Claudius

Born in 10 BC at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, Claudius was the first emperor born outside Italy. His childhood illness left him with a limp, stammer, and tremor, and his family kept him out of public life until he shared a consulship with his nephew Caligula in AD 37. The same infirmity that made him an object of scorn likely saved him during the purges under Tiberius and Caligula - no one saw him as dangerous. When Caligula was assassinated in AD 41, the Praetorian Guard declared Claudius emperor; he was the last adult male in the Julio-Claudian line. He proved unexpectedly capable: he expanded the bureaucracy, rebuilt the treasury, launched the conquest of Britain, and presided over trials with a personal interest in law. But senators never trusted him, and he spent thirteen years shoring up his position through executions that stained his reputation. He died in AD 54 at sixty-three, many believing his wife Agrippina poisoned him to clear the throne for Nero.