Drusus the Elder

Mortal Roman general (38 BCE-9 BCE); brother of the future emperor Tiberius. Born 14 January 38 BCE while his mother Livia was already married to Octavian (since 39 BCE) but the child was biologically Tiberius Claudius Nero's — the canonical-Roman gossip-line "to the fortunate even three-month babies are born" per Suetonius Claudius 1. Married Antonia Minor (Mark Antony's younger daughter by Octavia Minor); fathered Germanicus, Livilla, and the future emperor Claudius. Conducted the canonical-Roman Germanic campaigns 13-9 BCE; first Roman to reach the Elbe (9 BCE). Per Suetonius Claudius 1, encountered a supernatural female-figure of greater-than-human size who warned him to turn back — the canonical-Roman barbarian-frontier-as-divine-boundary narrative-event. Died from fall-from-horse leg-injury in late summer 9 BCE; lingered thirty days; brother Tiberius personally led the body back to Rome on foot. Posthumously voted the hereditary cognomen Germanicus and a triumphal arch on the Via Appia. Not deified, but per Suetonius Claudius 1 the canonical-popular tradition that "Drusus would have been emperor and would have restored the Republic" — the Augustan-era Drusus-as-republican-hope counter-narrative.

Children

• Germanicus

Relations

• father: Tiberius Claudius Nero (biological father per gestation-period-counting per Suetonius Claudius 1) · RomanSuetonius, Claudius 1 (primary)
• mother: Livia Drusilla (later Iulia Augusta) · RomanSuetonius, Claudius 1 (primary)
• sibling: TiberiusSuetonius, Claudius 1 (primary)
• spouse: Antonia Minor (younger daughter of Mark Antony by Octavia Minor; canonically-affectionate marriage; never remarried after Drusus's death) · RomanSuetonius, Claudius 1 (primary)
• father of: GermanicusSuetonius, Claudius 1; Tacitus, Annales 1.33 (primary)
• father of: Claudius (the future fourth emperor, born 1 August 10 BCE) · RomanSuetonius, Claudius 1 (primary)
• spouse: Antonia MinorReciprocal of roman_antonia_minor.spouse (alphabetical family sweep). (auto reciprocal)

Sources

• existence: Suetonius, Tiberius 4; Suetonius, Claudius 1 (primary); Cassius Dio 48.44, 54.32-55.2 (primary); Livy, Periochae 142 (primary); Velleius Paterculus 2.95-2.97 (primary); Tacitus, Annales 1.33; 2.41 (retrospective references) (primary); Florus, Epitome 2.30 (primary)