v60_0028 - CLAUDIUS AND NERO CAESAR Aureus

CLAUDIUS AND NERO CAESAR

(50-54)

Claude was born in 10 BC in Lyon. Become emperor by chance, after the assassination of Caligula in 41, he is a great emperor and a good administrator but remains dominated by his wives and his freedmen who hold the reality of power. Agrippina (15-59), his fourth wife, was the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, sister of Caligula. She married Domitius Ahenobarbus, from whom she gave birth to Nero in 37. After marrying her uncle Claudius in 50, she managed to have her son adopted by her husband who became Caesar to the detriment of her own son, Britannicus, son of Messalina. Nero is certainly one of the best-known emperors, thanks to Tacitus and Suetonius, but also one of the most decried. He is the last representative of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He is descended from both Augustus through his mother and Julie through his maternal grandfather, Germanicus. Caesar in 50, he is also named Prince of Youth.