Life Of Caesar

In 43 Claudius is consul again. Messalina is setting him up with girls to bang while she’s running sex parties in another part of the palace. Then he invades Britain, finishing the job Julius Caesar started nearly a century earlier.

The post Claudius #8 – Invading Britannia appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

While the attempted coup was going on, Claudius had troops in Mauretania under the command of Suetonius Paulinus. One of Paulinus’ officers, Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, chases the Moors over the Atlas Mountains and into the desert - where he has to call on foreign gods to save his legions.

The post Claudius #7 – Mauretania appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Claudius was a builder and a visionary. Humble and generous. He liked gladiatorial contests a little too much. But then there was his wife. Valeria Messallina. Like Livia, Messallina often gets blamed for some of the deaths that occurred early in his reign.

The post Claudius #6 – The Revolt appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Claudius was a builder and a visionary. Humble and generous. He liked gladiatorial contests a little too much. But then there was his wife. Valeria Messallina. Like Livia, Messallina often gets blamed for some of the deaths that occurred early in his reign.

The post Claudius #5 – The Wife appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

When Caligula was assassinated in 41, Claudius hid in a room of the palace called the Hermaeum, and then behind a curtain on a balcony. According to Suetonius, he was discovered by a soldier named Gratus - Gratitude -

The post Claudius #4 – The Good Emperor appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

When Caligula was assassinated in 41, Claudius hid in a room of the palace called the Hermaeum, and then behind a curtain on a balcony. According to Suetonius, he was discovered by a soldier named Gratus - Gratitude -

The post Claudius #3 – The Emperor appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

For most of his life, Claudius was the Rosemary Kennedy of the Caesars. Without the ice pick lobotomy. Hidden from the public. If he wasn’t allowed to participate in Roman affairs, he would look elsewhere. He became a historian, writing a ton of books about his family, the Carthaginians, and about Etruscan history. But he wasn't boring. He was a bit of a womaniser, and loved to watch games in the arena, gambling, eating, drinking. Things only started to turn around for him when became Caligula’s co-consul in 37 - but whether or not this was Caligula's little joke is hard to say.

The post Claudius #2 – The Historian appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

The first 50 years of Tiberius Claudius Nero's life was a mixture of wealth, power and cruelty. With symptoms similar to cerebral palsy, the young Claudius was called “a monstrosity of a human being, one that Nature began and never finished" - by his own mother. He was kept out of public life and power by his adoptive grandfather, Augustus, and his successor, Tiberius. He was treated as a fool and a joke by his nephew, Caligula. But after Caligula's assassination, he took power by force, becoming Rome's first true IMPERATOR.

The post Claudius #1 – The Monster appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

In this special post-series wrap up episode of Caligula, I'm joined by my fellow Aussie history podcasters, Dr G and Dr R from The Partial Historians.

The post Caligula #25 – The Partial Historians appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

On the last morning of his life, Caligula entered the temporary theatre on the Palatine in a good mood. The conspirators attacked him in a narrow corridor, on his way back to the palace during the lunch break between performances. The lead conspirator, the praetorian guard Chaerea, stabbed Caligula in the neck, shouting "hoc age" - TAKE THAT! Then he was set upon by a crowd of assassins. Then they brutally murdered his wife and child. The assassins searched for Claudius to bump him off too - but he couldn't be found.

The post Caligula #24 – Hoc Age appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.