Editing Britannicus (section)

==Background and family==
[[Image:Claudiusreal.jpg|left|thumb|A [[sestertius]] issued to commemorate Britannicus' birth]]
Britannicus was born on or about 12 February 41 in [[Rome]], to [[Emperor Claudius]] and his third wife, [[Valeria Messalina]]. As such, he was a member of the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]], specifically of the ''[[Claudia gens|gens Claudia]]''.<ref group=note>The exact date of Britannicus' birthday is uncertain – the earliest possible date is early 39 or 40 and the latest AD 42. The year 41 is widely accepted because Britannicus was almost 14, and therefore on the cusp of assuming the ''toga virilis'', when he was killed in 55 {{harv|Smith|1880|p=505}}. The day 12 February is based on the testimony of [[Suetonius]] that Britannicus was born on the twentieth day of his father's reign. ([[Lives of the Twelve Caesars]], ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0132%3Alife%3Dcl.%3Achapter%3D27 Life of Claudius, 27] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106174548/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0132%3Alife%3Dcl.%3Achapter%3D27 |date=6 January 2017}}'').</ref> Britannicus' father had been reigning for less than a month, and his position was boosted greatly by the birth of an heir. To mark the birth, the emperor issued [[sestertius|sestertii]] with the obverse ''Spes Augusta'', the hope of the imperial family.<ref>{{harvnb|Levick|2012|p=55}}</ref>

Britannicus had four siblings: a half-brother, [[Claudius Drusus]], by Claudius' first wife ([[Plautia Urgulanilla]]), though he died before Britannicus was born; a half-sister, [[Claudia Antonia|Antonia]], by Claudius' second wife ([[Aelia Paetina]]); a sister by the same mother named [[Claudia Octavia|Octavia]]; and an adoptive brother, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (the future Emperor Nero), who was adopted in AD 49 and renamed Nero Claudius Caesar as a result.<ref>{{harvnb|Osgood|2011|p=207}}</ref><ref name=Shotter9/><ref name=":1" />

Two years later, in 43, Claudius was granted the honorific "Britannicus" by the Senate as a reward for his [[Roman invasion of Britain|conquest of Britain]]. The emperor never used the name himself but allowed his son to inherit it and is the name by which the boy became known to posterity. [[Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus]], a [[Roman historian]], wrote from the late first century that Claudius adored Britannicus; carried him around at public events; and "would wish him happy auspices, joined by the applauding throng".<ref name=":1">Suetonius, Life of Claudius, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/suetonius/12caesars/claudius*.html#27 27] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120630034237/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html |date=30 June 2012 }}</ref>