Who: Claudius
Sources used:
Ancient history source booklet- The Julio-Claudians & Agrippina II (pages 64-79)
Antiquity 2, chapter 9- Augustus and the Julio-Claudians (pages 176-300)
Notes:
• Son of Antonia and Druses
• Reported with some type of disability, and was excluded from the public office until his consulship
• He studied the work of Caesar and Augustus and understood the nature of the participate
• Declared emperor after Caligula’s assassination
• Lack of political experience
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From my brief overview of reading I have found that he seems to not be a despot, as he was popular throughout his rule, even though he did not have a lot of political experience at the beginning. He was an able administrator, and took an active interest in all areas of the government.
Claudius continued in expanding the empire and created a permanent imperial bureaucracy and enabled freedmen to act as heads of various departments, as he sees them as able and efficient. Ancient sources do however show disapproval of the use of freemen in the bureaucracy, and senators were seen to resent the power of the freedmen.
Sources also reveal that Claudius was aware that his political future was not entirely secure.
Claudius rule appeared to mark a period of relative stability and peace in the empire, from what I have gathered from the sources read.
Tacitus and Suetonius- saw Claudius as a paranoid person that was easily manipulated by his wives and freedmen.
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Maintenance and consolidation of the empire
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