[1] He is most renowned for his part in the Battle of the Metaurus, fought alongside his co-consul and great rival Marcus Livius Salinator against Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal, for which he was awarded an ovation.

[2] Theodore Ayrault Dodge describes it as “the finest strategic feat of the Romans during the entire war, as well as one of the exceptional marches in history”.

He was a member of the patrician line of the gens Claudia, one of the most prominent families in Rome, making him a distant relative of the Julio-Claudian emperors: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.

When Claudius returned to camp around sunset, Marcellus upbraided him claiming "it was his fault that the disaster suffered at Cannae was not paid back to the enemy".

[10] While Livy recounts Marcellus blaming Claudius's tardiness for the plan's failure, Dodge points out that “Nero was a splendid marcher” and, more probably, the route he was assigned to pursue was simply too long to be feasible.

[13] In the drawing of lots for provinces Claudius was assigned to Suessula, a town in Campania of tactical significance due to its geographical location between Nola and Capua, on the Via Popilia.

[14] He was tasked with raising this force to its full complement then making camp in Suessula, a base from which he could assist in the operations against Hannibal in Southern Italy.

[17] Hannibal was inevitably drawn back to Campania and in the fighting that accompanied his attempt to alleviate the siege, Claudius was placed in charge of the cavalry of the six legions.

[20] Rome urgently required a new general to fill the vacuum of command left there by the deaths of Gnaeus and Publius Cornelius Scipio.

[22] Upon his arrival in Spain, Claudius was tasked with reorganising Roman troops in the region - left decimated by the defeat of the Scipios - and consolidating Rome's foothold there against the rapidly expanding Carthaginian presence.

Fonteius and L. Marcius, Claudius advanced against Hasdrubal (Hannibal's brother and son of Hamilcar) who was in camp near Lapides Atri (the "Black Stones") and is said to have trapped him there.

[20] Lazenby has questioned this narrative as it is difficult to believe Claudius would attempt such an offensive move at a time of consolidation of Rome's then precarious position in Spain.

Nevertheless, his hold on the coastal region north of the Ebro would be significant in providing the young Scipio a beach head for the renewed Roman offensive in Spain throughout 210 BC.

It is possible his assignment there had been made with an interim status in mind, with the plan to recall him as soon as he had stabilised the situation, providing that a reasonably capable replacement could be found.

[29] In the year 208 BC both consuls of the Roman state, Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Titus Quinctius Crispinus, died in an ambush.

[32] Beside his military experience, Claudius's popularity was founded at least partly in the fact that he was not politically aligned with Marcellus or Crispinus, whose failures had encouraged a new direction for the war effort.

[34] So although Claudius stood out as the most suitable candidate for the consulship, Livy felt the need to remark that "he was of a more forward and vehement disposition than the circumstances of the war, or the enemy, Hannibal, required" and thus it was necessary to pair him with a "cool and prudent colleague".

Nero's previous command was superseded by the popular appointment of Publius Scipio,[37] though not before he was outwitted by Hasdrubal at least once;[38] his colleague Livius apparently wanted little to do with politics.

Two years later, in 208 BC, Scipio faced Hasdrubal near the town of Baecula; causing his retreat, the war was turning in Rome's favour.

[41] Hasdrubal sent out messengers outlining the meeting point; these dispatches were intercepted by the Romans, providing them with the means to adopt an offensive approach now that they knew the plans.

[45]What you owe to the Neros, O Rome, the River Metaurus and defeated Hasdrubal are witness... Claudius had been put in charge of the southern army, tasked to face Hannibal.

[47] The Senate decreed a three-day public thanksgiving to celebrate the preservation of the Roman army and the destruction of the enemy and its commander by Claudius and Livius.

[55] They conducted the census of Roman citizens, read out the senatorial register, let out contracts for the maintenance of public infrastructure and performed the lustrum, or purification ceremony.

Livy reports the citizenship for the year 204 BC at 214,000 people but recent scholarship estimates that the number would have been closer to 240,000 when adjustments were made for soldiers serving overseas, and temporarily disenfranchised citizens.

[63] The plebeian tribune Gnaeus Baebius put forward a motion to prosecute the censors for their unseemly behaviour but the Senate decided not to pursue the action to protect the dignity of the office against the whim of the people.

[64] Freshly victorious from the Second Punic War against Carthage, an appeal from Attalus I of Pergamon and Rhodes concerning the hostilities of Philip V of Macedon arrived in Rome in 201 BC.

Ravaging independent Greek city states before launching a brutal campaign in Asia Minor, Attalus feared the imminent threat of Macedon interest in his area.

Rome at this stage had previously never had much interest in the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean despite the First Macedonian War focused in Illyria settled in 205 BC by the Peace of Pheonice.

With 201 BC consuls Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Aelius Paetus not yet returned from their provinces,[65] an embassy was subsequently appointed to travel across Greece, Syria and finally to Egypt.

Philip had effectively eluded the blockade and arrived home, rejecting the Roman ultimatum and renewing his attack on Athens before besieging Abydus.