Editing Julio-Claudian dynasty (section)

==Relationships among the rulers==
{{main|Julio-Claudian family tree}}
[[File:Kujula Kadphises. Laureate Julio-Claudian style.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Coin of [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] ruler [[Kujula Kadphises]] (circa AD 30/50–80). '''Obv''' Laureate "Julio-Claudian" style head right. '''Rev''' Kujula Kadphises seated right, raising hand; tripartite symbol to left.{{clarify|date=July 2023|reason=Can someone explain why this image is relevant to this article? It's not even from the right continent.}}]]

The great-uncle/great-nephew blood relationship and/or adopted son relationship was commonly found among the rulers of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

# Augustus was the great-nephew and posthumously adopted son of Julius Caesar; his mother Atia was the daughter of Caesar's sister Julia.
# Caligula was the great-nephew and adoptive grandson (via the adoption of his father Germanicus) of Tiberius; his father was the son of Tiberius' brother Drusus.
# Claudius was the great-nephew of Augustus, as well as the nephew of Tiberius (and the only Julio-Claudian who was not adopted); his mother Antonia was the daughter of Augustus' sister Octavia, and his father Drusus was the brother of Tiberius.
# Nero was the great-nephew and adopted son of Claudius; his mother Agrippina, in addition to being married to Claudius, was the daughter of Claudius' brother Germanicus.

The other recurring relationship between emperor and successor is that of stepfather/stepson, a relationship not by blood but by marriage:
# Tiberius was Augustus' stepson due to the latter's marriage to [[Livia Drusilla]]. He and his brother [[Nero Claudius Drusus|Drusus]] were Livia's sons through her previous marriage to [[Tiberius Claudius Nero (praetor 42 BC)|Tiberius Claudius Nero]].
# Nero, biological son of [[Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 32)|Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus]], became the stepson of his great-uncle Claudius when the emperor married his niece [[Agrippina the Younger]].

The uncle/nephew relationship is also prominent:
# Tiberius was Claudius's paternal uncle, being the older brother of Drusus, Claudius' father.
# Claudius was Caligula's paternal uncle, being the younger brother of Germanicus, Caligula's father. 
# Caligula was Nero's maternal uncle, being the older brother of Agrippina the Younger, Nero's mother.

There were several instances of Emperors being father-in-law and son-in-law to each other:
#Tiberius, in addition to being Augustus' stepson and adopted son, was married to [[Julia the Elder]], daughter of Augustus.
#Nero, in addition to being Claudius' great-nephew, stepson and adopted son, was married to [[Claudia Octavia]], daughter of Claudius.

The following bullet points illustrate the lineage of Julio-Claudian emperors (adoptions included; emperors in '''bold'''):
*'''Augustus''', adopted son of Julius Caesar
**'''Tiberius''', adopted son of Augustus
***Germanicus, adopted son of Tiberius
****'''Caligula''', son of Germanicus
**Drusus, stepson of Augustus
***'''Claudius''', son of Drusus
****'''Nero''', adopted son of Claudius

No Julio-Claudian emperor was a blood descendant of his immediate predecessor. Although Tiberius and Claudius had potential heirs ([[Tiberius Gemellus]], grandson of Tiberius through his son Drusus, and [[Britannicus]], son of Claudius, respectively) available for the succession, both were, in turn, ultimately succeeded by their great-nephews Caligula and Nero, respectively.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

The fact that ordinary father-son (or grandfather-grandson) succession did not occur has contributed to the image of the Julio-Claudian court presented in Robert Graves's ''[[I, Claudius]]'' as a dangerous world where scheming family members were all too ready to murder the direct heirs so as to bring themselves, their own immediate families, or their lovers closer to the succession.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}