CLAUDIUS (TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO GERMANI cvs), Roman emperor A.D. 41-54, son of Drusus and Antonia, nephew of the Emperor Tiberius, and grandson of Livia, the wife of Augustus, was born at Lugdunum (Lyons) on Aug. I, to B.C. He was kept in the background by (Suet. Claud. 4) Augustus Tiberius, owing to his physical infirmities and apparent weakness of intellect, and lived in retirement ; it was probably at this time that he became dependent on the company of freedmen. Under Caligula he became more prominent, holding the consulship (A.D. 37) and other public posts; though he was the emperor's butt, many people at Rome must have realized that he might succeed. On the murder of Caligula, Claudius, though not of the Julian gens, was made emperor by the praetorians, who were rewarded with a large donative, and were probably increased in number.
Claudius, though abnormal, was by no means the idiot that our hostile sources would suggest. Despite his pedantry, he had a certain shrewdness, and wished to govern well. In the earlier part of his reign he extended the boundaries of the empire ; Maure tania was subdued and annexed in 43, and in the same year Claudius himself took part in the famous expedition to Britain, which gave the Romans a footing in the south of the island ; in 44 Judea, which had been entrusted to King Agrippa (q.v.), was made once more a province, and in 46 the same fate overtook the client kingdom of Thrace.
In his dealings with the provincials Claudius, despite senatorial opposition, reverted to Julius Caesar's liberal policy. We possess part of his speech proposing that the chieftains of the Aedui should be admitted to the senate (see the paraphrase of it in Tacitus Annals), and his edict conferring citizenship on the Anauni (Hardy, Roman Laws and Charters Oxford, 1912). A large num ber of municipia and colonies in the provinces owe their origin to Claudius.
The reign of Claudius is marked by the development of the emperor's personal service. There was an extension of procura torial government in the provinces (e.g., Thrace, Mauretania, and Judea) and provincial procurators were granted jurisdiction equal to that of the emperor in all cases relating to the fiscus. A definite scale of salaries was also instituted. But even more notable was the increased power of the emperor's freedmen, who, while they remained his personal servants, became, in practice, powerful ministers, and received great rewards and honour. (See, besides authorities below, Statius, Si/v. iii. and v.) The rule of the freed men, who, though efficient, were arrogant and corrupt, was re sented by the nobility, but the practice was continued under later emperors, though not to the same extent.
Another grievance was the increased importance of the emper or's private court. Under Augustus and Tiberius its use had been restricted to certain cases of majestas, but Claudius had a passion for acting as judge ; vast numbers of cases were heard in camera, and the emperor's methods seem often to have been capricious.
His public works include a new harbour at Ostia, the draining of the Fucine Lake, and the construction of two aqueducts (Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus). His revival of the censorship and ex tension of the poemerium may be quoted rather as examples of his antiquarianism than as practically important. In 47 he cele brated the Ludi Saeculares.
In the latter part of his reign his government degenerated and he fell entirely under the influence of his favourites and his womenkind.
Claudius wrote several historical works "magis inepte quam ineleganter," including his own autobiography, but all, unfortu nately, are lost.