Messalina and the Succession to Claudius

Abstract

The first four Caesars formed a dynasty, and each successively was his predecessor’s chief and legitimate heir, inheriting the bulk of his private property, including his slaves, and taking his place as patron of his clientes, who included his freedmen. The conspirators who killed Gaius Caligula also ended the dynasty, and when the Senate met on the Capitol to consider the state of the Republic, it was proposed to obliterate the Julian name. The empire, it seemed, had ended, and though no one yet knew what would take its place, the Roman state would surely no longer be bequeathed like an heirloom in the family of the Caesars: ‘Liberty’ was restored.