v24_0253 - DRUSUS Sesterce, (GB, Æ 35)

DRUSUS

(13 BC-23 AD)

Drusus, son of Tiberius and Vipsania, is the grandson of Agrippa by his mother and of Livia by his father. He was born in 13 BC. Augustus, when he chose Tiberius to succeed him in 4 AD, forced him to adopt Germanicus, his nephew, son of his brother Nero Drusus and Antonia, to the detriment of his own son of Tiberius, Drusus. When Germanicus dies under mysterious conditions in 19, Drusus returns to center stage, being Tiberius' closest heir. Drusus takes his second consulship with his father in 21 and sees himself conferring the following year the tribunician power. In 19, Drusus and his wife Liville had twins, two boys, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus. Germanicus dies in infancy. Tiberius Gemellus is adopted by Tiberius at the same time as Caius, son of Germanicus and Agrippina. He will be liquidated by his cousin, Caligula, after the death of Tiberius in 37. Liville, the cousin of Drusus (daughter of Néron Drusus and Antonia), is also the mistress of the prefect of the praetorium, Séjan. Lovers poison 35 year old Drusus.