Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), commonly known in English as Drusus the Elder, was a Roman general and politician. He was a patrician Claudian, but his mother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the stepson of her second husband, the Emperor Augustus. He was also the brother of the Emperor Tiberius; the father of the Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus; paternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero.
thumb|Bronze bust of Nero Claudius Drusus in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]]
Drusus launched the first major Roman campaigns across the Rhine and began the conquest of Germania, becoming the first Roman general to reach the Weser and Elbe rivers. In 12 BC, he led a successful campaign into Germania, subjugating the Sicambri. Later that year, he led a naval expedition against Germanic tribes along the North Sea coast, conquering the Batavi and the Frisii, and defeating the Chauci near the mouth of the Weser. In 11 BC, he conquered the Usipetes and the Marsi, extending Roman control to the Upper Weser. In 10 BC, he launched a campaign against the Chatti and the resurgent Sicambri, subjugating both. The following year, while serving as consul, he conquered the Mattiaci and defeated the Marcomanni and the Cherusci, the latter near the Elbe. His Germanic campaigns were cut short in the summer of 9 BC by his death after a riding accident.
Drusus was a very able commander. His death slowed the northward expansion of the Roman Empire, and foreshadowed the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. He was enormously popular among his men, who erected the Drususstein in his honor; his memory was elevated during the reign of his son Claudius. Drusus' accomplishments in battle were considerable. He fought numerous Germanic chiefs in single combat, and was likely the fourth and final Roman to achieve the spolia opima (for taking the armor and weapons of an enemy king after defeating him in single combat), though he died before he could be honored for it.
Early life
Childhood
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. Drusus was born between mid-March and mid-April 38 BC, three months after Livia married Augustus on 17 January. 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. 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).
Drusus was raised in Claudius Nero's house with his brother, the future emperor Tiberius, until his legal father's death. The two brothers developed a famously close relationship that would last the rest of their lives. Tiberius named his eldest son after his brother, although eldest sons were usually named after their father or grandfather. Drusus named his second son (future emperor Claudius) after Tiberius.
Name
According to Suetonius, Drusus was originally given the name Decimus as his praenomen, but his full name was later changed to Nero Claudius Drusus. It is not known when or why the change occurred. 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 (especially for a patrician).