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Britannicus
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Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (February 12, 41 — before February 12, 55) was the son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. He became the heir-designate of the empire at his birth, less than a month into his father's reign. He was still a young boy at the time of his mother's downfall and Claudius' marriage to Agrippina the Younger. This allowed Agrippina's older son Nero to eclipse him in the public's mind.
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Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (February 12, 41 — before February 12, 55) was the son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. He became the heir-designate of the empire at his birth, less than a month into his father's reign. He was still a young boy at the time of his mother's downfall and Claudius' marriage to Agrippina the Younger. This allowed Agrippina's older son Nero to eclipse him in the public's mind. He lived only months into Nero's reign, murdered just before his 14th birthday.
Birth and early childhood
Britannicus was probably born on February 12, 41 to the Roman Emperor Claudius and his wife Valeria Messalina. He was the oldest surviving son of his father at birth, Claudius' older son having died at the age of 14 nearly two decades before. He was accordingly named Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, sharing his father's praenomen as recognition of his status as heir. Britannicus' father had been reigning for less than a month, and his position was boosted greatly by the arrival of a successor. To mark the birth, the emperor issued sestertii with the obverse Spes Augusta - the hope of the imperial family. Two years later, in 43, Claudius was granted the honorific "Britannicus" by the senate as a reward for his conquest of Britain. The emperor refused it for himself, but accepted it on behalf of his young son. This is the name by which the boy became known to posterity. According to Suetonius, Claudius doted extensively on Britannicus. He carried him around at public events, and shouted "Good luck to you, my boy!" to elicit a similar response from the crowds. He was supposedly a precocious child.
The fall of his mother, Messalina
In 48, Britannicus became a pawn in the acts that led to the demise of Messalina. One of the conditions for her bigamous marriage to Gaius Silius was that he adopt her son as his own. They apparently then planned to rule as regents for the boy after the planned overthrow of Claudius. Messalina may have believed this was the only way to prevent her son from being killed with his father. Messalina and Silius were discovered shortly after their wedding and put to death, having never launched their coup.
The rise of his step brother, Nero
After the downfall of his mother, Britannicus' youth became a liability for Claudius. The lack of an adult heir made the emperor vulnerable to conspiracies aimed at overthrowing the dynasty, especially those by other Julio-Claudians. It was suggested that he should find an older heir and try to bring an end to strife within the family by marrying Agrippina the Younger, the last adult Julian. Shortly after Claudius married Agrippina, he adopted her son Nero, who was older than Britannicus and a direct descendant of Augustus. Nero was married to Britannicus' sister Claudia Octavia and named joint-heir with Britannicus until such time as the latter came of age. Nero was a popular young man, and his adoption did indeed stave off coup attempts in the second half of Claudius' reign. Britannicus did not get along with his step-family. According to the historian Tacitus, Britannicus continued to refer to Nero by his birth-name, Domitius, long after the adoption. However, it must be remembered that this was an accusation, made by enemies of Britannicus. This included public events where the boys were honored as a pair, and jealousy was heightened by Nero's rise to manhood. Nero reacted to these slights by insisting that Britannicus was illegitimate, but Claudius gave no indication of believing this. Tacitus reports that those who had reason to oppose Agrippina and Nero formed a faction around Britannicus, taking advantage of this discord. Agrippina retaliated against these supporters with force, changing Britannicus' circle. His tutor, Sosibius, had once been a tool of Messalina's, and Agrippina quickly disposed of him. Claudius may have agreed to this because of their links to his old officially damned wife. Such warring factions would have undermined his very reason for adopting Nero and marrying Agrippina.
The death of his father, Claudius
The actions Claudius took to preserve his rule in the short-term were not easily undone as Britannicus approached manhood. In late 54, Britannicus was within 6 months of reaching manhood by Roman tradition, and had matured early. According to the historian Suetonius, Claudius began to mention divorcing Agrippina and dismissing Nero now that he was no longer needed. In preparation, Claudius commended both his son and adopted son to the Senate as equals in his last Senate address. Suetonius reports that Claudius now admonished his son to grow up quickly, implying that everything would be righted when he assumed the toga virilis.
Sadly for Britannicus, Nero's supporters acted to prevent this. On October 13, 54, Claudius died, perhaps by natural causes or perhaps murdered by Agrippina. Tacitus claims that Britannicus and his sisters were locked in their rooms to ensure that no counter claim could be made to Nero's succession. Nero spoke the eulogy at the emperor's funeral and took sole power. Claudius' new will, which either granted joint-rule to Britannicus and Nero or just Britannicus, was suppressed by the new emperor's men in the senate. The freedman Narcissus, Britannicus' champion according to Tacitus, was quickly put to death. Britannicus was pushed to the background.
The end of his life
Britannicus survived for a few months under the rule of his adopted brother, mostly ignored, but the doings of his stepmother Agrippina led to his death. In early 55, one of Agrippina's favorites, the freedman Pallas, was sacked from his job as secretary of the treasury - a post he had held since the reign of Claudius. According to Tacitus, Agrippina reacted violently to this slight by Nero. She declared that she repented of her actions to bring Nero to the throne, and would throw in her lot with Britannicus, the true heir who would soon come of age. She threatened to take the boy to the Praetorian camp, where she would admit to murdering Claudius and Britannicus would be declared emperor. Nero did not take this threat lightly.
Tacitus recounts Nero's numerous attempts to publicly undermine Britannicus' image. One such attempt was when Nero asked Britannicus to sing at a drunken party, months before his 14th birthday. Britannicus however, not only avoided humiliation, but also generated sympathy amongst the guests, after singing a poem telling the tale of how he had been cast aside in favour of Nero. Tacitus also stated that a few days before his death, Britannicus was sexually molested by Nero.
According to Tacitus, Nero moved against Britannicus, employing the same poisoner, Locusta, who had been hired to murder his father, Claudius. The first dose failed, and Nero decided to throw caution in the wind. Britannicus was poisoned at a dinner party attended by his sister, Claudia Octavia, Agrippina, and several other notables. The assassin avoided being given away by a food taster by adding the poison to his drink when Britannicus asked for it to be cooled, as he felt it was too hot. The substance was instantly fatal, and Britannicus fell to the floor foaming at the mouth. He died on February 11, 55, one day before his 14th birthday, less than a month before he was to assume manhood, and just four months after his father's death. Nero dismissed the murder by claiming that the boy suffered from epilepsy. Some modern historians, particularly Anthony Barrett, suggest that he may have indeed suffered from the disease, and that a particularly bad seizure killed him. This may also be the reason for his eclipse by Nero - although Claudius never spurned his son on purpose. Britannicus was quickly buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus, the last of the Julio-Claudians to be interred there.
According to Suetonius, Britannicus was good friends with the future Emperor Titus, whose father Vespasian had commanded legions in Britain. As part of the Flavian's attempts to link themselves with the Julio-Claudians, Titus claimed that he had been seated with Britannicus on the night he was killed. He even claimed to have tasted the poison, which resulted in a serious and long illness. Titus would go on to erect a gold statue of his friend, and issue coins in his memory.
In Popular Culture
- Britannicus appears as a character in the novel Claudius the God by Robert Graves, in which his father Claudius belittles him as a means of keeping Britannicus obscure in the public eye and thus safe from harm, but is unable to protect Britannicus from assassination by Nero due to his own murder by Agrippina. In the 1976 television series I, Claudius, he was portrayed by actor Graham Seed.
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