There’s a surprising birthday recorded on August 1: Claudius, the Roman Emperor (his full name was Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus). It’s surprising because Claudius was born in 10 BCE, and it’s extremely unusual to have a record of an individual’s birth from that long ago. The second reason why it’s surprising is that Claudius was born in 10 BCE, but the month of August wasn’t named “August” until he was 2 years old. Before that it was Sextilis, because it was the sixth out of ten months. Originally, anyway, They added January and February around 700 BCE, and then Julius Caesar swapped everything around to create the Julian calendar around 46 BCE. There’s a lot of calculation involved in working out ancient dates.
But back to Claudius. He was born outside Italy, because his father was in the military and stationed in Gaul (now France). That turned out to be a first for Roman Emperors, although Claudius was only the fourth of those. And for a long time nobody, probably including him, expected him to become emperor. A childhood illness left him partially deaf and with a limp, and in those days that meant he was ostracized by many, including his own mother.
He was raised by his grandmother, who put him under the care of a former mule-driver. At least that’s what the history books say; I suspect there might have been more to the story. But it was a noble family, so Claudius was taught by high-ranking tutors and philosophers, and at least one of them noted in a letter that the kid was surprisingly good at oratory.
Claudius was part of the extended royal family of Rome, but wasn’t in line to become emperor until the two preceding ones, Tiberius and Caligula, had killed every other adult male in the entire family. But to everyone’s surprise, when he did become emperor, he turned out to be pretty good at it. His predecessors had wrecked the Roman economy, and he restored it. He bolstered the rule of law by personally presiding at many trials and rendering judgements that satisfied people as reasonable. And he led a huge construction effort across the empire.
But recall what a pleasant family Claudius was part of — when he was 63, he was probably murdered by his own wife. He had adopted a stepson, named Nero, who succeeded him as emperor — and if you’ll recall your history, Nero was not quite as successful in the job. We know what he looked like — there’s a bronze head in his image in England, which became a Roman conquest at his direction. His reputation might have had its ups and downs through the centuries though — the bust was found at the bottom of a river.
