Emperors | Empresses | Imperial Family | Other Aristocrats | Soldiers | Commoners
Characters of aristocratic rank, both Roman and foreign, who are not related to the Imperial family.
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Herod
Herod Agrippa
Played by: James Faulkner
Claudius's friend from childhood. Herod is a common presence in Claudius's life, being his closest confidant. Herod is Jewish and ruled Judea as its king.- A God Am I: In the final episode, it is revealed that he thinks himself to be the messiah whose coming the Jews prophesied, and betrays Claudius in a bid for power. He's very quickly proven to be wrong.
- Best Friend: Until the events of the final episode, he remains Claudius's most long lasting and loving friendship.
- Boomerang Bigot: He has no genuine care for the Jewish people under his command, constantly deriding them and sees them as "a quarrelsome people who drive all their rulers mad".
- Cassandra Truth: Herod warns Claudius not to trust anyone, even him. It's good advice because everyone betrays Claudius, including Herod.
- The Confidant: To Claudius, especially later in life when Claudius's other friends and allies have passed away.
- Disappeared Dad: His father was murdered by his own father before Herod was born, as the young Herod quite equanimously explains in his first appearance.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Admits in his final letter that he truly loved Claudius despite his betrayal.
- Face–Heel Turn: Late in the series. He stays the longest on Claudius's side even as the decades role on. In the second to the last episode, he ultimately turns against him and dies.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: He does turn against his old friend (who also happens to be our viewpoint character), but at this point said friend is the ruler of The Empire which is denying independence to Jews and many other nations, and has no intention to give them true freedom.
- Manipulative Bastard: Even before his Face–Heel Turn, he already displayed shades of this throughout the series.
- Majored in Western Hypocrisy: Or the closest thing to this trope in antiquity, having been educated in Rome. Notably, he speaks with the same accent as the upper-class Roman characters, signifying the mark Roman culture had on him.
- Named After Somebody Famous: He was named for Marcus Agrippa.
- Only Friend: Around the time of Caligula's ascension, Herod is the only friend of Claudius's left alive.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers a tongue lashing to both Antonia and Agrippina when they admonish Claudius for marrying Sejanus's sister, claiming they'd have been killed if they were in Claudius' position and had refused Sejanus' proposal and for all of Claudius' proclaimed incompetence, he's still alive where others had already fallen.
Piso
Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso
Played by Stratford Johns
Tiberius's friend and governor of Syria, and Germanicus's rival. He and his wife Plancina are accused of poisoning Germanicus early in Tiberius's reign, forcing Tiberius to try him for murder and treason.- Adipose Rex: He didn't miss many meals while serving as governor.
- Bad Liar: Lies constantly and poorly from the start of his trial. Nobody is fooled.
- Didn't Think This Through: He flaunts his letters from Tiberius in the Senate thinking that their mere presence will get him out of trouble, despite the fact that the letters bear the Imperial seal and thus can't legally be opened in public, and that if they were opened, they'd be incriminating. This maneuver only succeeds at enraging Tiberius, who was Piso's only political ally.
- Dirty Coward: By Roman standards. A man in his position would have been expected to commit suicide, so that his honor could be preserved and his family wouldn't lose their estate. Instead, Piso tries to blackmail the emperor.
- Driven to Suicide: Subverted. Piso is getting ready to take his own life to spare his family the consequences of a criminal conviction, but he loses heart at the last minute. Plancina has to do the job for him.
- Face Death with Dignity: Completely averted. Plancina has to browbeat him into committing suicide to spare their children from the estate confiscation they would have faced as the heirs of a convicted traitor, and even then, he chickens out at the last minute. In the end, Plancina has to do the job herself by pretending to attempt suicide, and then plunging the dagger into his gut when he tries to take it from her.
- Fat Bastard: Corpulent and corrupt.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He thinks that Tiberius is his friend, and that this friendship puts him above the law. Tiberius barely has friends, and certainly isn't the type of man who'd bend the rules to help one get out of trouble.
- Overzealous Underling: Gets vague letters from Tiberius instructing him to uphold the Empire's security and to stamp out disloyalty. He and Plancina interpret this as an order to kill Germanicus, when Tiberius meant nothing of the sort.
- Poor Communication Kills: He and his wife start a major political crisis by interpreting vague instructions as orders to commit murder.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Or so he thinks.
- Smug Snake: He is convinced that the letters he got from Tiberius and Livia will keep him safe from prosecution. But not only does producing them in his trial fail to win over the Senate; it also infuriates Tiberius and makes him much less inclined to bail Piso out.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Plancina has remained fairly attractive as she aged. Piso is fat and bald.
- Villainous Breakdown: Suffers one when he realizes that Tiberius is going to let the Senate convict him.
- You Know Too Much: He's convinced that his letters will save him. Instead, Livia coerces his wife into killing him and making it look like suicide.
Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Played by John Paul.
Augustus's long-standing friend and right hand. His popularity amongst the people has earned him a valued place in Augustus's court.- Awful Wedded Life: He tells Augustus that he never got along with his wife, a revelation that surprises Augustus. The nature of his marriage is never elaborated on in the show, though in the first novel it's explained that she's Agrippa's hated rival Marcellus's sister and the strain on the marriage was caused directly by his feud with her brother. Nevertheless, he is quick to abandon her in order to "marry up."
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first, a fun and kind Old Friend to Augustus whose struggle with the current times is played sympathetically, Agrippa's return to Rome shows a more sinister side. Agrippa manipulates Augustus to marry off the recently widowed Julia to him and throws his wife away without a second thought. It's clear that he's taking advantage of the chaos in Rome and Augustus's own desperation to consolidate power for himself.
- Dirty Old Man: When Augustus wants him to resume his position in Rome Marcus eagerly agrees on the condition that he can marry Augustus's daughter Julia.
- Loved by All: He's very popular with the people of Rome, so much so that when he steps down Augustus begs him to come back when his reputation takes a hit.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Marcus is only in the first episode (or first half of a joint episode) and dies in-between "A Touch of Murder" and "Family Affairs" but his lineage becomes important far down the line as they are often in conflict with Livia's lineage for the throne.
