Julia Drusilla (16 September AD 16 – 10 June AD 38) was a member of the Roman imperial family, the second daughter and fifth child of

Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general, known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the pa ...

and Agrippina the Elder to survive infancy. She was the favorite sister of Emperor

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...

, who, after her death, had her deified under the name Diva Drusilla Panthea, and named his daughter Julia Drusilla after her.

Biography

Early life

Drusilla was born in Abitarvium, modern day Koblenz, Germany. Besides the future emperor she also had two other brothers,

Nero Julius Caesar Nero Julius Caesar (c. AD 6–31) was the adopted grandson and heir of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, alongside his brother Drusus. Born into the prominent Julio-Claudian dynasty, Nero was the son of Tiberius' general and heir, Germanicus. Afte ...

and

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. ...

, as well as two sisters, Julia Livilla and the later empress

Agrippina the Younger Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius. Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Clau ...

. She was a great-granddaughter of the Emperor

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 empress Livia, grand-niece of the 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 ...

, niece of the Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

, and aunt of the Emperor

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 un ...

. After the death of her father,

, she and her siblings were brought back to Rome by their mother and raised with the help of their paternal grandmother, Antonia Minor.

Marriages

In 33, Drusilla was married to Lucius Cassius Longinus, a friend of the Emperor

.Suetonius, ''The Lives of the Caesars'', "Life of Caligula", 21. She and Cassius are not known to have had any children. After Caligula became emperor in 37 he ordered their divorce and married his sister to his friend, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.Cassius Dio, 59.11.1 During an illness in 37, Caligula changed his will to name Drusilla his heir,Suetonius, ''The Lives of the Caesars'', "Life of Caligula", 24. making her the first woman to be named heir in a Roman imperial will. This was probably an attempt to continue the Julian line through any children she might have, leaving her husband to rule in the meantime. Caligula recovered however, and in 38, at the age of twenty-one, Drusilla died. Her brother went on to deify her, consecrating her with the title ''Panthea'' (all-goddess) and mourning at her public funeral as though he were a widower.

Reputation

Reportedly, Drusilla was her brother's favorite. There also are rumors that they were lovers, with the two reportedly having been together while they were still underage. If true, that role probably gained her great influence over Caligula. Although the activities between the brother and sister might have been seen as

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity ( marriage or stepfamily), ado ...

uous by their contemporaries, it is not certain whether they were sexual partners. Even if their relationship was not sexual, their close relationship was still very public. Caligula would treat her as if she was his "legal wife" even while she was married. Drusilla earned a rather poor reputation because of the close bond she shared with Caligula and even was likened to a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

by later scholars, in attempts to discredit Caligula.Wood, "Diva Drusilla Panthea and the Sisters of Caligula", pp. 457-482 Some historians suggest that Caligula was motivated by more than mere lust or love in pursuing intimate relationships with his sisters, thinking instead, that he may have decided deliberately to pattern the Roman lineage after the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

monarchs of the Ptolemaic dynasty where marriages between jointly ruling brothers and sisters had become tradition rather than sex scandals. This also has been used to explain why his

despotism Despotism ( el, Δεσποτισμός, ''despotismós'') is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. Normally, that entity is an individual, the despot; but (as in an autocracy) societies which limit respect an ...

apparently was more evident to his contemporaries than those of Augustus and Tiberius. The source of many of the rumors surrounding Caligula and Drusilla may be derived from formal Roman dining habits. It was customary in patrician households for the host and hostess of a dinner (or in other words, the husband and the wife in charge of the household) to hold the positions of honor at banquets in their residence. In the case of a young bachelor being the head of the household, the female position of honor traditionally was to be held by his sisters, in rotation. In Caligula's case,

, Drusilla, and Julia Livilla would have taken turns sitting in the place of honor. Apparently, Caligula broke with this tradition and reserved the place of honor exclusively for Drusilla. This could also be explained by Caligula wanting to have her in a place of prominence in public after naming her his heir. Another reason for the rumors of incest that surrounded Drusilla and Caligula could be due to attempts to discredit Caligula's leadership after his death. The most popular source of these rumors comes from

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τ� ...

, a Roman historian and writer who was not born until 28 years after Caligula's death. He wrote that " aligulalived in habitual incest with all his sisters" and that the two had once been caught together by their grandmother, Antonia.

Death and aftermath

Drusilla died on 10 June 38 AD, probably of an illness that was rampant in Rome at the time. Caligula was said never to have left her side throughout her illness and, after she had died, he would not let anyone take away her body. Caligula was badly affected by the loss. He buried his sister with the honours of an Augusta and acted as a grieving widower. He had the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

declare her a

Goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes ...

, as '' Diva Drusilla'', deifying her as a representation of the Roman goddess Venus or the Greek goddess

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...

. Drusilla was consecrated as ''Panthea'', most likely on the anniversary of the birthday of

. In addition the other honors she was given after her death by Caligula, he also declared a period of mourning. During this time, it became a capital crime to laugh, bathe, or dine with your parents, spouse, or children. A year later, Caligula named his only known daughter, Julia Drusilla, after his dead sister. Meanwhile, the widowed husband of Drusilla, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, reportedly became a lover to her sisters, Julia Livilla and

, in an apparent attempt to gain their support so that he could succeed Caligula. This political conspiracy was discovered during that autumn by Caligula while in Germania Superior. Lepidus was swiftly executed and Livilla and Agrippina were exiled to the

Pontine Islands The Pontine Islands (, also ; it, Isole Ponziane ) are an archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Lazio region, Italy. The islands were collectively named after the largest island in the group, Ponza. The other islands in the arch ...

Cultural references

* In the

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...

novel, '' I, Claudius'', the narrator of the story states that he believes that Drusilla was killed by Caligula, although he admits that he does not have firm evidence of this. * This theme was embellished considerably in the 1976 BBC

television adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...

of ''I, Claudius'', where Drusilla was played by Beth Morris. A pregnant Drusilla was subjected to a brutal Caesarean section by an insane Caligula, who swallows the child off-camera as Chronos did his children. A subsequent shot depicting Caligula and his blood-soaked beard was cut from the episode before broadcast in the United States, but has since been restored in later VHS and DVD releases. A closing shot of Drusilla's body has been lost however. *

Teresa Ann Savoy Teresa Ann Savoy, FRSA (18 July 1955 – 9 January 2017) was a British actress who appeared in a number of Italian films. Biography Savoy was 18 years old when she appeared in the Italian adult magazine '' Playmen'' (October 1973), using an a ...

played Drusilla in the 1979 motion picture ''

'', which showed a version of Drusilla dying from a fever, followed by a scene of

licking her corpse in mourning, and then having

sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal pene ...

with Drusilla one last time in an act of necrophilia. The last scene was deleted from all the released versions of the film.

Ancestry

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drusilla, Julia 1st-century Roman women 1st-century Romans 16 births 38 deaths Burials at the Mausoleum of Augustus Children of Germanicus Deified Roman women Incest Julii Caesares Julio-Claudian dynasty People from Koblenz