For most of his short life, Britannicus, the son of the Roman emperor Claudius, lived under the darkest of clouds. His mother Messalina had been executed when he was a little boy and his new stepmother, Agrippina, brought with her a son, the future Nero, whom Claudius adopted as his heir. When Claudius died unexpectedly in October 54, it was Nero who succeeded him, supported by the Senate and the army. Britannicus was just 13 years old. But he must have known that, as a potential rival, his position was very dicey indeed.
According to some chroniclers, Britannicus’s fate was sealed after only a few months, when Agrippina fell out with her own son Nero and threatened to support his stepbrother instead. The historian Tacitus claimed that after Nero’s first…
