Rubellius Plautus

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Rubellius Plautus

Gaius Rubellius Plautus (33-62) was a Roman noble and a political rival of Emperor Nero

Nero

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....
, he was a relative to the Julio-Claudian dynasty

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....
. He was the grandson of Drusus

Julius Caesar Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar , was the only child of Roman Emperor Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina. He was born with the name Nero Claudius Drusus, and is also known to historians as Drusus II and Drusus Minor....
(only son of Tiberius Caesar), and the great-grandson of 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 brother 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....
. Through his great-grandmothers 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....
and Antonia Minor

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....
, he was also descended from 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 Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....
but not from Augustus. He was descended from Augustus' sister Octavia Minor, herself a great niece of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.

tus' father was Gaius Rubellius Blandus

Gaius Rubellius Blandus

Gaius Rubellius Blandus was a consul of ancient Rome, a grandson of Rubellius Blandus of Tibur . Blandus' family were from the Equestrian class....
.

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Gaius Rubellius Plautus (33-62) was a Roman noble and a political rival of Emperor Nero

Nero

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....
, he was a relative to the Julio-Claudian dynasty

Julio-Claudian Dynasty

Julius Caesar Drusus

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 brother Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus

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....
and Antonia Minor

Antonia Minor

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 Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Julius Caesar

Parentage

Plautus' father was Gaius Rubellius Blandus

Gaius Rubellius Blandus

Gaius Rubellius Blandus was a consul of ancient Rome, a grandson of Rubellius Blandus of Tibur . Blandus' family were from the Equestrian class....
. Blandus' family originated from Tibur (modern Tivoli
Tivoli, Italy

Tivoli, the classical Tibur, is an ancient Italy town in Lazio, about 30 km from Rome, at the falls of the Aniene river, where it issues from the Sabine hills....
) and were of the Equestrian

Equestrian (Roman)

The Roman equestrian order constituted the lower of the two aristocratic classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the Roman senate Order . A member of the order was known as an eques , which in Latin has the general meaning of any person mounted on a horse , but in this context carries the specific meaning of "knight"....
Class. His father died in 38. His mother was the only daughter of Drusus, and had previously been married to her cousin Nero Caesar

Nero Caesar

Nero Julius Caesar Germanicus was a close relative of the Roman Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.Nero was born in 6 to Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder....
, without issue.

Between 43 and 45, his mother Julia became an innocent victim to the intrigues of Empress Valeria Messalina. One possibility is that the young Plautus was seen by Messalina as a rival to her son Britannicus

Britannicus

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus was the son of the Roman Empire 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....
. 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....
Claudius

Claudius

Defense (legal)

In civil proceedings and criminal prosecutions under the common law, a defendant may raise a defense in an attempt to avoid criminal or civil liability....
for his niece. Consequently, Julia was executed. However Julia was considered to be a virtuous

Virtue

Virtue is morality excellence. Personal virtues are characteristics Value as promoting individual and collective well-being, and thus Goodness and value theory by definition....
person by those who knew her.

Marriage

Plautus married Antistia Pollitta, daughter to Lucius Antistius Vetus. His father-in-law served as Consul

List of Roman Consuls

"List of rulers of the Roman Republic" redirects here. For the senate, go to Roman senate. For a list of rulers of the Roman Empire, see List of Roman Emperors....
in 55, Legatus

Legatus

A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of Roman senate rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes....
of Germania Superior

Germania Superior

Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a Roman province of the Roman Empire. It comprised the area of western Switzerland, the French Jura mountains and Alsace regions and south-western Germany....
in 55-56, Proconsul

Proconsul

Ancient RomeIn the Roman Republic, a proconsul was a promagistrate who, after serving as consul, spent a year as a Roman governor of a Roman province....
of Asia in 64-65. Plautus was considered a loving husband and father. The names of his children however are not known. (None of them survived Nero's purges in 66).

Nero's jealousy

In 55, Junia Silana, a rival of Empress Agrippina the Younger

Agrippina the Younger

Julia Agrippina; known as Agrippina Minor , was a great granddaughter of Emperor Augustus, great niece and adoptive granddaughter of Emperor Tiberius, sister to Emperor Caligula, wife of Emperor Claudius and mother of Emperor Nero....
and the ex-wife of Messalina's lover, accused Agrippina of plotting to overthrow Nero

Nero

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and final Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty....
took no action at the time, but over time, Nero's relationship with Silana warmed while his relationship with his mother soured. After a comet appeared in 60, public gossip renewed rumors of Nero's fall and Plautus' rise. Nero exiled Plautus in 60 to his estate in Asia with his family.

In 62, after rumors that Plautus was in negotiations with the eastern general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was a Ancient Rome general....
over rebellion, Plautus was executed by Nero. When his head

Head

In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilateria do....
was given to Nero by a freedman

Freedman

Freedman is the term used to describe a former Slavery who has been Manumission or Emancipation. The first means the freeing of an individual by the owner, often through deed or will, and sometimes by legislative petition....
, Nero mocked how frightening the long nose of Plautus was.

At the same time, Nero's cousin Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix

Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix

Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix was one of the lesser known figures of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of ancient Rome. His grandmother was Antonia Major, the niece of Emperor Augustus by her husband Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus ....
(the second husband of Claudia Antonia

Claudia Antonia

Claudia Antonia was the daughter of the later Roman Emperor Claudius from his second marriage to Aelia Paetina. Until 37, she was raised by her paternal grandmother Antonia Minor ....
, daughter of Claudius

Claudius

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Claudius I was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24, AD 41 to his death in AD 54....
), was also forced to commit suicide in Gaul. This unfortunate Sulla was Nero's cousin and his brother-in-law (both men once being married to sisters).

In 66 his widow, children and father-in-law were executed being victims to the increasing brutality of Nero. 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....
states that Plautus was old fashioned in tastes, his bearing austere and he lived a secluded

Solitude

Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, i.e. lack of contact with people or love. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, contagious disease, disfiguring features, repulsive personal habits, mental illness, or circumstances of employment or situation ....
life. He was respected much by his peers.

Source

Tacitus