Julio-Claudian Dynasty
The
Julio-Claudian Dynasty refers to the first five
Roman Emperors:
Augustus,
Tiberius,
Caligula,
Claudius, and
Nero. They ruled the
Roman Empire from
27 BC to
AD 68, when the last of the line,
Nero, committed suicide. These five rulers were linked through marriage and adoption into the familial
gens Julia and
gens Claudia.
Julius Caesar is sometimes inaccurately seen as its founder, although he was not an emperor and had no Claudian connections; Augustus is the more widely accepted founder.
This dynasty is known as the
Julio-Claudians because its members were drawn from two of the
patrician gentes of Ancient Rome, the
Julii and the
Claudii. Its founder,
Augustus, was a Julian through adoption by his great-uncle, Julius Caesar.
Tiberius was born a Claudian but, like Augustus before him, became a Julian upon his adoption.
Caligula, however, had both Julian and Claudian ancestry being a Julio-Claudian, and was also a direct blood great-grandson of Augustus.
Claudius was a Claudian, though he was descended from the Julian family through his maternal grandmother
Octavia Minorâ€"sister of Augustusâ€"whose own maternal grandmother was
Julia, Caesar's sister.
Like Caligula before him,
Nero also shared Julian and Claudian ancestry. Nero, again like Caligula, was a descendant of Augustus, a great-great-grandson.
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Marble statue of a youth on horseback, believed to represent a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty |
All responsible rulers, acknowledging that they are not immortal, try to choose a worthy political heir in a most careful fashion, and Augustus was no different. Lacking any male child, he married his only natural daughter
Julia to
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, his nephew by his own sister
Octavia Minor. However, Marcellus died of food poisoning in
23 BC. Reports of later historians that this poisoning, and other later deaths, were organized by
Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus, are unproven, and inconclusive at best.
Augustus then married his widowed daughter to his loyal friend,
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. This marriage produced five children, three sons and two daughters:
Gaius Caesar,
Lucius Caesar,
Vipsania Julia,
Agrippina, and
Postumus Agrippa. All male children were potential heirs, especially the first two children, who were adopted by Augustus. Augustus also showed great favor towards Livia's children from her first marriage,
Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and his brother
Tiberius Claudius Nero, successful military leaders who had fought against the barbaric Germanic tribes.
Agrippa died in
12 BC, and Tiberius was ordered by Augustus to divorce his beloved wife
Vipsania Agrippina and to marry the twice widowed Julia. Drusus, the brother of Tiberius died in
9 BC, as he fell from a horse. Tiberius shared in Augustus' tribune powers, but shortly thereafter in
6 BC, he departed for
Rhodes, into voluntary exile. After the early deaths of both Lucius (
2) and Gaius (
4), Augustus banished Postums for reasons unknown to us around 6 or 7 to the small island of
Planasia. Tiberius was recalled to Rome and was officially adopted by Augustus. He was the only remaining reasonable choice.
On 19 August
14, Augustus died. In his will Postumus Agrippa and Tiberius were named as co-heirs. However, Postumus was quickly executed. Who ordered his death is unclear, but the way was clear for Tiberius to assume the same powers that his stepfather had.
It is interesting how commonly the blood relationship of great-uncle/great-nephew is found between the rulers of Julio-Claudian dynasty.# Augustus was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar (and his adopted son).# Caligula was the great-nephew of Tiberius (and his adopted son).# Claudius was the great-nephew of Augustus.# Nero was the great-nephew of Claudius (and his adopted son).The other recurring relationship between emperor and successor is that of stepfather/stepson, a relationship not by blood but by marriage:# Tiberius was Augustus's stepson.# Nero, as well as being Claudius' great-nephew, was also his stepson (his mother Agrippina being Claudius' niece, and also Claudius' fourth wife). The uncle/nephew relationship also is prominent: Tiberius was Claudius' uncle, and Claudius was Caligula's uncle.
No Julio-Claudian emperor was a blood descendent of his immediate predecessor. Both Tiberius and Claudius had male direct descendants (Tiberius' grandson
Tiberius Gemellus, Claudius' son
Britannicus) available for the succession, but their great-nephews were preferred.
The fact that ordinary father-son (or grandfather-grandson) succession did not occur has contributed to the image of the Julio-Claudian court presented in Robert Graves'
I, Claudius, a dangerous world where scheming family members were all too ready to murder the obvious, direct heirs so as to bring themselves, their own immediate families, or their lovers closer to the succession.
#
Augustus (
27 BCâ€"
AD 14) #
Tiberius (14â€"
37) #
Caligula (37â€"
41) #
Claudius (41â€"
54) #
Nero (54â€"
68)
*
Julio-Claudian family tree
