Claudius Drusus

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Claudius Drusus († around 20 AD) was the eldest son of the later Roman emperor Claudius (41–54 AD).

Drusus' parents were Claudius, a son of the older Drusus and the younger Antonia , and his first wife Plautia Urgulanilla , the daughter of the consular Marcus Plautius Silvanus . He came from the patrician family of the Claudians and, as the great-nephew of Emperor Tiberius (14–37 AD), belonged to the Julio-Claudian dynasty . His parents' marriage was probably initiated by his great-grandmothers Livia Drusilla and Urgulania , who were close friends.

As a child, Drusus was betrothed to the daughter of the influential Praetorian prefect Lucius Aelius Seianus in AD 20 . Seianus, whose family belonged to the knighthood , thereby expanded his position as the emperor's most important advisor, which met with criticism in Senate circles . The marriage was never concluded, however, as Drusus died a little later. According to the emperor's biographer Suetonius , he choked on a pear that he caught with his mouth while playing.

Claudius divorced his first wife Urgulanilla a few years later (probably in AD 24 in connection with the indictment against her brother Marcus Plautius Silvanus for the murder of his wife Apronia ) on account of adultery and suspected murder. Shortly after the divorce, she gave birth to a daughter, Drusus' (half) sister Claudia, but Claudius did not recognize her as Boter , one of his freedmen , was supposedly the father. Drusus' former fiancée was executed after the overthrow of her father Seianus in AD 31.

About three decades after Drusus' death, Publius Plautius Pulcher , a younger brother of Urgulanilla, demonstrated in his epitaph his closeness to the then reigning emperor Claudius, among other things by calling himself "Uncle of Drusus".

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ First marriage of Claudius: Suetonius , Claudius 26.2 .
  2. ↑ Urgulania as Livia's friend: Tacitus , Annalen 2,34 ; 4.21 f .
  3. ↑ Engagement and criticism of it: Tacitus, Annalen 3,29 ; Cassius Dio , Roman History 58,11,5 .
  4. ↑ Death of Claudius Drusus: Suetonius, Claudius 27.1 .
  5. ^ Divorce: Suetonius, Claudius 26.2 . Death of Apronia and subsequent trials: Tacitus, Annalen 4,22 . Discussion with Barbara Levick : Claudius . London 1993, ISBN 0-7134-5210-2 , pp. 24 f .
  6. ^ Claudia: Suetonius, Claudius 27.1 .
  7. ↑ Execution of the children of Seianus: Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 58,11,5 .
  8. ^ Inscription on the family mausoleum: CIL 14, 3607 . On the grave of Heike Niquet: Inscriptions as a medium of “propaganda” and self-portrayal in the 1st century AD. In: Gregor Weber u. a. (Ed.): Propaganda - self-portrayal - representation in the Roman Empire of the 1st Jhs. n. Chr . Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-515-08251-4 , pp. 145-173, especially 171-173 . Discussion of the inscription in Mary Beard : Vita inscripta . In: Widu-Wolfgang Ehlers (Ed.): La biography antique . Bonn 1998, ISBN 3-7749-2880-0 , p. 83-118, especially 105-108 .
personal data
SURNAME Claudius Drusus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Drusus, Claudius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION eldest son of the Roman emperor Claudius
DATE OF BIRTH before 20
DATE OF DEATH at 20