Germanicus

Germanicus (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a prominent general of the early Roman Empire. He was born in Rome, Italia, to Nero Claudius Drusus and his wife Antonia Minor. His original name at birth was either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father, or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle, the second Roman emperor Tiberius. The agnomen Germanicus was added to his full name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honour of his victories in Germania. By AD 4 he was adopted as Tiberius' son and heir. As a result, Germanicus was adopted out of the Claudii and into the Julii. In accordance with Roman naming conventions, he adopted the name Germanicus Julius Caesar.

In addition to Germanicus' relation to Tiberius, he was also a close relative to the other four Julio-Claudian emperors. On his mother's side Germanicus was a great-nephew of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. By marrying his maternal second cousin, Agrippina the Elder, he became Augustus' grandson-in-law. Gaius (also known as Caligula), the emperor who succeeded Tiberius, was the son of Germanicus. After Caligula the emperorship passed to Claudius, Germanicus' younger brother. Nero, the last emperor of Augustus' dynasty, was a grandson of Germanicus on the side of his mother, Agrippina the Younger.

Germanicus (opera)

Germanicus is a German-language opera by Georg Philipp Telemann, to a libretto by the poet Christine Dorothea Lachs, fourth daughter of Nicolaus Adam Strungk of Dresden. The opera was written in 1704 and revised in 1710. It is supposedly one of the twenty operas that Telemann wrote for the opera house in the Leipzig Brühl.

The plot concerns the Roman general Germanicus. The opera was believed lost until 45 arias were discovered in a Frankfurt archive by Dr. Michael Maul. The opera was premiered with spoken text between arias at the Bachfest Leipzig 2007 and at the 2010 Magdeburg Telemann Festival under conductor Gotthold Schwarz. A recording was released by cpo in 2011.

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References

Germanicus (disambiguation)

Germanicus is a cognomen used by the Julio-Claudian family, given to all of Nero Claudius Drusus' male descendants due to his victory in Germania. As a Roman victory title, it was also given to other Romans (usually emperors) due to their glory in Germania.

Ancient Romans

Sons of Nero Claudius Drusus:

Grandsons of Nero Claudius Drusus:

Great-grandson of Nero Claudius Drusus, gained the name Germanicus due to his adoption by Claudius: