Accession
Claudius hid after the death of Caligula but was found by the Pretorian guard after seeing his feet. He was very dramatic about it and Suetonius says ‘Claudius dropped on the floor and clasped the soldier’s knees, but found himself acclaimed as emperor’
After three days, he took the princeps and promised every guard 150 gold pieces- Suetonius
Reactions to his Accession
The senate were not pleased and were reluctant to accept him.
The assassination of Gaius showed the power of the Roman aristocracy.
Claudius also had no military or political experience so it was no wonder that they were wary of him.
The army decided that Claudius had to be the one due to no other worthy candidates in the field. It was also apparent that the people wanted the Republic back due to Gaius’ death. But, the senators needed a new leader
Relationship with The Senate
- At the beginning, Claudius spent 30 days avoiding them because he was scared of them-Dio
- People who killed Gaius were prepared for C revenge
- Reformed Senatorial role-Dio
- Introduced the Gaul and requested other Senators leave to make room
- Most of the governorships were handled by the Senate
- No Radical shift
- Would ask for the permission of the senate before making decisions
- Did execute members of the Senate
Relationship with The Equites
Relationship with The Plebs
The Gauls
Claudius wanted reform in the senatorial body and brought in the idea of introducing the Gauls to be part of it.
The Gauls were a group of celtic people that were originally captured 100 years ago and were in the empire.
The Senate argued that these people were not Italian so they had different cultural traditions to the Romans.
Claudius opposed this idea as he said in his speech that many kings had been foreign before.
