Nobody's First Choice
On 26 June AD 4, Augustus formally adopted Tiberius, his wife's forty-five-year-old son from a previous marriage. He had run out of everyone he would have preferred.
Julio-Claudian dynasty
4 posts tagged with this keyword.
What an Artist Dies in Me
On 9 June AD 68, Nero drove a dagger into his own throat in a freedman's villa outside Rome. He was the last of the Julio-Claudians, and his death opened the first succession crisis in imperial history - the Year of the Four Emperors.
The Heir's Last Supper
On 11 February 55 AD, Britannicus — the biological son of Emperor Claudius — collapsed at a dinner party and died. He was thirteen years old, one day short of manhood. The poisoning that killed him was not an aberration. It was how the Julio-Claudian dynasty did business.
The Man Behind the Curtain
On 24 January AD 41, the Praetorian Guard assassinated Caligula and proclaimed Claudius emperor. Rome expected a joke. It got thirteen years of competent government instead.