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Claudius Gothicus was a native of Illyricum and was the chief of staff in the emperor Gallienus' army. He became emperor after he conspired with the future emperor Aurelian to murder Gallienus.
Claudius immediately had to deal with rebels and invasion. The Alemanni, a tribe of German origins had even managed to invade Italy. Claudius spent almost his entire reign at war.
Claudius II earned the title "Gothicus" after beating the Goths so soundly in a great battle in the Balkans that he eliminated them as a threat to the Roman Empire for the next 110 years.
The popular Claudius was one of the few emperors during this period to die a "natural" death. He died of the plague in Illyricum near the ancient town of Sirmium in A. D. 270. This terrible disease had claimed the life of the Roman emperor just as it had so many millions of Romans before him and would continue to devastate mankind throughout over a thousand years of European history to come.
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