He became quaestor the following year, fighting against Raetian bandits in the Alps. When Tiberius left Italy during his term as praetor in 16 BC, Drusus legislated in his place. In 19 BC, Drusus was granted the ability to hold all public offices five years before the minimum age. Three emperors were direct descendants of Drusus: his son Claudius, his grandson Caligula, and his great-grandson Nero.Īugustus bestowed many honors on his stepsons. After Drusus' death, Antonia never remarried, though she outlived him by nearly five decades. Their children were Germanicus, Claudius, a daughter named Livilla ('little Livia'), and at least two others who did not survive childhood. The Juno Ludovisi, a 1st-century CE depiction of Drusus' wife Antonia Minor as Junoĭrusus married Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Antony and Augustus' sister, Octavia Minor, and gained a reputation of being completely faithful to her. Simpson stated that in his opinion Livia chose the names Decimus and Drusus for her younger son to minimize association with her ex-husband after she married Octavian due to the former's poor status at the time, but that several years after the man's death it was opportune to emphasize her younger son's connection with his elder brother and that the name change was probably done upon him assuming the toga virilis. Simpson personally argued against the time of adoption of his brother as a plausible time for his name change since Simpson believed the event may even have happened before Drusus was born, he also rejected the point of death of their father as likely since it would have probably have brought attention to the circumstances surrounding Livia's divorce and remarriage which had become a part of Mark Antony's propaganda at the time. Simpson asserted that there are three moments in history where the name change is probable to have happened when his brother Tiberius was adopted by Marcus Gallius, when their father died in 33 BC, or when he assumed the toga virilis. Livia may have passed down her fathers cognomen to her son simply because besides her adoptive brother Marcus Livius Drusus Libo there was no one else to pass it down for the future. The names were unusual at the time, both putting heavy emphasis on his maternal ancestry by using Livia's father's cognomen instead of that of her husband in his original name the use of the praenomen Decimus was also atypical for prevalent families of the late Republic the eventual use of his father's cognomen Nero as a praenomen was highly unconventional as well. It is not known when or why the change occurred. Drusus named his second son (future emperor Claudius) after Tiberius.įurther information: Roman naming conventionsĪccording to Suetonius, Drusus was originally given the name Decimus Claudius Drusus but it was later changed to Nero Claudius Drusus. Tiberius named his eldest son after his brother, although eldest sons were usually named after their father or grandfather. The two brothers developed a famously close relationship that would last the rest of their lives. Rumors arose that Augustus was the child's real father, although impossible as Livia was already pregnant when she met her future husband, (Emperor Claudius nonetheless encouraged the rumor during his reign to create an impression of more direct lineage from Augustus).ĭrusus was raised in Claudius Nero's house with his brother, the future emperor Tiberius, until his legal father's death. Gerhard Radke has proposed the date of 28 March as his most likely birthday, while Lindsay Powell interprets Ovid's Fasti as indicating a date of 13 January. Drusus was born between mid-March and mid-April 38 BC, three months after Livia married Augustus on 17 January. Drusus was the youngest son of Livia Drusilla from her marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was legally declared his father before the couple divorced.

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