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Claudius

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (1 August – 13 October ) was a Roman emperor, ruling from  to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate. He was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy.

As he had a limp and slight deafness due to sickness at a young age, he was ostracized by his family and was excluded from public office until his consulship (which was shared with his nephew, Caligula, in 37). Claudius's infirmity probably saved him from the fate of many other nobles during the purges throughout the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula, as potential enemies did not see him as a serious threat. His survival led to his being declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula's assassination, at which point he was the last adult male of his family.

Despite his lack of experience, Claudius was an able and efficient administrator. He expanded the imperial bureaucracy to include freedmen, and helped restore the empire's finances after the excesses of Caligula's reign. He was also an ambitious builder, constructing new roads, aqueducts, and canals across the Empire. During his reign, the Empire started its successful conquest of Britain. Having a personal interest in law, he presided at public trials, and issued edicts daily. He was seen as vulnerable throughout his reign, particularly by elements of the nobility. Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position, which resulted in the deaths of many senators. Those events damaged his reputation among the ancient writers, though more recent historians have revised that opinion. Many authors contend that he was murdered by his own wife, Agrippina the Younger. After his death at the age of 63, his grandnephew and legally adopted step-son, Nero, succeeded him as emperor.

Name
As a consequence of Roman customs, society, and personal preference, Claudius' full name varied throughout his life:

 * Tiberius Claudius D. f. Ti. n. Drusus, the cognomen Drusus being inherited from his father as his brother Germanicus, as the eldest son, inherited the cognomen Nero when their uncle the future Emperor Tiberius was adopted by Augustus into the Julii Caesares and the victory name (agnomen) Germanicus from their father.

 * Tiberius Claudius D. f. Ti. n. Nero, the cognomen Nero devolved to Claudius as the head of the Claudii Nerones after his elder brother was adopted adopted by Tiberius as required by Augustus into the Julii Caesares in AD 9. Germanicus kept the and the victory Germanicus as a praenomen, becoming Germanicus Julius Caesar.  His son, Caligula, was known as Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, keeping the victory title, and later was known as Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus.  Some authories consider that his full name may have been Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus.

 * Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus While Claudius had never been formally adopted either by Augustus or his successors, he was nevertheless the grandson of Augustus's sister Octavia, and so he felt that he had the right of family. He also adopted the name "Augustus" as the two previous emperors had done at their accessions. He kept the honorific "Germanicus" to display the connection with his heroic brother and father. He deified his paternal grandmother Livia to highlight her position as wife of the divine Augustus. Claudius frequently used the term "filius Drusi" (son of Drusus) in his titles, to remind the people of his legendary father and lay claim to his reputation.

Early life

Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC at Lugdunum (modern Lyon, France). He had two older siblings, Germanicus and Livilla. His mother, Antonia Minor, may have had two other children who died young. Claudius's maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, Augustus's sister, and he was therefore the great-great-grandnephew of Gaius Julius Caesar. His paternal grandparents were Livia, Augustus's third wife, and Tiberius Claudius Nero. During his reign, Claudius revived the rumor that his father Nero Claudius Drusus was actually the illegitimate son of Augustus, to give the appearance that Augustus was Claudius's paternal grandfather.

In 9 BC, Claudius's father Drusus died on campaign in Germania from a fall from a horse. Claudius was then raised by his mother, who never remarried. When his disability became evident, the relationship with his family turned sour. Antonia referred to him as a monster, and used him as a standard for stupidity. She seems to have passed her son off to his grandmother Livia for a number of years.

Livia was a little kinder, but nevertheless sent Claudius short, angry letters of reproof. He was put under the care of a former mule-driver to keep him disciplined, under the logic that his condition was due to laziness and a lack of willpower. However, by the time he reached his teenage years, his symptoms apparently waned and his family began to take some notice of his scholarly interests. In AD 7, Livy was hired to tutor Claudius in history, with the assistance of Sulpicius Flavus. He spent a lot of his time with the latter, as well as the philosopher Athenodorus. Augustus, according to a letter, was surprised at the clarity of Claudius's oratory.

Public life
Claudius' work as a historian damaged his prospects for advancement in public life. According to Vincent Scramuzza and others, he began work on a history of the Civil Wars that was either too truthful or too critical of Octavian, then reigning as Caesar Augustus. In either case, it was far too early for such an account, and may have only served to remind Augustus that Claudius was Antony's descendant. His mother and grandmother quickly put a stop to it, and this may have convinced them that Claudius was not fit for public office, since he could not be trusted to toe the existing party line.

When Claudius returned to the narrative later in life, he skipped over the wars of the Second Triumvirate altogether; but the damage was done, and his family pushed him into the background. When the Arch of Pavia was erected to honor the Imperial clan in AD 8, Claudius's name (now Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus after his elevation to pater familias of the Claudii Nerones on the adoption of his brother) was inscribed on the edge, past the deceased princes, Gaius and Lucius, and Germanicus's children. There is some speculation that the inscription was added by Claudius himself decades later, and that he originally did not appear at all.

When Augustus died in AD 14, Claudius – then aged 23 – appealed to his uncle Tiberius to allow him to begin the cursus honorum. Tiberius, the new Emperor, responded by granting Claudius consular ornaments. Claudius requested office once more and was snubbed. Since the new emperor was no more generous than the old, Claudius gave up hope of public office and retired to a scholarly, private life.

Despite the disdain of the Imperial family, it seems that from very early on the general public respected Claudius. At Augustus's death, the equites, or knights, chose Claudius to head their delegation. When his house burned down, the Senate demanded it be rebuilt at public expense. They also requested that Claudius be allowed to debate in the Senate. Tiberius turned down both motions, but the sentiment remained.

During the period immediately after the death of Tiberius's son, Drusus, Claudius was pushed by some quarters as a potential heir to the throne. This again suggests the political nature of his exclusion from public life. However, as this was also the period during which the power and terror of the commander of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus, was at its peak, Claudius chose to downplay this possibility. After the death of Tiberius, the new emperor Caligula (the son of Claudius's brother Germanicus) recognized Claudius to be of some use. He appointed Claudius his co-consul in 37 to emphasize the memory of Caligula's deceased father Germanicus.

Despite this, Caligula tormented his uncle: playing practical jokes, charging him enormous sums of money, humiliating him before the Senate, and the like. According to Cassius Dio, Claudius became sickly and thin by the end of Caligula's reign, most likely due to stress. A possible surviving portrait of Claudius from this period may support this.

Assassination of Caligula (AD 41)

On 24 January 41, Caligula was assassinated in a conspiracy involving Cassius Chaerea – a military tribune in the Praetorian Guard – and several senators. There is no evidence that Claudius had a direct hand in the assassination, although it has been argued that he knew about the plot – particularly since he left the scene of the crime shortly before his nephew was murdered. However, after the deaths of Caligula's wife and daughter, it became apparent that Cassius intended to go beyond the terms of the conspiracy and wipe out the Imperial family.

In the chaos following the murder, Claudius witnessed the German guard cut down several uninvolved noblemen, including many of his friends. He fled to the palace to hide. According to tradition, a Praetorian named Gratus found him hiding behind a curtain and suddenly declared him princeps. Claudius was spirited away to the Praetorian camp and put under their protection.

The Senate met and debated a change of government, but this devolved into an argument over which of them would be the new princeps. When they heard of the Praetorians' claim, they demanded that Claudius be delivered to them for approval, but he refused, sensing the danger that would come with complying. Some historians, particularly Josephus, claim that Claudius was directed in his actions by the Judaean King Herod Agrippa. However, an earlier version of events by the same ancient author downplays Agrippa's role so it remains uncertain. Eventually the Senate was forced to give in. In return, Claudius granted a general amnesty, although he executed a few junior officers involved in the conspiracy. The actual assassins, including Cassius Chaerea and Julius Lupus, the murderer of Caligula's wife and daughter, were put to death to ensure Claudius's own safety and as a future deterrent.

As emperor
Claudius took several steps to legitimize his rule against potential usurpers, most of them emphasizing his place within the Julio-Claudian family. He adopted the name "Caesar" as a cognomen, as the name still carried great weight with the populace. To do so, he dropped the cognomen "Nero", which he had adopted as pater familias of the Claudii Nerones when his brother Germanicus was adopted. As Pharaoh of Egypt, Claudius adopted the royal titulary Tiberios Klaudios, Autokrator Heqaheqau Meryasetptah, Kanakht Djediakhshuemakhet ("Tiberius Claudius, Emperor and ruler of rulers, beloved of Isis and Ptah, the strong bull of the stable moon on the horizon").

While Claudius had never been formally adopted either by Augustus or his successors, he was nevertheless the grandson of Augustus's sister Octavia, and so he felt that he had the right of family. He also adopted the name "Augustus" as the two previous emperors had done at their accessions. He kept the honorific "Germanicus" to display the connection with his heroic brother. He deified his paternal grandmother Livia to highlight her position as wife of the divine Augustus. Claudius frequently used the term "filius Drusi" (son of Drusus) in his titles, to remind the people of his legendary father and lay claim to his reputation.

Since Claudius was the first emperor proclaimed on the initiative of the Praetorian Guard instead of the Senate, his repute suffered at the hands of commentators (such as Seneca). Moreover, he was the first emperor who resorted to bribery as a means to secure army loyalty and rewarded the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard that had elevated him with 15,000 sesterces. Tiberius and Augustus had both left gifts to the army and guard in their wills, and upon Caligula's death the same would have been expected, even if no will existed. Claudius remained grateful to the guard, issuing coins with tributes to the Praetorians in the early part of his reign.

Pliny the Elder noted, according to the 1938 Loeb Classical Library translation by Harris Rackham, "... many people do not allow any gems in a signet-ring, and seal with the gold itself; this was a fashion invented when Claudius Cæsar was emperor."

Claudius restored the status of the peaceful Imperial Roman provinces of Macedonia and Achaea as senatorial provinces.

Expansion of the Empire
Under Claudius, the Empire underwent its first major expansion since the reign of Augustus. The provinces of Thrace, Noricum, Lycia, and Judea were annexed (or put under direct rule) under various circumstances during his term. The annexation of Mauretania, begun under Caligula, was completed after the defeat of rebel forces, as well as the official division of the former client kingdom into two Imperial provinces. The most far-reaching conquest was that of Britannia.

In 43, Claudius sent Aulus Plautius with four legions to Britain (Britannia) after an appeal from an ousted tribal ally. Britain was an attractive target for Rome because of its material wealth: mines and the potential of slave labor, as well as being a haven for Gallic rebels. Claudius himself traveled to the island after the completion of initial offensives, bringing with him reinforcements and elephants. The Roman colonia of Colonia Claudia Victricensis was established as the provincial capital of the newly established province of Britannia at Camulodunum, where a large temple was dedicated in his honour.

He left Britain after 16 days, but remained in the provinces for some time. The Senate granted him a triumph for his efforts. Only members of the Imperial family were allowed such honours, but Claudius subsequently lifted this restriction for some of his conquering generals. He was granted the honorific "Britannicus" but only accepted it on behalf of his son, never using the title himself. When the British general Caractacus was captured in 50, Claudius granted him clemency. Caractacus lived out his days on land provided by the Roman state, an unusual end for an enemy commander.

Claudius conducted a census in 48 that found 5,984,072 (adult male) Roman citizens (women, children, slaves, and free adult males without Roman citizenship were not counted), an increase of around a million since the census conducted at Augustus's death. He had helped increase this number through the foundation of Roman colonies that were granted blanket citizenship. These colonies were often made out of existing communities, especially those with elites who could rally the populace to the Roman cause. Several colonies were placed in new provinces or on the border of the Empire to secure Roman holdings as quickly as possible.

Judicial and legislative affairs
Claudius personally judged many of the legal cases tried during his reign. Ancient historians have many complaints about this, stating that his judgments were variable and sometimes did not follow the law. He was also easily swayed. Nevertheless, Claudius paid detailed attention to the operation of the judicial system. He extended the summer court session, as well as the winter term, by shortening the traditional breaks. Claudius also made a law requiring plaintiffs to remain in the city while their cases were pending, as defendants had previously been required to do. These measures had the effect of clearing out the docket. The minimum age for jurors was also raised to 25 to ensure a more experienced jury pool.

Claudius also settled disputes in the provinces. He freed the island of Rhodes from Roman rule for their good faith and exempted Ilium (Troy) from taxes. Early in his reign, the Greeks and Jews of Alexandria each sent him embassies after riots broke out between the two communities. This resulted in the famous "Letter to the Alexandrians", which reaffirmed Jewish rights in the city but forbade them to move in more families en masse. According to Josephus, he then reaffirmed the rights and freedoms of all the Jews in the Empire.

One of Claudius's investigators discovered that many old Roman citizens based in the city of Tridentum (modern Trento) were not in fact citizens. The Emperor issued a declaration, contained in the Tabula clesiana, that they would be allowed to hold citizenship from then on, since to strip them of their status would cause major problems. However, in individual cases, Claudius punished the false assumption of citizenship harshly, making it a capital offense. Similarly, any freedmen found to be laying false claim to membership of the Roman equestrian order were sold back into slavery.

Numerous edicts were issued throughout Claudius's reign. These were on a number of topics, everything from medical advice to moral judgments. A famous medical example is one promoting yew juice as a cure for snakebite. Suetonius wrote that he is even said to have thought of an edict allowing public flatulence for good health. One of the more famous edicts concerned the status of sick slaves. Masters had been abandoning ailing slaves at the temple of Aesculapius on Tiber Island to die instead of providing them with medical assistance and care, and then reclaiming them if they lived. Claudius ruled that slaves who were thus abandoned and recovered after such treatment would be free. Furthermore, masters who chose to kill slaves rather than take care of them were liable to be charged with murder.

Public works
Claudius embarked on many public works throughout his reign, both in the capital and in the provinces. He built or finished two aqueducts, the Aqua Claudia, begun by Caligula, and the Aqua Anio Novus. These entered the city in 52 and met at the Porta Maggiore. He also restored a third, the Aqua Virgo.

He paid special attention to transportation. Throughout Italy and the provinces he built roads and canals. Among these was a large canal leading from the Rhine to the sea, as well as a road from Italy to Germany – both begun by his father, Drusus. Closer to Rome, he built a navigable canal on the Tiber, leading to Portus, his new port just north of Ostia. This port was constructed in a semicircle with two moles and a lighthouse at its mouth, reducing flooding in Rome.

The port at Ostia was part of Claudius's solution to the constant grain shortages that occurred in winter, after the Roman shipping season. The other part of his solution was to insure the ships of grain merchants who were willing to risk travelling to Egypt in the off-season. He also granted their sailors special privileges, including citizenship and exemption from the Lex Papia Poppaea, a law that regulated marriage. In addition, he repealed the taxes that Caligula had instituted on food, and further reduced taxes on communities suffering drought or famine.

The last part of Claudius's plan to avoid famine was to increase the amount of arable land in Italy. This was to be achieved by draining the Fucine lake, also making the nearby river navigable year-round. A serious famine is mentioned in the book of Acts as taking place during Claudius' reign, and had been prophecied by a Christian called Agabus while visiting Antioch.

A tunnel was dug through the lake bed, but the plan was a failure. The tunnel was crooked and not large enough to carry the water, which caused it to back up when opened. The resultant flood washed out a large gladiatorial exhibition held to commemorate the opening, causing Claudius to run for his life along with the other spectators. The draining of the lake continued to present a problem well into the Middle Ages. It was finally achieved by the Prince Torlonia in the 19th century, producing over 160000 acre of new arable land. He expanded the Claudian tunnel to three times its original size.

Senate
Because of the circumstances of his accession, Claudius took great pains to please the Senate. During regular sessions, the Emperor sat among the Senate body, speaking in turn. When introducing a law, he sat on a bench between the consuls in his position as holder of the power of Tribune, (the Emperor could not officially serve as a Tribune of the Plebes since he was a patrician, but this was a power taken by previous rulers, which he continued). He refused to accept all his predecessors' titles (including Imperator) at the beginning of his reign, preferring to earn them in due course. He allowed the Senate to issue its own bronze coinage for the first time since Augustus. He also put the Imperial provinces of Macedonia and Achaea back under Senate control.

Claudius set about remodeling the Senate into a more efficient, representative body. He chided the senators about their reluctance to debate bills introduced by himself, as noted in the fragments of a surviving speech:

"If you accept these proposals, Conscript Fathers, say so at once and simply, in accordance with your convictions. If you do not accept them, find alternatives, but do so here and now; or if you wish to take time for consideration, take it, provided you do not forget that you must be ready to pronounce your opinion whenever you may be summoned to meet. It ill befits the dignity of the Senate that the consul designate should repeat the phrases of the consuls word for word as his opinion, and that every one else should merely say 'I approve', and that then, after leaving, the assembly should announce 'We debated'."

In 47, he assumed the office of censor with Lucius Vitellius, which had been allowed to lapse for some time. He struck out the names of many senators and equites who no longer met qualifications, but showed respect by allowing them to resign in advance. At the same time, he sought to admit to the senate eligible men from the provinces. The Lyon Tablet preserves his speech on the admittance of Gallic senators, in which he addresses the Senate with reverence but also with criticism for their disdain of these men. He even joked about how the Senate had admitted members from beyond Gallia Narbonensis (Lyons), i.e. himself. He also increased the number of patricians by adding new families to the dwindling number of noble lines. Here he followed the precedent of Lucius Junius Brutus and Julius Caesar.

Nevertheless, many in the Senate remained hostile to Claudius, and many plots were made on his life. This hostility carried over into the historical accounts. As a result, Claudius reduced the Senate's power for the sake of efficiency. The administration of Ostia was turned over to an Imperial procurator after construction of the port. Administration of many of the empire's financial concerns was turned over to Imperial appointees and freedmen. This led to further resentment and suggestions that these same freedmen were ruling the Emperor.

Plots and coup attempts
Several coup attempts were made during Claudius's reign, resulting in the deaths of many senators. Appius Silanus was executed early in Claudius's reign under questionable circumstances. Shortly after this, a large rebellion was undertaken by the Senator Vinicianus and Scribonianus - governor of Dalmatia - and gained quite a few senatorial supporters. It ultimately failed because of the reluctance of Scribonianus' troops, which led to the suicide of the main conspirators.

Many other senators tried different conspiracies and were condemned. Claudius's son-in-law Pompeius Magnus was executed for his part in a conspiracy with his father Crassus Frugi. Another plot involved the consulars Lusius Saturninus, Cornelius Lupus, and Pompeius Pedo.

In 46, Asinius Gallus, grandson of Asinius Pollio, and Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus were exiled for a plot hatched with several of Claudius's own freedmen. Valerius Asiaticus was executed without public trial for unknown reasons. Ancient sources say the charge was adultery, and that Claudius was tricked into issuing the punishment. However, Claudius singles out Asiaticus for special damnation in his speech on the Gauls, which dates over a year later, suggesting that the charge must have been much more serious.

Asiaticus had been a claimant to the throne in the chaos following Caligula's death and a co-consul with Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus. Most of these conspiracies took place before Claudius's term as Censor, and may have induced him to review the Senatorial rolls. The conspiracy of Gaius Silius in the year after his Censorship, 48, is detailed in book 11 of Tacitus' Annals. This section of Tacitus' history narrates the alleged conspiracy of Claudius's third wife, Messalina. Suetonius states that a total of 35 senators and 300 knights were executed for offenses during Claudius's reign. Needless to say, the responses to these conspiracies could not have helped Senate–emperor relations.

Secretariat and centralization of powers
Claudius was hardly the first emperor to use freedmen to help with the day-to-day running of the Empire. He was, however, forced to increase their role as the powers of the princeps became more centralized and the burden of running the government became larger. Claudius did not want free-born magistrates to serve under him as if they were not peers.

The secretariat was divided into bureaus, with each being placed under the leadership of one freedman. Narcissus was the secretary of correspondence. Pallas became the secretary of the treasury. Callistus became secretary of justice. There was a fourth bureau for miscellaneous issues, which was put under Polybius until his execution for treason. The freedmen could also officially speak for the Emperor, as when Narcissus addressed the troops in Claudius's stead before the conquest of Britain.

Since these were important positions, the senators were aghast at their being placed in the hands of former slaves and "well-known eunuchs". If freedmen had total control of money, letters and law, it seemed it would not be hard for them to manipulate the Emperor. This is exactly the accusation put forth by ancient sources. However, these same sources admit that the freedmen were loyal to Claudius.

He was similarly appreciative of them and gave them due credit for policies where he had used their advice. However, if they showed treasonous inclinations, the Emperor punished them with just force, as in the case of Polybius and Pallas's brother, Felix. There is no evidence that the character of Claudius's policies and edicts changed with the rise and fall of the various freedmen, suggesting that he was firmly in control throughout.

Regardless of the extent of their political power, the freedmen did manage to amass wealth through their positions. Pliny the Elder notes that several of them were richer than Crassus, the richest man of the Republican era.

Religious reforms
Claudius, as the author of a treatise on Augustus's religious reforms, felt himself in a good position to institute some of his own. He had strong opinions about the proper form for state religion. He refused the request of Alexandrian Greeks to dedicate a temple to his divinity, saying that only gods may choose new gods. He restored lost days to festivals and got rid of many extraneous celebrations added by Caligula. He re-instituted old observances and archaic language.

Claudius was concerned with the spread of eastern mysteries within the city and searched for more Roman replacements. He emphasized the Eleusinian Mysteries, which had been practiced by so many during the Republic. He expelled foreign astrologers, and at the same time rehabilitated the old Roman soothsayers (known as haruspices) as a replacement. He was especially hard on Druidism, because of its incompatibility with the Roman state religion and its proselytizing activities.

Public games and entertainments
According to Suetonius, Claudius was extraordinarily fond of games. He is said to have risen with the crowd after gladiatorial matches and given unrestrained praise to the fighters. Claudius also presided over many new and original events. Soon after coming into power, Claudius instituted games to be held in honor of his father on the latter's birthday. Annual games were also held in honour of his accession, and took place at the Praetorian camp where Claudius had first been proclaimed Emperor.

Claudius organised a performance of the Secular Games, marking the 800th anniversary of the founding of Rome. Augustus had performed the same games less than a century prior. Augustus's excuse was that the interval for the games was 110 years, not 100, but his date actually did not qualify under either reasoning. Claudius also presented staged naval battles to mark the attempted draining of the Fucine Lake, as well as many other public games and shows.

At Ostia, in front of a crowd of spectators, Claudius fought an orca which was trapped in the harbour. The event was witnessed by Pliny the Elder:

"A killer whale was actually seen in the harbour of Ostia in battle with the Emperor Claudius; it had come at the time when he was engaged in completing the structure of the harbour, being tempted by the wreck of a cargo of hides imported from Gaul, and in glutting itself for a number of days had furrowed a hollow in the shallow bottom and had been banked up with sand by the waves so high that it was quite unable to turn round, and while it was pursuing its food which was driven forward to the shore by the waves its back projected far above the water like a capsized boat. Caesar gave orders for a barrier of nets to be stretched between the mouths of the harbour and setting out in person with the praetorian cohorts afforded a show to the Roman public, the soldiery hurling lances from the vessels against the creatures when they leapt up alongside, and we saw one of the boats sunk from being filled with water owing to a beast's snorting."

Claudius also restored and adorned many public venues in Rome. At the Circus Maximus, the turning posts and starting stalls were replaced in marble and embellished, and an embankment was probably added to prevent flooding of the track. Claudius also reinforced or extended the seating rules that reserved front seating at the Circus for senators. He rebuilt Pompey's Theatre after it had been destroyed by fire, organising special fights at the re-dedication, which he observed from a special platform in the orchestra box.

Marriages and personal life
Suetonius and the other ancient authors accused Claudius of being dominated by women and wives, and of being a womanizer.

Claudius married four times, after two failed betrothals. The first betrothal was to his distant cousin Aemilia Lepida, but was broken for political reasons. The second was to Livia Medullina Camilla, which ended with Medullina's sudden death on their wedding day.

Plautia Urgulanilla
Plautia Urgulanilla was the granddaughter of Livia's confidant Urgulania. During their marriage she gave birth to a son, Claudius Drusus. Drusus died of asphyxiation in his early teens, shortly after becoming engaged to Junilla, daughter of Sejanus.

Claudius later divorced Urgulanilla for adultery and on suspicion of murdering her sister-in-law Apronia. When Urgulanilla gave birth after the divorce, Claudius repudiated the baby girl, Claudia, as the father was allegedly one of his own freedmen. Later, this action made him the target of criticism by his enemies.

Aelia Paetina
Soon after, (possibly in 28) Claudius married Aelia Paetina, a relative of Sejanus, if not Sejanus's adoptive sister. During their marriage, Claudius and Paetina had a daughter, Claudia Antonia. He later divorced her after the marriage became a political liability. One version suggests that it may have been due to emotional and mental abuse by Paetina.

Valeria Messalina
Some years after divorcing Aelia Paetina, in 38 or early 39, Claudius married Valeria Messalina, who was his first cousin once removed (Claudius's grandmother, Octavia the Younger, was Valeria's great-grandmother on both her mother and father's side) and closely allied with Caligula's circle. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter, Claudia Octavia. A son, first named Tiberius Claudius Germanicus, and later known as Britannicus, was born just after Claudius's accession.

This marriage ended in tragedy. The ancient historians allege that Messalina was a nymphomaniac who was regularly unfaithful to Claudius—Tacitus states she went so far as to compete with a prostitute to see who could have more sexual partners in a night – and manipulated his policies to amass wealth. In 48, Messalina married her lover Gaius Silius in a public ceremony while Claudius was at Ostia.

Sources disagree as to whether or not she divorced the Emperor first, and whether the intention was to usurp the throne. Under Roman law, the spouse needed to be informed that he or she had been divorced before a new marriage could take place; the sources state that Claudius was in total ignorance until after the marriage. Scramuzza, in his biography, suggests that Silius may have convinced Messalina that Claudius was doomed, and the union was her only hope of retaining her rank and protecting her children. The historian Tacitus suggests that Claudius's ongoing term as Censor may have prevented him from noticing the affair before it reached such a critical point, after which she was executed.

Agrippina the Younger
Claudius married once more. Ancient sources tell that his freedmen put forward three candidates, Caligula's third wife Lollia Paulina, Claudius's divorced second wife Aelia Paetina and Claudius's niece Agrippina the Younger. According to Suetonius, Agrippina won out through her feminine wiles. She gradually seized power from Claudius and successfully conspired to eliminate his son's rivals, opening the way for her son to become emperor.

The truth is probably more political. The attempted coup d'état by Silius and Messalina probably made Claudius realize the weakness of his position as a member of the Claudian (but not the Julian) family. This weakness was compounded by the fact that he did not yet have an obvious adult heir, Britannicus being just a boy. Agrippina was one of the few remaining descendants of Augustus, and her son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (the future Nero) was one of the last males of the Imperial family. Coup attempts might rally around the pair and Agrippina was already showing such ambition. It has been suggested that the Senate may have pushed for the marriage, an attempt to end the feud between the Julian and Claudian branches.

This feud dated back to Agrippina's mother's actions against Tiberius after the death of her husband Germanicus (Claudius's brother), actions that Tiberius had punished. In any case, Claudius accepted Agrippina and later adopted the mature Ahenobarbus as his son, renaming him as 'Nero Claudius Caesar'.

Nero was married to Claudius's daughter Octavia, made joint heir with the underage Britannicus, and promoted; Augustus had similarly named his grandson Postumus Agrippa and his stepson Tiberius as joint heirs, and Tiberius had named Caligula as his joint heir with his grandson Tiberius Gemellus. Adoption of adults or near adults was an old tradition in Rome when a suitable natural adult heir was unavailable, as was the case during Britannicus's minority. Claudius may have previously looked to adopt one of his sons-in-law to protect his own reign.

Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, who was married to Claudius's daughter Claudia Antonia, was only descended from Octavia and Antony on one side – not close enough to the Imperial family to ensure his right to be Emperor (although that did not stop others from making him the object of a coup attempt against Nero a few years later), besides being the half-brother of Valeria Messalina, which told against him. Nero was more popular with the general public as both the grandson of Germanicus and the direct descendant of Augustus.

Affliction and personality
The historian Suetonius describes the physical manifestations of Claudius's condition in relatively good detail. His knees were weak and gave way under him and his head shook. He stammered and his speech was confused. He slobbered and his nose ran when he was excited. The Stoic Seneca states in his Apocolocyntosis that Claudius's voice belonged to no land animal, and that his hands were weak as well.

However, he showed no physical deformity, as Suetonius notes that when calm and seated he was a tall, well-built figure of dignitas. When angered or stressed, his symptoms became worse. Historians agree that this condition improved upon his accession to the throne. Claudius himself claimed that he had exaggerated his ailments to save his life.

Modern assessments of his health have changed several times in the past century. Prior to World War II, infantile paralysis (or polio) was widely accepted as the cause. This is the diagnosis used in Robert Graves's Claudius novels, first published in the 1930s. The New York Times wrote in 1934 that Claudius suffered from infantile paralysis (which led to his limp state) and measles (which made him deaf) at seven months of age, among several other ailments. Polio does not explain many of the described symptoms, however, and a more recent theory implicates cerebral palsy as the cause. Tourette syndrome has also been considered a possibility.

As a person, ancient historians described Claudius as generous and lowbrow, a man who sometimes lunched with the plebeians. They also paint him as bloodthirsty and cruel, over-fond of gladiatorial combat and executions, and very quick to anger; Claudius himself acknowledged the latter trait, and apologized publicly for his temper. According to the ancient historians he was also excessively trusting, and easily manipulated by his wives and freedmen, but at the same time they portray him as paranoid and apathetic, dull and easily confused.

Claudius's extant works present a different view, painting a picture of an intelligent, scholarly, well-read, and conscientious administrator with an eye to detail and justice. Thus, Claudius becomes an enigma. Since the discovery of his "Letter to the Alexandrians", much work has been done to rehabilitate Claudius and determine the truth.

Scholarly works and their impact
Claudius wrote copiously throughout his life. Arnaldo Momigliano states that during the reign of Tiberius, which covers the peak of Claudius's literary career, it became impolitic to speak of republican Rome. The trend among the young historians was either to write about the new empire or about obscure antiquarian topics. Claudius was the rare scholar who covered both.

Besides his history of Augustus' reign that caused him so much grief, his major works included Tyrrhenika, a twenty-book Etruscan history, and Carchedonica, an eight-volume history of Carthage, as well as an Etruscan dictionary. He also wrote a book on dice-playing. Despite the general avoidance of the topic of the Republican era, he penned a defense of Cicero against the charges of Asinius Gallus. Modern historians have used this to determine the nature of his politics and of the aborted chapters of his civil war history.

He proposed a reform of the Latin alphabet by the addition of three new letters; he officially instituted the change during his censorship but they did not survive his reign. Claudius also tried to revive the old custom of putting dots between successive words (Classical Latin was written with no spacing). Finally, he wrote an eight-volume autobiography that Suetonius describes as lacking in taste. Claudius (like most of the members of his dynasty) harshly criticized his predecessors and relatives in surviving speeches.

None of the works survived, but other sources' reference to him provide material for the surviving histories of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Suetonius quotes Claudius's autobiography once and must have used it as a source numerous times. Tacitus uses Claudius's arguments for the orthographical innovations mentioned above and may have used him for some of the more antiquarian passages in his annals. Claudius is the source for numerous passages of Pliny's Natural History.

The influence of historical study on Claudius is obvious. In his speech on Gallic senators, he uses a version of the founding of Rome identical to that of Livy, his tutor in adolescence. The speech is meticulous in details, a common mark of all his extant works, and he goes into long digressions on related matters. This indicates a deep knowledge of a variety of historical subjects that he shared. Many of the public works instituted in his reign were based on plans first suggested by Julius Caesar. Levick believes this emulation of Caesar may have spread to all aspects of his policies.

His censorship seems to have been based on those of his ancestors, particularly Appius Claudius Caecus, and he used the office to put into place many policies based on those of Republican times. This is when many of his religious reforms took effect; also, his building efforts greatly increased during his tenure. In fact, his assumption of the office of Censor may have been motivated by a desire to see his academic labors bear fruit. For example, he believed (as most Romans did) that Caecus had used the power of the censorship office to introduce R|the letter "R" and so used his own term to introduce his new letters.

Death
Ancient historians agree that Claudius was murdered by poison – possibly contained in mushrooms or on a feather (ostensibly put down his throat to induce vomiting) – and died in the early hours of 13 October 54.

Nearly all implicate his final and powerful wife, Agrippina, as the instigator. Agrippina and Claudius had become more combative in the months leading up to his death. This carried on to the point where Claudius openly lamented his bad wives, and began to comment on Britannicus' approaching manhood with an eye towards restoring his status within the imperial family. Agrippina had motive in ensuring the succession of Nero before Britannicus could gain power.

Some implicate either his taster Halotus, his doctor Xenophon, or the infamous poisoner Locusta as the administrator of the fatal substance. Some say he died after prolonged suffering following a single dose at dinner, and some have him recovering only to be poisoned again. Among his contemporary sources, Seneca the Younger ascribed the emperor's death to natural causes, while Josephus only spoke of rumors of his poisoning.

Some historians have cast doubt on whether Claudius was murdered or merely died from illness or old age. Evidence against his murder include his serious illnesses in his last years, his unhealthy lifestyle and the fact that his taster Halotus continued to serve in the same position under Nero. Claudius had been so ill the year before that Nero vowed games for his recovery and the year of 54 seems to have been such an unhealthy year that one sitting member of each magistracy died within the span of a few months. He may even have died by eating a naturally poisonous mushroom, possibly Amanita muscaria. On the other hand, some modern scholars claim the near universality of the accusations in ancient texts lends credence to the crime. Claudius's ashes were interred in the Mausoleum of Augustus on 24 October 54, after a funeral similar to that of his great-uncle Augustus 40 years earlier.

Divine honours
Already, while alive, he received the widespread private worship of a living princeps and was worshipped in Britannia in his own temple in Camulodunum.

Claudius was deified by Nero and the Senate almost immediately.

Views of the new regime
Agrippina had sent Narcissus away shortly before Claudius's death, and now had the freedman murdered.

The last act of this secretary of letters was to burn all of Claudius's correspondence – most likely so it could not be used against him and others in an already hostile new regime. Thus Claudius's private words about his own policies and motives were lost to history. Just as Claudius had criticized his predecessors in official edicts, Nero often criticized the deceased Emperor, and many Claudian laws and edicts were disregarded under the reasoning that he was too stupid and senile to have meant them.

Seneca's Apocolocyntosis mocks the deification of Claudius and reinforces the view of Claudius as an unpleasant fool; this remained the official view for the duration of Nero's reign. Eventually Nero stopped referring to his deified adoptive father at all. Claudius's temple was left unfinished after only some of the foundation had been laid down. Eventually the site was overtaken by Nero's Golden House.

Flavian and later perspectives
The Flavians, who had risen to prominence under Claudius, took a different tack. They needed to shore up their legitimacy, but also justify the fall of the Julio-Claudians. They reached back to Claudius in contrast with Nero, to show that they were associated with a good regime. Commemorative coins were issued of Claudius and his son Britannicus, who had been a friend of Emperor Titus (Titus was born in 39, Britannicus was born in 41). When Nero's Golden House was burned, the Temple of Claudius was finally completed on the Caelian Hill.

However, as the Flavians became established, they needed to emphasize their own credentials more, and their references to Claudius ceased. Instead, he was lumped with the other emperors of the fallen dynasty. His state-cult in Rome probably continued until the abolition of all cults of dead Emperors by Maximinus Thrax in 237–238. The Feriale Duranum, probably identical to the festival calendars of every regular army unit, assigns him a sacrifice of a steer on his birthday, the Kalends of August. And such commemoration (and consequent feasting) probably continued until the Christianization and disintegration of the army in the late 4th century.

Views of ancient historians
The ancient historians Tacitus, Suetonius (in The Twelve Caesars), and Cassius Dio all wrote after the last of the Flavians had gone. All three were senators or equites. They took the side of the Senate in most conflicts with the Princeps, invariably viewing him as being in the wrong. This resulted in biases, both conscious and unconscious. Suetonius lost access to the official archives shortly after beginning his work. He was forced to rely on second-hand accounts when it came to Claudius (with the exception of Augustus's letters, which had been gathered earlier). Suetonius painted Claudius as a ridiculous figure, belittling many of his acts and crediting his good works to his retinue.

Tacitus wrote a narrative for his fellow senators and fitted each of the emperors into a simple mold of his choosing. He wrote of Claudius as a passive pawn and an idiot in affairs relating to the palace and public life. During his Censorship of 47–48 Tacitus allows the reader a glimpse of a Claudius who is more statesmanlike (XI.23–25), but it is a mere glimpse. Tacitus is usually held to have 'hidden' his use of Claudius's writings and to have omitted Claudius's character from his works. Even his version of Claudius's Lyons tablet speech is edited to be devoid of the emperor's personality. Dio was less biased, but seems to have used Suetonius and Tacitus as sources. Thus, the conception of Claudius as a weak fool, controlled by those he supposedly ruled, was preserved for the ages.

As time passed, Claudius was mostly forgotten outside of the historians' accounts. His books were lost first, as their antiquarian subjects became unfashionable. In the 2nd century, Pertinax, who shared his birthday, became emperor, overshadowing commemoration of Claudius.

In modern media

 * The best known fictional representation of the Emperor Claudius was contained in the books I, Claudius and Claudius the God (published in 1934 and 1935, respectively) by Robert Graves, both written in the first-person to give the reader the impression that they are Claudius's autobiography. Graves employed a fictive artifice to suggest that they were recently discovered, genuine translations of Claudius's writings. Claudius's extant letters, speeches, and sayings were incorporated into the text (mostly in the second book, Claudius the God), to add authenticity.
 * In 1937, director Josef von Sternberg attempted a film version of I, Claudius, with Charles Laughton as Claudius. However, the lead actress, Merle Oberon, had a near-fatal car accident and the movie was never finished. The surviving reels were featured in the BBC documentary The Epic That Never Was (1965). The motion picture rights for a new film eventually passed to producer Scott Rudin (b. 1958).
 * Graves's two books were the basis for a British television adaptation I, Claudius, produced by the BBC. The series starred Derek Jacobi as Claudius and was broadcast in 1976 on BBC2. It was a substantial critical success, and won several BAFTA awards. The series was later broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre in 1977. The 1996 7-VHS release and the later DVD release of the television series, include The Epic That Never Was documentary.
 * A radio adaptation of the Graves novels by Robin Brooks and directed by Jonquil Panting, was broadcast in six one-hour episodes on BBC Radio 4 beginning 4 December 2010. The cast featured Tom Goodman-Hill as Claudius, Derek Jacobi as Augustus, Harriet Walter as Livia, Tim McInnerny as Tiberius and Samuel Barnett as Caligula.
 * In 2011, it was announced rights for a miniseries adaptation passed to HBO and BBC Two. Anne Thomopoulos and Jane Tranter, producers of the popular HBO–BBC2 Rome miniseries, were attached to the I, Claudius project.  However, as of 2018, it has yet to be produced, and no release date is pending.
 * The 1954 film Demetrius and the Gladiators also portrayed him sympathetically, played by Barry Jones.
 * In the 1960 film Messalina, Claudius is portrayed by Mino Doro.
 * On television, Freddie Jones portrayed Claudius in the 1968 British television series The Caesars.
 * The 1975 TV Special Further Up Pompeii! (based on the Frankie Howerd sit-com Up Pompeii!) featured Cyril Appleton as Claudius.
 * In the 1979 motion picture Caligula, where the role was performed by Giancarlo Badessi, Claudius is depicted as an idiot, in contrast to Robert Graves' portrait of Claudius as a cunning and deeply intelligent man, who is perceived by others to be an idiot.
 * In the 1981 Franco-Italian film Caligula and Messalina, he was portrayed by Gino Turini (as John Turner).
 * The 1985 made-for-television miniseries A.D. features actor Richard Kiley as Claudius. Kiley portrays him as thoughtful, but willing to cater to public opinion as well as being under the influence of Agrippina.
 * In the 2004 TV film Imperium: Nero, Claudius is portrayed by Massimo Dapporto.
 * He is portrayed in Season 3 of the Netflix documentary series Roman Empire, which focused on the reign of Caligula, by Kelson Henderson. The series concludes with Claudius's accession.
 * There is also a reference to Claudius's suppression of a coup in the movie Gladiator, though that incident is entirely fictional.
 * In the series Britannia (2018), Claudius visits Britannia, played by Steve Pemberton as a fool who is drugged by Aulus Plautius.
 * He is portrayed by Derek Jacobi in the 2019 BBC film Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans

In literature, Claudius and his contemporaries appear in the historical novel The Roman by Mika Waltari. Canadian-born science fiction writer A. E. van Vogt reimagined Robert Graves's Claudius story, in his two novels, Empire of the Atom and The Wizard of Linn.

The historical novel Chariot of the Soul by Linda Proud features Claudius as host and mentor of the young Togidubnus, son of King Verica of the Atrebates, during his ten-year stay in Rome. When Togidubnus returns to Britain in advance of the Roman army, it is with a mission given to him by Claudius.

title: Claudius


text:
Cardinal

Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:

Birds

 * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
 * Cardinalis, genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae
 * Northern cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis, the common cardinal of eastern North America
 * Pyrrhuloxia or desert cardinal, Cardinalis sinuatus, found in southwest North America
 * Vermilion cardinal, Cardinalis phoeniceus, found in Colombia and Venezuela
 * Paroaria, a South American genus of birds in the family Thraupidae commonly called red-headed cardinals or cardinal-tanagers
 * Yellow cardinal, Gubernatrix cristata a South American bird in the family Thraupidae

Other animals

 * Argynnis pandora, a species of butterfly
 * Cardinal tetra, a freshwater fish

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 * Cardinal Health, a health care services company
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 * Cardinal (Catholic Church), a senior official of the Catholic Church
 * Member of the College of Cardinals
 * Cardinal (Church of England), either of two members of the College of Minor Canons of St. Paul's Cathedral

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 * Cardinals (film), a 2017 Canadian film
 * The Cardinal (1936 film), a British historical drama
 * The Cardinal, a 1963 American film

Games

 * Cardinal (chess), a fairy chess piece, also known as the archbishop
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 * Cardinal (Cardinal album), 1994
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 * Cardinal (color), a vivid red
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license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Cardinal


text:
Talk:Cooking

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 26 January 2021 and 19 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Shaunbp. Peer reviewers: LilyThue, Vivmm13, Cjaldana.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 18:26, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Fireless cooker
Is there an article on the Fireless cooker, under a different name? I couldn't find one... it's basically an insulated basket or box for keeping food at a high temperature to finish cooking, while using less fuel (and creating less pollution) than usual cooking methods. If an article is to be created here, I think it should be placed in Category:Cooking appliances, Category:Appropriate technology and Category:Sustainable technologies. --Singkong2005 talk 02:09, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
 * This looks like a variation on haybox cooking, which is a form of retained-heat cooking, combined with a form of Slow cooker. --Coconino 10:14, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikicook book
Do any of you think there should be a Wikicook book? I think there should. Come and tell me what you think! Asteroidz R not planetz 19:36, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I would just like to ask if there's anyone else that thinks having a Wikicook book is a good idea. I think it is. Tell me what you think! Asteroidz R not planetz 19:37, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi, first of all, new comments/questions should be added to the end of Talk pages, or the end of any sections on that particular issue. Secondly, there is already a Wiki Cookbook in Wikibooks Cookbook. --Macrakis 22:49, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Food safety
the food safety section is getting too big, particularly since there is also a whole page devoted to the topic. I propose cutting it back to just the part about heating food, which would be appropriate in context (under the 'effects of cooking' heading). FiveRings 17:35, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't the "danger zone" be expressed in Celsius with the F given in brackets (SI units)? Scratchedguitar (talk) 19:18, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Definition
"'The term cooking encompasses all methods of food preparation including non-heated methods.'" Says who? --MQDuck 22:10, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

 * Says anyone who knows anything about the subject. Just go ask any professional chef. All preparation for final consumption is a form of cooking, and all stages of preparation are cooking. Consider that in professional restaurants prep cooks may undertake early phases of cooking by chopping vegetables, portioning steaks, shredding and slicing cheeses, and more. Many foods require no heat application in any stage at all, such as vegetable salads, aiolis and other condiments. Others may only involve heat application only during preparatory stages, like most sushi items (heat is used to prepare the sushi rice, but not in the preparation of the final dish). There are also cases where only the pre-existing ambient heat is employed, such as sun brewed tea, oil infusions, or softening butter at room temperature for spreading on something.  In other instances still, chemical processes may be used in place of heat application, such as curing fish in lemon juice, or an (undesired) case of air exposure causing refridgerated meat to oxidize and prematurely brown.  And then there are the occasional instances still where refrigeration to avoid heat may actually be a necessary component, so that a perishable ingredient doesn't go bad before the cooking is complete. Look at overnight oats, which requires several hours, during which the milk could very possibly go bad if the whole process weren't taking place in the fridge.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:4040:B078:6C00:D5D6:3F78:2A9A:22FD (talk) 20:00, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

 * I've removed this. Chris Cunningham 10:44, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Ask yourself why not. I see no reason this is false. I am putting it back if no one objects.--209.80.246.13 (talk) 15:51, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

OED definition of cooking "the process of preparing food by heating it." (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cooking) Scratchedguitar (talk) 19:21, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Rapeseed and Canola
Canola is just a fancy marketing term for rapeseed oil. That isn't made very clear in the reference in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.95.129.238 (talk) 16:13, 16 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, canola is a specific cultivar of rapeseed, cultivated for it's lower erucic acid content. It's a subtle distinction, but not one without a difference, so the term gets a pass. -Munkel (talk) 19:55, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

History of Cooking
I feel that the history of cooking deserves its own section, in terms of why humans began cooking at all, and the cultural and physical changes that occurred as a result. In other words, at what point (besides after the discovery of fire) did the human race feel the need to heat their foods? JezSmitty (talk) 11:51, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

 * Agreed. I would also like some archaeologists to weigh in on the claim of "systematic production of flint blades, the habitual use of fire, evidence of hunting, cutting and sharing of animal meat, mining raw materials to produce flint tools from subsurface sources," etc. at the Qesem Cave, a site 400k to 200k years old.

 * However, it's not outside the realm of possibility that humans were not the first hominins to cook.

 * Human remains spark spat, Nature (2010)
 * 300,000-Year-Old Caveman 'Campfire' Found, Live Science (2014) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.118.9.187 (talk) 05:33, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

 * Actually, by definition, it IS outside the realm of possibility. The distinction between humans and non-human predecessors is the making of tools. Even the most primitive acts of cooking would have required a manufactured tool of some sort. Even picking up a burning piece of tree from a lightning strike and placing it on an assembled pile of kindling to create a controlled fire would constitute tool making.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:4040:B078:6C00:D5D6:3F78:2A9A:22FD (talk) 20:11, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Food safety
(since nobody responded to my previous comment about this). There are already pages on Food safety and Food and cooking hygiene that actually have less information than the Food Safety section on this page. I propose moving this page's information to the main Food safety page, and also merging the hygiene page into it. Comments? FiveRings (talk) 02:29, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

 * It's been forever since you said this, so you probly did it already, but if not, then yes, I think your idea is good. Carl.bunderson (talk) 00:00, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

 * yeah, I mostly did it. Still needs work though. FiveRings (talk) 21:32, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

 * The image that shows a lady using a chopping board seems an inadequate illustration for a food safety section, unless you want to show a bad example; she works with food with no hairnet, and even worse, wearing a few rings.--200.238.100.15 (talk) 18:52, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Recipes
There should be a wiki coookbook that would be a great idea. Everyone could edit their favourite recipes. I like bread making for example. Wikicookbook would be the ultimate in recipes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Catherinefionarichardson (talk • contribs) 12:32, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Try http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook for thousands of recipes. Velela (talk) 13:24, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Split into food heating and food preparation
I think this article should be made a disambiguation page to the following articles:
 * food heating
 * food preparation (generally)

Some sources define cooking as both, some as food preparation and some as food heating only

As it is not the article is a confusing mix of them both. The "Fat"-section for instance doesn't mention the heating effect on fats, but only deals with general preparation. Mikael Häggström (talk) 13:11, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

 * This is a more complex problem, since some languages and dialects consider "cooking" to be any kind of food preparation (the Germans cook coffee, for example), and others consider it only to be food preparation that involves heat (see Levi Strauss' culinary triangle).

 * I would propose creating a new page called "food preparation" that encompasses all preparation forms (with many, many, links to other pages), and leaving this one to the heat methods. FiveRings (talk) 16:09, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

 * Sounds like a good idea. This article may then be tagged with:

 * Mikael Häggström (talk) 17:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Mikael Häggström (talk) 17:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

 * Yes. We should probably let this marinate for a while (I usually wait a week) to elicit other ideas. And then start spinning info off of the cooking page. FiveRings (talk) 19:56, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

 * ok, undid the redirect from food preparation to cooking, and put in an under-construction tag FiveRings (talk) 20:24, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm readding in the previous reference re Advanced Glycation Endproducts as it was mysteriosuly deleted, without any justification.Loki0115 (talk) 13:55, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

Food Safety
Nevermind no hairnet, the section is not about health, its about safety, just by the way she is holding the knife, sitting down instead of standing up and a series of factors that are just completely wrong with the example are just inadecuate. I'm a Chef by profesion and know at leats how not to chop my fingers of. I'll try to find a more adecuate example. .lrodilg (talk) 22:19, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Protien
I'm deleting the part about broccoli having more protien that groung beef because it is incorrect. I did various comparisons using the Calorie King website and, whether you compare by wieght, proportion of calorie content, etc., broccoli has nowhere near the protien content of ground beef. I know this wasn't exactly s scientific comparison, but it wasn't even close. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.185.88.245 (talk) 20:23, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Effect of cooking
I removed a reference to cooking improving the digestibility of meats as that is controversial, while the reference to cooking improving the digestion of a few foods such as grains is factual, and undisputed, so I included the latter statement. I can cite another scientific study, as an example, to show that cooking actually reduces the digestibility of meats:-

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1897402

Loki0115 (talk) 12:08, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Vitamins and Minerals
I have remove the paragraph "Vitamins from fresh vegetables and fruit may be destroyed or eluted by cooking and the greatest benefit is derived from uncooked material. Vitamin C is especially prone to oxidation during cooking and may be completely destroyed by protracted coking. Minerals may also be eluted by extended boiling." As stating that uncooked food better needs a citation given the content preceding it and the destruction of micronutriants is already mentioned and I see no reason why vitamin C needs any special treatment in this section. 203.213.75.70 (talk) 07:08, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Probable copy-vio
the content of the cooking methods section seems ot be lifted from this source:
 * http://www.diet-and-health.net/articles.php?cont=cooking%20methods

Judging from the tone of the content (its concentration on minimizing fat addition) i would say it was copied from there (a diet site) instead of the reverse. It should be deleted. Vinithehat (talk) 06:09, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

 * It was introduced in this diff. It is clearly the same text. It was introduced by a very infrequent contributor who probably saw the tag requesting expansion and didn't realise that he was doing anything wrong. I am going to rip the text out but keep the links to various individual methods. --DanielRigal (talk) 13:15, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

--90.192.0.16 (talk) 19:31, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

there should be a section on burnt food.
I often hear that eating burnt food can cause cancer. is this true? Either way, i think there should be a sub-section in the food safety section about this, that adresses the possible dangers of burnt food. First of all, is it true that burnt food can cause cancer?--CoincidentalBystander (talk) 08:10, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
 * This is probably a reference to the synthesis of Acrylamide in overcooked starchy foods - please see the Acrylamide article for further information. This already mentioned in Cooking.  Velela  Velela Talk  09:55, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Well I've just read a bit about acrylamide, and maybe that is something that's formed when food is burnt, but this is not the section i'm talking about. I came to the article to find out whether if food is burnt, this causes cancer, or other deseases. So At that point I dont know what acrylamide is yet. And the section on raw foodism first of all, doesn't say anything about burnt food, but food cooking in general. and second. this is not where people will look, if they want to find out whether burnt food is dangerous. This is not a section where this should be discussed, or at least it should be very clearly stated, and the word "burnt" should be explicitly used. Even still, there is nothing in the section that clearly adresses the question of whether burnt food specifically is dangerous. Also you can't put that section in the acrylamide page, because people don't know what acrylamide is until they read that it is caused by burning food (I don't know if it does, but IF it does...).--CoincidentalBystander (talk) 10:34, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I completely disagree, mostly because the food doesn't have to be "burnt" for the compound to appear. Vinithehat (talk) 02:22, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Quality seems better than "start"
Any objections to moving to "C"? It seems to meet all the criteria. dm (talk) 03:44, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism
Just undid some. Given the recent history I suspect there's more coming. Could the mods temporarily lock it or something? --Corona688 (talk) 03:42, 22 March 2011 (UTC)

plagiarism in History of Cooking section
An entire portion is lifted word for word from this article: http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Pennisi_99. ("in earnest ...").

Someone should fix this up, I guess. 66.108.199.84 (talk) 01:44, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

 * tooken care of, me thinks. ViniTheHat (talk) 02:42, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Cooking methods section
Does the phrase "cooking methods" have a different definition than "methods of cooking"? If not, shouldn't one of the sections be deleted and have its contents merged into the other section? Thought I would ask before deleting the Cooking methods section.Music+mas (talk) 01:54, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

This "Methods" section is somewhat thorough in its list, but whoever wrotes this section doesn't really seem to understand how these basic concepts or methods of cooking relate to one another. It's not really very accurate, and it's jumbled in a way that's confusing, or misleading. Looking at the other talk notes on this page, this section appears to have been "lifted" from another source without proper evaluation. Furthermore, going to List of cooking techniques is even more confusing, although the two pages don't really correspond in the same logic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.3.162.39 (talk) 09:44, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Home-cooking vs. factory cooking section - inconsistent style?
In the following line: "Home cooking can be done by the 'reasonable cook in the street' using simple (non-heating) recipes (of which there are heaps!). Cheers." I'm not sure if this is intentional, but has the language/style/register changed, a bit (too) casual? The language doesn't seem to sound consistent from the previous paragraphs, but I'm not too sure. Weaktofu (talk) 10:29, 14 May 2013 (UTC)
 * It's gone now. Thanks for pointing that out. __Just plain Bill (talk) 13:52, 14 May 2013 (UTC)

Inappropriate lead image?
Is it me, or does it seem odd that an article on cooking specifically by heating leads with an image of a dish (the fruit salad/cheese pastry) which, I assume, needs no heating at all? --TheSophera (talk) 18:11, 15 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Good point. I've gone ahead and cut the image. --McGeddon (talk) 10:10, 16 February 2015 (UTC)
 * In fact, a lot of these images are of cooked dishes when we could have a photo of the dish being cooked, and images are stacking up in the middle of the article without corresponding to anything being said at that point in the text. I've cut the images back and replaced some with more active pictures of food being prepared. --McGeddon (talk) 10:30, 16 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Now is it a steak what the cook is making? The picture file says so but I can't see any steak there. --Bakebread (talk) 16:39, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

How about a non-Westerncentric image? Maybe some wok cooking? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 17:16, 8 August 2015 (UTC)
 * An image of Wok cooking could be an improvement, as would an image showing a variety of ingredients instead of just meat.Dialectric (talk) 15:09, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

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Contradict
The dates for the invention of cooking are all over the place in this article and Control of fire by early humans. It seems clear to me that the 250,000 ybp figure is much too conservative and relies on the absence of one kind of evidence to make claims. But in fact the Control of fire by early humans article says that there is good archeological evidence of fire pits going back 400,000 years. Abductive (reasoning) 09:47, 29 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Since both dates are now in the article, I think we can now remove the tag. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:45, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Cooking vs Food preparation
If cooking is heating food and food preparation is a broader category, then make Food preparation more informative. As of presently, it is useless. It only lists English words for methods of food preparation. What about history? Personally I came here to get information about food processing in non-human animals, but I did not find any.176.15.77.168 (talk) 18:10, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

corn
I'm surprised the maize militants have not swooped down upon this article to remove the use of the forbidden "corn". --23.119.204.117 (talk) 05:24, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

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Deleted "Some modern cooks apply advanced scientific techniques to food preparation to further enhance the flavor of the dish served." This is a misrepresentation and over-generalization of the reference cited. The reference is a five paragraph popular article describing the use of centrifuges in an unspecified number of "high end" restaurants. Changed to "A few restaurants use centrifuges to enhance the flavor and consistence of the dish served." This statement accurately reflects the reference. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.232.80.66 (talk) 23:50, 23 December 2018 (UTC)

Lack of information
While I was reading the page I found that in the section of food safety. I didn't see the writer mention of grilling food safety. So, I found the source that talks about it. I hope the writer refers to the website below and talk a little bit more about that issue. Here is the link that I found on the internet (Cxchey (talk) 19:25, 29 January 2019 (UTC))

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/d468f3d9-fb6c-4109-88d7-2931f7132098/Barbecue_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

 * Thanks. That is useful. I have added it to the food safety section. If you feel that that section needs amplifying based on the content of the reference, please feel free to make some additions (although not directly copied from the source. Regards  Velella  Velella Talk 01:49, 30 January 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cooking