Tiberius Claudius Drusus (10 BC - AD 54), was the fourth emperor of Rome. He was the nephew of Tiberius and adopted grandson of Augustus. He was an awkward, eccentric man in his behaviour, and also had a club-foot and a speech impediment. For these reasons his family was always embarassed of him and believed him to be a fool. It has also been speculated that because he was considered a fool and no one thought of him as a threat, that this is why he was one of the few members of his extended family to survive as long as he did (including through the turbulent reigns of Tiberius and Caligula).When his nephew Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, Claudius was found by the Praetorian guards, who proclaimed him the new emperor, primarily because he was virtually the only member of the imperial family left standing. However, the short-comings that had made his family ashamed of him caused others to lack confidence in him as well. It was perhaps as a bid to gain respect and prestige that Claudias embarked on a campaign to conquer Britain in AD 43, in which he was successful.Claudius had the misfortune of being married to one of the most depraved women in Rome: Valeria Messalina. Her countless betrayals were notorious, and although everyone knew about it, no one wished to be the one to tell Claudius, and he apparently remained ignorant for years. The situation could not be ignored any longer, however, when, in AD 48, Messalina married a lover hers named Gaius Silius (in a full ceremony with witnesses), and made plans to assassinate Claudius and establish Silius as the new emperor. Claudius was advised of the plot by one of his freedmen, and Messalina was arrested and put to death.Although Claudius made the Praetorians swear to kill him if he ever married again, he did just that, and this time, to his niece, Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula, and mother of Nero.Claudius died of poisoning in AD 54 and while the sources disagree as to the method of the administration of the poison (Tacitus tells us he ate a poisoned mushroom, whereas Suetonius in his typically sensationalistic fashion tells us that he was choking on a piece of food and a poisoned feather was poked down his throat in a false attempt to make him cough up the food), both sources agree that it was Agrippina who poisoned him.Claudius was survived both by his own son by Messalina, the young Britannicus, and his adopted son by Agrippina, Nero, both of which were to become emperor together. However, Britannicus soon died of epilepsy, from which he had suffered his entire life, leaving the empire entirely in the hands of Nero and his mother. Show less «