Tiberius Claudius Nero (c. 82 – 33 BC) was a Roman politician, senator, and praetor who lived in the last century of the Roman Republic. He was notable for being the first husband of Livia, before she divorced him to marry the future emperor Augustus, and the biological father of the second Roman emperor Tiberius. Ancestry Nero was a member of the republican Claudia gens of Rome. He was a descendant of the censor Appius Claudius Caecus. Nero was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and his mother was a descendant of the Claudian gens. Nero had a sister called Claudia, who married the prefect Quintus Volusius. Political career Under Julius Caesar Nero had served as a quaestor to Julius Caesar in 48 BC, commanding his fleet in the Alexandrian War. Having achieved victory over the Egyptian navy, he was rewarded with a priesthood. Julius Caesar had sent Nero to create Roman colonies in Gaul and in other provinces. Assassination of Julius Caesar Despite his service with Julius Caesar, Nero was an Optimate at heart. After the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, when it seemed that the assassins were triumphant, he suggested that they be rewarded for their services to the state. However, due to his previous alliance with the Roman dictator, Nero was allowed to be elected praetor in 42 BC. Second Triumvirate Shortly afterwards, the Second Triumvirate began to break down, causing a dangerous situation in Rome as the triumvirs went to battle with each other. Nero was forced to choose sides and in his distrust of Octavian, he cast his lot with Mark Antony. In 41 BC, he fled Rome with Livia and Tiberius in tow, joining Antony's brother Lucius in Perusia. Perusia was besieged by Octavian's men by the time Nero arrived, and when the town fell in 40 BC, he was forced to flee first to Praeneste, and then Naples. In 40 BC, Octavian and Mark Antony finally reconciled. In Naples, Nero tried in vain to raise a slave battalion against Octavian and then took refuge with Sextus Pompey, who was then acting as a pirate leader in Sicily. Nero with his family joined Mark Antony soon after in Achaea. After three years of fleeing from Octavian, Nero returned to Rome with Livia and the younger Tiberius, aged 3. Octavian immediately after catching sight of Livia, fell in love with her, despite the