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I, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS NERO GERMANICUS ...,
EMPEROR AND GOD

This page is dedicated to the name Claudius and provides some selected information about it, especially Emperor Claudius and the ancient Roman Claudian Dynasty.

The name Claudius

The name relies on the ancient roman dynasty of the Claudii, a very old roman patrician family. This family or the name, in turn, is probably rooted in the person of Attius Clausus and its name (latin "claudeo" means to limp, might have influenced the name).

Seal of Claudius

This "Seal" is based on an original ancient Roman coin issued during the reign of Emperor Claudius, i.e. there was no such seal in reality, just the coin. I authorize all my orders using this seal. Just kidding... ;-)

During the reign of Claudius, a lot of coins like this were issued throughout the empire.



© 2000.
TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG P M TRP IMP PP
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus P M TRP Imperator Pater Patriae


The following "seal" corresponds to the flip side of the same coin, showing an arch built for Emperor Claudius' father, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus.



© 2000.
NERO CLAVDIVS DRVSVS GERMANIMP - SC
Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus Imperator - Senatus Consulto


Epigraphics: Roman names

Complete roman names consist of five elements: first name (praenomen), family name (nomen gentile), descent (filiation, son of the father who is mentioned by his first name), tribe (as a criteria for the roman civil liberty) and co-name (cognomen). The titles of the emperors / caesars correspond to this scheme: after the late Augustus used Imp(erator, Emperor) as a first name (praenomen imperatoris) since 39 BC, at first the successors of the Iulic-Claudic dynasty (except Nero) didn't do this for political reasons. Since the period of the Flavier, this denomination of rulers was used stereotypically and the individual first name was abandoned until Hadrian (including him); an exception is Titus since his father had the same name. So the caesar's nomenclature since Vespian is: Imp. Caesar (cognomen/filiation) Augustus



Ancient Roman coin terms

The following gives a brief overview of abbreviations used on ancient roman coins.


Tiberius
Caesar, CAES, CAE, C The first emperors called themselves like Julius Caesar, because of their family relationship, but even when there was no relation any more the name was used by the Imperial family. Used with 'Noble' (or NOB CAES, NOB C, NC), Caesar denoted an emperor's son or apparent heir.
IMP, Imperator Imperator, as the English word 'emperor', meant 'leader of the army'. This title was used when someone became emperor and it was re-awarded every time an important victory could be celebrated - the title was then followed by a number that indicates the number of IMP titles, but not all emperors used the following titles. Obviously, coins can be dated very well by using this number.
P.P., Pater Patriae Pater Patriae, or father of the country, was used by most Augusti but usually not right at the beginning of the reign. The emperors had to 'earn' this title.
SC
Drusus
GERM, DAC, PART, Germanicus Germanicus, Dacicus, Parthicus and other titles mean 'defeater of the Germans, Dacians, Parthians', ... .
AVG - AVGVSTVS


An arch for Claudius

CIL VI 920 = ILS 216 (Rome)

Ti(berio) Clau[dio Drusi f(ilio) Cai]sari Augu[sto Germani]co | pontific[i maximo, trib(unica) potes]tat(e) XI, | co(n)s(uli) V, im[p(eratori) XX..., patri pa]triai, | senatus po[pulusque] Ro[manus, q]uod | reges Brit[anniai] XI [devictos sine] | ulla iactur[a in deditionem acceperit] | gentesque b[arbaras trans Oceanum] | primus in dici[onem populi Romani redegerit].

This is the inscription (and the full version of the abbreviations) on a triumphal arch built for Tiberius Claudius



I, Claudius - by Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke-Graves wrote two very successful books about Claudius, called 'I Claudius' and 'Claudius the God'. They were made into movies 1937 and 1976, lastly in an excellent 13 part BBC series (650 minutes) with Sir Derek Jacobi as Claudius. It won an Emmy (Tim Harvey for Outstanding Art Direction for a Drama Series) plus several other prizes and nominations. The average user rating on IMDB's movie rating is 9.4 (~2500 votes).

I, Claudius (book), Claudius the God (book) and I, Claudius (TV series) at amazon.co.uk: see the links below.



Ancient Coin Market - www.ancientcoinmarket.com

ABBREVIATIONS ON ROMAN IMPERIAL COINS
Glossary of Coin Terms - Heads
A GLOSSARY OF COIN TERMS

I, Claudius - books and TV series

IMDB profile: I, Claudius (BBC series)
Claudius the God (book) - amazon.co.uk
I, Claudius (book) - amazon.co.uk
I, Claudius (complete BBC series) - amazon.co.uk