Roman history is full of famous warriors, some factual, some
mythical (usually a combination of the two); one of the most interesting is
Drusus Germanicus, aka Drusus the Elder, the general who almost conquered
Germania. Drusus had all the makings of a legend – he burned bright, died
young, and was mourned by an empire – yet only one biography has been written
about him in modern times, and that was just last year. His story deserves a
little more of the spotlight on the stage of great Roman warriors.
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| Bust of Drusus; courtesy of Wiki Commons |
Augustus obviously saw potential in his young stepson;
Drusus was allowed to begin his career five years before he reached the minimum
age, and at 22 he was leading large-scale military campaigns in Raetia. For the
next seven years Drusus was the rock star of the Roman army – subduing tribes,
gaining territory, leading battles on land and sea, and collecting accolades,
including the cognomen Germanicus in
honor of his victories. He was good-looking, charismatic, and smart; his troops
adored him, his colleagues respected him, and Augustus held him up to the
public as a paragon of conservative Roman manhood. It was even said (amazingly
enough) that he was faithful to his wife, Antonia, the daughter of Marc Antony.
In 10BC the Chatti attacked Drusus' summer camp, but he
fended them off and took his vengeance the following summer with another
overwhelming victory. But then, in August of 9BC, as he planned his next
campaign, the bright star of Rome was cut down in his prime by a strange and
unexpected death. According to Suetonius, Drusus was thrown from his horse, and
a month later he was dead – that's it.
No one knows exactly what happened in the weeks between his accident and his
death at the age of just 29. Just like that, the hero of the legions was gone.
 |
| Drususstein monument
in Mainz, Germany; courtesy of Wiki Commons |
Drusus' soldiers dearly mourned him, pooling their money to
build a monument to him outside Mainz which still stands today. Tiberius was
never the same, and Antonia never remarried for the rest of her life. Their
eldest son, Germanicus, would go on to an even more famous career and an even
more mysterious death; their younger son, Claudius, would become one of Rome's
most well-known emperors. Augustus wrote a biography in tribute to Drusus which
has sadly disappeared; after losing two more potential heirs, his imperial
crown eventually went to Tiberius, and the rest is history.
Despite the effect Drusus Germanicus had on Rome, there is precious
little about him in the historical record. Even from the few bits and pieces we
do have, however, it's clear he deserves a place on any list of the most famous
Roman warriors.
Further
reading:
-Lindsay Powell, Eager
for Glory: The Untold Story of Drusus the Elder, Conqueror of Germania
-Suetonius, The Life
of Tiberius and The Twelve Caesars
-Werner Eck, The Life
of Augustus
Heather Domin is the author of The
Soldier of Raetia,set in Augustan Rome, and Allegiance, set in 1920s
Dublin. She is currently up to her eyeballs in revisions on the sequel to The
Soldier of Raetia, in which Drusus Germanicus plays a major role. You can
usually find her procrastinating on Twitter, procrastinating on Livejournal, or
procrastinating staring at pictures of Tom Hiddleston on Tumblr.
