the mortal enemy of Augustus. The history he wrote probably ruined whatever chances he had of holding public office. At the age of 23, Augustus died, and his uncle Tiberius ascended to the imperial throne. Claudius made an appeal to allow him to begin ascending the Cursus honorum, the series of public offices that elite Romans would hold on the way to becoming consul.

Starting point is 00:05:19 Tiberius declined to give Claudius any office, and Claudius retired to private life. He continued his historical writings, writing works on the history of the Latin alphabet, Carthage, the Etruscans, and the Roman Republic. The historian Tacitus claimed to have used the works of Claudius for his writing. Meanwhile, the political intrigue that surrounded the imperial throne swirled around Claudius, but he remained immune to everything, as no one saw Claudius as a threat. Claudius's older brother Germanicus was eventually tapped to succeed Tiberius. Dramatic was very charismatic, a successful general, and was extremely popular with the people.

Starting point is 00:05:56 He was killed under suspicious circumstances, probably poisoned. Many people believe that Tiberius had him killed because of his popularity, or it may have been his right-hand man, Sejanus who did it to remove arrival. And I'll refer to you my episode on Sejanus and is very sudden and dramatic downfall. Tiberius' son Drusus also died under mysterious circumstances. When Tiberius himself died in the year 37, the imperial crown passed down to Tiberius' nephew, the son of Dramanicus and the nephew of Claudius, Caligula. If you know anything about Caligula, you know that he is widely regarded as one of the worst emperors in history. Caligula will be the subject of a future episode, as there's a lot to say about him, and there have been

Starting point is 00:06:38 modern attempts to reconsider just how bad of an emperor he really was. But with respect to Claudius, however, Caligula offered him a new opportunity to enter public life. In the year 37, Caligula appointed himself as consul, and Claudius as his co-consul. In theory, it was to honor his father and Claudius's brother Germanicus, but it may just have been to mock Claudius. Throughout the reign of Caligula, he tormented Claudius. He picked on him, played jokes on him, and humiliated him in front of the Senate. Claudius, in many ways, served the role of a court jester. As terrible as Caligula was to Claudius, he was pretty terrible to everyone around him.

Starting point is 00:07:18 It eventually caught up with him on January 24th in the year 41 when he was assassinated by members of his Praetorian Guard. They didn't just kill Caligula. They also killed his wife and his daughter, and several other high-ranking Romans. Claudius was witness to much of it, and fearing that they may be able to be be looking to wipe out the entire imperial family, Claudius hid in the royal palace. According to legend, the Praetorian guards found him hiding behind a curtain. And upon finding Claudius, they proclaimed him emperor and took him to their camp for protection.

Starting point is 00:07:50 While the Praetorian Guard had proclaimed Claudius as emperor, the rest of the Senate was arguing amongst themselves about who should be emperor. When they had found that the Praetorians had elevated Claudius, it was kind of a done deal. Claudius had the army on his side. The entire affair has been debated by historians for centuries. Was Claudius aware of the assassination plot? Was he actually the one behind it? Did the Pretorian Guard proclaim him emperor because they thought he could be easily manipulated?

Starting point is 00:08:18 We do know that Claudius quickly consolidated his power. He executed some of the top conspirators, but gave a general amnesty to everyone else. He also gave a hefty bonus to the Pretorian Guard. Most surprisingly, many of the physical ailments that Claudius suffered from throughout his entire life, either disappeared or greatly diminished when he became Emperor. Claudius himself later explained that he exaggerated his condition so he would never be considered a threat or put in harm's way. As Emperor, Claudius proved himself to be a very capable administrator. He expanded the empire for the first time in decades since Augustus. Most

Starting point is 00:08:55 famously under his reign, Rome conquered much of the island of Great Britain. He would hear legal cases personally in past judgment. He was responsible for several major public works projects, including the creation of two aqueducts to Rome. He created a new port and ostia for grain shipments from Egypt. He provided insurance for vessels carrying grain to ensure that there was a steady supply in Rome year-round. He reformed the Senate and Roman religious practices. He was extremely fond of gladiatorial games and attended them regularly. He would watch games for hours in rapt detention and would cheer with the rest of the crowd, which was highly unusual for an emperor. Claudius' personal life was pretty much a disaster. He was married four times. His first marriage

Starting point is 00:09:38 ended in divorce when he accused his wife of adultery. His second marriage ended when his wife unexpectedly died on the day of their wedding. His third marriage was to a woman named Messalina. History has not been kind to Messalina. She was reported to have been scheming and manipulative. She was also, and how shall I put it, this to keep the show very family friendly, very, very, very promiscuous. She eventually was married to another man while still married to Claudius, a.k.a. the Roman Emperor. This was seen as a plot to take the throne, and Messalina and her lover were both executed. His final wife was his niece and the daughter of his brother,

Starting point is 00:10:20 Germanicus, Agrippina the Younger. Agrippina had been previously married and had a son by the name of Nero. By all accounts, Agrippina was also manipulative and did what she could to have Nero named as the successor to Claudius. Spoiler alert, she was successful. Claudius ultimately met his demise on October 13th in the year 54 at the age of 63. He had reigned for 13 years. His death was under suspicious circumstances, and some believe that Agrippina poisoned him. According to one story, he died after eating a poisoned mushroom. In another version, the poisoned didn't work, so his doctor, acting under orders from Agrippina, shoved a feather dipped in poison down his throat. Still, other historians think that he died of natural causes. His adopted

Starting point is 00:11:06 son Nero succeeded him as emperor at the age of 16, which, as history shows us, almost never works out. Neuro went down in history as an emperor on a par with Caligula, the pair serving as horrible bookends to the reign of Claudius. Nero had Claudius's only son Britannicus murdered at the age of 13 within a year of taking power. An Nero later killed his own mother, Agrippina, who tried to control him. Claudius was truly a paradox, and unlike any other Roman emperor. He was never trained or prepared to become emperor, yet by all accounts he did a very good job. Despite being a member of the royal family, he was very low brow in his tastes,

Starting point is 00:11:45 enjoying gladiatorial games and gambling, and often cavorted with Paubleans. He was quick to anger, like many emperors, but he also recognized his weakness, and would apologize after his angry outburst. Despite having grown up being ridiculed by his own family about his intelligence, he proved to be the greatest intellectual emperor ever other than perhaps Marcus Aurelius. Most significantly, Claudius was physically disabled and the leader of the world's largest empire, something which simply did not happen at this point in history. In the end, he managed to ascend to the position of emperor by not drawing attention to

Starting point is 00:12:20 himself, and ultimately, hiding behind a curtain. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I just want to thank everyone, including the show's producers, who support the show over on Patreon. If you'd like to support the show, just head over to patreon.com, which is currently the only place where you can get show merchandise. Also, if you want to talk to other listeners about the show, head over to our Facebook group or Discord server, both of which have links in the show notes.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Emperor Claudius

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.