History Literature / IClaudius

* BedTrick: During Tiberius' reign, a rich man falls in love with a married woman who rejects his advances. Knowing she's a devoted worhiper of the goddess Isis, he manages to bed her by pretending to be the god Anubis. This scandal ends up leading to the banishment of the cult from Rome.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Claudius, although it's mostly an act. {{Lampshad|eHanging}}ed by Tiberius.

** Played straight with Herod Antipas, who marries his niece Herodias out of love and attraction. It should be noted, however, that in the Eastern monarchies of the time, marriages between uncles and nieces were considered normal. Furthermore, Herodias first husband, whom he divorces to marry Antipas, was '''also''' her uncle. John the Baptist preaches against Antipas and Herodias' marriage not because it is incestuous but because he's against her divorce.

* {{Jesus}}: A version of Jesus Christ's life is told by Herod Agrippa in a letter to Claudius. Herod considers Jesus to have been a fraud and persecutes his followers, so his view of Jesus's story is somewhat unreliable.

** Parodied in ''I, Claudius'', where Claudius meets historians Livy and Pollio. Pollio criticizes Livy for writing that generals gave rousing speeches before battles, and tells that [[Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar Julius Caesar]] before the decisive battle with UsefulNotes/{{Pompey}} (where Pollio was present) didn't do anything of the sort; instead, he did funny skits involving a radish.

* UnwantedSpouse: Claudius and his first wife Urgulanilla, though he says that there's so little feeling between them that he can't even say they were unhappy with each other. When he announces he's divorcing her out of suspicion that she [[spoiler:had her brother's second wife killed and because she had a child with a slave]] she doesn't contest the charges when presented with them. Ironically of all his wives she's the only one who never treats him harshly or tries to manipulate him for her own gain, and outright states in her will that he is not an idiot like everyone else thinks. It's also safe to say that he bears her no ill will either, going out of his way to spare [[spoiler:the child she had with her slave by swapping it with a stillborn baby's body rather than expose it as was his right by law as her slighted husband]].

** In ''Claudius the God'', Claudius gives a similar speech before an important battle in Britain (without a radish though).
* RoyalInbreeding: The Julio-Claudians practice this.

* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: In ''Claudius the God'', Claudius is told by Messalina that a prophecy says that her husband is going to die in a month. She uses this to convince him to divorce her (strictly ''pro forma!'') and marry another man. When Claudius realises that it was a plot against him, he sentences that man to death.

* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: In ''Claudius the God'', Claudius is told by Messalina that a prophecy says that [[spoiler:her husband is going to die in a month. For this reason they divorce and she marries another man. When Claudius realises that it was a plot against him, he sentences that man to death. Other prophecies also are true.]]

* CreepyCrossdresser: Caligula often asumes the identity of different goddesses, and thus wears female dresses.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Livia is an interesting example. She uses the vilest means to obtain power, but she's also described as a very able and just ruler. Claudius loathes her because many of her victims, such as [[spoiler:Postumus]] and [[spoiler:Germanicus]], are his dearest friends, but admits her goverment was much better than Tiberius' and Caligula's.

* GoodBadGirl: Julia, while being quite promiscuous, is portrayed simpathetically by Claudius. Firstly, [[spoiler:because she begins having affairs as a result of her husband Tiberius' coolness towards her and his own infidelities]]. Secondly, [[spoiler:because her enhanced sex-drive seems to have been caused by Livia, who tricks her into using Spanish fly, a potent aphrodisiac]]. Thirdly, because she has a good heart and is the only adult member of Claudius' family who treats him with affection.

* ThePardon: Caligula pardons Herod Agrippa, who had been imprisoned for treason by Tiberius. Later Claudius pardons his nieces Agrippinilla and Lesbia, allowing them to return from exile. Seneca is pardoned by Claudius not once but twice: first, when he becomes emperor, and recalls several people sentenced to exile by Caligula. Shortly after, Claudius discovers Seneca is commiting adultery with nis niece Lesbia and exiles him again. Years later, [[spoiler:he decides to recall him from exile to make him Nero's tutor]].

* ParentalIncest: Caligula claims his mother Agrippina was the result of an incestuous affait between Augustus and his daugher Julia. This is almost certainly a lie: Caligula dislikes the fact that his maternal grandfather Agrippa was a man of low birth, so he wants to erase him from his family tree.

* ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime: Antonia discovers [[spoiler:her pre-adolescent grandchildren Caligula and Drusilla comitting incest, and threatens to report this to Tiberius]], but Claudius manages to convince her to keep their secret.

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Drusus and Antonia's, Tiberius and Vipsania's, Germanicus and Agrippina's and Cypros and Herod Agrippa's arranged marriages are very happy. However, they are the exception to the rule.

* AffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Livia]] acts like this towards Claudius when she invites him to have dinner. They have a polite and friendly conversation during wich she confesses all of her crimes, knowing full well Claudius can't and won't seek vengeance.

* AbusiveParents: Claudius' mother, Antonia was disgusted by him because of his disabilities, and always considered him to be an idiot.

** [[spoiler:Antonia]] is forced to have her own daughter [[spoiler:Livilla]] killed. [[spoiler:She chooses to lock her in a room and starve her to death]].

** Tiberius is told that in ten years, "Tiberius Claudius" will still be emperor. He interprets it as a reassurance that he has ten more years to live and reign. [[spoiler:He dies not long after that, and]] the prophecy is fulfilled by his nephew Claudius, whose first name is also Tiberius.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Martina]] is murdered so that she cannot testify against [[spoiler:Piso and Plancina]] in the trial for [[Germanicus]]' murder.

* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Augustus was apparently uncapable of sustaining an erection with Livia, something she used to her own advantage.

* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:Messalina tries to seduce her stepfather, Appius Silanus. When Appius refuses, she threatens to have him executed by Claudius. Instead of giving in and sleeping with her, or keep refusing and end up possibly accused of treason by Messalina, he decides to assassinate Claudius (and fails)]].
* TakingTheKids: Claudius' grandfather threatens Livia to divorce her and have sole custody of their sons (something Roman law allowed) if she keeps trying to convince him to restore the monarchy.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Implied to happen at the very end of ''Claudius the God''. The clowns in question are minor characters Augurinus and Baba, two guys who made a living giving theatricals in the back streets of the Rome where they parodied Claudius and his wives. Claudius forbids Agrippinilla from having them killed, stating that so long as he lives their lives are to be spared; Agrippinilla agrees to let them live only exactly so long, to the very hour. [[spoiler: Seneca's "The Pumpkinication of Claudius" mentions Claudius and some Augurinus and Baba dying "in the same year quite close to each other"; and their deaths are implied to be first sign of Agrippinilla's and Nero's tyranny being completely unrestrained after the death of Claudius.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: Messalina tries to seduce her stepfather, Appius Silanus. When Appius refuses, she threatens to have him executed by Claudius. Instead of giving in and sleeping with her, or keep refusing and end up possibly accused of treason by Messalina, he decides to assassinate Claudius (and fails).
* TakingTheKids: Claudius' grandfathers threatens Livia to divorce her and have sole custody of their sons (something Roman law allowed) if she keeps trying to convince him to restore the monarchy.
* TheStarscream: Sejanus and Livilla want to overthow Tiberius. Unfortunately for them, Tiberius gets wind of this and decides to strike first.
* StoppedCaring: Claudius gives this impression after Messalina dies. He makes little effort to reign in Agrippinilla and Nero, actually doing his best to make the latter worse, and doesn't avenge [[spoiler: Calpurnia]] when she's murdered. When his work on the Fucine lake comes crashing down, he finds it hilarious. He actually still cares about the future of the Empire; his plan is to let Agrippinilla and Nero destroy everything he built to make the people realize that monarchy is bad. To be able to bear that, he has to take a stoic attitude to things. As he writes:

* SuicideIsPainless: Cocceius Nerva decides that he had lived enough, so he simply stops eating and eventually dies.

* TellMeAboutMyFather: In his youth, Claudius speaks to a lot of people who knew his father, trying to gather enough material to write his biography. One of them hints that Livia was involved in his death; shortly after that, Livia herself stops Claudius from finishing his work, making him suspect she really did kill him.
* ThanatosGambit: Claudius lets Nero succeed him, despite knowing that he's a horrible person, because he believes that Nero's cruelty will be so shocking that the Romans will depose him and finally restore the Republic of their own free will. [[DramaticIrony As we know with the benefit of hindsight, this doesn't work.]]

* ThickerThanWater: Thoroughly averted. Almost every character ends up betraying and/or killing a family member. Even Claudius has two of his nieces put to death for conspiring against him.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: After Claudius hears what happened to Sejanus' children (see LoopholeAbuse) he says to himself: "Rome, you are ruined; there can be no expiation for a crime so horrible."
* Tyrannicide: Caligula's death, although the larger plot to restore the Republic after his death fails.

** Claudius and Messalina. It doesn't work out well; Messalina is able to manipulate Claudius while cheating on him with just about everyone.
** Claudius and Agrippinilla as well, though she isn't the beauty she once was by the time they get married.

* UnwantedSpouse: Claudius and his first wife Urgulanilla, though he says that there's so little feeling between them that he can't even say they were unhappy with each other. When he announces he's divorcing her out of suspicion that she had her brother's second wife killed and because she had a child with a slave she doesn't contest the charges when presented with them. Ironically of all his wives she's the only one who never treats him harshly or tries to manipulate him for her own gain, and outright states in her will that he is not an idiot like everyone else thinks. It's also safe to say that he bears her no ill will either, going out of his way to spare the child she had with her slave by swapping it with a stillborn baby's body rather than expose it as was his right by law as her slighted husband.

** Claudius at the end organizes Nero to be his successor, fully knowing that he'll be the worst ruler imaginable. He does that because he believes that after this, people will finally realize that monarchy is wrong and restore the republic. He writes in his meditations:

* TheVamp: Messalina uses her beauty to manipulate Gaius Silius into organizing a coup against Claudius.

** Somewhat averted with Agrippinilla's marriage to Claudius, her paternal uncle. While their union is clearly incestuous, the marriage is merely a political alliance and is never phisically consumated.

* WouldHurtAChild: Livia orders the death of her teenage great-grandson to prevent him from marrying the daughter of a political rival. Macro has Sejanus' underaged son and daughter executed (and the girl is raped before her death because it's bad luck to kill a virgin). Caligula orders the death of his young cousin Gemellus. In turn, Caligula's infant daughter is murdered by the same conspirators who killed the Emperor. Messalina tries to murder Nero when he is a child, but the attempt is thwarted.

* LastMinuteReprieve: Averted. When Tiberius dies, several people have been sentenced to death by him. They hope the new emperor Caligula might pardon them, but they can't reach to him in time and end up executed.

* LoopholeAbuse: When Sejanus and his supporters are being eliminated, guards are sent to kill his young children as well. [[EvenEvilHasStandards They're understandably reluctant to do so,]] and one of them even protests that the daughter is underage and a virgin; executing a virgin is unprecedented and could bring bad luck on the city. Macro's solution? Rape her, ''then'' kill her. Her brother is also underage, but they dress him up in his coming of age robes so he's legally a man - then they kill him too. As is the case with most of the stuff in these books, sadly TruthInTelevision.
* TheLostLenore: Claudius' first love was a girl named Camilla who returned his affection, unfortunately on the day they were to be betrothed she was fatally poisoned to get back at her father, and poor Claudius clearly never recovered emotionally from it.

* LuredIntoATrap: A sealed letter from Tiberius arrives to Rome, and Sejanus is led to believe it contains his appointment for a high office. He goes to a Senate meeting were the letter will be opened and read out loud. But instead of the appointment, the letter orders Sejanus' arrest, and he is seized on the spot by the Pretorian Guard.

** Gemellus, Castor and Livilla's son and Tiberius' grandson, is revealed to actually be the child of Livilla's lover, Sejanus.
** After Claudius finds out how many times Messalina cheated on him, he starts doubting whether he's the real father of their kids. He comes to the conclusion that Britannicus is his child, but Octavia isn't.

* MoralityChain: Vipsania and Drusus to Tiberius early on in the story; Claudius notes that initially their influence checked the worse elements of his nature, but as he was forced to divorce Vipsania and Drusus was sent on a military campaign to a different part of the empire, their influence on Tiberius was removed and he gradually went altogether to the bad (especially after the two died). Later, and to a lesser degree, Cocceius Nerva to Tiberius. Caesonia tries to be this to Caligula, advising him to rule mildly and earn people's love. Unfortunately, this only makes Caligula announce that he will grant everyone amnesty and rule with love for a thousand of years, but only after purging Senate.
* MoralityPet: Tiberius is portrayed as a pedophile who murders most of his relatives and a good chunk of the senate but for some reason he insists on having an innocent and virtuous senator Cocceius Nerva live with him in his Evil Playboy Mansion on Capri. It helps that Nerva seems to be the only real friend Tiberius had since the death of his brother Drusus and that he is possibly the only person in the empire who believes Tiberius to be just and moral, as Tiberius can't bring himself to disillusion him. When the senator decides to commit suicide Tiberius is distraught, and actually goes so far as to tear up some death warrants in the hope that this will convince the senator to live on.
* MotherMakesYouKing: Tiberius only becomes Emperor because his mother Livia has been very active in removing any inconvenient competitors for the succession that might stand in his way. And Agrippinilla clearly has the same designs in mind for her son Nero at the end of the story.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Antonia, Claudius' mother, realizes she's been an awful parent shortly before commiting suicide, when it's too late to change things between them. Even after admitting this to Claudius, she keeps nagging him.
** Claudius has a major one after Messalina's downfall, when he realizes that his competent rule has strenghtened the imperial monarchy, making it impossible to restore the Republic.
* NeverSuicide: Piso's death is staged as a suicide by his wife, Plancina, who in fact murdered him.

* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Claudius' dinner with Livia has shades of this, although Claudius isn't Livia's prisioner.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Claudius' former lover and logtime friend, Calpurnia dies, he writes an epigraph for her. This is the only poem he ever wrote in his life, apart from school assigments. He explains that he wanted to do something exceptional to show the depth of his grief.

* OffingTheOffspring: [[EvilMatriarch Livia]] poisoned her husband, grandson, and everyone else who got in her way. She also arranged the death of her son Drusus, who was politically opposed to her (although she claims in the end he actually died of natural causes).
** Antonia is forced to have her own daughter Livilla killed. She chooses to lock her in a room and starve her to death.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: It happens to several characters, but the one who takes it harder is Antonia, Claudius' mother, whose elder son Germanicus and only daughter Livilla both die before her (in Livilla's case, starved to death by Antonia herself as punishment for her crimes). Several of Antonia's grandchildren are also dead by the time she passes away.

* ThePardon: Caligula pardons Herod Agrippa, who had been imprisoned for treason by Tiberius. Later Claudius pardons his nieces Agrippinilla and Lesbia, allowing them to return from exile. Seneca is pardoned by Claudius not once but twice: first, when he becomes emperor, and recalls several people sentenced to exile by Caligula. Shortly after, Claudius discovers Seneca is commiting adultery with nis niece Lesbia and exiles him again. Years later, he decides to recall him from exile to make him Nero's tutor.
* ParentalFavoritism: Antonia favors Germanicus and Livilla over Claudius. Later she comes to regret it, and considers their deaths a divine punishment for her mistreatment of Claudius.

* ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime: Antonia discovers her pre-adolescent grandchildren Caligula and Drusilla comitting incest, and threatens to report this to Tiberius, but Claudius manages to convince her to keep their secret.

** Messalina's marriage to Claudius '''seems''' to be this, until she shows her true colors.

* PleaseSpareHimMyLiege: Messalina convinces Claudius to spare the life of a defeated German gladiator. Later, Claudius comes to suspect she wanted to take him as her lover, and that he's the real father of his youngest daughter Octavia.

* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: In ''Claudius the God'', Claudius is told by Messalina that a prophecy says that her husband is going to die in a month. For this reason they divorce and she marries another man. When Claudius realises that it was a plot against him, he sentences that man to death. Other prophecies also are true.

* ProphecyTwist: Claudius reveals early on that he had learned of a prophesy that describes his predecessors and himself, and speaks of his successor as [[InadequateInheritor horrible]], and the last. Claudius interprets this to mean that his successor will be Rome's last Emperor, and that after him, the Republic will be restored, which is why he allows the horrible Nero to be his successor. However, the prophesy actually means ([[DramaticIrony as the audience knows but Claudius doesn't]]) that Nero will be the last Julio-Claudian Emperor (but will of course have numerous successors).

* PuppetKing: Claudius chooses to become this after the fall of Messalina.

* ReallyGetsAround: Julia and Messalina, the latter taking it to absurd levels. Narcissus compiles a list of people she slept with while married to Claudius. The first draft contains 54 names, but it's later extended to 155.

* ReluctantRuler: Claudius is not willing to become emperor, and he only accepts when he's told his wife Messalina and his unborn child will be in danger if he refuses.

* RemarryingForYourKids: After Messalina's death, Claudius brings up the subject of his young children Brittanicus and Octavia, who have been left without a mother. His friend Vitellius suggests him to remarry for their sake, and when he doesn't reject the idea, his freedmen inmediately start looking for a new prospective wife.

* RevengeByProxy: After Sejanus' downfall, his three innocent children are executed as well.
** Also, after Herod Agrippa's death, his two young daughters are raped by a mob.

* RulingCouple: Augustus and Livia. Germanicus/Agrippina and Sejanus/Livilla have shades of this trope, although they never end up becoming Emperor and Empress. Claudius gives both Messalina and Agrippinilla a high degree of political influence, although neither gets to become as powerful as Livia.

** FaceDeathWithDignity: When Claudius's freedman tricks him into signing Messalina's death-warrant, they make sure to offer Messalina a dagger--to take the honourable way out--in the hopes that they won't have to show the warrant to Claudius. Similarly, when Augustus banishes his daughter Julia for adultery, Julia accepts exile but her maid Phoebe hangs herself in disgrace; Augustus bitterly comments, "I wish to God I had been Phoebe's father."

* SexlessMarriage: Claudius and Agrippinilla. Since he only married her for political reasons and actually loathes her, he tells her right away that there won't be any intimacy between them. Agrippinilla doesn't mind.

** After a few years of normal married life, Messalina manipulates Claudius into allowing her to sleep in a separate bedroom and stop having sex altogether, convincing her she's asexual. It's all a lie: she just wants freedom to take as many lovers as she wants.

** Messalina tries to pull this off with Appius Silanus, but it doesn't work.
* ShaggyDogStory: Herod Agrippa's secret plot to rebel against the Roman Empire comes to naught with his abrupt death.
** The same can be said about Claudius' plan to save Britannicus life during Nero's reign, and to have the Republic restored. Britannicus refuses to go along, and even if he had, it's doubtful he would have been able to succesfully return to Rome and re-establish the republican system in the crisis of 68.

* CainAndAbel: Drusus (Germanicus' second son) betrays his elder brother Nero (not to be confused with the future Emperor) to Sejanus, leading to his imprisonment and murder. In a more straight example, Caligula orders the death of Gemellus, his first cousin and adoptive brother, and is heavily implied to have murdered his sister Drusilla.

* CluelessBoss: Augustus is almost completely blind to Livia's manipulation. Claudius has shades of this, until Messalina's downfall.

* ConvictedByPublicOpinion: Played straight with Piso and his wife Plancina, who are (correctly) blamed by the Roman people for Germanicus' death. Inverted with Agrippina and her children, who are condemned for treason in spite of the people's support.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Claudius has slaves, enjoys gladiator fights and approves of Germanicus slaughtering civilians during the war in Germania. Also, as an emperor, he has a ''lot'' of people executed (including his son-in-law, simply for being gay).
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Many people imprisoned by Tiberius are slowly starved to death, such as Julia, Gallus, Drusus and Livilla.

* DestroyTheAbusiveHome: Caligula had the house on the island of Pandataria where his mother Agrippina was imprisoned and eventually died destroyed when he became emperor, which Claudius notes resulted in a bit of the StreisandEffect since prior to this no one had paid the house any attention, but after seeing the ruins people naturally became curious as to what had occurred there.

* DoesntTrustThoseGuys: Herod Agrippa repeatedly advises Claudius to never trust ''anybody'', and he's absolutely right. Claudius once writes him a letter saying that he has taken Herod's advice and trusts no one -- with the exception of several people whose names he lists, Herod among them. All of them, Herod included, prove to be untrustworthy.

* DownerEnding: Claudius at the end knows that Agrippina will soon kill him, and he'll be succeeded by Nero, who will be a horrible ruler. He allowed all of this to happen because he believed that after Nero's tyranny, people will abolish monarchy and restore the republic. People familiar with Roman history know how that turned out, but Graves also tells the reader in an afterword; after Nero's death, a civil war broke out, eventually Vespasian became the emperor and the republic was never restored.

* DragonInChief: Sejanus seems to become this after Agrippina's downfall. It doesn't last long.

** There are also some cases when characters kill themselves out of genuine grief and desesperation, such as Antonia's death in the first book and Cypros' in the second.
* EmergencyAuthority: How Claudius becomes emperor: Caligula is murdered, and there is no other male adult member of the imperial family in Rome, so they proclaim him emperor.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Averted. Tiberius loathes his mother Livia, and the only reason he probably doesn't have her killed is because he also fears her, since she still has a lot of spies and political influence. Caligula befriends Tiberius after he has sentenced his mother Agrippina to prison, and never attemps to persuade him to release her or to improve the conditions of her imprisonment. But Nero goes even farther, ordering the death of his mother Agrippinilla.

* EvilIsPetty: At one point, Caligula wants to put Claudius to death because he has a head full of hair and the Emperor is going bald. Luckily, Claudius manages to talk himself out of it by pretending Caligula ordered to cut his '''hair''' instead of his head.
* EvilMatriarch: Livia murders no less than 6 family members (including her husband, Emperor Augustus) in her scheme to set up her son as the next Emperor of Rome.

* EvilUncle: Tiberius is this towards practically all of his brother's descendants. He has a hand in the deaths of his nephew Germanicus, his niece Livilla, his niece-in-law Agrippina, and his great-nephews Nero and Drusus; he's also quite malevolent towards Claudius, although he never threatens his life. Fittingly, he's killed by his surviving great-nephew, Caligula.

* FakingTheDead: Claudius wants to fake Britannicus' death, in order to send him to exile in Britain during Nero's reign and have him return to Rome when the emperor is overthrown. Unfortunately, Britannicus stubbornly refuses.
* FalseRapeAccusation: Posthumus is exiled after he is accused of trying to rape Livilla, who was working with Livia to get rid of him.

-->''While Caligula was worshipped and believed in as a god he was indeed a supernatural being. Cassius Chaerea found it almost impossible to kill him, because there was a certain divine awe about him, the result of the worship offered him from simple hearts, and the conspirators felt it themselves and hung back. Perhaps he would never have succeeded if Caligula had not cursed himself with a divine premonition of assassination.''
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Livia is an interesting example. She uses the vilest means to obtain power, but she's also described as a very able and just ruler. Claudius loathes her because many of her victims, such as Postumus, are his dearest friends, but admits her goverment was much better than Tiberius' and Caligula's.
** Messalina and Agrippinilla, on the other hand, are straight examples of this.

* HeroicBSOD: After Augustus finds out about Julia's debauchery, he locks himself in his bedroom and remains there for four days without eating, drinking or talking to anyone.
** Claudius has a very similar reaction when they tell him the truth about Messalina.
* HiddenBackupPrince: That's what Claudius plans to do with Britannicus during Nero's reign.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Calpurnia, who was Claudius' partner for a while, and his friend for the rest of her life. Claudius expressed this in the epitaph he wrote for her:

* IdenticalGrandson: Brittanicus, Claudius' son, is very similar both in looks and personality to Germanicus, Claudius' brother. For a time that leads Claudius to suspect that Caligula, Germanicus' son, was Brittanicus' real father.

* InfantImmortality: Averted many, many times. Drusillus, Sejanus' children, Gemellus, Caligula's daughter and several other children are murdered.

* ItsAllAboutMe: In his last years Tiberius feels sorry for '''himself''' after having murdered Sejanus, Agrippina and countless other people.

* KingOnHisDeathbed: Augustus and Tiberius, at the end of their reigns. Caligula is so impatient to become emperor he has Tiberius smothered with a pillow.

* KlingonPromotion: The early Roman Empire is depicted this way, albeit with the murders carried out by proxy rather than in person. Livia, after killing everyone higher up the line of succession, poisons Augustus so Tiberius can succeed him; Caligula succeeds by having Tiberius smothered; and at the end Agrippina poisons Claudius to clear the way for Nero. The only Emperor who doesn't succeed this way is Claudius himself, who had nothing to do with Caligula's murder. (Historically, it's doubtful if Augustus and Tiberius were murdered, though Claudius probably was.)
** Macro becomes commander of the Pretorian Guard after having his predecessor, Sejanus, executed.

* BodyDouble: [[spoilerWhile exiled on an island Postumus is switched with a similar looking slave named Clement when his grandfather Augustus decides to have him covertly removed under Livia's nose from the island upon receiving evidence that he was falsely accused, and it's the slave who dies when the island is attacked under Livia's orders shortly after Augustus dies. This results in Postumus spending some time disguised as Clement]][[note]]In real life, it was the other way around: Clement was an impostor who claimed to be Postumus but was actually a fake[[/note]].