Nero Claudius Drusus (14 January 38 BC-9 BC) was a Roman politician and military commander who was the son of Livia and the stepson of Augustus. He commanded the first major Roman campaigns across the Rhine, beginning the conquest of Germania and becoming the first Roman general to reach the Weser and Elbe Rivers. Drusus went on to serve as Consul in 9 BC, but he died, allegedly poisoned by his mother, at a field hospital following a devastating fall from his horse; shortly before his death, Drusus had attempted to recruit his brother Tiberius into a conspiracy to restore the Roman Republic. He was the husband of Antonia Minor and the father of Germanicus, Livilla, and the emperor Claudius.
Biography[]
Drusus playing ball
Nero Claudius Drusus was born in Italia, Roman Republic on 14 January 38 BC, the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia. He was born three months after his mother divorced his father and remarried to Octavian, the future emperor Augustus (after 27 BC). He developed a close relationship with his brother Tiberius, and he married into a prominent family when he married Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus' sister Octavia the Younger. In 18 BC, he became Quaestor of the Roman Empire, and he fought against Raetian bandits in the Alps. He repelled them, but he was unable to smash their forces, and required reinforcements from Tiberius, after which they easily defeated the Alpine tribes. In 15 BC, Drusus was sent to govern three provinces in Gaul, and he oversaw building and urban development in the region.
Campaigns in Germania[]
Drusus reading a leter while wounded
Starting in 14 BC, Drusus built fifty military bases along the Rhine River and established an alliance with the Batavi in preparation for a seven-legion invasion of Germania. In 12 BC, Legio I Germanica and Legio V Alaudae sailed from Nijmegen into Lower Saxony, forcing the local Germans to become Roman allies. His first campaign was successful, and he was rewarded with the title praetor urbanus in 11 BC. However, he missed the field, and he returned to the frontier before his term expired and defeated the Cherusci, establishing a garrison at Haltern. Drusus then rejoined his wife Antonia and their two children Germanicus and Livilla for a time in Lugdunum, where his youngest son Claudius was born. In 9 BC, Drusus easily won election as Consul, and he once again left the city before assuming office. He became the first Roman general to cross the River Elbe, and he had an apparition of a Germanic woman who warned him against proceeding farther and that his death was near. He turned back, erecting a trophy at Dresden to commemorate his victory. As he was returning from his advance to the Elbe, he was injured after a fall from his horse. While injured, he sent a letter to his brother Tiberius requesting his assistance in convincing Augustus to retire (as well as taking away their mother Livia's absolute power) and to restore the Roman Republic. The letter was intercepted by Augustus and Livia, and, while Augustus saw the letter as youthful impetuousness and written by Drusus after he fell sick from the German forests, Livia felt threatened. Livia sent a physician to treat Drusus, who fell into worse condition under his care, and he ultimately died of gangrene.