Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. 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 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.
Bust of Nero Claudius Drusus, in the Capitoline Museums, Rome
Bronze bust of Nero Claudius Drusus in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
The Juno Ludovisi, a 1st-century AD depiction of Drusus' wife Antonia Minor as Juno
Image: Drususstein Rekonstruktion Lehne
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
Tiberius Caesar Augustus, second Roman emperor
Claudius, fourth Roman emperor
Denarius of Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, 50 BC, honouring his ancestor Claudius Marcellus, portrayed on the obverse. The triskeles behind his head alludes to his capture of Syracuse in 212 BC. The reverse shows him putting his spolia opima into a temple. The legend COS QVINQ refers to his five consulships.
