Claudius: From Idiot to Emperor

Claudius was born on August 1, 10 B.C., at Lugdunum in Gaul (modern-day France); he was the first emperor to be born outside of Italy. In an interesting coincidence, an altar was dedicated that day to Augustus, the first emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

The Julio-Claudian dynasty ruled the Roman Empire from 27 B.C. to 68 A.D. and is named from the family names of Julius Caesar Augustus, who ruled from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D., and Tiberius Claudius Nero, who ruled from 14 A.D. to 37 A.D. The alliance of these families began with the marriage of Augustus to Livia, the mother of Tiberius. Augustus was not a Julian by birth, but was adopted in to the family by his mother’s uncle, Julius Caesar. Tiberius was a Claudian by birth, but was adopted by Augustus into the Julian family.

Adoption of males was a common practice in Ancient Rome. Both young boys and grown men were adopted and adoptions could even be granted upon death through the will of the deceased. (Such was the case with the adoption of Augustus.) It was especially prevalent among the upper senatorial class, whose duty it was to produce heirs to inherit not only estates and names, but also political traditions.

The power to give a child up for adoption resided solely with the paterfamilias, the eldest or highest ranking male in the household. The paterfamilias had absolute authority over his wife, children and slaves, all who were considered to be sub manu, which translates from Latin to mean “under his hand.”

The adopted boy kept relationships with his original family and took on the adoptive father’s name. He then reaped the benefits of connections and privileges associated with both families. Adoption usually occurred between families (with or without blood connections) that were of equal status and/or political allies. Nearly every politically high-ranking family used the adoption process to reinforce alliances and strengthen inter-family ties; marriages were used in the same way.