Claudius: Encyclopedia II - Claudius - Death deification and reputation

Claudius - Death deification and reputation

General consensus is that Claudius was murdered by poison — possibly contained in mushrooms — on October 13, 54. There are various accounts, some of which implicate Halotus, his taster, and some Xenophon, his doctor^[33]. 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^[34]. 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 be considered 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 vilifying Claudius; Nero even criticized him in his eulogy! Most of Claudius' laws and edicts were annulled, 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 prominence 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 contrast 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Death deification and reputation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki