Claudia Acte Claudia Acte Claudia Acte was a freedwoman of ancient Rome who became a mistress of the emperor Nero. She came from Asia Minor and might have become a slave of the Emperor Claudius, following his expansion of the Roman Empire into Lycia and Pamphylia; or she might have been purchased later, by Octavia, Claudius' daughter. The Emperor Claudius, uncle of Nero's mother, Agrippina the Younger, married his niece in 49 AD and therefore became Nero's stepfather. Claudius' daughter, Octavia (by his wife Messalina), became Nero's stepsister at the same time. Nero and Octavia themselves married in 53 AD, and Nero
Agrippina the Elder was made "princeps". While Germanicus was administering the oath of fealty to Tiberius, a mutiny began among the forces on the Rhine. During the mutiny, Agrippina brought out their sixth child, Gaius, and made preparations to take him away to a safer town nearby. He was in a full army outfit including the legionary hobnailed boots ("caligae"). These military-booties earned Gaius the nickname "Caligula" (lit. "little boots"), and garnered sympathy for Agrippina and the child among the soldiery. Tacitus attributes her actions as having quelled the mutiny (Tacitus, "Annals" 1.40–4). Once the mutiny was put to an end, Germanicus allowed