Tiberius Claudius Drusus (First son of Emperor Claudius)

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Tiberius Claudius Drusus (c. 9/12 – 20/27AD) was the eldest son of the Roman Emperor Claudius (41-54AD) with his first wife Plautia Urgulanilla. He had one younger sister, Claudia, whom Claudius repudiated along with Plautia. He was betrothed to Aelia Junilla, the only daughter of Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the commander of the Praetorian Guard. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that the people were not satisfied with this match as they were with the betrothal of Claudius Drusus’s cousin, Nero Caesar, son of the popular general Germanicus Julius Caesar. Probably it was felt that the nobility of the family (nobilitas familiae) was to be polluted; Sejanus was not of senatorial rank, and his appointment as a praetor in 20AD was an unprecedented novelty. Tiberius Claudius Drusus was ultimately never married to Aelia Junilla, who may have only been born in the year of their betrothal. According to Tacitus

This coinage was probably in honour of the occasion of his betrothal to Aelia Junilla, an issue of coins is known to have been minted at Myrina in Aeolis, on the coast of Asia Minor. Myrina was of little importance at the time and had comparatively little involvement in the imperial cult. However, in AD 17, the region suffered a major earthquake, and Myrina was one of twelve cities to receive funds for reconstruction from the Fiscus, the imperial treasury, as well as five years’ tax remission from the Roman Senate. It is therefore likely that the coins, of which five examples are known to exist, were issued at a time of substantial gratitude towards Tiberius.

The obverse of the bronze coins shows a draped bust of Tiberius Claudius Drusus facing to the right with the legend written clockwise in Koinē Greek: ΤΙ ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟϹ ΔΡΟΥϹΟϹ, romanized: Ti. Klaudios Drousos. On the reverse is a wreathed head of Apollo, together with a lyre and the name of the Myrina mint, written anti-clockwise: ΜΥΡΙΝΑΙΩΝ, Myrinaiōn.

Tiberius Claudius Drusus‘ grandfather was Marcus Plautius Silvanus, and his great-grandmother was Urgulania. Livia, the future Emperor Claudius’ grandmother and the wife of Emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD), is presumed to have helped her friend Urgulania arrange the marriage of Claudius and Plautia Urgulanilla when her grandson was around 18. Claudius married Plautia Urgulanilla sometime between 9 and 12 AD. Tiberius Claudius Drusus was born soon after the marriage, decades before his father became emperor. Throughout most of his life, the emperor was his relative Tiberius, son of Livia.

Some five months after his daughter Claudia Julia was born, Claudius divorced Plautia on suspicion of adultery and complicity in the murder of Apronia, her brother’s wife, who had been pushed from a window – if you can’t live with relatives, get rid of them. The divorce took place sometime between 20AD and 27AD. Claudius disowned Claudia Julia left her on Urgulanilla’s doorstep, believing her to be fathered by a freedman in his employ. However, Claudius did not deny that Tiberius Claudius Drusus was his. This was his only son and thus his heir to the throne. There was a marble statue of Tiberius Claudius Drusus that had stood in the Sebasteion of Aphrodisias, which was an augusteum temple dedicated to the divine emperors of the Julio-Claudian line. The base was discovered during archaeological excavations, but the statue was not.

Death

The year of Tiberius Claudius Drusus‘s death is still a matter of debate. The Roman historian Suetonius’s account suggests he died in 20 AD. However, the historian Tacitus suggests that he was still alive in 23 AD, when, according to Tacitus, the emperor Tiberius’s son Drusus the Younger said of Sejanus in disgust, “the grandsons of us Drususes will be his grandsons too”. (Latin: communis illi cum familia Drusorum fore nepotes.) This implies he was still due to marry Sejanus’s daughter. Some thought Sejan had him murdered, but that made no sense since it was his ticket to royalty. Suetonius reported that he had choked to death on a pear he had thrown into the air. He died just before he came to manhood. (Suetonius, Vita Divi Claudii XXVII).

Monetary System

Myrina was an ancient Greek city, where legend tells us it was founded by the Queen of the Amazons, Myrina, who led a military expedition to Libya and won a victory over the people known as the Atlantians. The Amazons are depicted in ancient texts and folklore as fierce warrior women who inhabited the edges of the known world, often in what is now considered part of modern-day Turkey or the regions around the Black Sea. Interestingly, the only coinage of Tiberius Claudius Drusus was struck at Myrina in honour of the occasion of his betrothal to Aelia Junilla.

It is believed that this issue was part of a thank you to Emperor Tiberius (14-27AD) on behalf of the inhabitants of Myrina in Aeolis, on the coast of Asia Minor – modern-day Turkey. Myrina in 17AD suffered a significant earthquake. It was devastating for Myrina, one of the twelve cities to receive relief funds for reconstruction from Tiberius, who also waived all taxes for five years. Tiberius issued this sesterius, boldly declaring that it was for the restoration and relief of Asia, as Turkey was known during that time.

It is therefore likely that the coins, of which five examples are known to exist, were issued at a time of substantial gratitude towards Tiberius. The obverse of the bronze coins shows a draped bust of Claudius Drusus facing to the right with the legend written clockwise in Koinē Greek: ΤΙ ΚΛΑΥΔΙΟϹ ΔΡΟΥϹΟϹ, romanized: Ti. Klaudios Drousos. On the reverse is a wreathed head of Apollo, together with a lyre and the name of the Myrina mint, written anti-clockwise: ΜΥΡΙΝΑΙΩΝ, Myrinaiōn.

Mints: Myrina in Aeolis