Life Of Caesar

This is where the story becomes really weird. Nero, up until now the golden child, suddenly becomes a cold murderer with the murder of Britannicus. The post Nero #5 – Fight Club appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

This is where the story becomes really weird. Nero, up until now the golden child, suddenly becomes a cold murderer with the murder of Britannicus. The post Nero #4 – Nero The Murderer appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

In the first year of his rule, Nero was a big hit. He built a wooden amphitheatre in the Campus Martius, flooded it, and held a naval battle with sea monsters. In his gladiator shows, nobody died, not even criminals. But then… Nero fell in love. The post Nero #3 – Nero In Love appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Nero becomes emperor on the murder of his step-father. He’s 16 or 17 years old. Why didn’t the Senate stop him? It might have something to do with Seneca and Burrus. Seneca wrote him a speech where he promised to be nice. And, indeed, the first five years of his rule seemed to go well. His mother, Agrippina, ruled by his side. The post Nero #2 – Nice Guy Nero appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

This is the story of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Known to us as Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Or just “Nero”. On this episode, we ask - how is it possible that a man tutored and guided by one of the most famous Stoic philosophers, Seneca, would end up with the reputation as one of history’s worst tyrants? The post Nero #1 – The Last OG appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Messallina decides the time has come. She has a poison expert released from prison and they prepare a special dish of mushrooms for Claudius’ last meal. But the mushrooms weren’t enough and so they had to finish him off - with a feather. The post Claudius #15 – A Mushroom & A Feather appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Claudius builds the world’s biggest tunnel and puts on a huge show to celebrate. But things don’t go to plan. Nero gets married and starts to build his political profile - he is only 16. The post Claudius #14 – Digging Tunnels appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Claudius and Agrippina get hitched despite the fact that she was his niece. She immediately starts to get rid of her enemies, reward her supporters, and prepare the ground for the next stage of her plan to make her young son, Nero, the emperor. The post Claudius #13 – Roman Incest appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

It's 48 CE. Messalina is dead. So now Claudius needs a new wife. There are several candidates, including Julia Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, making her Claudius' niece. Conveniently, her rich husband had recently died. She is also the mother of a young boy called Domitius Ahenobarbus - but who will soon change his name to Nero. The post Claudius #12 – Lips That Grip appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo - brother-in-law of Caligula - is sent by Claudius to Germany to deal with some rebellious tribes. But he's TOO successful, so Claudius calls him home. Messalina decides to get married again - while still married to Claudius. Surprisingly he isn't too happy about it when he finds out. So she has a date - with a sword. The post Claudius #11 – Deviant Behaviour appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Messalina starts killing off men who refuse her sexual advances or who just have something she wants. Meanwhile, Claudius keeps being a nice guy and the people feel sorry for him. The post Claudius #10 Santa Claudius appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

The invasion of Brittania continues. When Plautius has them nearly finished, he sends for Claudius who turns up to take credit for the final blow. The Senate grant him tons of honours as a result of his victory. But he’s more interested in explaining to Romans how an eclipse works. The post Claudius #9 Vini Vidi Vici Bitchi appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

In 43 Claudius is consul again. Messalina is setting him up with girls to bang while she’s running sex parties in another part of the palace. Then he invades Britain, finishing the job Julius Caesar started nearly a century earlier. The post Claudius #8 – Invading Britannia appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

While the attempted coup was going on, Claudius had troops in Mauretania under the command of Suetonius Paulinus. One of Paulinus’ officers, Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, chases the Moors over the Atlas Mountains and into the desert - where he has to call on foreign gods to save his legions. The post Claudius #7 – Mauretania appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Claudius was a builder and a visionary. Humble and generous. He liked gladiatorial contests a little too much. But then there was his wife. Valeria Messallina. Like Livia, Messallina often gets blamed for some of the deaths that occurred early in his reign. The post Claudius #6 – The Revolt appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

Claudius was a builder and a visionary. Humble and generous. He liked gladiatorial contests a little too much. But then there was his wife. Valeria Messallina. Like Livia, Messallina often gets blamed for some of the deaths that occurred early in his reign. The post Claudius #5 – The Wife appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

When Caligula was assassinated in 41, Claudius hid in a room of the palace called the Hermaeum, and then behind a curtain on a balcony. According to Suetonius, he was discovered by a soldier named Gratus - Gratitude - who said to his colleagues: "This is a Germanicus; come on, let us choose him for our emperor." But many in the Senate wanted to see him dead and a return to the republic. The post Claudius #4 – The Good Emperor appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

When Caligula was assassinated in 41, Claudius hid in a room of the palace called the Hermaeum, and then behind a curtain on a balcony. According to Suetonius, he was discovered by a soldier named Gratus - Gratitude - who said to his colleagues: "This is a Germanicus; come on, let us choose him for our emperor." But many in the Senate wanted to see him dead and a return to the republic. The post Claudius #3 – The Emperor appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

For most of his life, Claudius was the Rosemary Kennedy of the Caesars. Without the ice pick lobotomy. Hidden from the public. If he wasn’t allowed to participate in Roman affairs, he would look elsewhere. He became a historian, writing a ton of books about his family, the Carthaginians, and about Etruscan history. But he wasn't boring. He was a bit of a womaniser, and loved to watch games in the arena, gambling, eating, drinking. Things only started to turn around for him when became Caligula’s co-consul in 37 - but whether or not this was Caligula's little joke is hard to say. The post Claudius #2 – The Historian appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.

The first 50 years of Tiberius Claudius Nero's life was a mixture of wealth, power and cruelty. With symptoms similar to cerebral palsy, the young Claudius was called “a monstrosity of a human being, one that Nature began and never finished" - by his own mother. He was kept out of public life and power by his adoptive grandfather, Augustus, and his successor, Tiberius. He was treated as a fool and a joke by his nephew, Caligula. But after Caligula's assassination, he took power by force, becoming Rome's first true IMPERATOR. The post Claudius #1 – The Monster appeared first on Life Of The Caesars.