Claudius I, (10 B.C.-54 A.D.), the fourth emperor of Rome. His full name was Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus. He was the nephew of Emperor Tiberius and the uncle of Caligula.
When Caligula was murdered in 41 A.D., the imperial guard declared Claudius emperor. He made Mauretania, Judea, and Thrace Roman provinces, and he began the conquest of Britain. The new harbor at Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber and the great Claudian Aqueduct were built during his reign. His fourth wife, Agrippina, persuaded him to adopt Nero, her son by a former marriage, and name him heir to the throne, instead of his own son Britannicus. When Claudius died, it was rumored that Agrippina poisoned him.
The life of Claudius formed the basis for I, Claudius (1934), a historical novel by Robert Graves.
