Age, Agency and Disability: Suetonius and the Emperors of the First Century C.E.

The emperors of the first century AD appear in our sources as far from perfect, but some of them seem to have been less than perfect rulers, not due any physical disability, but due to the simple fact that they may have been too old or too young to have performed the role effectively. This observation allows us to consider how age may have been seen to prevent the effective agency of a Roman emperor. This study of age and agency is played out with reference to the emperor Claudius, whose disability affected how he was treated by other members of the imperial family. We will argue that age caused emperors to become unable to act, and if too old to be at risk of being deposed. This is a quite different conception of disability than those previously published in the study of antiquity.