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Nero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar (his adoptive name) (13 BC-September 14 23
23

Year 23 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar....
), was the only child of Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 Tiberius
Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....
 and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina
Vipsania Agrippina

Vipsania Agrippina was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa from his first wife Caecilia Attica, granddaughter of Cicero's friend and knight Titus Pomponius Atticus....
. He was born with the name Nero Claudius Drusus, and is also known to historians as Drusus II and Drusus Minor. Drusus was named after his paternal uncle the general Nero Claudius Drusus
Nero Claudius Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus , born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman Empire politician and military commander....
 (who is sometimes called Nero Drusus, Drusus I, Drusus Major, or Drusus the Elder), who was Tiberius' younger brother.






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Nero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar (his adoptive name) (13 BC-September 14 23
23

Year 23 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar....
), was the only child of Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
 Tiberius
Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....
 and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina
Vipsania Agrippina

Vipsania Agrippina was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa from his first wife Caecilia Attica, granddaughter of Cicero's friend and knight Titus Pomponius Atticus....
. He was born with the name Nero Claudius Drusus, and is also known to historians as Drusus II and Drusus Minor. Drusus was named after his paternal uncle the general Nero Claudius Drusus
Nero Claudius Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus , born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman Empire politician and military commander....
 (who is sometimes called Nero Drusus, Drusus I, Drusus Major, or Drusus the Elder), who was Tiberius' younger brother. He was born and raised in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
. Drusus was the first grandchild of statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and minister to Octavian, the future emperor Caesar Augustus....
 and his first wife Caecilia Attica
Caecilia Attica

Pomponia Caecilia Attica or Caecilia Pomponia Attica , was the daughter of Marcus Tullius Cicero's Epicurean friend and eques, knight Titus Pomponius Atticus....
.

Despite his violent temper, Drusus showed promise with both military and politics. In 13, he was made a permanent member of the Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 committee Augustus had founded to draw up the Senate's daily business. However, because Drusus was only related to the Claudian
Claudius (gens)

The gens Claudia was one of the oldest families in ancient Rome, and for centuries its members were regularly leaders of the city and empire....
 side of the family, rather than both the Julians and Claudians
Julio-Claudian Dynasty

The Julio-Claudian Dynasty refers to the four Roman Emperors: Tiberius, Caligula , Claudius, and Nero. They ruled the Roman Empire from 27 BC to AD 68, when the last of the line, Nero, committed suicide....
, Augustus forced Tiberius to adopt Germanicus
Germanicus

Germanicus Julius Caesar Claudianus . Born in Lugdunum, Gaul , was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire. At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle and received the agnomen Germanicus, by which he is principally known, in 9 BC, when...
 as his son and heir, removing Drusus from the succession. In 14, after the death of Augustus, Drusus suppressed a mutiny
Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly-situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an existing authority....
 in Pannonia
Pannonia

Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
. In 15 he became a consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
. He was also governor of Illyricum
Illyricum (Roman province)

The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the formerly independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drin River river in modern Albania to Istria in the west and to the Sava river in the north....
 from 17 to 20. In 21 he was consul again, significantly with his father Tiberius as his colleague, while in 22 he received tribunicia potestas (tribunician power or Tribune
Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by 10 elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the exclusive right to propose legislation before it....
), a distinction reserved solely for the emperor or his immediate successor.

Drusus married his paternal cousin Livilla
Livilla

Livia Julia , most commonly known by her family nickname of Livilla was the only daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor. Her chief role in the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was as a bride ? and alleged murderer ? of the heir apparent to the Principate during the reigns of Augustus and her uncle Tiberius....
 in 4. Their daughter Julia
Julia (daughter of Drusus the Younger)

Julia Drusi Caesaris Filia was the daughter of Julius Caesar Drusus and Livilla and granddaughter to the Roman Emperor Tiberius....
 was born shortly after. They had twin sons Tiberius Gemellus
Tiberius Gemellus

Tiberius Julius Caesar Nero Gemellus, known as Tiberius Gemellus, was the son of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla, the grandson of Tiberius, and the cousin of Gaius Caligula....
 and Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus II Gemellus in 19, the latter of whom died still an infant in 23. In the same year, Germanicus
Germanicus

Germanicus Julius Caesar Claudianus . Born in Lugdunum, Gaul , was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire. At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle and received the agnomen Germanicus, by which he is principally known, in 9 BC, when...
 died, making Drusus the new heir; Germanicus' wife Agrippina
Agrippina the elder

Vipsania Agrippina or most commonly known as Agrippina Major was a distinguished and prominent Roman Princess that lived between the 1st century BC and 1st century....
 suspected Tiberius of having killed him to allow Drusus to become his heir, but this is unlikely.

Before the birth of the twins, Livilla
Livilla

Livia Julia , most commonly known by her family nickname of Livilla was the only daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor. Her chief role in the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was as a bride ? and alleged murderer ? of the heir apparent to the Principate during the reigns of Augustus and her uncle Tiberius....
 may already have been in a relationship with Sejanus
Sejanus

Lucius Aelius Seianus , commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. An Equestrian by birth, Sejanus rose to power as Praetorian Prefect of the Roman imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, of which he was commander from 14 AD until his death in 31....
, Tiberius' Praetorian Prefect
Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect was the constant title of a high office in the Roman Empire state that changed fundamentally in nature.The praetorian prefect was commander of the Praetorian Guard until Constantine I abolished the guard in 314....
. Moreover Drusus, who was naturally irascible, had once in the course of a casual argument with Sejanus raised his fist and struck him in the face. By 23 it looked as if Drusus, who made no secret of his antipathy towards Sejanus, would succeed Tiberius as emperor. For reasons of self-survival, but also because he may have had designs on the supreme power, Sejanus needed to remove Drusus. Ancient sources (Tacitus
Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate 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 that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
, Suetonius
Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was an equestrian and a historian during the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies on the battles of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar until Domitian, entitled On the Life of the Caesars....
, Cassius Dio) concur that with Livilla as his accomplice he poisoned her husband. If Drusus was indeed murdered, then it was done so skillfully that his death in 23 gave rise to no suspicion, having as he did a reputation for heavy drinking. Sejanus then (25) asked for Livilla’s hand in marriage but Tiberius forbade it.

Sejanus fell in 31 (October 18). A few days later (October 26) Sejanus' former wife Apicata committed suicide, but not before addressing a letter to Tiberius claiming that Drusus had been poisoned, with the complicity of Livilla. Drusus’ cupbearer Lygdus and Livilla's physician Eudemus were now tortured, and seemed to confirm Apicata’s accusation. By the end of the year Livilla too had perished, supposedly forcibly starved to death by her own mother, Antonia
Antonia Minor

Antonia Minor , also known as Antonia the Younger or simply Antonia was a daughter of Ancient Rome politician Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, sister of roman emperor Augustus, and mother of future emperor Claudius....
.

Drusus was an avid enthusiast of gladiator fights. In fact, we hear that the sharpest swords were named "Drusian" after him. Drusus is noted to have once come to blows with Sejanus in an argument. An earlier fight with a praetorian guard (possibly Sejanus as well) earned him the ironic nickname "Castor", after the patron god of the praetorians. He features under this name in the novel I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Robert Graves

Robert Ranke Graves was an England poet, translator and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works. He was the son of the Anglo-Irish writer Alfred Perceval Graves and Amalie von Ranke, a niece of the famous German historian Leopold von Ranke....
, and in the I, Claudius
I, Claudius

For other uses see I, Claudius .I, Claudius is a novel by England writer Robert Graves, first published in 1934 in literature, that deals sympathetically with the life of the Roman Emperor Claudius and cynically with the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula...
 based on the novel, in which he was played by Kevin McNally
Kevin McNally

Kevin McNally is an English actor who has worked extensively in both film and television. He is best known for his portrayal of first mate Joshamee Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean films....
.

He is associated with the gourmand Apicius
Marcus Gavius Apicius

Marcus Gavius Apicius is believed to have been a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius....
. Under Apicius' influence he disdained a certain vegetable of the cabbage family, earning a reprimand from Tiberius. Drusus is also recorded as using bitter almond
Almond

The Almond is a species of tree of the genus Prunus, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae and native to the Middle East....
s (five or six at a time) as a prophylactic against drunkenness.

See also

  • Roman Empire
    Roman Empire

    The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....


  • Tiberius
    Tiberius

    Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....


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