Tiberius Claudius Drusus (son of Claudius)
Tiberius Claudius Drusus | |
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Born | c. AD 9–12 |
Died | c. AD 20–27 (age unknown; "died just before he came to manhood") |
Dynasty | Julio-Claudian |
Father | Claudius |
Mother | Plautia Urgulanilla |
Roman imperial dynasties | ||
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Julio-Claudian dynasty | ||
Chronology | ||
27 BC – AD 14 |
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AD 14–37 |
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AD 37–41 |
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AD 41–54 |
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AD 54–68 |
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Tiberius Claudius Drusus (c. AD 9/12 – 20/27)[1] was the eldest son of the Roman Emperor Claudius with his first wife Plautia Urgulanilla. He had one younger sister, Claudia, who was repudiated by Claudius along with Plautia.[1]
Background
Tiberius Claudius Drusus' grandfather was Marcus Plautius Silvanus and his great-grandmother was Urgulania.[1] Livia, the future emperor Claudius’ grandmother and the wife of the emperor Augustus, is presumed to have helped her friend Urgulania to arrange the marriage of Claudius and Plautia Urgulanilla when her grandson was around 18.[1] Claudius married Plautia Urgulanilla sometime between 9 and 12 AD.[1] Tiberius Claudius Drusus was born soon after the marriage, decades before his father became emperor.[1] Throughout most of his life, the emperor was his relative Tiberius, son of Livia.
Life
Some five months after his daughter Claudia Julia was born, Claudius divorced Plautia on suspicion of adultery and complicity in the murder of Apronia, her brother's wife, who had been pushed from a window.[1] The divorce may have been as early as 20 to as late as AD 27.[1] Claudius disowned Claudia Julia by exposing her on Urgulanilla's doorstep, believing her to be fathered by a freedman of his, but he did not dispute the paternity of his son Claudius Drusus, leaving the boy Claudius's only son at the time. A marble statue of Claudius Drusus was installed in the Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, an augusteum temple dedicated to the cult of the divine emperors and their family; its inscribed base was uncovered during archaeological excavations there in the late twentieth century.[1]
Claudius Drusus was betrothed to Aelia Junilla, the only daughter of
additar pontificatus et quo primam die forum ingressas est congiarium plebi admodum laetae quod Germanici stirpem iam puberem aspiciebat. auctum dehinc gaudium nuptiis Neronis et Iuliae Drusi filiae. utque haec secando rumore ita adversis animis acceptum quod filio Claudii socer Seianus destinaretur. polluisse nobilitatem familiae videbatur suspectumque iam nimiae spei Seianum ultra extulisse. |
Their delight to see a son of Germanicus already growing up was increased by his marriage with Drusus' daughter ( Livia Julia ). But that good news was counterbalanced by their dissatisfaction at the betrothal of Claudius' son to the daughter of Sejanus. This was felt to depreciate the nobility of the imperial house, while exalting Sejanus even beyond the excessive hopes which suspicion attributed to him.
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—Tacitus, Annales III.29 |
Coinage
Probably in honour of the occasion of his betrothal to Aelia Junilla, an issue of coins is known to have been minted at
The obverse of the bronze coins shows a draped bust of Claudius Drusus facing to the right with the legend written clockwise in
Death
The year of Claudius Drusus's death is not precisely known.
prope iam puberem amisit piro per lusum in sublime iactato et hiatu oris excepto strangulatum, cum ei ante paucos dies filiam Seiani despondisset. Quo magis miror fuisse qui traderent fraude a Seiano nectatum. |
died just before he came to manhood, choked by a pear which he had playfully thrown up and caught in his open mouth; since he had been betrothed, only a few days previously, to Sejanus' daughter, the rumor that Sejanus murdered him becomes still less plausible. |
—Suetonius, Vita Divi Claudii XXVII.1 |
Legacy
Upon the death of his mother's brother Publius Plautius Pulcher during Claudius reign, his funeral epitaph mentions that he was Drusus uncle, possibly implying closeness between the two.[6]
References
- ^ JSTOR 43580457.
- ^ Craven, Maxwell (2019-12-08). The Imperial Families of Ancient Rome. Fonthill Media.
- .
- ISBN 0-203-13309-9.
- ^ Suetonius (121). The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. "Claudius", part 27.
- ISBN 9781317669586.