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January 25

January 25

January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 340 days remaining (341 in leap years).

Events

- 41 - After a night of negotiation, Claudius is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Senate.
- 1327 - Edward III becomes King of England.
- 1494 - Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
- 1533 - Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
- 1554 - Foundation of São Paulo city, Brazil.
- 1755 - Moscow University established.
- 1791 - The British Parliament splits the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.
- 1792 - The London Corresponding Society is founded
- 1858 - The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.
- 1881 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
- 1890 - The United Mine Workers of America is founded.
- 1890 - Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
- 1915 - Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service.
- 1917 - The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
- 1919 - The League of Nations is founded.
- 1924 - The 1924 Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
- 1941 - Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
- 1942 - Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
- 1946 - The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
- 1949 - At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.
- 1949 - The first Israeli election -- David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.
- 1960 - The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.
- 1961 - In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
- 1971 - Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
- 1971 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.
- 1971 - Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.
- 1981 - Super Bowl XV: The Oakland Raiders defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10.
- 1986 - The National Resistance Movement topple the government of Tito Okello in Uganda
- 1987 - Super Bowl XXI: The New York Giants beat the Denver Broncos, 39-20.
- 1990 - The Burns' Day storm hits Northwestern Europe.
- 1990 - Honduras becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1993 - Mir Amir Kansi kills two employees outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
- 1995 - The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, is mistaken for a US Trident missile by the Olenegorsk early-warning radar station.
- 1998 - Super Bowl XXXII: The Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-24.
- 1999 - A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
- 2002 - Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software ("Phase II") aka Magnus Manske Day
- 2004 - Opportunity (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
- 2005 - A stampede during a pilgrimage in India kills at least 215.

Births

- 1477 - Anna, Duchess of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France (d. 1514)
- 1509 - Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (d. 1580)
- 1615 - Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (d. 1660)
- 1627 - Robert Boyle, Irish chemist (d. 1691)
- 1634 - Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (d. 1688)
- 1640 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
- 1736 - Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician (d. 1813)
- 1739 - Charles François Dumouriez, French general (d. 1823)
- 1759 - Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
- 1794 - François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (d. 1878)
- 1796 - William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (d. 1852)
- 1825 - George Pickett, American Confederate General (d. 1875)
- 1841 - Jackie Fisher, British First Sea Lord (d. 1920)
- 1858 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954)
- 1860 - Charles Curtis, Vice President of the United States (d. 1936)
- 1874 - William Somerset Maugham, English writer (d. 1965)
- 1878 - Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
- 1882 - Virginia Woolf, English writer (d. 1941)
- 1886 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (d. 1954)
- 1900 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian-American geneticist and biologist (d. 1975)
- 1900 - Yojiro Ishizaka, Japanese writer (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer (d. 1994)
- 1917 - Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
- 1917 - Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician (d. 1992)
- 1918 - Ernie Harwell, baseball sportscaster
- 1919 - Edwin Newman, American journalist and writer
- 1923 - Arvid Carlsson, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1927 - Antonio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian musician (d. 1994)
- 1928 - Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia
- 1931 - Dean Jones, American actor
- 1933 - Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines
- 1936 - Diana Hyland, American actress (d. 1977)
- 1938 - Etta James, American singer
- 1938 - Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian poet, singer, and actor (d. 1980)
- 1941 - Buddy Baker, American race car driver
- 1941 - Gregory Sierra, American actor
- 1942 - Carl Eller, American football player
- 1942 - Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
- 1943 - Tobe Hooper, American film director
- 1944 - Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
- 1947 - Tostão, Brazilian footballer
- 1949 - Paul Nurse, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1951 - Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975)
- 1952 - Timothy White, American journalist (d. 2002
- 1954 - Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer
- 1958 - Dinah Manoff, American actress
- 1969 - Kina, American singer
- 1971 - Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
- 1975 - Tim Montgomery, American athlete
- 1976 - Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress
- 1980 - Christian Olsson, Swedish athlete
- 1981 - Alicia Keys, American singer and musician
- 1984 - Robinho, Brazilian footballer

Deaths

- 477 - Geiseric, King of the Vandals and Alans
- 844 - Pope Gregory IV
- 1067 - Emperor Yingzong of China (b. 1032)
- 1366 - Henry Suso, German mystic
- 1431 - Charles I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364)
- 1494 - King Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
- 1559 - King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (b. 1481)
- 1586 - Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515)
- 1640 - Robert Burton, English scholar (b. 1577)
- 1670 - Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612)
- 1726 - Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1726)
- 1733 - Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London
- 1751 - Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (b. 1675)
- 1881 - Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (b. 1794)
- 1908 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (b. 1850)
- 1908 - Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
- 1925 - Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (b. 1858)
- 1947 - Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
- 1969 - Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1887)
- 1970 - Jane Bathori, French mezzo-soprano (b. 1877)
- 1981 - Adele Astaire, American dancer (b. 1897)
- 1982 - Mikhail Suslov, Soviet politician (b. 1902)
- 1990 - Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
- 1994 - Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (b. 1909)
- 1995 - Cal Jammer, American actor (b. 1960)
- 1996 - Jonathan Larson, American composer (b. 1960)
- 1999 - Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
- 2004 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)
- 2004 - Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
- 2005 - Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923)
- 2005 - William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)
- 2005 - Philip Johnson, American architect (b. 1906)
- 2005 - Ray Peterson, American singer (b. 1935)
- 2005 - Nettie Witziers-Timmer, Dutch athlete (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

- Catholicism and Anglicanism - Conversion of Saint Paul.
- Christian ecumenism — Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ends.
- Burns Night - Burns suppers are held in many parts of the world around this date.
- Tu Bishvat (Jewish holiday, 2005)
- Roman Empire - second day of the Sementivae in honour of Ceres and Terra
- Magnus_Manske_Day - The day in 2002 when Wikipedia switched to the new PHP software ("Phase II")
- Winter-een-mas - An annual celebration of games. Starts on January 25 and ends on January 31.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/25 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/1/25 Today in History: January 25] ---- January 24 - January 26 - December 25 - February 25 — listing of all days ko:1월 25일 ms:25 Januari ja:1月25日 simple:January 25 th:25 มกราคม

January 25

January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 340 days remaining (341 in leap years).

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

Claudius

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (August 1, 10 BC–October 13, 54), previously Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, was the fourth Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24 41 to his death in 54. Born in Lugdunum in Gaul (modern-day Lyon, France), to Drusus and Antonia Minor, he was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy. Claudius was considered a rather unlikely man to become emperor. He was reportedly afflicted with some type of disability, and his family had virtually excluded him from public office until his consulship with his nephew Caligula in 37. This infirmity may have saved him from the fate of many other Roman nobles during the purges of Tiberius and Caligula's reigns. His very survival led to his being declared emperor after Caligula's assassination, at which point he was the last adult male of his family. Despite his lack of political experience, Claudius proved to be an able administrator and a great builder of public works. His reign saw an expansion of the empire, including the conquest of Britain. He took a personal interest in the law, presided at public trials, and issued up to 20 edicts a day. However, he was seen as vulnerable throughout his rule, particularly by the nobility. Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position - resulting in the deaths of many senators and knights. He also suffered tragic setbacks in his personal life, one of which lead to his murder. These things negatively impacted his reputation among the ancient writers. More recent historians have revised this opinion.

Claudius' affliction and personality

The historian Suetonius describes the physical manifestations of Claudius' affliction in detail. His knees were weak and gave way under him and his head shook. He stammered and his speech was confused. He slobbered and his nose ran when excited. The Stoic Seneca states in his [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=40298 Apocolocyntosis] that Claudius' voice belonged to no land animal, and that his hands were weak as well. However, he showed no physical deformity, as Suetonius notes that when calm and seated he was a tall, well-built figure of dignitas. When angered or stressed, his symptoms became worse. Historians agree that this improved upon his accession to the throne. Claudius himself claimed that he had exaggerated his ailments to save his own life. The modern diagnosis has changed several times in the past century. Prior to World War II, infantile paralysis (or polio) was widely accepted as the cause. This is the diagnosis used in Robert Graves' Claudius novels, first published in the 1930s. Polio does not explain many of the comorbidities, however, and a more recent theory implicates cerebral palsy as the cause, as outlined by Ernestine Leon . On the personal front, the ancient historians describe Claudius as generous and lowbrow, a man who cracked lame jokes, laughed uncontrollably, and lunched with the plebs. They also paint him as bloodthirsty, cruel, and very quick to anger. To them he was also overly trusting, and easily manipulated by his wives and freedmen. But at the same time they portray him as paranoid and apathetic, dull and easily confused. The extant works of Claudius present a different view, painting a picture of an intelligent, well-read, conscientious administrator with an eye to detail and justice. Thus, Claudius becomes an enigma. Since the discovery of his "Letter to the Alexandrians" in the last century, much work has been done to rehabilitate Claudius and determine where the truth lies.

Family and early life

Claudius was born Tiberius Claudius Drusus on August 1, 10 BC in Lugdunum, Gaul, on the day of the dedication of an altar to Augustus. He was the third child of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor, the two older children being Germanicus and Livilla. Antonia may have had two other children as well, but both died young. His maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia, Caesar Augustus' sister. His paternal grandparents were Livia, Augustus's third wife, and Tiberius Claudius Nero. During his reign, Claudius revived the rumor that his father Drusus was actually the illegitimate son of Augustus. In 9 BC, his father Drusus unexpectedly died, possibly from an injury. He was then left to be raised by his mother, who never remarried. When Claudius' afflictions became evident, the relationship with his family turned sour. His mother referred to him as a monster, and used him as a standard for stupidity. His grandmother Livia refused to be seen with him. He was put under the care of a "former mule-driver" to keep him disciplined, under the logic that his condition was due to laziness and a lack of will-power. However, by the time he reached his teenaged years his symptoms apparently waned and his family took some notice of his scholarly interests. In AD 7, Livy was hired in to tutor him in history, with the assistance of Sulpicius Flavus. He spent a lot of his time with the latter and the philosopher Athenodorus. Augustus, according to a letter, was surprised at the clarity of Claudius' oratory. Expectations were raised as to his future. AthenodorusIn the end, it was his work as a budding historian that destroyed his early career. According to Vincent Scramuzza and others, Claudius began work on a history of the civil wars that was either too truthful or too critical of Octavian. In either case, it was far too early for such an account, and may have only served to remind Augustus that Claudius was Antony's descendent. His mother and grandmother quickly put a stop to it, and it may have proved to them that Claudius was not fit for public office. He could not be trusted to toe the line. When he returned to the narrative later in life, Claudius skipped over the civil wars of the second triumvirate all together. But the damage was done, and his family pushed him to the background. When the Arch of Pavia was erected to honor the imperial clan in AD 8, Claudius' name (now Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus after his elevation to paterfamilias of Claudii Nerones on the adoption of his brother) was inscribed on the edge — past the deceased princes, Gaius and Lucius, and Germanicus' children. There is some speculation that the inscription was added by Claudius himself decades later, and he originally did not appear at all. When Augustus died in AD 14, Claudius — then 23 — appealed to his uncle Tiberius to allow him to begin the cursus honorum. Tiberius, the new emperor, responded by granting Claudius consular ornaments. Claudius requested office once more and was snubbed. Since the new emperor was not any more generous than the old, Claudius gave up hope of public office and retired to a scholarly, private life. Despite the disdain of the imperial family, it seems that from very early on the general public respected Claudius. At Augustus' death, the equites, or knights, chose Claudius to head their delegation. When his house burned down, the Senate demanded it be rebuilt at public expense. They also requested that Claudius be allowed to debate in the senate. Unfortunately, Tiberius turned down both motions, but the sentiment remained. During the period immediately after the death of Tiberius' son, Drusus, Claudius was pushed by some quarters as a potential heir. This again suggests the political nature of his exclusion from public life. However, as this was also the period during which the power and terror of the Praetorian Sejanus was at its peak, Claudius chose to downplay this possibility. After the death of Tiberius, the new emperor Caligula recognized Claudius to be of some use. He appointed Claudius his co-consul in 37 in order to emphasize the memory of Caligula's deceased father Germanicus. Despite this, Caligula relentlessly tormented his uncle: playing practical jokes, charging him enormous sums of money, humiliating him before the Senate, and the like. According to Cassius Dio, as well a possible surviving portrait, Claudius became very sickly and thin by the end of Caligula's reign — most likely due to the stresses.

Accession as emperor

On January 24, AD 41, Caligula was assassinated by a broad-based conspiracy (including praetorian commander Cassius Chaerea and several Senators). There is no evidence that Claudius had direct hand in either the assassination , although he probably knew about the plot — particularly since he left the scene of the crime shortly before the event. However, after the deaths of Caligula's wife and daughter, it became apparent that Cassius intended to go beyond the terms of the conspiracy and wipe out the imperial family. In the chaos following the murder, Claudius witnessed the German guard cut down several uninvolved noblemen, including friends of his. Concerned for his survival, he fled to the palace to hide himself. According to tradition, a praetorian named Gratus found him hiding behind a curtain and suddenly declared him imperator. Some part of the guard may have planned in advance to seek out Claudius, perhaps with his approval. They reassured him that they were not one of the battalions looking for revenge. He was absconded to the praetorian camp and put in their protection. The Senate quickly met and began debating a change of government, but this eventually devolved into an argument over which of them would be the new Princeps. When they heard of Praetorians' claim, they demanded that Claudius be delivered to them for approval, but he refused, rightly sensing the danger that would come with complying. Some historians, particularly Josephus, claim that Claudius was directed in his actions by the Judean King Herod Agrippa. However, an earlier version of events by the same ancient author downplays Agrippa's role — so it is not known how large a hand he had in things. Eventually the Senate was forced to give in, and, in return, Claudius pardoned nearly all the assassins. Claudius took several steps to legitimize his rule against potential usurpers, most of them emphasizing his place within the Julio-Claudian family. He adopted the name "Caesar" as a cognomen — the name still carried great weight with the populace. In order to do so, he dropped the cognomen "Nero" which he had adopted as paterfamilias of the Claudii Nerones when his brother Germanicus was adopted out. While he had never been adopted by Augustus or his successors, he was the grandson of Octavia, and so felt he had the right. He also adopted the name "Augustus" as the two previous emperors had done at their accessions. He kept the honorific "Germanicus" in order display the connection with his heroic brother. He deified his paternal grandmother Livia in order highlight her position as wife of the divine Augustus. Claudius frequently used the term "filius Drusi" (son of Drusus) in his titles, in order to remind the people of his legendary father and lay claim to his reputation. Because he was proclaimed emperor on the initiative of the Praetorian Guard instead of the Senate — the first emperor thus proclaimed — Claudius's repute suffered at the hands of commentators (such as Seneca). Moreover, he was the first Emperor who resorted to bribery as a means to secure army loyalty. This is not entirely how it seems. Tiberius and Augustus had both left gifts to the army and guard in the wills, and on the death of Caligula the same would have been expected, even if no will existed. Claudius remained grateful to the guard, however, issuing coins with tributes to the praetorians in the early part of his reign.

Expansion of the empire

Under Claudius, the empire underwent its first major expansion since the reign of Augustus. The provinces of Thrace, Mauretania, Noricum, Pamphylia, Lycia, and Judea were annexed during his term. The most important conquest was that of Britannia. In AD 43, Claudius sent Aulus Plautius with 4 legions to Britain after an appeal from an ousted tribal ally. Britain was an attractive target for Rome because of its material wealth — particularly mines and slaves. It was also a safe haven for Gallic rebels and the like, and so could not be left alone much longer. Claudius himself traveled to the island after the completion of initial offenses, bringing with him reinforcements and elephants. The latter must have made an impression on the Britons when they were used in the capture of Camulodunum. He left after 16 days, but remained in the provinces for some time. The Senate granted him a triumph for his efforts, as only members of the imperial family were allowed such honors. Claudius later lifted this restriction for some of his conquering generals. He was granted the honorific "Britannicus" but only accepted it on behalf of his son, never using the title himself. When the British general, Caractacus, was finally captured in 50, Claudius granted him clemency. Caractacus lived out his days on land provided by the Roman state, an unusual end for a enemy commander, but one that must have calmed the British opposition. Claudius conducted a census in AD 48 that found 5,984,072 Roman citizens, an increase of around a million since the census conducted at Augustus' death. He had helped increase this number through the foundation of Roman colonies that were granted blanket citizenship. These colonies were often made out of existing communities, especially those with elites who could rally the populace to the Roman cause. Several colonies were placed in new provinces or on the border of the empire in order to secure Roman holdings as quickly as possible.

Judicial and legislative affairs

Claudius personally judged many of the legal cases tried during his reign. Ancient historians have many complaints about this, stating that his judgements were variable and sometimes did not follow the law. He was also easily swayed. Nevertheless, Claudius paid detailed attention to the operation of the judicial system. He extended the summer court session, as well as the winter term, by shortening the traditional breaks. Claudius also made a law requiring plaintiffs to remain in the city while their cases were pending, as defendants had previously been required to do. These measures had the effect of clearing out the docket. The minimum age for jurors was also raised to 25 in order to ensure a more experienced jury pool. Claudius also settled disputes in the provinces. He freed the island of Rhodes from Roman rule for their good faith and exempted Troy from taxes. Early in his reign, the Greeks and Jews of Alexandria sent him two embassies at once after riots broke out between the two communities. This resulted in the famous "Letter to the Alexandrians," which reaffirmed Jewish rights in the city but also forbid them to move in more families en masse. According to Josephus, he then reaffirmed the rights and freedoms of all the Jews in the empire. An investigator of Claudius' discovered that many old Roman citizens based in the modern city of Trent were not in fact citizens. The emperor issued a declaration that they would be considered to hold citizenship from then on, since to strip them of their status would cause major problems. However, in individual cases, Claudius punished false assumption of citizenship harshly, making it a capital offense. Similarly, any freedmen found to be impersonating knights were sold back into slavery. Numerous edicts were issued throughout Claudius' reign. These were on a number of topics, everything from medical advice to moral judgements. Two famous medical examples are one promoting Yew juice as a cure for snakebite, and another promoting public flatulence for good health. One of the more famous edicts concerned the status of sick slaves. Masters had been abandoning ailing slaves at the temple of Aesculapius to die, and then reclaiming them if they lived. Claudius ruled that slaves who recovered after such treatment would be free. Furthermore, masters who chose to kill slaves rather than take the risk would be charged with murder.

Public works

AesculapiusClaudius embarked on many public works throughout his reign, both in the capital and in the provinces. He built two aqueducts, the Aqua Claudia, begun by Caligula, and the Anio Novus. These entered the city in AD 52 and met at the famous Porta Maggiore. He also restored a third, the Aqua Virgo. He paid special attention to transportation. Throughout Italy and the provinces he built roads and canals. Among these was a large canal leading from the Rhine to the sea, as well as a road from Italy to Germany — both begun by his father, Drusus. Closer to Rome, he built a navigable canal on the Tiber, leading to Portus, his new port just north of Ostia. This port was constructed in a semicircle with two moles and a lighthouse at its mouth. The construction also had the effect of reducing flooding in Rome. The port at Ostia was part of Claudius' solution to the constant grain shortages that occurred in winter, after the Roman shipping season. The other part of his solution was to insure the ships of grain merchants who were willing to risk traveling to Egypt in the off-season. He also granted their sailors special privileges, including citizenship and exemption from the Lex Papia-Poppaea, a law that regulated marriage. In addition, he repealed the taxes that Caligula had instituted on food, and further reduced taxes on communities suffering draught or famine. The last part of Claudius' plan was to increase the amount of arable land in Italy. This was to be achieved by draining the Fucine lake, which would have the added benefit of making the nearby river navigable year-round. A tunnel was dug through the lake bed, but the plan was a failure. The tunnel was not large enough to carry the water, and crooked, which caused it to back up when opened. The draining of the lake was not a bad idea, and many other emperors and potentates considered it, including the emperors Hadrian and Trajan, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the middle ages. It was finally achieved by the Prince Torlonia in the 19th century. He expanded the Claudian tunnel to three times its original size.

Claudius and the Senate

Because of the circumstances of his accession, Claudius took great pains to please the Senate. During regular sessions, the emperor sat amongst the Senate body, speaking in turn. When introducing a law, he sat on a bench between the consuls in his position as Tribune. He refused to accept all his predecessors' titles (including Imperator) at the beginning his reign, preferring to earn them in due course. He allowed the Senate to issue its own bronze coinage for the first time since Augustus. He also put the imperial provinces of Macedonia and Achaea back under senate control. At the same time, Claudius tried to remodel the Senate into a more efficient, representative body. He chided the senators about their reluctance to debate bills introduced by himself, as noted in the fragments of a surviving speech:

"If you accept these proposals, Conscript Fathers, say so at once and simply, in accordance with your convictions. If you do not accept them, find alternatives, but do so here and now; or if you wish to take time for consideration, take it, provided you do not forget that you must be ready to pronounce your opinion whenever you may be summoned to meet. It ill befits the dignity of the Senate that the consul designate should repeat the phrases of the consuls word for word as his opinion, and that every one else should merely say 'I approve', and that then, after leaving, the assembly should announce 'We debated'."

It is not known if this plea had any effect on discourse. In AD 47 he assumed the office of Censor with Lucius Vitellius, which had been allowed to lapse for some time. He struck the names of many senators and equities who no longer met qualifications, but showed respect by allowing them to resign in advance. At the same time, he sought to admit eligible men from the provinces. The Lyons Tablet preserves his speech on the admittance of Gallic senators, in which he addresses the Senate with reverence but also with criticism for their disdain of these men. He also increased the number of Patricians by adding new families to the dwindling number of noble lines. Here he followed the precedent of Lucius Junius Brutus and Julius Caesar. Julius CaesarDespite this, many in the Senate remained hostile to Claudius, and many plots were made on his life. This hostility carried over into the historical accounts. As a result, Claudius was forced to reduce the Senate's power for efficiency. The administration of Ostia was turned over to an imperial Procurator after construction of the port. Administration of many of the empire's financial concerns was turned over to imperial appointees and freedman. This led to further resentment and suggestions that these same freedmen were ruling the emperor. Several coup attempts were made during Claudius' reign, resulting in the deaths of many senators. Appius Silanus was executed early in Claudius' reign under questionable circumstances. Shortly after, a large rebellion was undertaken by the senator Vinicianus and Scribonianus, the governor of Dalmatia and gained quite a few senatorial supporters. It ultimately failed because of the reluctance of Scribonianus' troops, and the suicide of the main conspirators. Many other senators tried different conspiracies and were condemned. Claudius' son-in-law Pompeius Magnus was executed for his part in a conspiracy with his father Crassus Frugi. Another plot involved the consulars Lusiius Saturninus, Cornelius Lupus, and Pompeius Pedo. In 46, Asinius Gallus, the grandson of Asinius Pollio, and Statilius Corvinus were exiled for a plot hatched with several of Claudius' own freedmen. Valerius Asiaticus was executed without public trial for unknown reasons. The ancient sources say the charge was adultery, and that Claudius was tricked into issuing the punishment. However, Claudius singles out Asiaticus for special damnation in his speech on the Gauls, which dates over a year later, suggesting that the charge must have been much more serious. Asiaticus had been a claimant to the throne in the chaos following Caligula's death and a co-consul with the Statilius Corvinus mentioned above. Most of these conspiracies took place before Claudius' consulship, and may have induced him to overlook the Senatorial rolls. The conspiracy of Gaius Silius in the year after his consulship, AD 48, will be detailed further down. Suetonius states that a total of 35 senators and 300 knights were executed for offenses during Claudius' reign. Needless to say, the necessary responses to these conspiracies could not have helped Senate-emperor relations.

The Secretariat and centralization of powers

Claudius was hardly the first emperor to use freedmen to help with the day-to-day running of the empire. He was, however, forced to increase their role as the powers of the princeps became more centralized and the burden larger. This was partly due to the ongoing hostility of the senate, as mentioned above, but also due to his respect for the senators. Claudius did not want free-born magistrates to have to serve under him, as if they were not peers. The secretariat was divided into bureaus, with each being placed under the leadership of one freedmen. Narcissus was the secretary of correspondence. Pallas became the secretary of the treasury. Callistus became the equivalent of the U.S. Attorney General. There was a fourth bureau for miscellaneous issues, which was put under Polybius until his execution for treason. The freedmen could also officially speak for emperor, as when Narcissus addressed the troops in Claudius' stead before the conquest of Britain. Since these were important positions, the senators were aghast at their being placed in the hands of former slaves. If freedmen had total control of money, letters, and law, it seemed it would not be hard for them to manipulate the emperor. This is exactly the accusation put forth by the ancient sources. However, these same sources admit that the freedmen were loyal to Claudius to a man. He was similarly appreciative of them and gave them due credit for policies where he had used their advice. However, if they showed treasonous inclinations, the emperor did punish them with just force, as in the case of Polybius and Pallas' brother, Felix. There is no evidence that the character of Claudius' policies and edicts changed with the rise and fall of the various freedmen, suggesting that he was firmly in control throughout. Regardless of the extent of their political power, the freedmen did manage to amass wealth through their positions. Pliny the Elder notes that several of them were richer than Crassus, the richest man of the Republican era.

Religious reforms and games

Claudius, as the author of a treatise on Augustus' religious reforms, felt himself in a good position to institute some of his own. He had strong opinions about the proper form for state religion. He refused the request of Alexandrian Greeks to dedicate a temple to his divinity, saying that only gods may choose new gods. He restored lost days to festivals and got rid of many extraneous celebrations added by Caligula. He reinstituted old observances and archaic language. Claudius was concerned with the spread of eastern mysteries within the city and search for more Roman replacements. He emphasized the Eleusinian mysteries which had been practiced by so many in the republic. He expelled foreign astrologers, and at the same time rehabilitated the old Roman soothsayers (known as haruspices) as a replacement. He was especially hard on Druidism, because of its incompatibility with the Roman state religion and its proselytizing activities. He opposed proselytizing in any religion, even those where he allowed natives to worship freely. It was this reasoning that caused him to expel the early Christian missionaries from Rome. The results of all these efforts were recognized even by Seneca, who has an ancient Latin god defend Claudius in his satire. Claudius performed the Secular Games, marking the 800th anniversary of the founding of Rome. Augustus had performed the same games less than a century prior. Augustus' excuse was that the interval for the games was 110 years, not 100, but his date actually did not qualify under either reasoning. Claudius also presented naval battles to mark the attempted draining of the Fucine lake.

Marriages and personal life

Claudius married four times. His first marriage, to Plautia Urgulanilla occured after two failed betrothals, one of which ended with the bride's death. Urgulanilla was a relation of Livia's confidant Urgulania. During their marriage she gave birth to a son, Claudius Drusus. Unfortunately, Drusus died of asphyxiation in his early teens, shortly after becoming engaged to the daughter of Sejanus. Claudius later divorced Urgulanilla for adultery and on suspicion of murdering her sister-in-law Apronia. When Urgulanilla gave birth after the divorce, Claudius repudiated the baby girl, Claudia, as the father was one of his own freedmen. Soon after (possibly in 28), Claudius married Aelia Paetina, a relation of Sejanus. They had a daughter, Claudia Antonia. He later divorced her after the marriage became a political liability (although Leon (1948) suggests it may have been due to emotional and mental abuse by Aelia). Claudia AntoniaIn AD 38 or early 39, Claudius married Valeria Messalina, who was his first cousin once removed and closely allied with Caligula's circle. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter Octavia. A son, first named Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, and later known as Britannicus, was born just after Claudius' accession. This marriage ended in tragedy. The ancient historians allege that Messalina regularly cuckolded Claudius — Tacitus states she went so far as to face-off with a prostitute — and manipulated his policies in order to amass wealth. In AD 48, Messalina married her lover Gaius Silius in a public ceremony while Claudius was at Ostia. Sources disagree as to whether or not she divorced the emperor first, and whether the intention was to usurp the throne. Scramuzza, in his biography, suggests that Silius may have convinced Messalina that Claudius was doomed, and the union was her only hope of retaining rank and protecting her children. The historian Tacitus suggests that Claudius' ongoing term as Censor may have prevented him from noticing the affair before it reached such a critical point. Whatever the case, the result was the death of Silius, Messalina, and most of her circle. Claudius made the Praetorians promise to kill him if he ever married again. TacitusDespite this declaration, Claudius did marry once more. The ancient sources tell that his freedmen pushed three candidates, Caligula's former wife Lollia Paulina, his second wife Aelia, and his niece Agrippina the younger. According to Suetonius, Agrippina won out through her feminine wiles. The truth is more political. The coup attempt by Silius probably made Claudius realize the weakness of his position as a member of the Claudian but not the Julian family. This weakness was compacted by the fact that he did not have an obvious adult heir, Britannicus being just a boy. Agrippina was one of the few remaining descendents of Augustus, and her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (later known as Nero) was one of the last males of the imperial family. Future coup attempts could rally around the pair, and Agrippina was already showing such ambition. It has been suggested in recent times that Senate may have pushed for the marriage to end the feud between the Julian and Claudian branches. This feud dated back to Agrippina's mother's actions against Tiberius after the death of her husband Germanicus, actions which Tiberius had gladly punished. In any case, Claudius accepted Agrippina, and later adopted the newly mature Nero as his son. Nero was made joint heir with the underage Britannicus, married to Octavia and heavily promoted. This was not as unusual as it seems to people acquainted with modern hereditary monarchies. Barbara Levick notes that Augustus had named his grandson Postumus Agrippa and his stepson Tiberius joint heirs. Tiberius named his great-nephew Caligula joint heir with his grandson Tiberius Gemellus. Adoption of adults or near adults was an old tradition in Rome when a suitable natural adult heir was unavailable. This was the case during Britannicus' minority. S.V. Oost suggests that Claudius looked to adopt one of his sons-in-law to protect his own reign. Possible usurpers could note that there was no adult to replace him. Faustus Sulla, married to his daughter Antonia, was only descended from Octavia and Antony on one side — not close enough to the imperial family to prevent doubts (that didn't stop others from making him the object of a coup attempt against Nero a few years later). Besides which, he was the half brother of Messalina, and at this time those wounds were still fresh. Nero was more popular with the general public as the grandson of Germanicus and the direct descendent of Augustus.

Death, deification, and reputation

General consensus is that Claudius was murdered by poison — possibly contained in mushrooms — on October 13th, AD 54. There are various accounts, some of which implicate Halotus, his taster, and some Xenophon, his doctor. Some say he died immediately, and some have him recovering only to be poisoned again. All implicate his wife, Agrippina, as the instigator. Now that Britannicus was approaching the age of majority, there was no need for Nero to be heir in case of Claudius' death. There was now no chance of a minor ascending the throne and setting off civil war. Thus, Claudius began to talk of divorce. Agrippina most likely acted to ensure the succession of Nero before changes could be made. In modern times, some authors have cast doubt on whether Claudius was murdered or merely succumbed to illness or old age. Considering the longevity of his relatives who reached even middle age (his grandmother Livia died at 87, his uncle Tiberius reached age 79, and his mother Antonia committed suicide at 73) this seems unlikely. Claudius was deified by the Senate shortly after death. Those who regard this homage by Agrippina as cynical should note that, cynical or not, such a move would hardly have benefited those involved, had Claudius been "hated", as some commentators, both modern and historic, characterize him. Moreover, though Claudius's divinity was annulled by Nero, it was later restored by the "good" emperor Vespasian, who had been a general in the British conquest. Despite this, many of Claudius' less solid supporters quickly became Nero's men. His will was suppressed and never read. Claudius had changed it shortly before death to either recommend Nero and Britannicus jointly or perhaps just Britannicus, who would become a man in a few months. Agrippina had sent away Narcissus shortly before Claudius' death, and now murdered the freedman. The last act of this secretary of letters was to burn all of Claudius' correspondence - most likely so it could not be used against him and others in an already hostile new regime. Thus Claudius' private words about his own policies and motives were lost to history. Nero and his circle wasted no time in trashing his predecessor, even lambasting at his predecessor in his eulogy. Most of Claudius' laws and edicts were anulled, under the reasoning that he was too stupid and senile to have meant them. This opinion of Claudius, that he was indeed an old idiot, remained the official one for the duration of Nero's reign. Eventually Nero stopped referring to his deified adoptive father at all, and realigned with his birth family. The Flavians, who had risen to prominance under Claudius, took a different tack. They were in a position where they needed to shore up their legitimacy, but also justify the fall of the Julio-Claudians. They reached back to Claudius in constrast with Nero, to show that they were good associated with good. Claudius' temple was built over Nero's golden house. Commemorative coins were issued of Claudius and his natural son Britannicus - who had been a friend of the emperor Titus. However, as the Flavians became established, they needed to emphasize their own credentials more, and their references to Claudius ceased. Instead, he was put down with the other emperors of the fallen dynasty. As time passed, Claudius was mostly forgotten. His books were lost first, as their antiquarian subjects became unfashionable. In the second century, Pertinax, who shared his birthday, became emperor, overshadowing any commemoration of Claudius. In the third century, the emperor Claudius II Gothicus usurped his name. When Claudius Gothicus died, he was also deified, replacing Claudius in the Roman pantheon.

Scholarly works and their impact

Claudius wrote copiously throughout his life. Arnaldo Momigliano states that during the reign of Tiberius — which covers the peak Claudius' literary career — it became impolitic to speak of republican Rome. The trend among the young historians was to either write about the new empire or obscure antiquarian subjects. Claudius was the rare scholar who covered both. Besides the history of Augustus' reign that caused him so much grief, his major works included an Etruscan history and eight volumes on Carthaginian history, as well as an Etruscan Dictionary and a book on dice playing. Despite the general avoidance of the imperatorial era, he penned a defense of Cicero against the charges of Asinius Gallus. Modern historians have used this to determine both the nature of his politics and of the aborted chapters of his civil war history. He proposed a reform of the Latin alphabet by the addition of three new letters, two of which served the function of the modern letters W and Y. He officially instituted the change during his censorship, but they did not survive his reign. Finally, he wrote an eight-volume autobiography that Suetonius describes as lacking in taste. Since Claudius (like most of the members of his dynasty) heavily criticized his predecessors and relatives in surviving speeches, it is not hard to imagine the nature of Suetonius' charge. three new lettersUnfortunately, none of the actual works survive. They do live on as sources for the surviving histories of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Suetonius quotes Claudius' autobiography once, and must have used it as a source numerous times. Tacitus uses Claudius' own arguments for the orthographical innovations mentioned above, and may have used him for some of the more antiquarian passages in his annals. Claudius is the source for numerous passages of Pliny's Natural History. The influence of historical study on Claudius is obvious. In his speech on Gallic senators, he uses a version of the founding of Rome identical to that of Livy's. The detail of his speech borders on the pedantic, a common mark of all his extant works. This indicates a deep knowledge of a variety of historical subjects that he could not help but share. Many of the public works instituted in his reign were based on plans first suggested by Julius Caesar. Levick believes this emulation of Caesar may have spread to all aspects of his policies. His censorship seems to have been based on those of his ancestors, particularly Appius Claudius Caecus, and he used the office to put into place many policies based on those of Republican times. This is when many of his religious reforms took effect and his building efforts greatly increased during his tenure. In fact, his assumption of the office of Censor may have been motivated by a desire to see his academic labors bear fruit. For example, he knew his ancestor Appius Claudius Caecus has used to censorship to introduce the letter "R", and so used his own term to introduce his new letters.

Claudius in fiction

Appius Claudius Caecus The emperor Claudius was the protagonist of the books I, Claudius (1934) and Claudius the God (1935) by Robert Graves. The books are written from a first-person perspective, giving the impression of having been written by Claudius himself as his autobiography. Graves's fictive artifice that they were recently discovered translations of writings by Claudius extended even to the point of Claudius relating a visit to an oracle who predicted their discovery "nineteen hundred year or near" later. Graves's two books were the basis for a thirteen-part BBC series, shown on BBC2 in 1976 and later broadcast in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theatre in 1977, also titled I, Claudius. Derek Jacobi starred in the title role. In 1937 there had been an ill-fated attempt of picturization of I, Claudius by Josef von Sternberg, starring Charles Laughton as Claudius. Unfortunately the movie was never finished, after a near-fatal accident of the female lead actress, Merle Oberon. The surviving reels were finally shown in the documentary The Epic that never was in 1965 and uncovered some of Laughton's most accomplished pieces of acting.

Footnotes

# Suet. Claud. 30. # Seneca Apocolo. 5, 6. # Suet. Claud. 30. # Suet. Claud. 31. # Leon (1948). # Suet. Claud. 5, 21, 40; Dio Rom. Hist. LX 2, 5, 12, 31. # Suet. Claud. 34, 38. # Suet. Claud. 29. Dio Rom. Hist. LX 2, 8. # Suet. Claud. 35, 36, 37, 39, 40. Dio Rom. Hist. LX 2, 3. # Suet. Claud. 2. Suet Claud. 4 indicates the reasons for choosing this tutor, as outlined in Leon (1948). # Suet. Claud. 4. # Scramuzza (1940) p. 39. # Stuart (1936). # Dio Rom. Hist. LX 2. Suhr (1955) suggests that this must refer to before Claudius came to power. # Josephus Antiquitates Iudiacae XIX. Dio Rom. Hist. LX 1. # Josephus Ant. Iud. XIX. # Josephus Bellum Iudiacum II, 204-233. # Suet. Claud. 15. Dio Rom. Hist. LXI 33. # Josephus Ant. Iud. XIX, 287. # English translation of Berlin papyrus by W.D. Hogarth, in Momigliano (1934). # Suet. Claud. 29. # Tac. Ann. XII 65. Seneca Ad Polybium. # Pliny Natural History 134. # Seneca Apocolo. 9. # Tac. Ann. XI 10. Also Dio Rom. Hist. LXI 31. # Scramuzza (1940) p. 90. Momigliano (1934) pp. 6-7. Levick (1990) p. 19. # Tac. Ann. XI. 25, 8. # Suet. Claud. 26. # Scramuzza (1940) pp. 91-92. See also Tac. Ann. XII 6, 7; Suet. Claud. 26. # Levick (1990) p. 70. See also Scramuzza (1940) p. 92. # Oost (1958). # Accounts of his death: Suet. Claud. 43, 44. Tac. Ann. XII 64, 66-67. Josephus Ant. Iud. XX 148, 151. Dio Rom. Hist. LX 34. Pliny Natural History II 92, XI 189, XXII 92. # Momigliano (1934) pp. 93-94. Levick (1990) pp. 76-77. # Momigliano (1934) pp. 4-6. # Suet. Claud. 41. # See Claudius' letter to the people of Trent (linked below), in which he refers to the "obstinate retirement" of Tiberius. See also Josephus Ant Iud. XIX, where an edict of Claudius refers to Caligula's "madness and lack of understanding." # See Momigliano (1934) Chap. 1, note 20 (p. 83). # Levick (1978).

References

- Levick, B.M., "Claudius: Antiquarian or Revolutionary?" American Journal of Philology, 99 (1978), 79-105.
- Levick, Barbara. Claudius. Yale University Press. New Haven, 1990.
- Leon, E.F., "The Imbecillitas of the Emperor Claudius", Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 79 (1948), 79-86.
- McAlindon, D., "Claudius and the Senators", American Journal of Philology, 78 (1957), 279-286.
- Major, A., "Was He Pushed or Did He Leap? Claudius' Ascent to Power", Ancient History, 22 (1992), 25-31.
- Momigliano, Arnaldo. Claudius: the Emperor and His Achievement. Trans. W.D. Hogarth. W. Heffer and Sons. Cambridge, 1934.
- Oost, S.V., "The Career of M. Antonius Pallas", American Journal of Philology, 79 (1958). 113-139.
- Ryan, F.X. "Some Observations on the Censorship of Claudius and Vitellius, AD 47-48", American Journal of Philology, 114 (1993), 611-618.
- Scramuzza, Vincent. The Emperor Claudius. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, 1940.
- Stuart, M. "The Date of the Inscription of Claudius on the Arch of Ticinum." Am. J. Arch. 40 (1936). 314-322.
- Suhr, E.G., "A Portrait of Claudius." Am. J. Arch. 59 (1955). 319-322.