 According to <unk> ; <unk> became Emperor at the age of 17 when the news of Claudius ' death was made known , making him the youngest emperor at that time Although , what <unk> may have meant is that he was in his seventeenth year as his date of birth , also listed by <unk> , would have made him 16 at the time of Claudius ' death . <unk> , in book XIII of his Annals , describes <unk> as being ' scarcely out of his <unk> ' at the time he became emperor . Ancient historians describe <unk> 's early reign as being strongly influenced by his mother , <unk> , his tutor Lucius <unk> Seneca , and the <unk> <unk> <unk> <unk> <unk> , especially in the first year . Other tutors were less often mentioned , such as Alexander of <unk> . 
