Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus the Elder)
Nero Claudius Drusus conquered Germany as far as the Elbe and died at thirty from a fall. Born in 38 BC, he was the younger son of Livia and Tiberius Claudius Nero, born three months after his mother married Augustus — which produced a persistent rumour that Augustus was his father. He was popular in a way his elder brother Tiberius was not: sociable, generous and admired by the troops, and reputedly a republican at heart who spoke of restoring the old constitution, which Augustus is said to have found irritating rather than dangerous. He married Antonia, Mark Antony's daughter, and their children were Germanicus and the future emperor Claudius. He campaigned in the Alps with Tiberius in 15 BC, subduing the Raeti and Vindelici. From 12 BC he conducted four annual campaigns across the Rhine, the first sustained Roman effort to make Germany a province. He built a canal linking the Rhine to the North Sea so that a fleet could operate along the coast, established forts along the river including at Xanten and Mainz, defeated the Sugambri, Chatti and Marcomanni, and in 9 BC reached the Elbe — further east than any Roman army had gone. Tradition has a woman of superhuman size appear there and tell him to go no further. He fell from his horse on the return march, breaking his leg, and died about a month later of the injury. Tiberius rode from Ticinum to reach him and walked ahead of the body to Rome. The Senate granted him the name Germanicus for his descendants.
- Lived: 38 BCE – 9 BCE
- Nationality: Roman
- Roles: military_leader
