DRUSO

DRUSO. - A praenomen borne by two members of the family of Augustus. 1) Nero Claudius Drusus (known as the Elder), son of Tiberio Claudio Nerone and of Livia, second wife of Augusto, b. in 38 B.C. He subdued the Rhaetians in the Tridentine Alps, quelled a rebellion of the Gauls, but his greatest undertaking was the war against the Germans of the various tribes of the Sigambri, Usipeti, Chatti, Cherusci, Suebi, and Marcomanni. He created the navigable canal (Fossa Drusiana) between the Rhine and the sea. He died in Germany in 9 B.C.; his ashes, accompanied on foot by his brother Tiberio, who later became emperor, and met by Augusto himself at Pavia, were buried in the Augusteum. By his wife Antonia, daughter of the triumvir, he had three children: Germanico, Livilla, and Claudio. 2) Iulius Caesar Drusus (known as the Younger), son of Tiberio and Vipsania Agrippina, b. between 15 and 12 B.C., husband of Livilla, by whom he had the twin sons Tiberio and Germanico. He fought victoriously in Illyricum. He died from poison administered to him by his wife at the instigation of Seiano.