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Historical person

Britannicus

41–55

Britannicus was the son of the emperor Claudius and Messalina and was originally expected to inherit the principate. After Claudius married Agrippina the Younger, Nero was adopted, married Britannicus’s sister Octavia and took precedence in the succession. Britannicus was only thirteen or fourteen when he died suddenly at a banquet in AD 55. Ancient authors claim that Nero had him poisoned, although the precise circumstances cannot be proved.

Britannicus appears in Robert Graves’s Claudius the God and in Margaret George’s The Confessions of Young Nero, where his displacement and death reveal the insecurity of Nero’s accession. Historical fiction often portrays him as an innocent legitimate heir, but Roman succession had no fixed rule that guaranteed him the throne. His youth and lack of surviving testimony make him especially vulnerable to being used as a symbol in stories about Agrippina and Nero.

Historical context

Historical periods linked to Britannicus

Reign of Claudius 41–54 CE

Series

Series featuring Britannicus (4 series)

Eagles of the Empire in Order

by Simon Scarrow 24 books 4.5

The Eagles of the Empire series follows Roman soldiers Macro and Cato from the reign of Claudius into that of Nero. Their service takes them through the invasion and occupation of Britain, Mediterranean piracy, revolt, imperial court intrigue and Rome’s eastern wars, combining military campaigning with the politics…

All books in this series

The Nero Trilogy in Order

by Conn Iggulden 3 books 4.4

The Nero Trilogy recounts the rise and fall of Nero through the ambitions of his mother Agrippina and the lethal politics of the Julio-Claudian court. It begins with Nero’s childhood, follows his elevation over Britannicus and ends with revolt, imperial collapse and his death.

All books in this series

Claudius Series in Order

by Robert Graves 2 books 4.4

The Claudius Series is Robert Graves’s two-volume fictional memoir of the Roman emperor Claudius and the Julio-Claudian dynasty. I, Claudius follows the imperial family from Augustus to Caligula through Claudius’s wary, observant voice, while Claudius the God covers his own reign and the forces that undermine it. Together…

All books in this series

Nero Series in Order

by Margaret George 2 books 4.0

Margaret George’s Nero duology reconstructs the life of Rome’s last Julio-Claudian emperor, beginning with a childhood in which imperial blood makes Nero a target and ending with the collapse of his reign. Told largely through Nero’s own perspective, the series follows his passage through the courts of Caligula…

All books in this series