Britannicus (lived AD 41–⁠55)

Britannicus was born in the first year of Claudius’s reign. At first he was called Germanicus, and he received the name Britannicus after the conquests in Britain in AD 43–⁠44. He was the emperor’s formal heir until AD 50, when Claudius adopted Nero.

Tacitus describes how at the Saturnalia Nero, chosen king of the revels by lot, ordered him to sing, and the boy sang verses about being driven from his father’s house and won sympathy.

He died suddenly in AD 55 at a banquet. Tradition holds that he was poisoned on Nero’s orders; Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio describe it as poisoning, but none of them was a witness. He was raised together with Titus; Suetonius writes that Titus reportedly tasted the drink from his cup and was ill for a long time.