Drusus

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Bust of Drusus in the Museum of Art and History (Jubelparkmuseum) in Brussels

Nero Claudius Drusus (* January 14, 38 BC ; † September 14, 9 BC ), also known as the "older Drusus" ( Latin Drusus maior ) or just Drusus , was a Roman politician and military leader and stepson of the Emperor Augustus .

Life

Family and early career

Nero Claudius Drusus was a son of Livia , wife of Augustus, from her first marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero . His older brother was the future Emperor Tiberius .

Drusus was married to Antonia Minor , a daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus' sister Octavia . His children were Germanicus , Livilla and the future emperor Claudius .

Drusus grew up in the house of Augustus (whom a certain inaccurate rumor made his father) and, like his brother, began a political and military career at a young age. In the year 15 BC The two brothers led a campaign in Raetia , which became a Roman province . From 13 BC Drusus was governor of the three Gallic provinces, where he lived in Lugdunum, today's Lyon , in 12 BC. Chr. Consecrated an altar for Roma and Augustus.

Campaigns against the Teutons (12 to 9 BC)

Campaigns of Drusus in Germania

The beginning of the Augustan German Wars was initially limited to individual, spatially narrowly limited conflicts, from which a series of severe disputes gradually developed. The first of the Drusus campaigns (12–9 BC) also served to research the areas on the right bank of the Rhine and to calm the northern section of the border. In doing so, Drusus encountered 12 BC. BC to the North Sea coast and built a canal from the Rhine to the IJsselmeer , the fossa Drusiana .

In the following year (in which he was praetor urbanus ) Drusus fought against the Sugambrians and other tribes who settled on the Lippe . According to the sources, he set up two camps in the interior of Germania, one of which can probably be identified with the archaeologically researched legion camp of Bergkamen-Oberaden . Drusus also set up numerous camps on the Rhine, two of which are Neuss ( Novaesium ) and Bonn .

In this phase, the protection of Gaul and the Roman Empire was sought by means of military and political security of the area on the right bank of the Rhine up to the Elbe . But after the West Germanic tribes had been pacified, the Romans largely withdrew from the Germania on the right bank of the Rhine, but were always able to take the offensive again.

10 BC Drusus fought the Chattas and temporarily returned to Rome , where he lived in 9 BC. The consulate took over. As a consul he continued the war in Germania.

His army reached the Elbe in the area of the Cherusci, roughly in the area of ​​the later Magdeburg , where a monument was erected on the river bank. Here the consul supposedly had the appearance of a gigantic woman who, by an ominous prophecy, dissuaded him from advancing further. On the way back, Drusus broke his leg falling from his horse and died as a result. According to other sources, he suffered a thigh hernia (also known as a broken thigh) when he fell . Tiberius hurried from Italy to Germania to the summer camp that was later called Castra Scelerata ("unfortunate camp" or "cursed camp"), and brought his brother's body to Rome.

The Roman historians Cassius Dio , Florus and Velleius Paterculus report on the conquests of Drusus .

After Drusus' death

Fragments of an honorary inscription by Nero Claudius Drusus, which became a statue base around the year 2nd BC. Belonged to (CIL 06, 40330)
The Drususstein as a cenotaph on a bastion in the Mainz citadel

The dead Drusus was given numerous honors, including funeral speeches by Augustus and Tiberius, praise seals and monuments. The “ Drususstein ” in Mainz (then: Mogontiacum ) could be the remains of a cenotaph for Drusus. The honorary name Germanicus, which he was given posthumously, was passed on to his sons Germanicus and Claudius .

A street station near today's Bolzano , which is said to have passed Drusus, was named after him Pons Drusi .

With the subjugation of the Sugambres and the emigration of the Marcomanni , 8 BC were. The main opponents of Rome were eliminated from the power play of the Germanic tribes between the Rhine and Elbe. The Marcomanni continued to exist as a power factor, but no longer in the nearby Main Franconia, but in Bohemia, which is further away . Despite the campaigns of Drusus, very few Germanic tribes really came under permanent dependence on Rome. These subjugations had an impact only rarely and mostly in direct connection with the acts of war.

The Roman strategy was laid out from Gaul and Illyria at the same time , not - as wrongly assumed - from the Alpine foothills. The Romans were concerned with securing the north-eastern border area against the warring tribes of Germania and Pannonia , but not with a strategically sensible shortening of the imperial border. It was not until 5 AD that the plan to create a province of Germania began to take shape.

Since Drusus, the Roman policy on Germania fluctuated between the defensive goal of securing Gaul and the offensive goal of penetrating and firmly controlling the Germanic apron. Since military fame and political prestige could only be achieved in the latter way, it offered itself as the more attractive option.

literature

Web links

Commons : Drusus  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ According to Cassius Dio 54, 35 : "Repent, insatiable Drusus, for the end of your days and your deeds is here!"
  2. ↑ Klaus-Peter Johne : The Romans on the Elbe. The Elbe river basin in the geographical view of the world and in the political consciousness of Greco-Roman antiquity. De Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2014, ISBN 978-3-05-007739-0 , pp. 98-102 ( online )
  3. ↑ CIL 6, 40330
personal data
SURNAME Drusus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Drusus, Nero Claudius; Drusus maior; Drusus the Elder; Claudius Drusus, Nero
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician and military leader
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 38 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH September 14th 9 BC Chr.