Britannicus

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman Emperor Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina. For a time, he was considered his father's heir, but that changed after his mother's downfall in 48, when it was revealed she had engaged in a bigamous marriage without Claudius' knowledge. The next year, his father married Agrippina the Younger, Claudius' fourth and final marriage. Their marriage was followed by the adoption of Agrippina's son, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, whose name became Nero as a result. His stepbrother would later be married to Britannicus' sister Octavia and soon eclipsed him as Claudius' heir. After his father's death in October 54, Nero became emperor. The sudden death of Britannicus shortly before his fourteenth birthday is reported by all extant sources as being the result of poisoning on Nero's orders; as Claudius' biological son, he represented a threat to Nero's claim to the throne. In Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, he claims that Nero poisoned Britannicus out of envy of his voice, due to Nero's own obsession with performance and being the best entertainer of all time (as suggested by him wanting the games he hosted to be described as "the greatest ever undertaken").

==Name== Britannicus' name at birth was Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. The agnomen, his first surname Germanicus, was first awarded to his paternal grandfather, Drusus the Elder, after his death in 9 BC to commemorate his victories over the Germanic tribes. Accordingly, Drusus' sons (Claudius and Germanicus) inherited the name and passed it to their sons as well. Britannicus was given to his father in AD 43 after his conquest of Britain. Claudius never used it himself and gave the name to his son instead, and his full name became Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus. He came to be known by his new name, which seems to have replaced Germanicus altogether.