In the first year of his rule, Nero was a big hit. He built a wooden amphitheatre in the Campus Martius, flooded it, and held a naval battle with sea monsters. In his gladiator shows, nobody died, not even criminals. But then… Nero fell in love.

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Nero becomes emperor on the murder of his step-father. He’s 16 or 17 years old. Why didn’t the Senate stop him? It might have something to do with Seneca and Burrus. Seneca wrote him a speech where he promised to be nice. And, indeed, the first five years of his rule seemed to go well. His mother, Agrippina, ruled by his side.

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This is the story of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Known to us as Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Or just “Nero”. On this episode, we ask - how is it possible that a man tutored and guided by one of the most famous Stoic philosophers, Seneca, would end up with the reputation as one of history’s worst tyrants?

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Messallina decides the time has come. She has a poison expert released from prison and they prepare a special dish of mushrooms for Claudius’ last meal. But the mushrooms weren’t enough and so they had to finish him off - with a feather.

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Claudius builds the world’s biggest tunnel and puts on a huge show to celebrate. But things don’t go to plan. Nero gets married and starts to build his political profile - he is only 16.

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Claudius and Agrippina get hitched despite the fact that she was his niece. She immediately starts to get rid of her enemies, reward her supporters, and prepare the ground for the next stage of her plan to make her young son, Nero, the emperor.

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It's 48 CE. Messalina is dead. So now Claudius needs a new wife. There are several candidates, including Julia Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, making her Claudius' niece. Conveniently, her rich husband had recently died. She is also the mother of a young boy called Domitius Ahenobarbus - but who will soon change his name to Nero.

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Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo - brother-in-law of Caligula - is sent by Claudius to Germany to deal with some rebellious tribes. But he's TOO successful, so Claudius calls him home. Messalina decides to get married again - while still married to Claudius. Surprisingly he isn't too happy about it when he finds out. So she has a date - with a sword.

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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.

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