Tyler Alexander

Latin 2

Professor Cian

10/17/17

Claudius

Claudius was the Emperor of Rome from the year 41 to the year 54. He was a unique

Emperor because he suffered from many different disabilities. Despite these he was still able

to be successful. He was a very talented historian and wrote books. Also while in Office he

led Rome to conquer Brittan. He also had a very troubled love life where he had 4 different

wives.

Claudius had a very difficult childhood. Historians believe that he suffered from

many different disabilities. These include, cerebral palsy and Tourette’s syndrome. His

family although was not very understanding of these disabilities and often ridiculed him for

it. They even looked at him as a weakness and an embarrassment to society. This often

caused him to get passed over for public office. His uncle even told him to become a priest

instead of a king.

Claudius spent lots of time studding and writing. He was said to have spent hours at a

time studding. This led to him becoming an avid historian. He even caught the eye of a well-
know historian at the time named Livy. Livy saw how smart Claudius was and encouraged

him to take up writing. Claudius listened to his advice and took up writing. He eventually

published writings about the history of Carthage, the Etruscans, the Roman Republic and the

Roman alphabet.

In A.D 41 a group of the Emperors body gauds teamed up and devised a plan to kill

Emperor Caligula. They took action and killed him and them his wife and child. The group

then proceeded to go on a killing spree. They killed anyone who they came across. Then,

they found Claudius hiding behind a curtain and instread of killing him they saluted him as

the new king. Many historians believed that the reason they did this was because they belived

that Claudius was easy to manipulate and take advantage of because of his disabilities.

Claudius would eventually prove this theory false.

Claudius seemed to become more clever when he took the throne which caused many

to belive he was putting on an act in order to get elected. While he was in office he had many

great acheivements but the best was the Conquest of Brittan. This was when he took a

military force and took over Brittan. He stayed there for a few months. When he returned he

was thrown a parade for his acomplishments and was respected by the people of Rome.

Claudius although had a very Troubled love life. The first woman he was engaged to

was pulled away by herparents due to political reasons. The second fell ill on their wedding

day and died. He then got married but then got a divorce because she was cheating. He then

called off his second marriage for Political reasons. He also divorced his third wife because

he thought that she was plotting to kill him. He promised never to marry again. He although
did marry a fourth time. This wife was said to have manipulated Claudius into namimg their

son Nero before planning to assassinate him.

Claudius died from being poisoned. Although, many historians have different

opinions on how he was poisoned. Some believe that it was his son. Others believe that a

servant who was bringing his food slipped something into his drink. And others believe that

he mistakenly ate a deadly mushroom.

Claudius wasn’t the first choice to lead Rome but he proved to the people that he

could lead them. He over came his disabilities and proved his family wrong. He was also a

very good historian and writer who published many writings. He was unfortunately poisoned

and died before he was done serving his duty as king.

Work Cited:

http://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-emperor-claudius

http://www.roman-empire.net/emperors/claudius.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/claudius.shtml