Claudius and the Failure of Tradition

After a brief assessment of how the lost portions of the Annals covering the reign of Caligula might have affected our understanding of the importance of religion within the work, this chapter considers the reign of Claudius as described in Annals 11–12. Claudius is depicted as an antiquarian-minded reformer whose attempts to revive Rome’s cultic traditions are nevertheless destined to fail to improve Rome’s poor relationship with its gods. Claudius revives the augurium salutis and the college of the haruspices, celebrates a lustrum to conclude his censorship, and holds the Secular Games. Yet none of these changes is enough to restore a true spirit of cultic memory to Rome, since Claudius’ reign also sees the abuse of rituals by his wives Messalina and Agrippina the Younger that threaten to anger the gods. It is also during his reign that the gods first send prodigies to convey their anger explicitly, an anger that Claudius’ attempts to revive tradition cannot mitigate.