Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar (Classical Latin: [ˈɡaː.i.ʊs ˈjuː.li.ʊs ˈkae̯.sar]; 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman statesman, general and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed a political alliance that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative ruling class within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.

These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with a legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms.Civil war resulted, and Caesar's victory in the war put him in an unrivaled position of power and influence.

Drusus Julius Caesar

Nero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar (adoptive name; 13 BC – 14 September AD 23), was the only child of Roman Emperor Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina. He was also a maternal cousin of the Emperor Caligula, a paternal cousin of the Emperor Claudius and a first cousin once removed of the Emperor Nero.

Biography

He was born on 7 October 13 BC with the name Nero Claudius Drusus, and is also known to historians as Drusus II, Drusus the Younger and Drusus Minor. Drusus was named after his paternal uncle the general Drusus the Elder, who was Tiberius' younger brother. He was born and raised in Rome. Drusus was the first grandchild of the statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and his first wife Caecilia Attica.

Despite his violent temper, Drusus showed promise with both military and politics. In AD 13, he was made a permanent member of the Senate committee Augustus had founded to draw up the Senate's daily business. However, because Drusus was only related to the Claudian side of the family, rather than both the Julians and Claudians, Augustus forced Tiberius to adopt Germanicus, who was married to Augustus's granddaughter, as his son and heir, removing Drusus from the succession. In 14, after the death of Augustus, Drusus suppressed a mutiny in Pannonia. In 15 he became a consul. He was also governor of Illyricum from 17 to 20. In 21 he was consul again, significantly with his father Tiberius as his colleague, while in 22 he received tribunicia potestas (tribunician power), a distinction reserved solely for the emperor or his immediate successor.

I, Claudius

I, Claudius (1934) is a novel by English writer Robert Graves, written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Accordingly, it includes history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC to Caligula's assassination in 41 AD.

The 'autobiography' of Claudius continues (from Claudius' accession after Caligula's death, to his own death in 54) in Claudius the God (1935). The sequel also includes a section written as a biography of Herod Agrippa, contemporary of Claudius and future King of the Jews. The two books were adapted by the BBC into an award-winning television serial, I, Claudius.

In 1998 the Modern Library ranked I, Claudius fourteenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2005, the novel was chosen by Time as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.

The novels

Content

Claudius was the fourth Emperor of Rome (r. 41–54 AD). Historically, Claudius' family kept him out of public life until his sudden coronation at the age of forty nine. This was due to his being perceived as being a dolt due to his stammering, limp and other nervous tics. This made others see him as mentally deficient and also therefore not a threat to his ambitious relatives. Even as his symptoms begin to wane in his teenage years, he runs into trouble for his work as a budding historian. His work on a history of the civil wars was too truthful and too critical of the reigning emperor Augustus, and his mother and grandmother quickly put a stop to it. This episode reinforced their initial suspicions that Claudius was not fit for public office. This is how he was defined by scholars for most of history, and Graves uses these peculiarities to develop a sympathetic character whose survival in a murderous dynasty depends upon his family's incorrect assumption that he is a harmless idiot.

Claudius Drusus

Claudius Drusus (Classical Latin: CLAVDIVS•DRVSVS or CLAVDIVS•DRVSVS•CLAVDII•FILIVS; c. AD 16 – AD 20) was the eldest son of the future Roman Emperor Claudius with his first wife Plautia Urgulanilla. He had one younger sister, Claudia, who was repudiated by Claudius along with Plautia.

Born before his father became emperor, Claudius was betrothed to a daughter of Sejanus; this betrothal filled Sejanus, then just a prefect, with unfulfilled hopes. In AD 20, Claudius Drusus was playing and he tossed a pear high in the air. When it came back, he caught it in his mouth but he choked on it. He died of asphyxiation. At the time, it was suspected that he had been murdered by Sejanus himself.

References

Nero Claudius Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (January 14, 38 BC – Summer of 9 BC), born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus Claudius Nero,Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his legal father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the legal stepson of her second husband, the Emperor Augustus. He was also brother of the Emperor Tiberius, father to both the Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus, paternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero.

He 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, Drusus 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 he conquered the Mattiaci, while defeating the Marcomanni and the Cherusci, defeating the latter near the Elbe. However, Drusus died later that year, depriving Rome of one of its best generals.