Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus (born no later than 93 BC – died 42 BC) was a

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and

praetor 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 vari ...

of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

. He was born with the name ''Appius Claudius Pulcher'', into the patrician family of the

Claudii Pulchri The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appi ...

but adopted by a

Livii Drusi The gens Livia was an illustrious plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the Livii to obtain the consulship was Marcus Livius Denter in 302 BC, and from his time the Livii supplied the Republic with eight consuls, two censors, a dictato ...

as a small child. His daughter

Livia Drusilla Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC – 28 September AD 29) was a Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Emperor Augustus Caesar. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14. Livia was the da ...

became the wife of the first Roman 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 he was a direct ancestor of the

Julio-Claudian , native_name_lang=Latin, coat of arms=Great_Cameo_of_France-removebg.png, image_size=260px, caption= The Great Cameo of France depicting emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and Nero, type=Ancient Roman dynasty, country= Roman Empire, estates=* ...

emperors

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 ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

Biography

Background

As a Pulcher, Claudianus was a direct descendant of the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

and censor

Appius Claudius Caecus Appius Claudius Caecus ( 312–279 BC) was a statesman and writer from the Roman Republic. The first Roman public figure whose life can be traced with some historical certainty, Caecus was responsible for the building of Rome's first road (t ...

through his son Publius Claudius Pulcher. Claudianus descended via the first Appius Claudius Pulcher, who was consul in 212 BC and Publius Claudius Pulcher's son or grandson. Antiquarian Bartolomeo Borghesi suggested that his biological father could have been either Appius Claudius Pulcher ( military tribune in the year 87 BC) or the Gaius Claudius Pulcher (legate or praetor in 73 BC); both of these men were sons of Gaius Claudius Pulcher (consul in 130 BC). Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul of 79 BC); and Gaius Claudius Pulcher (the consul of 92 BC), have been postulated by

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

Susan Treggiari Susan Treggiari is an English scholar of Ancient Rome,John Simon Guggenheim Memoria ...

has speculated that his mother might have been a sister of Marcus Livius Drusus the

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...

, this explaining his adoption by Drusus, since Drusus had at least two other nephews whom he chose Claudianus over. Adopted fathers and sons were often closely related and adoption of a sororal nephew was especially common in Rome.

Early life

Little is known about the circumstances leading to Claudianus's

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...

by Marcus Livius Drusus. He was unusually young at the time of adoption (likely a small child, if not an infant), as most other adoption in ancient Rome happened with the adoptee as adults. In accordance with convention, his name was changed from ''Appius Claudius Pulcher'' to ''Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus'', in honour of his adoptive father. Drusus may have been married to a Servilia at the time, who would have been Claudianus adoptive mother. Since the death of his adopted father's sister Livia Drusa, he was likely raised together with her children Servilia Major, Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, Servilia Minor, Porcia and Cato in Drusus's household. Drusus was assassinated in 91 BC and Claudianus presumably inherited all his immense wealth.

Career

Claudianus was praetor of Rome in 50 BC and presided over a court case brought under the '' Lex Scantinia''. Caelius, writing to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

, seems to find the situation ironic. In 45 BC, Cicero had purchased gardens owned by Claudianus in Rome. Claudianus was a supporter of the

and was among those who opposed the rule and

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

, assassinated in 44 BC by Brutus and Cassius. In 42 BC, Claudianus arranged for his daughter Livia Drusilla to marry his kinsman Tiberius Claudius Nero, who became the parents of future Roman Emperor

and the general Nero Claudius Drusus. Through this second grandson, Claudianus was a direct ancestor to the Roman Emperors

, and

Death

Claudianus became a supporter of Brutus and Cassius and joined them in the war against

Octavian 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

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 ...

. The decision would have serious consequences for him and for Livia's family. He fought alongside Brutus and Cassius at the

Battle of Philippi The Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian (of the Second Triumvirate) and the leaders of Julius Caesar's assassination, Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, at ...

in 42 BC. When Brutus and Cassius were defeated, they committed suicide. Claudianus killed himself in his tent to avoid being captured alive by the victors.

Family

Claudianus married a woman of

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins ...

status called Alfidia. They had at least one child: a daughter

(59 BC–29 AD). The usage of the nickname "Drusilla" might imply that she had an older sister. Claudianus relatively advanced age at the time of his marriage to Alfidia could indicate that he had been married before. It is also probable that he had a biological son named Gaius Livius Drusus who had two daughters named Livia Pulchra and Livia Livilla. This son may have died in battle after the assassination of Julius Caesar, or been proscribed and killed by the

Second Triumvirate The Second Triumvirate was an extraordinary commission and magistracy created for Mark Antony, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Octavian to give them practically absolute power. It was formally constituted by law on 27 November 43 BC with ...

. He also adopted as his son Marcus Livius Drusus Libo. This was likely a testamentary adoption. Adoptions of that sort was mostly carried out because a man lacked legitimate sons who could carry on their name and estate, perhaps implying that if Claudianus had ever had a son, he was likely dead before his father wrote his will.

Legacy

The poet Sextus

Propertius Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of '' Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the poets Gallu ...

1.1.27 described the

as or "''sepulchre of citizens''". The 1st-century senator and historian

Aulus Cremutius Cordus Aulus Cremutius Cordus (died 25 AD) was a Roman historian. There are very few remaining fragments of his work, principally covering the civil war and the reign of Augustus. In AD 25 he was forced by Sejanus, who was praetorian prefect under Tiberiu ...

, glorified Brutus and Cassius in his history and described those who fought alongside Caesar's assassins as the "last of the Romans". When his grandson the future Roman emperor

celebrated his coming of age, Tiberius staged two

gladiator A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

ial contests. One was held at the Forum in memory of his father and the other held at the amphitheatre in memory of his grandfather Drusus Claudianus.

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� ...

The Twelve Caesars ''De vita Caesarum'' (Latin; "About the Life of the Caesars"), commonly known as ''The Twelve Caesars'', is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The gr ...

, Tiberius, 7 The emperor

dedicated an inscription to honor his ancestor on the Greek island of

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a sepa ...

. This surviving inscription in Greek, hails Claudianus as the "origin of many great and good works for the world" or "". Claudius also honoured Claudianus with statues in Rome.

Notes

References

External links

Roman-emperors.orgWayback.archive.orgTheaterofpompey.comRomansonline.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livius Drusus Claudianus, Marcus Roman Republican praetors 1st-century BC Romans Livius Drusus Claudianus, Marcus Marcus Ancient Roman adoptees 42 BC deaths Year of birth unknown Ancient Romans who committed suicide Family of Servilia (mother of Brutus) Family of Augustus