Biopsychosocial Examination of Claudius, The Fourth Emperor of Rome

Abstract

The fourth emperor of Rome, Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, known in history as Claudius, lost his father when he was only one year old and was raised by his grandmother Livia and his mother Antonia. As a child, Claudius was ridiculed by the court jesters and his sister, and was described by his mother, Antonia, as a "Freak" was defined as "a human being that nature started but could not complete". His education was left to the care of a semi-literate teacher who had once been a mule shepherd. The disorders that Claudius experienced since his birth have been examined in modern sources and include polio (poliomyelitis), spinal cord inflammation (transverse myelitis), eating disorder (bulimia nervosa), cerebral palsy (congenital cerebral palsy), sudden physical and vocal tics (gilles de la tourette syndrome). Diseases such as mitochondrial diseases (mitochondrial cytopathies) and contraction disorders (dystonias) have been suggested. These possible illnesses and the physical and psychological reflection of the events he experienced on Claudius' psychology have been tried to be discussed in detail in this study. As a result of scientific research, these people who lived in a certain period of history are considered as a human being, apart from their history, and the conditions, events and underlying reasons they lived in at that time; history, psychology and related medical sciences, … etc. It indicates the importance of conducting an interdisciplinary study jointly by many branches of science, such as, in terms of evaluating the study from different perspectives and making correct analysis.

Keywords

• claudius
• psychohistory
• biography