Claudius
    n 1: Roman Emperor after his nephew Caligula was murdered;
         consolidated the Roman Empire and conquered southern
         Britain; was poisoned by his fourth wife Agrippina after
         her son Nero was named as Claudius' heir (10 BC to AD 54)
         [syn: Claudius, Claudius I, Tiberius Claudius Drusus
         Nero Germanicus]

Claudius
   lame. (1.) The fourth Roman emperor. He succeeded Caligula (A.D.
   41). Though in general he treated the Jews, especially those in
   Asia and Egypt, with great indulgence, yet about the middle of
   his reign (A.D. 49) he banished them all from Rome (Acts 18:2).
   In this edict the Christians were included, as being, as was
   supposed, a sect of Jews. The Jews, however soon again returned
   to Rome.
   
     During the reign of this emperor, several persecutions of the
   Christians by the Jews took place in the dominions of Herod
   Agrippa, in one of which the apostle James was "killed" (12:2).
   He died A.D. 54.
   
     (2.) Claudius Lysias, a Greek who, having obtained by purchase
   the privilege of Roman citizenship, took the name of Claudius
   (Acts 21:31-40; 22:28; 23:26).