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. also as opposed to the murder of Augustus, which is only found in Tacitus and Dio where he quotes Tacitus. Suetonius, an inveterate gossip, doesn't mention it at all. 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.
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 also as opposed to the murder of Augustus, which is only found in Tacitus and Dio where he quotes Tacitus. Suetonius, an inveterate gossip, doesn't mention it at all. 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.