Claudius - Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Tiberius Claudius Drusus) Son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia; Brother of Germanicus and Livilla; Husband of Plautia Urgulanilla, Aelia Paetina, Valeria Messalina and Agrippina Junior; Father of Britanicus, Claudia Octavia and Claudia Antonia; Granduncle and Adoptive step-father of Nero.

Mints: Caesarea Cappadociae, Ephesus, Lugdunum, Pergamum, Rome.

Biography: Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus was a nephew of Tiberius. As a perennially sick young man, and clearly heterosexual, he was looked down upon by his more active relatives. After Caligula was assassinated however, the praetorians acclaimed him as emperor and the Senate, after an initial hesitation, acquiesced. The manner of his election was an important step toward increasing the say of the praetorian corps in imperial affairs, and Claudius duly acknowledged in commemorating their role on his coins. Many did not agree with the guards' choice, and throughout his reign Claudius had to suppress seven conspiracies, beginning with an abortive revolt by the governor of Dalmatia, Scribonianus, in 42, often with bloody reprisals. His foreign policy was aggressive and on the general successful. Britain was invaded and conquered between 43 and 47; two client kingdoms in Thrace were annexed to Rome as a province, the fleet was reorganized, and the military cursus honorum was overhauled. Highly educated, in all his actions Claudius demonstrated the capacity of a good administrator. Domestically, he increased the coherence and integration of the Empire with introducing provincial families to the Senatorial class, sought to quell the bloody disputes between Greeks and Jews in Egypt, and enhance the prestige and impartiality of the imperial courts of justice. He died in 54, sixty-four years old, perhaps not without the help of his fourth wife, Agrippina, or her seventeen-year old son of a prior marriage, Nero. The official version is that he ate poisonous mushrooms.

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