#julio claudian dynasty

[uncleclaudius]

Portrait of Antonia Minor carved out of white chalcedony. 1st century AD.

[behindfairytales]

DOMINA (s2) + historical references

[wolframpant]

Historical Female Characters in Domina (2021)

[girlcatilina]

opening my roman history book sighing: whose turn is it to perpetuate the cycle of violence today?

[duxfemina]

A brief summary of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Octavian/Augustus - he has a reputation associated with peace but you will get a little ill once you look at all the collateral damage around him and that reputation ie. It's easy to institute a regime of peace when you've murdered everyone who might oppose you

Tiberius - when a chronic people pleaser finally get into a position of power and still no one thinks they're good enough and they finally reach burnout and fuck off to their vacation home indefinitely

Caligula - the first emperor in the long litany of reasons why people whose brain has not fully developed should NOT be given access to unlimited power. Little Boots is either insane or the absolute champion at taking the piss out of the elite and there isn't really a third option

Claudius - an icon for overcoming disability and bullying and knowing how to delegate administration appropriately. Also this man gave his wives a lot of mobility (for the time) so we stan in spite of the sources trying to smear him for that very thing. Also this man was SUCH a nerd and I wish they hadn't destroyed his history of the Civil Wars but that's the Augustan propaganda machine for ya even near kin isn't safe from censorship

Nero - take one traumatic childhood add a flare for the dramatic and then give them unlimited power before their brain is fully developed and now it's like Caligula but with more pizzazz. Nero is literally what happens when that obnoxious rich kid who's into theater gets absolutely unlimited money and power and nothing to curtail his flare for a spectacle.

[brutusjustifier]

ANCIENT ROME FAMILY TREES !!

(that I've written down so far)

- THE JULIOCLAUDIANS (until Claudius, sorry Nero! - starting from Brutus' ancestors)

- MARCELLUS AND HIS FAMILY (down to Messalina!)

- THE FAMILY OF AELIUS SEJANUS (the only one whose family isn't a circle)

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

hello! i heard someone say that the julio claudians were the "definition of intergenerational trauma". what do you think about that?

Short answer: YES.

Longer answer: By modern standards, yeah, there's a ton of trauma there. Roman writers were more judgey, and would have called it weakness or moral degeneracy. There wasn't much compassion for "weird kids" like Claudius, or Tiberius' social awkwardness and depression, or Nero being forced to govern an empire at only 16.

I think part of it was family trauma, part of it was lack of support for people who were disabled or different, and part of it was political pressure. The centralization of power raised the stakes to insane levels, to the point that people were willing to kill each other to try to protect themselves. The political environment was itself traumatic, in my opinion.

But this is also why the Romans fascinate me. If you dig beneath the conquests and lurid gossip, you find very human people trying to navigate a deeply screwed-up system. Sometimes they fuck up horribly; sometimes they achieve wonderful things; sometimes you get glimpses of who they could've been if the world had been a little kinder.

The Julio-Claudians were just people, like us. Some of them were deeply, horribly damaged, and went on to hurt others. But given what they grew up with...who wouldn't be?

[187o]

Julio-Claudian dynasty : Children of Germanicus and Agrippina Major

[youvebeengreeked]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MESSALINA

I'm sure you'd be blowing more than candles today...

[uncleclaudius]

These bronze decorations are part of what remains from the Nemi ships, pleasure barges of Emperor Caligula. The sunken ships were recovered in 1929 but were destroyed in 1944 during WWII.

[fierce-little-miana]

Bust of Agrippina the Elder (daughter of Agrippa and Julia the Elder, mother of Agrippina the Younger and Caligula among other) as a child.

This bust was found in Toulouse and is currently visible in its museum of archeology.

[wolframpant]

Livia Drusilla

(30 January 58 BCE - 29 CE)

In the purity of her home life, she was of the ancient type but was more gracious than was thought fitting in ladies of former days. An imperious mother and an amiable wife, she was a match for the diplomacy of her husband and the dissimulation of her son. – Tacitus, Annals, V.1

[girlcatilina]

the best part of twelve caesars is when suetonius spends a paragraph saying "augustus ate some dates and some cheese"

[duxfemina]

Who of the many women that surrounded Mark Antony could you see yourself being FRIENDS with? Not who you admire the most but who you'd enjoy drinks and dishing the dirt with the most

It's honestly kind of hilarious how the "Julio-Claudian" Dynasty is really a bunch of Antonians. Over half of the emperors and most of the influential women of the family are all Antonians

[thecatsaesthetics]

Me reading a book on Nero and realizing he was,

Augustus Great Great Nephew on his fathers side

And on his mothers side he is both

Augustus Great Great Great Nephew and Great Great Grandson.

He never stood a chance with that genetic make up.