14th September 2023 is the 2000^th anniversary of the death of Drusus the Younger. His death on 14 September 23 CE left the Emperor Tiberius without a direct heir following the mysterious death of his adoptive brother and cousin Germanicus in Antioch in 19 CE at the age of 34. This was ancient Rome’s ‘JFK’ moment and shook the very foundations of the Roman state.

Drusus Julius Caesar was born on 7 October 14BCE to Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina. Just as Agrippa’s sons were, Drusus was about the same age as Germanicus, and both of them also followed parallel careers. Drusus and Germanicus held all their offices at the same age, and progressed through the cursus honorum at the same pace.

With the death of Germanicus, for which his wife Agrippina the Elder suspected murder instigated by the Emperor Tiberius himself, the Emperors son, Drusus the Younger became the next heir in the line of succession. Four years later, the death of Tiberius’ son was to have considerable implications for the Roman Imperial family, especially the children of Germanicus.

Drusus died suddenly on 14 September 23 CE. Ancient historians, such as Tacitus and Suetonius, claim that he died amid a feud with the powerful Sejanus, Praetorian prefect of Rome. They alleged that Drusus was murdered. In their account, Sejanus had seduced his wife Livilla, and with the help of a doctor she had poisoned Drusus. Despite the rumours, Tiberius did not suspect Sejanus and the two remained friends until Sejanus’s fall from grace in 31 CE.

The most dangerous place in the ancient Roman world during the first century CE was within the embrace of the Roman Imperial family.

VALE – Drusus Julius Caesar