Claudius suffered from continual ill health, and it is thought that his life was ended by being poisoned by his wife and niece Agrippina, so that her son Nero could become emperor. Throughout his reign he turned more to scholarship than empire building, though Britain was annexed into the Roman empire while he was emperor.

This well-preserved head differs slightly from the majority of portraits of Claudius in its deep set eyes and thicker hair at the back of the neck