Drusus
Drusus
(dro͞o`səs), Roman family of the gens Livius. An early distinguished member was Marcus Livius Drusus, d. 109? B.C., tribune of the people (122) with Caius Sempronius Gracchus (see under GracchiGracchi, two Roman statesmen and social reformers, sons of the consul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and of Cornelia. The brothers were brought up with great care by their mother. Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, d.133 B.C., the elder of the Gracchi, fought at Carthage (146 B.
..... Click the link for more information. ). As a member of the senatorial party he led a successful attack on Gracchus by making more extreme democratic proposals than Gracchus had dared to. By these and other, more unscrupulous tactics, Drusus disgraced Gracchus. In 112, Drusus was made consul by the senatorial party. His son Marcus Livius Drusus, d. 91 B.C., was also a leader of the senatorial party. His policy was to win the people and the Italian allies over to the senate, so that the senate might recover from the knights (equites) the control of the courts. By a general increase in the franchise he won the support of the people and of the Italians, but the senate, alarmed over popular unrest, annulled Drusus' laws. The Italians were infuriated, and the Social WarSocial War
or Marsic War
[Lat. socii=allies], 91B.C.–88 B.C., struggle brought on by demands of the Italian allies for the privileges of Roman citizenship.
..... Click the link for more information. between Rome and the Italians broke out. Drusus was assassinated. A member of the family by adoption was Livia DrusillaLivia Drusilla
, c.55 B.C.–A.D. 29, Roman matron; mother of the Roman emperor Tiberius. She first married Tiberius Claudius Nero. Tiberius was his son. In 38 B.C., Augustus forced her husband to divorce her so that he might marry her himself.
..... Click the link for more information. , mother of Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, 38 B.C.–9 B.C., called Drusus Senior; he was the stepson of AugustusAugustus
, 63 B.C.–A.D. 14, first Roman emperor, a grandson of the sister of Julius Caesar. Named at first Caius Octavius, he became on adoption by the Julian gens (44 B.C.) Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian); Augustus was a title of honor granted (27 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. . He fought (15 B.C.) against the Rhaetians and gained much credit for his generalship. In 13 B.C.–12 B.C. he was in Gaul pacifying the tribes, and on his return to Rome he was made (11 B.C.) urban praetor. Returning to the provinces, he ravaged Germany E and N of the Rhine. He fortified the Rhine but put the Germans under no permanent subjection. He died in Germany. His brother was the emperor TiberiusTiberius
(Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus) , 42 B.C.–A.D. 37, second Roman emperor (A.D. 14–A.D. 37). He was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla and was originally named Tiberius Claudius Nero. He campaigned (20 B.C.) in Armenia, became (19 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. . He married Antonia Minor, the daughter of Antony, and had three children, Germanicus CaesarGermanicus Caesar
, 15 B.C.–A.D. 19, Roman general, son of Drusus Senior. He was adopted (A.D. 4) by his uncle Emperor Tiberius. Germanicus fought (A.D. 8) in Pannonia and Dalmatia and in A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. , Livilla, and Claudius IClaudius I
(Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus) , 10 B.C.–A.D. 54, Roman emperor (A.D. 41–A.D. 54), son of Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus and thus nephew of Tiberius. When Caligula was murdered (A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. . Tiberius' son, Drusus Caesar, d. A.D. 23, called Drusus Junior, served in the provinces—in Pannonia (A.D. 15) and in Illyricum (A.D. 17–A.D. 20). In A.D. 22 he was made tribune. Meanwhile, SejanusSejanus
(Lucius Aelius Sejanus) , d. A.D. 31, Roman statesman; son of Sejus Strabo, Praetorian prefect. When his father went to Egypt as governor, he succeeded to the command of the Praetorian Guards and obtained great ascendancy over Emperor Tiberius.
..... Click the link for more information. , Tiberius' minister, had become jealous of Drusus' power and tried to turn Tiberius against him. Drusus may have been poisoned by Sejanus or by his wife under Sejanus' influence.
Drusus
in ancient Rome the name (cognomen) of one branch of the Livian clan (gens) and certain members of the Claudian clan. Several famous Romans bore this name.
Marcus Livius Drusus Maior (born c. 154 B.C.; died c. 109 B.C.) was tribune in 122 B.C. at the same time as Gaius Gracchus, his political opponent; Drusus acquired the nickname “defender of the Senate.” He was consul in 112 B.C.
Marcus Livius Drusus Minor (born c. 124B.C.; died 91 or 90 B.C.) was the son of the former. As tribune in 91 B.C. he proposed laws to deprive the equestrian class of jurisdiction in the courts and to transfer it to the Senate (the latter was to have 300 members of the equestrian class added to it), to grant Italians the rights of citizenship, to establish colonies on the public lands of the Campania and Sicily, and to institute the sale of cheap grain to the plebeians. The equestrian class and many of the senators opposed the reforms of Drusus, and he was assassinated. His death served as a signal for the beginning of the war of the Italian tribes, the so-called Social War.
Nero Claudius Drusus (born 38 B.C.; died 9 B.C.), Roman general and stepson of Augustus. In the year 18 B.C. he became quaestor; in 15 B.C., together with his brother, the emperor Tiberius, Drusus waged war against the tribes of the Raeti and the Vindelici. In 13 B.C., after becoming commander in chief of the Roman army in Gaul, where he put the provincial administration in order, Drusus went on the offensive against the Germanic tribes. After crossing the Rhine in 12 B.C., he subdued the Germanic tribes of the Bructeri and Chauci. In 11 B.C. he reached the Weser River, and in 10 B.C. he organized an expedition against the Chatti tribes. In 9 B.C., when he was consul, Drusus defeated the Cherusci and Marcomanni and reached the Elbe River. He died on the return trip.
Julius Caesar Drusus (born c. 13 B.C.; died 23 A.D.), Roman general and son of Tiberius. In 14 A.D. he put down an uprising of the Pannonian legions. In 15 and 21 he was consul. From 17 to 20, Drusus governed the Roman province of Illyricum. He was poisoned by the praetorian prefect Sejanus.
A. I. NEMIROVSKII