He was born with the name Appius Claudius Pulcher, into the patrician family of the Claudii Pulchri but adopted by a Livii Drusi as a small child.
In accordance with convention, his name was changed from Appius Claudius Pulcher to Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, in honour of his adoptive father.
[1] Claudianus was praetor of Rome in 50 BC and presided over a court case brought under the Lex Scantinia.
Claudianus was a supporter of the Roman Republic and was among those who opposed the rule and dictatorship of Julius Caesar, assassinated in 44 BC by Brutus and Cassius.
Claudianus became a supporter of Brutus and Cassius and joined them in the war against Octavian and Mark Antony.
This son may have died in battle after the assassination of Julius Caesar, or been proscribed and killed by the Second Triumvirate.
The 1st-century senator and historian Aulus Cremutius Cordus, glorified Brutus and Cassius in his history and described those who fought alongside Caesar's assassins as the "last of the Romans".
This surviving inscription in Greek, hails Claudianus as the "origin of many great and good works for the world" or "megiston agathon aition…en toi kosmoi".