Emperor Claudius
...ho wrote ‘Lives Of the Caesars’, “He played the part, not of a prince, but of a servant, lavishing honours, the command of armies, pardons or punishments, according to the interests of each of them, or even their wish or whim.” (Reference). He was loyal and dedicated to his family having the divine honours placed upon his grandmother ‘Livia’ (reference Suetonius) and hosted public offerings in honour of his parents. Claudius was also the first to introduce the Civil Service. He developed the basis of a democracy. His rule also covered the time of Rome’s victory over Britain, which had been tried and failed by Emperors before Claudius. Claudius set down a standard of demeanour for his descendants through his devotion to Rome. According to D.A. Wend “The role of Emperor Claudius set for his successors marks him as the first true Roman emperor.” (reference) In AD 43 Claudius followed in his forefathers footprints in an attempt to conquer Britain. There was one difference however between the outcomes of these attempts; Claudius succeeded. Considering the closed in life Claudius had led before becoming Emperor it isn’t surprising to find that Claudius had not had any experience of war, though after being named emperor however Claudius would have realised that he needed the support of the military factions. In order to achieve this greatly needed support, Claudius set out in the memorable succession of Britain with 40 000 men. According to an inscription that was found on fragments of the Roman Arch, Claudius gained the surrender of eleven tribes without Roman losses (reference). In addition to this grand accomplishment Claudius added other Provinces to his empire these included Mauritania, Thrace and Lycia. By conquering Britain and expanding the Empire of Rome Claudius played a large part in history by introducing Roman technology to the country of Britain, who later in history spread it further around the world. The defeat of Britain brought an increase of property and addition of provinces under the protection of the Emperors’ rule. This contributed to the creation of one of Claudius’ greatest reforms: the creation of an original form of government. Claudius introduced a system of centralised administration to the Empire of Rome. He made specialised departments that were put in charge of the management of separate affairs at which point, were individualised from the control of the senate. Freed men, with whom Claudius had an extremely good report by and large, ran these new and specialised departments. Marcus Antonius Pallas could be an example of this as he was a freed man put in the powerful position of ‘rationibus’ the official who regulated the financial activities of the provinces and collection of taxes (reference, the Claudius page). This introduction of the Civil service was a giant step towards a stronger governing system for Rome and endeared him to many modern historians. “Claudius showed that he possessed great administrative common sense” and he “not only showed skill in choice of efficient freedmen but also impressed his own mind upon public affairs.” (Reference a history of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68.) This shows that not all the publicised gossip considering Claudius was negative. Apart from the larger things Claudius did for Rome, which have been previously mentioned. Claudius was also a competent and ...