Claudius (10 B.C - 54 A.D)As the successor to his crazy nephew, everyone thought this partially lame and partially deaf man was unfit to rule (his condition probably due to cystic fibrosis). In his youth, his talents for writing histories were recognized, as his family finally got over his condition and thus he was tutored by the famous historian, Livy. As such, he wrote a history of Rome, Carthage, and of the Etruscans. He was not exactly nice to his family (since they didn't treat him well) and was critical of Augustus. This led to him being "disowned". He never expected to be emperor, but then again, he was less crazy than his nephew. He proved to be an effective leader, but not exactly the most secure emperor. The reason why he is remembered as a weak and incapable leader was due to his actions against the senate (with historians like Tacitus not exactly happy with that cough cough...). His writings are now lost. He was believed to be one of the last people to be fluent in Etruscan and he was fluent in Punic as well (probably another reason why he was hated by his family, but let the haters hate!). He died mysteriously, but was rumored to have been poisoned by his own wife!
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Basic Info |
Full Name:
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus Born: 1 August 10 BC | Lugdunum, Gaul Died: 13 October 54 AD (aged 63) | Rome, Italy |
Writings |
" Claudius wrote histories of the Etruscans and Carthaginians, a Roman history beginning with the death of Caesar but focusing on Augustus’ principate, a defense of Cicero against Asinius Gallus (son of Asinius Pollio), and a grammatical work which proposed to introduce three new letters into the Latin alphabet."
- From Ketan's Ludicriously Comprehensive Outline of Latin Literature Claudius was also famous for his oratory (surprising to his hating family) Fragments of his speech in Latin: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/claud.inscr.html |