Lucius Lusius Geta was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 politician in the 1st century AD.

Lusius Geta belonged to the equestrian order. He was Emperor Claudius

Claudius

Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...

' praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides...

 in AD 48

48

Year 48 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vitellius and Poplicola...

, during the crisis of Messalina's conspiracy against Claudius. According to Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...

, Claudius' advisors lacked confidence in Lusius Geta, thinking him too easily influenced; therefore, Claudius' chief advisor Narcissus

Tiberius Claudius Narcissus

Tiberius Claudius Narcissus was one of the freedmen who formed the core of the imperial court under the Roman emperor Claudius. He is described as praepositus ab epistulis ....

 temporarily relieved Lusius Geta of command after then-Empress Valeria Messalina entered into a bigamous marriage with Gaius Silius

Gaius Silius

Gaius Silius was the name of two consuls of the Roman Empire, during the 1st century. The elder was a consul and commander in the Roman Army during the reign of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius and the younger a consul in the reign of Emperor Claudius....

 in an apparent conspiracy to overthrow her husband as Emperor. (See Valeria Messalina#Downfall, death and aftermath.)

However, Lusius Geta maintained the confidence of Claudius himself and remained in office as praetor until AD 51, although he shared his position with Rufrius Crispinus

Rufrius Crispinus

Rufrius Crispinus was a knight who lived during the later Julio-Claudian dynasty. The satirist Juvenal spitefully described him as one the "dregs" of the "Nile", indicating his Egyptian origin. It is believed he came to Rome as a fish merchant. Under the Roman Emperor Claudius he was the commander...

. In AD 51 Claudius' fourth wife Agrippina

Agrippina the Younger

Julia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger, and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

, fearing that Geta and Crispinus favored Messalina's son and imperial heir Britannicus

Britannicus

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus was the son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. He became the heir-designate of the empire at his birth, less than a month into his father's reign. He was still a young boy at the time of his mother's downfall and Claudius'...

 more than her own son Nero

Nero

Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....

, had the pair replaced by Sextus Afranius Burrus

Sextus Afranius Burrus

Sextus Afranius Burrus , Praetorian prefect, was advisor to Roman Emperor Nero and, together with Seneca the Younger, very powerful in the early years of Nero's reign....

.

In 54, Claudius appointed Geta governor of Egypt (praefectus

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

 Alexandreae

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

et Aegypti). He held this post from March 29 to November 17 of that year, when Nero (who had succeeded Claudius on October 13) recalled him to Rome.