Nero Julius Caesar (c. AD 6–31) was the adopted grandson and heir of the Roman Emperor
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
, alongside his brother
Drusus
Drusus may refer to:
* Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Drusus) (10 BC–AD 54), Roman emperor from 41 to 54
* Drusus Caesar (AD 8–33), adoptive grandson of Roman emperor Tiberius
* Drusus Julius Caesar (14 BC–AD 23), son of Roman emperor Tiberiu ...
. Born into the prominent
Julio-Claudian dynasty, Nero was the son of Tiberius' general and heir,
Germanicus. After the deaths of his father and of Tiberius' son,
Drusus the Younger, Nero and his brother Drusus were adopted together by Tiberius in September AD 23. As a result of being heirs of the emperor, he and his brother enjoyed accelerated political careers.
Sejanus
Lucius Aelius Sejanus (c. 20 BC – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (), was a Roman soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian Gua ...
,
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
of the
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...
, had become powerful in Rome and is believed by ancient writers such as
Suetonius and
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
to have been responsible for the downfall of Drusus the Younger. As the power of Sejanus grew, other members of the imperial family began to fall as well. In AD 29, Tiberius wrote a letter to the
Senate attacking Nero and his mother, and the Senate had them both exiled. Two years later, he died in exile on the island of
Ponza
Ponza (Italian: ''isola di Ponza'' ) is the largest island of the Italian Pontine Islands archipelago, located south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina in th ...
. His brother Drusus also died in exile in AD 33. Their deaths allowed for the adoption and ascension of their younger brother,
Caligula, following the death of Tiberius in AD 37.
Background and family
Nero was born around AD 6 to Germanicus and
Agrippina the Elder
Agrippina "the Elder" (also, in Latin, , "Germanicus's Agrippina"; – AD 33) was a prominent member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (a close supporter of the first Roman emperor, Augustus) a ...
. Nero's paternal grandparents were
Nero Claudius Drusus
Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the ...
(Drusus the Elder) and
Antonia Minor, daughter of
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the au ...
and
Octavia Minor
Octavia the Younger ( la, Octavia Minor; c. 66 BC – 11 BC) was the elder sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus (known also as Octavian), the half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and the fourth wife of Mark Antony. She was also the great-gr ...
. His maternal grandparents were
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a close friend of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
, and Augustus' daughter
Julia the Elder
Julia the Elder (30 October 39 BC – AD 14), known to her contemporaries as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia (Classical Latin: IVLIA•CAESARIS•FILIA or IVLIA•AVGVSTI•FILIA), was the daughter and only biological child of August ...
. Nero had eight siblings: four brothers (Tiberius and Gaius Julius, who died young;
Drusus Caesar
Drusus Julius Caesar (c. AD 8 – 33) was the adopted grandson and heir of the Roman emperor Tiberius, alongside his brother Nero. Born into the prominent Julio-Claudian dynasty, Drusus was the son of Tiberius' general and heir, Germanicus. Af ...
; and Gaius, nicknamed "Caligula") , three sisters (
Agrippina the Younger,
Julia Drusilla, and
Julia Livilla
Julia Livilla ( – ) was the youngest child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder and the youngest sister of the Emperor Caligula.
Life
Julia Livilla was the youngest great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus, great-niece and adoptive grandd ...
) and a brother or sister of unknown name (normally referenced as Ignotus).
As a member of the
Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was a close relative of all five Julio-Claudian emperors: his great-grandfather Augustus was the first emperor of the dynasty, his great-uncle Tiberius was the second emperor, his brother Gaius (Caligula) was the third emperor, his uncle
Claudius was the fourth emperor, and his nephew Lucius Domitius (
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...
) was the fifth and final emperor of the dynasty.
[
Nero's father was the adopted son of Tiberius, who was himself the adoptive son of Augustus, whose adoptions were the result of the death of ]Gaius Caesar
Gaius Caesar (; 20 BC – 21 February 4 AD) was the grandson and heir to the throne of Roman emperor Augustus, alongside his younger brother Lucius Caesar. Although he was born to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, Augustus' only daughter, Gai ...
in February AD 4. Gaius, who was the heir of Augustus, had died of illness in Syria. Germanicus was for some time considered the new heir by Augustus, but Augustus later decided in favour of his stepson Tiberius. As a result, in June AD 4, Augustus adopted Tiberius on the condition that Tiberius first adopt Germanicus. As a corollary to the adoption, Germanicus was wed to his second cousin Agrippina the Elder the following year.[
In AD 13 Nero's father was appointed commander of the forces on the Rhine, from where he led three campaigns into Germania against the forces of Arminius. His victories against the German tribes which had made him popular as he avenged the Roman defeat at the ]Battle of Teutoburg Forest
The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varian Disaster () by Roman historians, took place at modern Kalkriese in AD 9, when an alliance of Germanic peoples ambushed Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius V ...
. In October AD 14, Germanicus received a delegation from the Senate giving their condolences for the death of Augustus. Augustus had died in August and Tiberius became emperor, making Germanicus heir to the empire. At the direction of Tiberius, Germanicus was dispatched to Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
to reorganize the provinces and assert imperial authority there. However, after two years in the east, Germanicus came into conflict with the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. During their feud, Germanicus fell ill and died in October AD 19.
While Nero's father was alive he had been betrothed to the daughter of Creticus Silanus
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus Silanus, born Iunius Silanus was adopted by Quintus Caecilius Metellus, a descendant of the optimate Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus and the natural son of Marcus Junius Silanus. He was a Consul in AD 7 an ...
, the one-time governor of Syria. However, in AD 20, Nero married Julia
Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...
, daughter of Livilla
Claudia Livia (Classical Latin: CLAVDIA•LIVIA; c. 13 BC – AD 31) was the only daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor and sister to Roman Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus, and thus paternal aunt of emperor Caligula and ...
and Drusus the Younger (Tiberius' only son by Vipsania Agrippina
Vipsania Agrippina (; 36 BC – 20 AD) was the first wife of the Emperor Tiberius. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Pomponia Caecilia Attica, thus a granddaughter of Titus Pomponius Atticus, the best friend of Cicero.
Biogr ...
).
Career
Nero's mother Agrippina believed her husband was murdered to promote Drusus the Younger as heir, and feared that the birth of his twin sons would give him a motive to displace her own sons. However, her fears were unfounded, with Nero being elevated by Tiberius. On 7 June AD 20, Nero was brought into the forum to receive the '' toga virilis'', introduced into the Senate by Tiberius and Drusus the Younger, and was promised the office of quaestor in five years' time. He was excused from holding the lowest magistracy, the vigintivirate, and a '' congiaria'' of 60 ''denarii
The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...
'' was distributed by Tiberius at his '' tirocinium''. He was wed to Drusus the Younger's daughter, Julia, later that year combining the families of both possible lines of succession (that of Germanicus and Drusus the Younger). His brother Drusus was introduced to the Senate with similar honours in AD 23, and he too was promised the rank of quaestor in five years' time.[
]
Heir to the principate
Following the death of Germanicus, Drusus the Younger was Tiberius' new heir. He received a second consulship in AD 21 and ''tribunicia potestas'' (tribunician power
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...
) in AD 22.[ At the same time, Praetorian Prefect Sejanus started to exert considerable influence over the emperor, who referred to Sejanus as ''Socius Laborum'' ("my partner in my toils"). Around AD 20, when Sejanus became the first of the ]equestrian order
The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian ...
to hold the praetorship
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge variou ...
, a senatorial office, his daughter Aelia Junilla was born and swiftly betrothed to Nero's cousin, the boy Claudius Drusus
Tiberius Claudius Drusus (c. AD 9/1220/27) 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.
Background
Tiberius C ...
, firstborn son of the future emperor Claudius. At the prospect of a familial bond between the Claudia gens and Sejanus's family, Drusus the Younger is reported by Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
to have said of Sejanus in disgust "the grandsons of us Drususes will be his grandsons too". (.) According to Tacitus and Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, the Younger Drusus and Sejanus began bickering and entered a feud. Subsequently, Drusus became ill and died of seemingly natural causes on 14 September AD 23. Claudius Drusus also died before reaching adulthood. Ancient sources suggested that the cause of Drusus' death was poison, whereas modern authors like Barbara Levick
Barbara M. Levick (born 21 June 1931) is a British historian and epigrapher, focusing particularly on the Late Roman Republic and Early Empire. She is recognised within her field as one of the leading Roman historians of her generation.
Educati ...
are more sceptical, suggesting it may have been illness.
The death of the Younger Drusus left no immediate threat to Sejanus. Ultimately, his death elevated Nero and his brother Drusus to the position of heirs. In effect, this led to the formation of factions, with one faction around Nero and Drusus and their mother Agrippina and the other faction linked to Sejanus. While the full extent of Sejanus' power at this point is uncertain, it can be noted that Sejanus was not allowed to marry Livilla
Claudia Livia (Classical Latin: CLAVDIA•LIVIA; c. 13 BC – AD 31) was the only daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor and sister to Roman Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus, and thus paternal aunt of emperor Caligula and ...
(Drusus the Younger's widow) and was thus denied entry into the imperial family. In the Senate, Sejanus encountered little opposition from the senators, but Tiberius expressed displeasure in the Senate, in AD 24, at the public prayers which had been offered for Nero and his brother Drusus' health.
In AD 28, the Senate voted that altars to ''Clementia
In Roman mythology, Clementia was the goddess of clemency, leniency, mercy, forgiveness, penance, redemption, absolution, acquittal and salvation.
She was defined as a celebrated virtue of Julius Caesar, who was famed for his forbearance, ...
'' (mercy) and '' Amicitia'' (friendship) be raised. At that time, ''Clementia'' was considered a virtue of the ruling class, for only the powerful could give clemency. The altar of ''Amicitia'' was flanked by statues of Sejanus and Tiberius. By this time, Sejanus' association with Tiberius had reached the point where members of Roman society were erected statues in his honour and gave prayers and made sacrifices in his honour. Sejanus' birthday was honoured as if he were a member of the imperial family. According to the author and historian Richard Alston, "Sejanus' association with Tiberius must have at least indicated to the people that he would be further elevated".[
]
Downfall
The very next year saw a direct attack on Agrippina and Nero. Tiberius sent a letter to the Senate in which he accused Agrippina and Nero of misconduct, but was unable to convict them of any attempt at rebellion. The attitude of the former and the sexual activity of the latter were the primary accusations against them. Agrippina was popular with the people, as was the family of Germanicus, and the people surrounded the senate-house carrying likenesses of the two in protest against the latter. The Senate refused to come to a resolution on the matter until it received a clear direction from the emperor to do so. Tiberius found it necessary to repeat his charges, and when he did, the Senate no longer delayed; the fate of Agrippina and Nero was sealed. Nero was declared an enemy of the state, removed to the island of Pontia, and was killed or encouraged to kill himself in AD 31. According to Suetonius, he put an end to his own life when the executioner appeared before him with the instruments of death.[
]
Post mortem
His brother Drusus was later also exiled on similar charges of sexual misdemeanours. Sejanus remained powerful until his sudden downfall and summary execution in October AD 31, just after the death of Nero. The specific reasons for his downfall remain unclear. Alston suggests that Sejanus may have been doing a favour for Tiberius by removing Germanicus' family from power, noting that Agrippina and Nero's brother Drusus were left in exile even after Sejanus' death.[
The deaths of Germanicus' oldest sons elevated his third son, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), to successor and he became ''princeps'' when Tiberius died in AD 37. Drusus the Younger's son ]Tiberius Gemellus
Tiberius Julius Caesar Nero Gemellus, known as Tiberius Gemellus (Latin: ''Tiberius Caesar Drusi filius Tiberii Augusti nepos divi Augusti pronepos'', 10 October AD 19–37/38) was the son of Drusus and Livilla, the grandson of the Emperor ...
was summoned to Capri by his grandfather Tiberius, where he and Gaius Caligula were made joint-heirs. When Caligula assumed power, he made Gemellus his adopted son, but Caligula soon had Gemellus killed for plotting against him.[Suetonius, ''The Lives of Twelve Caesars'', Life of Tiberiu]
23
/ref>
In AD 37, Nero's bones were returned to Rome and interred at the Mausoleum of Augustus
The Mausoleum of Augustus ( it, Mausoleo di Augusto, italic=no) is a large tomb built by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 28 BC on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The mausoleum is located on the Piazza Augusto Imperatore, near the corner with Via ...
by Caligula.[
]
Ancestry
See also
* Julio-Claudian family tree
Around the start of the Common Era, the family trees of the gens Julia and the gens Claudia became intertwined into the Julio-Claudian family tree as a result of marriages and adoptions.
Descendancy of the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynas ...
References
Bibliography
Primary sources
Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' Book 58, English translation
* ttp://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Tacitus/index.htm Tacitus, ''Annals'', I–IV, English translation
Secondary sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Rose, Charles Brian, ''Dynastic Commemoration and Imperial Portraiture in the Julio-Claudian Period.'' Cambridge, 1997, nr. 17, pp. 66–67.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Caesar, Nero
AD 6 births
31 deaths
Julio-Claudian dynasty
1st-century Romans
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...
People executed by the Roman Empire
Executed ancient Roman people
Ancient Roman exiles
Burials at the Mausoleum of Augustus
Children of Tiberius
Children of Germanicus
Ancient Roman adoptees
Heirs apparent who never acceded