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... las who prevailed when he convinced Claudius to marry Agrippina the Younger. The marriage took place within months of Messalina's execution. Agrippina was a colorful figure with extensive and far-reaching imperial connections: she was the daughter of Claudius's brother, Germanicus, and a sister of Gaius Caligula, by whom she had been exiled for involvement in the conspiracy of Gaetulicus; moreover, she had been married before. She therefore brought to the marriage with Claudius a son, Nero Agrippina's ambitions for this son proved the undoing of Claudius. The years between his marriage to Agrippina in 48 and his death in 54 were difficult ones for Claudius.
Whether or not sources are right to portray him as a dupe of his wives and freedmen throughout his reign, there can be little doubt that Agrippina's powerful personality dominated Claudius's last years. Her position, openly influential in a manner unlike any previous empress, was recognized by those attuned to imperial politics, and she appears more and more prominently in official inscriptions and coins. In 50 the Senate voted her the title 'Augusta, ' the first prominent imperial woman to hold this title since Livia -- and the latter had only held it after Augustus's death. She greeted foreign embassies to the emperor at Rome from her own tribunal, and those greetings were recorded in official documents; she also wore a gold-embroidered military cloak at official functions.
It is a sign of her overt influence that a new colony on the Rhine bore her name. Agrippina's powerful position facilitated the advancement of her son Nero and was, in turn, strengthened by it. Claudius already had a natural son, Britannicus, who was still a minor. Nero, at 13, was three years older. Now Claudius began to advance Nero through various signs of favor, the most important being his adoption as Claudius's son on 25 February AD 50. Henceforth he was known as Nero Claudius Drugs Germanicus Caesar and known to posterity simply as 'Nero'.
But Claudius openly advanced Nero in other ways, too: the emperor held the consulship in 51, which was the year Nero took the 'toga of manhood, ' and that event was itself staged several months before the customary age for Roman teenagers; Nero was granted imperium proconsulate outside the city, addressed the Senate, appeared with Claudius at circus games (while Britannicus appeared still in the toga of a minor), and was hailed as 'Leader of the Youth' (princeps iuventutis) on the coinage; in AD 53 Nero married Claudius's daughter, Octavia. All of these are sure signs of preference in the ever-unstable imperial succession schemes. No matter what the reasons were, there can be little doubt that Nero, despite his tender age, had been clearly marked out as Claudius's successor. Agrippina, according to Tacitus, now decided it was time to dispose of Claudius to allow Nero to take over. The ancient accounts are confused -- as is habitual in the cases of hidden and dubious deaths of emperors -- but their general drift is that Claudius was poisoned with a treated mushroom, that he lingered a while and had to be poisoned a second time before dying on 13 October 54 A. D.
At noon that same day, the sixteen-year-old Nero was acclaimed emperor in a carefully orchestrated piece of political theater. Already familiar to the army and the public, he faced no serious challenges to his authority. Claudius and the Empire The invasion and annexation of Britain was by far the most important and significant event in Claudius's reign. But several other issues deserve attention: his relationship with and treatment of the aristocracy, his management of the provinces and their inhabitants, and his judicial practices, and his building activities. Claudius's relationship with the Senate did not get off to a good start -- given the nature of his succession -- and it seems likely that distrust of the aristocracy is what impelled Claudius to elevate the role of his freedmen.
During his reign, however, Claudius made efforts to conciliate Rome's leading council, but he also embarked on practices that redounded to his detriment, especially those of sponsoring the entrance men considered unworthy into the Order and hearing delicate cases behind closed doors (in camera). 35 senators and several hundred Knights were driven to suicide or executed during the reign. The vilification of Claudius in the aristocratic tradition also bespeaks a deep bitterness and indicates that, ultimately, Claudius's relationship with the Senate showed little improvement over time. His reviving and holding the censorship in 47 - 48 is typical of the way the relationship between Senate and emperor misfired: Claudius, no doubt, thought he was adhering to ancient tradition, but the emperor-censor only succeeded in eliciting odium from those he was assessing. Claudius was remembered (negatively) by tradition as being noticeably profligate in dispensing grants of Roman citizenship to provincials; he also admitted Gauls into the senatorial order, to the displeasure of the snobbish incumbents. Both of these practices demonstrate his concern for fair play and good government for the provinces, despite his largely inactive reign: In the organization of the provinces, Claudius appears to have preferred direct administration over client kingship. Under him the kingdoms of Mauretania, Lycia, Nori cum, and Thrace were converted into provinces.
Stable kingdoms, such as Bosporus and Cilicia, were left untouched. One feature of Claudius's reign that the sources particularly criticize is his handling of judicial matters. While he was certainly diligent in attending to hearings and court proceedings -- he was constantly present in court and heard cases even during family celebrations and festal days -- the sources accuse him of interfering unduly with cases, of not listening to both sides of a case, of making ridiculous and / or savage rulings, and of hearing delicate cases in closed-door private sessions with only his advisors present. Finally, there are Claudius's building activities. Public building was essential for Roman emperors, and ancient accounts of individual reigns routinely include mention of imperial munificence. Matters hydraulic account for Claudius's greatest constructional achievements, in the form of a new aqueduct for the city of Rome, a new port at Posts near Ostia, and the draining of the Fine Lake.
The sources are at pains to highlight the almost catastrophic outcome of the latter project, but its scale cannot be denied. Suetonius's assessment that 'his public works were grandiose and necessary rather than numerous' is entirely correct. Conclusion In addition to his scholarly and cautious nature, he had a cruel streak, as suggested by his addiction to gladiatorial games and his fondness for watching his defeated opponents executed. He conducted closed-door trials of leading citizens that frequently resulted in their ruin or deaths -- an unprecedented and tyrannical pattern of behavior. He had his wife Messalina executed, and he personally presided over a court in the Praetorian Camp in which many of her hangers-on lost their lives. He abandoned his own son Britannicus to his fate and favored the advancement of Nero as his successor.
At the same time, his reign was marked by some notable successes: the invasion of Britain, stability and good government in the provinces, and successful management of client kingdoms. Claudius, then, is a more enigmatic figure than the other Julio-Claudius emperors: at once careful, intelligent, aware and respectful of tradition, but given to bouts of rage and cruelty, willing to sacrifice precedent to expediency, and utterly ruthless in his treatment of those who crossed him. Augustus's suspicion that there was more to the timid Claudius than met the eye was more than fully borne out by the events of his unexpected reign.
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Research essay sample on Hearing Delicate Cases Claudius Relationship With The Senate Nero
