CHAPTER TWO

THE JULIO-CLAUDIANS 27 B.C. ñ A.D. 68

With the deaths of Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 30 B.C., Rome entered a new phase of its history known as the Empire. Although for all practical purposes the Republic had stopped functioning more than a decade before, most of its traditional, if decaying institutions remained. The task at hand for Octavian (later known as Augustus) was simple in purpose but complex in execution, for he intended to make a slow transition from a Republic to a dictatorship. This required a series of careful measures in the legal, social and military systems that retained the façade of Republican virtue, but which secured his absolute authority.

This transition took several decades to achieve, and the coinage clearly reflects his progress. From the initial issues bearing the names of the mon-eyers, the great Augustus ended his principate with issues that bore no oneís name but his own. Even though he was advanced in age, his image itself was youthful and idealized. (This alone was a remarkable transition from the Republican concept of harsh realism in portraiture.) Many volumes have been written on the achievements of Augustus, and so only a brief treatment is given here, and in his biography.

For nearly a century we find Rome under the autocratic rulership of the Julian and Claudian families. With the childless marriage of Augustus to Livia, these two powerful families joined fortunes, and came to be known as the Julio-Claudians.

The Julians came into prominence with the impressive political career of Julius Caesar, who achieved the unparalleled office of ìdictator for lifeî in 44 B.C., but was murdered soon thereafter. In Caesarís will, he had named his grand-nephew Octavian as sole heir of his political legacy, and most of his fortune. It required nearly 15 years of civil war after Caesarís death before Rome was united, and this occurred only after Augustus gained the upper hand on his ally-turned-foe, Marc Antony.

The Julio-Claudians comprise the first half of Suetoniusí ìTwelve Caesars.î Though of great interest to most students of Roman history, the interrelations of this dynasty are the most complex in the history of the Empire. But what appears at first to be a hopelessly complex web of associations is easily separated into several components. Once this is done, the whole array becomes approachable, and the enjoyment of collecting Julio-Claudian coins is greatly enhanced. What follows is a general outline of the dynasty.

THE JULIO-CLAUDIANS

A.Earlier married to Marcellus; later to Tiberius.

B.Daughter of Octavia and Marc Antony (thus, niece of Augustus & half-sister of Marcellus).

C.Later married to Julia.

D.Daughter of Agrippa. Later wed Asinius Gallus.

E.First husband of Livilla.

F.First married to Aelia Paetina (by whom he had Claudia Antonia); later to Agrippina Junior.

G.Earlier married to Gaius Caesar; lover of Sejanus.

H.Husband of Livia Julia.

I.Wife of Nero Caesar; later betrothed to Sejanus.

J.He and his brother possibly sired by Sejanus.

K.Husband of Caesonia, father of Drusilla Minor.

L.Later married to Claudius.

M.Married to Nero.

N.Nero was also a paternal great-grandson of Marc Antony and Octavia.

O.Earlier married to Otho (emperor, A.D. 69).

Note: Names in Capitals are of emperors or dictators; names in italics are of people not found on coinage.

ïAugustus (Octavian) comes to power in 44 B.C. when the will of Julius Caesar is read, and it is revealed that he is heir to both his great-uncleís personal fortune and political legacy.

ïThe dynastic foundations are set when Augustus marries Livia in 38 B.C. Both of them had children from previous marriages, but in more than half a century of marriage they had none together. Therefore, different branches of the family existed along bloodlines, which was to be a source of great rivalry. Three principal branches existed: the first (I) was of Augustusí blood, the second (II) was of Liviaís blood, and the third (III, IIIa and IIIb), through three later marriages, was of the mixed blood from Augustus, Livia and Marc Antony. These branches are described later.

ïWith so many potential heirs to the throne, conflicts occurred between the family branches. Regrettably, even inter-branch marriages did not reduce hostilities. First, Livia may have eliminated some of the heirs favored by her husband, Augustus (though that has not been proven to the satisfaction of many historians). Second, Tiberius tried to clear a dynastic path by exterminating his deceased brotherís popular family; helping Tiberius was his prefect Sejanus, who himself had ambitions for the throne. Third, and much later, Agrippina Junior cleared the path for her own son, Nero, by murdering her uncle-husband, Claudius, and his son, Britannicus.

The three main family branches are:

ïBranch I: Augustusí direct descendants. No male heirs of this branch survived. The initial rivalry was between the brothers-in-law Marcellus (Augustusí nephew) and Agrippa (Augustusí chief lieutenant). Shortly after Marcellus died in 23 B.C., Agrippa married his widow, Julia, who was Augustusí only daughter, and thus was uncontested heir-apparent until his own death in 12 B.C. Augustus next looked to his grandchildren, whom Agrippa Julia had produced from 20ñ12 B.C. They included three sons (Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar and Agrippa Postumus) and two daughters (Julia the Younger [for whom no coins were struck] and Agrippina Senior). All the boys and the eldest girl, however, died or were banished during a six-year period (A.D. 2ñ8). Only Agrippina Senior survived this traumatic period, and her marriage to Germanicus (a second cousin who headed Branch III) resulted in six children who lived past childhood (Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar, Caligula, Agrippina Junior, Drusilla and Julia Livilla), four of whom were important in future politics. But after having survived the destruction of her original family, Agrippina Senior witnessed the systematic massacre of her husband and children under the regime of Liviaís eldest son, Tiberius (the head of branch II), who as a result succeeded Augustus in 14. Despite her great suffering, it is Agrippina Senior who principally kept Augustusí blood flowing in the later Julio-Claudians.

ïBranch II: Tiberiusí direct descendants. This branch was headed by Tiberius, the older brother of Nero Claudius Drusus and one of two sons of Livia from her first marriage. Except in the grandchildren (who were born of Livilla, the daughter of Augustusí niece), no blood of Augustus flowed in this branch. Tiberius had one son, Drusus, by his wife, Vipsania Agrippina, a daughter of Agrippa. Through his son, Tiberius had at least one grandchild, Livia Julia, and two others, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus, who were officially attributed to Drusus, but were likely sired by Tiberiusí praetorian prefect, Sejanus. When Tiberius became emperor in 14, he tried to destroy the family of his long-since-deceased brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, for their line was rich with the blood of Augustus, and thus the people and senate favored them over his own offspring. Leading this rival branch was Tiberiusí popular nephew, Germanicus. Though several fine members of Germanicusí family (including Germanicus himself) perished, the sinister designs of Tiberius were unsuccessful, for Tiberiusí own son (Drusus) predeceased him and in 37 he was succeeded by Germanicusí youngest son, Caligula.

ïBranch III: Nero Claudius Drususí direct descendants. This was the most successful branch, despite the very early death of its founder in 9 B.C. (some 23 years before Augustus himself died). It was founded by Nero Claudius Drusus (a son of Livia, and the younger brother of Tiberius) and Antonia (the daughter of Marc Antony and Augustusí sister, Octavia). Unlike Tiberiusí branch, this one was of very mixed blood, including that of Augustus, Livia and Marc Antony. Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia had two sons, Claudius and Germanicus, and a daughter, Livilla. During their generation the branch splits into two sub-branches (Ilia and Illb), headed by the sons, which (genetically, at least) developed separately. The daughter, Livilla, had marriages in both branch I and branch II.

ïBranch IlIa: Germanicusí direct descendants. This sub-branch was headed by Germanicus, and was rich with Augustusí blood. Not only was his maternal grandmother, Octavia, a sister of Augustus, but his wife (Agrippina Senior) was Augustusí granddaughter. Despite suffering much loss at the hands of Tiberius and his prefect, Sejanus, three important children of Germanicus survived. The first was a son, Gaius (called Caligula), who ruled cruelly from 37ñ41 and was murdered. The second was a daughter, Agrippina Junior, who became the mother of the third important offspring, the future emperor Nero (54ñ68), who, like his uncle Caligula, ruled cruelly and was murdered. With Neroís death, so ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

ïBranch Illb: Claudiusí direct descendants. Since Claudius was born sickly, he was put aside early in life, and hopes resided with his highly popular brother, Germanicus. This obscurity spared Claudius fatal consequences in the ìwarî between the families headed by Tiberius and Germanicus. In the meantime, Claudiusí marriages produced three children, of whom only a son, Britannicus, figured as a potential heir. When his demented young nephew Caligula was murdered in 41, Claudius was hailed emperor by the praetorian guards who wished to preserve their power, and recognized Claudius as not only a legitimate candidate, but one who they could dominate. Later, Claudius married one of his nieces, Caligulaís sister Agrippina Junior, who also had a son from a previous marriage (Nero). Though they produced no children together in marriage, some have speculated that Claudius had sired Nero before they were wed. During Claudiusí principate (41ñ54) only two legitimate male Julio-Claudian heirs remained: Britannicus and Nero, representing the two sub-branches of Germanicusí family. This spelled disaster for Claudius and his son, Britannicus, both of whom were murdered by Agrippina Senior and Nero so the latter could reign uncontested. Thus, Claudiusí sub-branch ends.

AUGUSTUS 27 B.C. ñ A.D. 14

AS OCTAVIAN: MEMBER OF THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE, 43ñ33 B.C.

AS OCTAVIAN: IMPERATOR, 31ñ27 B.C.

AS AUGUSTUS: 27 B.C. ñ A.D. 14

GRAND-NEPHEW AND ADOPTED SON OF JULIUS CAESAR

HUSBAND OF SCRIBONIA AND LIVIA

FATHER OF JULIA (BY SCRIBONIA)

BROTHER OF OCTAVIA

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF MARC ANTONY

FATHER-IN-LAW OF MARCELLUS, AGRIPPA AND TIBERIUS

ADOPTIVE FATHER OF TIBERIUS AND NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS

UNCLE OF ANTONIA

GRAND-UNCLE OF GERMANICUS, CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDFATHER OF GAIUS CAESAR, LUCIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA POSTUMUS, JULIA THE YOUNGER AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

GREAT-RANDFATHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF NERO

Potential Heirs of Augustus
Marcellus	23 B.C.	Murdered (?)
Agrippa	12 B.C.	Died
Nero Claudius Drusus	9 B.C.	Died
Lucius Caesar	A.D. 2	Died
Gaius Caesar	A.D. 4	Died
Agrippa Postumus	A.D. 7	Banished
Asinius Gallus	ñ	Failed
Tiberius	A.D. 14	Succeeded

Caesar Augustus (earlier Gaius Octavius, modified subsequently), 63 B.C. ñ A.D. 14. Augustus was the son of Atia (a niece of Julius Caesar) and of Gaius Octavius, an aspiring novus homo (ìnew manî), who died young in 59 B.C. without achieving the nobility he desired. However, his two children by his second wife, Atia, would serve his memory well. They were Octavia, the future wife of Marc Antony, and Octavian, who came to be known as Augustus, and was the first ìemperorî of Rome.

On balance, Augustus was a simple man who tackled enormous tasks in a pragmatic manner. As such, his accomplishments were both real and lasting. In his desire to achieve absolute power, Augustus demonstrated remarkable patience as he slowly and methodically accumulated titles and privileges, and restructured legal procedures to his advantage. Quietly, almost invisibly, he transformed a Republic into a constitutional hereditary monarchy.

His life was remarkable, and he enjoyed the company of great men, such as Virgil, Horace, Livy and Ovid. During his 57 years in power, he is said to have found Rome brick and left it marble. From this statement can be divined both a literal and a figurative truth which allows us, 2,000 years later, to reckon the greatness of his accomplishment.

NOTE TO THE READER: In his own biography, Augustus is referred to as Octavian during the period in which he used that name (63ñ27 B.C.), and as Augustus from 27 B.C. onward. However, in other biographies in this book in which he is mentioned, the name Octavian is used only in the Imperatorial Period (chapter 1), and the name Augustus is used for the Imperial Period (chapter 2 and beyond). This has been adopted for the sake of simplicity.

AS OCTAVIAN (63ñ27 B.C.)

Octavian was only 4 years old when his father died, and so he was raised by his mother. Julius Caesar took an interest in helping his fatherless great-nephew, and personally introduced him into society. While a teenager, Octavian was appointed Pontifex and Praefectus Urbi in 47 B.C., and in 46 he accompanied Caesar at his military triumph in Rome. In the following year, Octavian campaigned in Spain with Caesar, and subsequently went to Apollonia in northern Greece, where he was to finish his studies.

But on the 15th (Ides) of March, 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was murdered, and soon after Octavian learned that his great-uncle had adopted him as his son, and by doing so had named him heir to his political legacy. According to Suetonius, Octavian received three-fourths of Caesarís fortune (with the remaining one-fourth being divided between two other of Caesarís grandnephews, Quintus Pedius and Pinarius Scarpus).Though not yet 20 years old, and frail of constitution, Octavian sensed the calling of destiny and abandoned his studies (against the advice of his mother and other family members). He and his friend Marcus Agrippa traveled back to Rome, arriving in May or June of 44 B.C., whereupon he changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar and launched his career in politics.

Octavian found Marc Antony (a former ally of Caesar, and the theoretical head of the Caesarean Party) to be confrontational, for Octavian was a threat to the career Antony had built. Indeed, Antony had good reason to fear, for Octavian proved himself to be a bold and resourceful politician from the start. Octavian allied himself with moderate Republicans, catered to Caesarís loyal veterans, and convinced the orator Cicero to emerge from retirement and take up his cause against Antony.

At this point, the political tide had turned strongly against Antony, who offered stubborn resistance, but still had to flee Rome. Octavian himself was getting resistance from the senate, which realized its peril and offered support to Brutus and Cassius (who had fled for their lives in 44 B.C.) by granting them great authority in Greece and Asia.

In 43 B.C., Octavian was given command with the two consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, and confronted the renegade armies of Antony in northern Italy at Mutina, where Antony was defeated by this senate-backed army. Though the victory belonged to the senate, both consuls were killed in the battle. Octavian (with the support of Caesarís veterans and Cicero) was named a replacement for one of the consuls, even though he was well below the requisite age. In this same year, Octavianís status as heir of Caesar was ratified by the senate, and his mother died, leaving him parentless.

Late in 43 B.C., laden with his new powers, Octavian marched against Antony, who in the meantime had allied himself with another Caesarean, Lepidus. But instead of fighting Antony and Lepidus, Octavian achieved a truce with his two rivals on November 27. This was a wise move by Octavian, who realized his power in Rome had only come through brute force, and had no guarantee of longevity. The three formed what is known as the Second Triumvirate, a legally sanctioned political alliance by which the trio would rule Rome and its territories for the next five years. In the pact, Octavian received control of Africa, Sicily and Sardinia.

On New Yearís day, 42 B.C., Julius Caesar was declared a god, and Octavian thus became divi films (son of a god). In the meantime, the Republican renegades Brutus and Cassius had been ravaging Greece and Asia, and had amassed a considerable war chest and a large, well-equipped army. It was only a matter of time before these ìRepublicanî forces would engage whatever armies the Caesareans could assemble. The Republicans needed to win to justify their murder of Caesar, and the Caesareans needed to avenge Julius Caesarís death.

Antony and Octavian left Lepidus in command in Italy, and led their armies east to confront Brutus and Cassius. The armies of the Caesareans (Triumvirs) and the Republicans met in northern Greece, near Philippi, and engaged in two pitched battles. Octavian was so ill that he had to be carried about the battlefield on a litter, and thus he had to rely on the healthier and more experienced Antony to carry the day against the Republicans. In October of 42 B.C., these battles occurred at Philippi about three weeks apart. Cassius committed suicide after the first battle, and Brutus did the same after having lost the second.

The memory of Julius Caesar was avenged, and Rome awaited the triumphant return of Octavian and Antony. This marked a new era in the Roman world, and each of the Triumvirs thus tried to strengthen his own position. Also, the three carved up the Roman world. Antony headed to the east while Octavian and Lepidus remained in the West. In the following year, 41 B.C., Octavian came into conflict with Lucius Antonius, the youngest brother of Marc Antony, and defeated him in what is called the ìPerusine War.î Octavian wisely spared the life of Lucius Antonius, so as not to antagonize Marc Antony.

In 40 B.C., Octavian married Scribonia, a relative of Sextus Pompey, the youngest son of the long-deceased warlord Pompey the Great. After the murder of Julius Caesar (who in 48 B.C. had defeated Pompey the Great), Sextus Pompey had re-activated his ambitions, and had been given by order of the senate command of a powerful fleet which he used to gain control of Sicily and Sardinia.

Though Octavianís marriage to Scribonia had a political motive, it also resulted in a daughter named Julia, who was to be the only child Octavian fathered. In the same year, 40 B.C., Octavian also came to an agreement with Antony known as the Treaty of Brundisium, by which Antony married Octavianís only sister, Octavia. Though the marriage was received well by the public (who hoped it might prevent civil war), it was a private failure.

Two years later Octavian divorced Scribonia, not only because it was politically expedient, but also because (as Suetonius reports) he ìÖ could not bear the way she nagged Öî Octavian replaced Scribonia with an aristocratic lady named Livia, who proved to be his final wife. This marriage was based principally upon love and, though childless, endured 52 years. They seemed perfect companions though, admittedly, Livia frequently had to turn a blind eye to Octavianís extramarital affairs (which, we are told, were numerous).

The five-year Triumviral pact expired in 37 B.C., and Octavia (the sister to one Triumvir, and wife to another) was instrumental in organizing the Treaty of Tarentum, at which their pact was renewed. Only one year later, in 36 B.C., the complicated situation in the West was greatly simplified when Octavianís general Agrippa defeated Sextus Pompey in a pitched naval battle off the coast of Sicily.

Not only did this remove Sextus Pompey, the last member of the Pompeiian party, but during the campaign the least charismatic Triumvir, Lepidus (who had control of Africa), came into conflict with Octavian. In that same year, Lepidus was thus stripped of all honors except that of pontifex maximus (high priest). The Roman world was now exclusively in the hands of Octavian and Antony, who parceled it between themselves. Octavian received the West, and Antony took command in the wealthier East.

With the geographical separation came also a political division between Octavian and Antony. Octavian focused on restoring peace in Italy, where his support grew enormously. From 35 to 33 B.C. he was mainly occupied with wars in Illyria and Dalmatia, which gave Italy greater security on its eastern front. His building projects, headed by his lieutenant Agrippa, only added to Octavianís popularity. In the meantime, Antony became more estranged to the Italians. His recalcitrant treatment of his wife, Octavia (Octavianís sister), in favor of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII, only worsened public opinion. Furthermore, Octavian fiendishly revealed the contents of Antonyís will, which left no doubt that his tastes had become thoroughly Orientalized.

Even though public opinion in Italy was moving in Octavianís favor, when the Triumviral pact (and Octavianís consulship) expired at the end of 33 B.C., the incoming consuls (of 32 B.C.) were Ahenobarbus and Sosius, both of whom strongly supported Antony. Octavian thus occupied Rome with his soldiers and terrified the senators: the two consuls and some 300 senators fled to Ephesus to seek Antonyís protection. The Triumviral Pact was not renewed, amounting to a declaration of war.

In 31 B.C., Italy and the western provinces submitted to Octavian, who assumed the consulship and officially declared war against Cleopatra VII, with the dual purpose of also eliminating Antony. The war came to a head in the spring of 31 B.C., when the armies and navies of the two warlords settled about five miles apart near the mouth of the Gulf of Ambracia on the western shore of Greece. Octavianís trusted naval commander, Agrippa, blockaded Antonyís forces, and took his toll by the end of summer. Antony and Cleopatra VII burst through Agrippaís blockade and headed for Egypt, leaving the main parts of their army and navy to stay and fight.

The epochal battle occurred on September 2 at Actium. It was a massive engagement that filled the mouth of the gulf so thickly with warships that it has often been described as a virtual land war at sea. Agrippa proved to be the better admiral, and Antonyís fleet, abandoned by its leader, capitulated. A few days later, Antonyís land forces also surrendered, and one of the great victories in Western history was complete.

After having made their journey to Egypt, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide separately in 30 B.C. rather than be taken to Rome to adorn Octavianís triumphal procession. As the new ruler of the Mediterranean, Octavian annexed Egypt (which had been a client kingdom) as his own private territory and executed the boy Caesarion, who Cleopatra claimed had been sired by Julius Caesar.

In 29 B.C., Octavian celebrated his triumph in Rome, and the doors of the Temple of Janus were formally closed. This was a rare occurrence, for they were only closed when Rome was at peace. Octavian subsequently was hailed Imperator by the senate, but instead of being a title, it was adopted as his praenomen. Octavian began the lengthy process of disbanding his many legions by settling veterans with land grants.

Now, came the artful part of Octavianís career, for after having achieved absolute power, he did not want to lose it in the same manner as Julius Caesar had nearly 15 years before. Thus began his mission to retain his absolute authority without having it appear so. Octavian declared the restoration of the Republic, and, on January 13, 27 B.C., forfeited most of his authority to the senate and the people of Rome.

He kept only his position as consul, and the provinces of Spain, Gaul, Syria and Egypt, complete with their legions. Three days later, the senate granted Octavian the title Augustus (meaning ìsacredî or ìreveredî), which he chose in preference to that of Romulus. However, his true preference was Princeps, which meant ìfirst citizen.î Under succeeding emperors, Augustus came to mean the title of office of the emperor.

Note: For more details on this period, see the historical outline in the introductory section of Chapter 1.

AS AUGUSTUS (27 B.C. ñ A.D. 14)

Although Augustus had achieved far more than one might have expected from the frail teenager of 43 B.C., his career as leader of Rome was just beginning. The five years following his being hailed Augustus were dangerous ones, in which Romeís new frontiers were secured or expanded. Augustus paid close attention to the submission and organization of Spain and Gaul, two of Romeís most important provinces.

In 23 B.C., Augustus resigned his decade-long possession of the consulship, but in its place the senate granted him for life the tribuniciae potestas (ìpower of the tribunateî). In this way Augustus attained perpetual veto power, and with this gesture the Republic formally came to an end. In that same year Marcellus, Augustusí only nephew and heir-apparent, died. Since Augustus had no son of his own, and was never in possession of good health (twice recently, in 25 and 23 B.C. he had been critically ill), his need for an heir seemed urgent.

Next in line was his lifelong friend and lieutenant, Agrippa, who two years later (21 B.C.) married Augustusí daughter, Julia (who recently had been widowed with the death of Marcellus). Only three years after that, in 18 B.C., Agrippa was granted a five-year co-regency with Augustus, which was renewed in 13 B.C. But the search for an heir who did not die prematurely proved to be Augustusí lifelong frustration. Indeed, he would lose no fewer than six prospects, only to be succeeded by Tiberius, the step-son whom he disliked.

Shortly before he began three years of travel in Sicily, Greece and Asia, Augustus turned down the senateís offer of becoming dictator. He introduced many pieces of legislation in 18 and 17 B.C. that supported traditional Roman family values. In the latter year, Augustus adopted his two eldest grandsons, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, and personally saw to their education in hope they might succeed him when they came of age.

From 15 to 13 B.C. Augustus focused on the western European provinces. He resided in Gaul and annexed Rhaetia and Noricum. One of his first actions in Gaul was to establish an Imperial mint at Lugdunum in 15 B.C., and, in a related measure, to reduce the senateís jurisdiction to the copper coinages only.

Two important deaths subsequently occurred. In 13 or 12 B.C., the long-since-demoted Triumvir Lepidus died. Since Lepidus had retained the title of Pontifex Maximus, it was now available and was given to Augustus, who became the head of the Roman religion. In 12 B.C., Augustusí heir-apparent and comrade-in-arms Agrippa died. Once again, Augustus had lost a promising heir, and his only daughter was widowed in the process. Now, Augustus was without a suitable heir should he die any time soon.

Having no other personal option (for his two grandsons were only 8 and 5 years old), Augustus brought into the Imperial fold his two stepsons, Tiberius and Nero Claudius Drusus, the sons of Livia by her previous marriage. With their promotion came an increase in Roman aggression in the unconquered lands bordering the Rhine and the Danube. Nero Claudius Drusus died just three years later, in 9 B.C., from an accidental fall off his horse.

Now Tiberius, who in 12 or 11 B.C. had been forced into an unhappy marriage with Augustusí daughter, Julia, was the only plausible heir in the event of an emergency. However, Augustus did not care for Tiberius, and viewed him simply as a regent for his two eldest grandsons, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. While this arrangement suited Augustus, it angered Tiberius, who realized that he was being used. Not only had he been forced to give up his blissful marriage to Vipsania Agrippina to enter into a hateful one with Augustusí daughter, but he now had to deal with the ìspoiledî grandchildren of Augustus.

In the meantime, Tiberiusí service to the Empire as its leading field general was being taken for granted by Augustus. The small measure of help Augustus offered in 6 B.C. ó granting Tiberius the tribuniciae potestas for five years ó rang hollow. Tiberius refused the title and ìretiredî to the island of Rhodes, where he stayed in self-exile for the next eight years. This left Augustus without a suitable heir who was of age.

In 2 B.C., after the most creative era of his principate had passed, the senate hailed Augustus Pater Patriae, meaning ìfather of his country.î As flattering as this was, it had little effect on Augustusí spirit, for it occurred in the same year he banished his only daughter Julia on a charge of adultery, for she had engaged in many affairs while Tiberius was absent. Though heartbroken, Augustus had little choice in the matter, for about 15 years before he himself had introduced the legislation (lex lulia de adul-teriis) that made adultery a public crime.

Tiberius returned to Rome in the summer of A.D. 2 on the condition that he stay out of public affairs. Later in that same year, Augustusí second grandson, Lucius Caesar, died, and only two years after that (A.D. 4), his oldest grandson, Gaius Caesar, died. The only legitimate candidates for the succession were now the 46-year-old Tiberius and Augustusí remaining grandson, the recalcitrant 16-year-old Agrippa Postumus. Augustus formally adopted both of them in A.D. 4., but by A.D. 7 he had banished Agrippa Postumus, who would never return.

The years A.D. 6 to 9 were fraught with military crisis, which kept the heir-apparent Tiberius busy on the frontier. Augustus soon realized that his 28 legions (which were reduced from 60 at the height of his civil war with Antony) were insufficient. Indeed, when a revolt broke out in Pannonia, it required three years of Tiberiusí full attention to suppress.

Just as Rome was emerging from this crisis on the Danube, the incompetent general Publius Quinctilius Varus lost three legions to a Germanic ambush in the Teutoburg forest. Now, Augustus had only 25 legions. This devastating blow sent Augustus into depression. For several months thereafter he occasionally banged his head against doors or walls and cried out ìQuinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!î After having experienced these problems, Augustus postponed his plans to annex other European territories.

During the last five years of Augustusí reign, he resigned himself to the fact that Tiberius would succeed him. Even so, the aging emperor may have engaged in one last attempt to repair his relationship with Agrippa Postumus, whom he had exiled seven years previously. If this were true, it may have been what killed him, for Livia is said to have poisoned Augustus either to prevent such a meeting or in response to it having occurred.

Whatever the truth is, Augustus died at Nola on August 19, A.D. 14, just one month short of reaching his 76th year. Tiberius, who sped back from his journey to the Danubian front, arrived either while his adoptive father was on his deathbed or shortly after he died. Unpopular though he was, the 54-year-old Tiberius was hailed emperor. Except for the objection of the opportunist Asinius Gallus, there was no significant opposition or delay, for no one else was better qualified to succeed the great Augustus.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Because of the various forms in which Augustus held power, and the great length of his political career (some 57 years), his is by far the most complex of all Roman coinages. As he shaped the political system from the crumbling Republic to the Principate (from Imperium to A uctoritas, as Michael Grant so appropriately described it in 1946), the character of his coinage changed. To simplify matters, his listings are divided according to the phase of his career in which they were struck. No serious attempt has been made to catalog all of his Imperatorial or Imperial coins, and relatively little attention has been paid to his ëprovincialí coins, for he struck them at perhaps 150 mints. It should also be noted that the honorary coinage struck after his death was the largest of its kind in all Roman history.

JULIA

DAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS (BY SCRIBONIA)

NIECE OF OCTAVIA

STEP-DAUGHTER OF LIVIA

WIFE OF MARCELLUS, AGRIPPA AND TIBERIUS

MOTHER-IN-LAW OF GERMANICUS

MOTHER OF GAIUS CAESAR, LUCIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA POSTUMUS, JULIA THE YOUNGER AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

GRANDMOTHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF NERO

Julia (often called Julia Major or Julia the Elder), 39 B.C. ñ A.D. 14. Famous for her kindness and sense of humor, Julia had little choice but to endure a tragic life. She was born to Augustus (Octavian) and his second wife, Scribonia, whom he divorced the day after Julia was born. Because she proved to be Augustusí only natural child, Julia was important to her fatherís political career from the very outset. At the Treaty of Tarentum in 37 B.C., while only a small child, she was betrothed to Marc Antonyís son Marcus Antonius Junior, who was only about 7 years old.

Because Marc Antonius Junior died in 30 B.C., Julia was wed to her 17-year-old cousin Marcellus in 25 B.C. Though this union cemented Marcellusí position as preferred eventual heir to Augustusí throne, it was not destined to last. Marcellus died in 23 B.C., apparently of natural causes, but perhaps on the orders of Livia. Augustus needed a new heir, and so he called upon his old comrade-in-arms, Agrippa, who all along had been the only serious rival to Marcellus. Julia was thus married to Agrippa in 21 B.C., even though he was some 25 years her senior and had been married several times before.

In 20 B.C. the couple produced a son, Gaius Caesar, and thereafter they had four more children: Julia the Younger in c. 19 B.C., Lucius Caesar in 17 B.C., Agrippina Senior in 14 B.C., and Agrippa Postumus in 12 B.C. No coins were struck for Julia the Younger, who (in A.D. 8), like her homonymous mother, was banished for rampant promiscuity (and apparently was kept alive until 28 by the support of her step-grandmother, Livia). Julia and Agrippa seemed to have gotten along well, and she accompanied her husband in the East from 16ñ13 B.C.

However, this fruitful marriage ended with Agrippaís tragic death in 12 B.C. Julia was now a widow, and Augustus had lost a second heir-apparent. Furthermore, he had no other immediate heir, as his grandsons were merely children. Thus began a very unhappy stage of Juliaís life, as she was forced by Augustus and her stepmother Livia to marry yet again (in 12 or 11 B.C.), this time to Tiberius, Livia s eldest son. Tiberius was happily married to Vipsania Agrippina (a daughter of Agrippa, and the mother of Drusus) and did not want to divorce her so he could marry Julia, the widow of his ex-father-in-law. Political necessity, however, overshadowed personal desires; Tiberius would become the emergency heir, but in essence was perceived by Augustus as little more than the guardian of Augustusí eventual heirs, his eldest grandsons, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar.

Tiberius and Julia proved to be completely incompatible, and the marriage was a failure. Tiberius spent as much time away from Rome on campaigns as possible, and in 6 B.C. exiled himself on the distant island of Rhodes while Julia remained in Rome. She engaged in affairs with many aristocratic men, including perhaps the poet Ovid, and Iullus Antonius, the youngest son of Marc Antony and Fulvia.

For her sexual escapades, Augustus reluctantly charged Julia with adultery in 2 B.C. and exiled her to the barren island of Pandataria, where she was accompanied by her mother, Scribonia. Suetonius tells us that this was perhaps the most tragic event in Augustusí life, and was far more hurtful even than the untimely deaths of his grandsons, Gaius and Lucius Caesars, or even the massacre of his legions under Varus in Germany.

While on Pandataria, Julia was forbidden to drink wine or indulge in any other luxury. Five years after she was banished, Julia was allowed to reside in somewhat greater comfort in Rhegium in southern Italy. Despite this upgrade in lifestyle, Julia and her mother still lived in virtually complete isolation for the next 11 years, during which time her three sons perished. According to Tacitus, Julia died of slow starvation in 14 sometime after her last son, Agrippa Postumus, was murdered (though some scholars suggest she actually died two years earlier). In any case, she was starved because her embittered former husband, the emperor Tiberius, disconcontinued the allowance Augustus had granted her, and forbade all gifts.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: All coins depicting Julia were struck by her father, Augustus. Her Imperial issues are of interest, for one type is most unusual, and another is controversial. On the former (represented by two issues of denarii) Juliaís bust is shown together with those of her two eldest sons, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. This format is interesting, but seldom yields detailed portraits. The controversial issue is a denarius from the same moneyer (C. Marius C. f. Tromentina) of 13 B.C., the year in which Augustus renewed Agrippaís tribunician power and designated him as his successor. Several coins struck by the moneyers of 13 B.C. celebrate the foundation of an Augustan dynasty in which Julia and Agrippa represented the next generation, and their two sons Gaius and Lucius (for their other son, Agrippa Postumus, had not yet been born) were considered the eventual heirs. Indeed, it is in this remarkable series that ëImperialí portrait coins are first struck for Agrippa, Julia, Gaius and Lucius. The historical context for the bust of Diana representing Julia is so strong that any doubts must be ascribed to overly cautious scholarship.

MARCELLUS

NEPHEW, SON-IN-LAW AND INTENDED HEIR OF AUGUSTUS

SON OF OCTAVIA

FIRST HUSBAND (AND COUSIN) OF JULIA

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF AGRIPPA

HALF-BROTHER OF ANTONIA

Marcus Claudius Marcellus, 42ñ23 B.C. Marcellus ó just like the future emperor Tiberius ó was born in the eventful year of 42 B.C., when his uncle, Augustus (Octavian), had joined forces with Marc Antony to defeat the Republican forces of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.

Marcellus was the son of Augustusí sister Octavia by her first husband Gaius Claudius Marcellus (the consul of 50 B.C.). Two years after Marcellus was born his mother divorced the boyís father at the urging of Octavian, who for political reasons wanted her to marry Marc Antony. Even while a toddler Marcellus was thrown into the political mix when, in 39 B.C., he was betrothed to the daughter of Octavianís rival Sextus Pompey (though the marriage never occured).

Since Augustus had no sons of his own, his nephew Marcellus was considered the foremost heir. Indeed, Augustus took a personal interest in his nephewís education in Spain, and originally betrothed him to a daughter of Sextus Pompeius. However, in 25 B.C. Augustus insisted instead that he wed Julia, the only child Augustus had fathered. Genetically this was a very close match (they were first cousins), and it is perhaps fortuitous that they did not have children.

After this marriage occurred, there remained no doubt that Marcellus was Augustusí preferred eventual heir, but since he was still only in his late teens, he was not yet a practical one. Marcellusí main rival was his brother-in-law Agrippa, the trusted lieutenant of Augustus. The two men often clashed ó Agrippa because he believed his record of service should prevail, and the younger Marcellus because he was ìfamily.î Indeed, when Augustus fell seriously ill in 23 B.C., he gave his signet ring to Agrippa, not Marcellus, for he felt his nephew was still too young for this responsibility at that point.

The likelihood that Marcellus would inherit the throne not only displeased Agrippa, but also Augustusí wife, Livia, who had two sons of her own (Tiberius and Nero Claudius Drusus). We can be justifiably suspicious that Marcellusí sudden death in 23 B.C. at age 19 was not natural, and was perhaps engineered by Livia. Although Agrippa perhaps had the most to gain from Marcellusí death, it would seem to be out of character for him to resort to such an underhanded act.

None-the-less, Agrippa became the leading heir to Augustus, a position which was greatly strengthened some two years later when he divorced Marcellusí sister, Marcella, and married his widow, Julia. Though Marcellusí death came as a shock to both Augustus and to the people of Rome, it proved to be the first in a long line of tragic and suspicious deaths of Augustusí intended successors.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: The coinage believed to portray Marcellus and Julia is rare and controversial. The most complicating factor is that there is no identifying inscription, and thus the attribution (even of the mint) is uncertain. However, since the coin belongs to the ninth consulship of Augustus (25 B.C.), it is likely that Marcellus and Julia are the subjects. Other authorities suggest the manís portrait is either Julius Caesar or Agrippa, and that the womanís portrait is Octavia, the mother of Marcellus. But in each of these alternate cases finding a proper context and a suitable partner in 25 B.C. is difficult, and so the attribution must tentatively remain with Marcellus and Julia.

AGRIPPA

SON-IN-LAW AND INTENDED SUCCESSOR OF AUGUSTUS

SECOND HUSBAND OF JULIA

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF MARCELLUS

FATHER-IN-LAW OF TIBERIUS

FATHER OF VIPSANIA AGRIPPINA, GAIUS CAESAR, LUCIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA POSTUMUS, JULIA THE YOUNGER AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

GRANDFATHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA

GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF NERO

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, c. 63ñ12 B.C. The lieutenant and a chosen successor of Augustus, Agrippa was a close childhood friend of the first princeps, and was an ardent supporter of his until his own death in 12 B.C.

Although of relatively humble birth (he hailed from an equestrian family from Dalmatia), he was relied upon heavily by Augustus. When Augustus (Octavian) was recalled from his studies in Apollonia following the murder of his granduncle Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., it was Agrippa who accompanied him. He was an active commander in the Perusine War, governed Gaul, and later led an expedition across the Rhine. In 37 B.C. he served as consul in Rome and he twice received the tribunician power during his illustrious career.

Agrippa was the chief architect of Augustusí campaigns against Sextus Pompey, whom he defeated off the coast of Sicily in 36 B.C., thus stamping out the remnants of the Pompeian Party, and making it possible for Augustus to become the unrivaled commander of the Western Mediterranean. He also served with distinction in the Illyrian War of 35ñ33 B.C. But his greatest contribution to the building of Augustusí political career was yet to come. Indeed, it was Agrippaís genius as a naval commander to which Augustus owed his defeat of Marc Antony at the monumental Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.

Thereafter, Agrippa held additional consulships in 28 and 27 B.C. During the next few years, Agrippa had to contend with his brother-in-law Marcellus, who was Augustusí nephew and son-in-law. Because of Marcellusí blood connections to Augustus, the young man was intended to be Augustusí eventual heir. Not surprisingly, followers of Agrippa and Marcellus often clashed because both hoped to succeed Augustus, but each had different qualifications.

When Augustus fell seriously ill in 23 B.C., it was to Agrippa that he handed his signet ring, for Marcellus was only 19 years old and not ready for the responsibility of ruling an Empire. But the rivalry did not last for long, for Marcellus died prematurely in 23 B.C., perhaps as the result of a cunning murder.

After taking on a diplomatic mission in the East, Agrippa returned to Rome in 21 B.C., where he switched wives. He divorced Claudia Marcella (Major), a niece of Augustus and the sister of his former rival Marcellus (who not long ago had died) so that he could marry Marcellusí widow Julia, the only daughter of Augustus. Together, Agrippa and Julia had five surviving children, four of whom appear on coins.

Agrippa spent the next two years pacifying parts of Spain and Gaul, and returned again to Rome in 18 B.C., whereupon he was given the tribu-niciae potestas for a period of five years (which was renewed in 13 B.C.). His next important mission began in 16 B.C., when he spent three years in the East settling a variety of political and military problems and established veterans in colonies. After this, he returned in 13 B.C. to Pannonia, where his presence was instrumental in stamping out a potential revolt by frontier legions. Agrippa then returned to Rome, where he died a natural death in 12 B.C.

This came as a great shock to the nation, and to his long-time friend Augustus, who had chosen him as heir to the throne. Agrippaís career was remarkably eventful, but hardly as colorful as one might expect. Indeed, it reads like a laundry list of accomplishments, tireless service, and unquestioned loyalty to Augustus. No doubt, these character strengths must have concerned Livia, who was hopeful that one of her own two sons would succeed Augustus. It is worth noting that Agrippaís career was not entirely devoted to warfare, as he also held top governmental posts and supervised several massive building projects, including one that improved the water supply of the city of Rome. Among these was the Pantheon, one of the most enduring symbols of Rome, which much later in history was renovated by the emperor Hadrian.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Agrippaís precious metal coinage was struck during two periods: 38 B.C. and 13ñ12 B.C. Most of Agrippaís provincial coinage occurred under Augustus, including the dual-portrait issues of Nemausus, which were struck in three phases, c. 27 B.C., c. 16ñ10 B.C. and c. 9ñ3 B.C. The most enigmatic issues of Agrippa, however, are the posthumous asses which are most often attributed to the reign of Caligula. Many scholars rightly believe the finest-style pieces were struck under Tiberius (14ñ37), and that the series continued through the reign of Caligula (37ñ41) and into the principate of Claudius (41ñ54). That they were struck by Caligula at all is enigmatic, as his disdain for Agrippa was well known. Suetonius relates: ìBecause of Agrippaís humble origin, Caligula loathed being described as his grandson, and would fly into a rage if anyone mentioned him, in speech or song Öî.

GAIUS CAESAR

SON OF AGRIPPA AND JULIA

GRANDSON AND INTENDED HEIR OF AUGUSTUS

FIRST HUSBAND OF LIVILLA

BROTHER OF LUCIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA POSTUMUS, JULIA THE YOUNGER AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

Gaius (Julius) Caesar, 20 B.C.ñA.D. 4. Gaius Caesar and his younger brother Lucius Caesar were adopted by their grandfather Augustus in 17 B.C., who personally saw to their education. After his father, Agrippa, died in 12 B.C., Gaius Caesar was hailed princeps iuventutis (in 5 B.C.), as he and Lucius Caesar became the intended successors of Augustus.

But the brothers were spoiled and presumptuous about their future roles in government, so in 6 B.C. Augustus tried to teach them some humility by awarding Tiberius the tribunician power for five years. But Tiberius refused the honor since he was fed up with his marriage to Julia and was not anxious to be drawn into conflict with his stepsons Gaius and Lucius. Instead, Tiberius withdrew from public service and exiled himself on the distant island of Rhodes.

In the following year Gaius Caesar turned 15, upon which he was designated for the consulship of A.D. 1 and prematurely admitted to the senate. By all accounts, his public presentation was warmly received. Gaius Caesarís first and only wife was Livilla, the daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia, whom he married in 1 B.C. Livilla is better known for her later marriage to Tiberiusí son, Drusus, and for her adulterous affair with the praetorian prefect Sejanus. Though their marriage united the families of Augustus and Livia, it produced no children, and thus did not have the unifying effect their parents might have envisioned.

Gaius Caesar attained his first important mission in 1 B.C., when he was sent to the East to direct a campaign against Parthia, which had seized Armenia. Accompanying him as advisers were Sejanus, the future prefect of Tiberius, and Domitius Ahenobarbus, the grandfather of Nero. While in Syria, he celebrated his first consulate, and all seemed to be going well for the young heir to the throne, though the death of his younger brother, Lucius Caesar, in A.D. 2 must have come as a shock.

A similar fate, however, was awaiting Gaius Caesar, who near the end of the war in the East suffered a serious wound that some 18 months later proved fatal (though some suggested Livia may have had a hand in his ìnaturalî death). Gaius Caesar died at Limyra in Lycia on February 21 of A.D. 4 while returning to Rome. His death was a shock not only to his adoptive grandfather, Augustus, but also to the people of Rome, who seem to have been fond of the young man. Once again ó for the fourth time ó Augustus had lost an heir to the throne.

LUCIUS CAESAR

SON OF AGRIPPA AND JULIA

GRANDSON AND INTENDED HEIR OF AUGUSTUS

BROTHER OF GAIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA POSTUMUS, JULIA THE YOUNGER AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

Lucius (Julius) Caesar, 17 B.C. ñ A.D. 2. The younger brother of Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar was cherished by his grandfather, the emperor Augustus. The brothers were jointly adopted by Augustus upon Luciusí birth in 17 B.C. After their father, Agrippa, died in 12 B.C., the brothers became the intended successors of Augustus, though as yet they were far too young for the task.

To remedy this, their mother, Julia, was married against her wishes to Tiberius, the eldest son of Livia, who at the time was married to her exhusbandís daughter. Tiberius was to act as guardian for the spoiled boys, but both the marriage and the guardianship proved too much for Tiberius to bear, and so he exiled himself to the island of Rhodes in 6 B.C. and left his new family to determine their own fates.

The years 3ñ2 B.C. were important for Lucius, who was hailed princeps iuventutis, presented publicly (assuming the toga virilis), admitted to the senate, and designated for the consulship in A.D. 4. However, in the summer of A.D. 2, while en route to Spain to gain military experience, he died at Massalia on August 20 of an illness which some considered suspicious.

AGRIPPA POSTUMUS

SON OF AGRIPPA AND JULIA

GRANDSON AND INTENDED HEIR OF AUGUSTUS

BROTHER OF GAIUS CAESAR, LUCIUS CAESAR, JULIA THE YOUNGER AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

Agrippa Julius Caesar (formerly Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus), 12 B.C.ñA.D. 14. The third and youngest son of Agrippa and Julia, Agrippa Postumus was the last surviving male descendant of Augustus. He was born a few weeks after his father died, and as such he acquired the agnomen Postumus. However, Agrippa Postumus did not possess the noble qualities of his two older brothers (spoiled though they were).

The ancient historians describe him as being physically tough, brutish, temperamental, stubborn, rebellious, seditious and depraved. Tacitus goes so far as to call him ìa savage without either the years or the training needed for imperial responsibilities.î Indeed, from the outset the young man was unable to deal with his older co-heir, Tiberius, who was adopted along with him by Augustus in A.D. 4.

Through the influence of Livia, in A.D. 6 Agrippa Postumus was ëabdicatedí from the Julian gens and sent to Surrentum (near Pompeii). In A.D. 7 he was condemned by the senate to perpetual exile on the islands of Planasia, where he remained under guard for the next seven years.

Even the boyís death in 14 was an inauspicious event, and one for which several possibilities exist. It seems that his Augustus either secretly visited him a few months before his own death (where Tacitus tells us they had a ìtearful display of affectionî) or was planning to do so. This aroused the suspicions of Livia, who feared Augustus would try to bring his natural grandson back into the Imperial fold. Since this would cost her own son, Tiberius, the inheritance he was so near to receiving, we are told that Livia poisoned Augustus before he embarked. If this were true, the grandson who had caused Augustus so much grief and pain in his lifetime proved also to be a cause of his death. Not surprisingly, after his grandfatherís death in 14 Agrippa Postumus was murdered by a staff officer who took him by surprise.

Tiberius and Livia could now rest assured that no grandson of Augustus could threaten Tiberiusí principate. It remains uncertain whether Agrippa Postumusí death was carried out on the orders of Augustus, Livia or Tiberius, though it seems most likely that Livia or Tiberius did it, for we are told by Tacitus that Tiberius blamed it on Augustus.

In one of the more colorful events in Julio-Claudian history, a man named Clemens, who had once been Agrippa Postumusí slave, sped to Planasia to rescue his former master and deliver him to the armies in Germany, but arrived too late. Tacitus tells us that the inventive Clemens stole Agrippaís ashes and went into hiding in Etruria until his hair and beard grew to sufficient length so that he could nearly pass as his former master. By now it was the year 16, and Clemens began to plant rumors of Agrippaís survival, which were eagerly accepted by those who sought an option to Tiberius.

We are told that many senators and members of Tiberiusí household supported the impostor, who purported to have returned to claim his rightful inheritance. But Clemensí ruse did not last long after he emerged, for he was tricked by agents of Tiberius, who kidnapped him and interrogated him in the palace. After it became clear that Clemens would reveal no useful information, he was killed. And with this story, so ends the chapter of Augustusí last biological heir.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Understandably few coins were struck for Agrippa Postumus. The few that exist were struck by Augustus in the provinces

ASINIUS GALLUS

POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR OF AUGUSTUS

SECOND HUSBAND OF VIPSANIA AGRIPPINA

STEP-FATHER OF DRUSUS

Gaius Asinius Gallus, 41 B.C.ñA.D. 33. The son of the distinguished orator and historian Gaius Asinius Pollio, Asinius Gallus was deeply involved with the affairs of state. Augustus characterized him as a man eager for supreme power, but unequal to the task.

The death of Augustusí lieutenant Agrippa in 12 B.C. was a loss on many levels, for not only was he a superb commander and the Imperial heir, but he was also Augustusí son-in-law, and the father of his grandchildren. Thus, Augustusí daughter, Julia, was now a widow ó and far too important to remain unattached. Augustusí adopted son Tiberius was then happily married to Vipsania Agrippina (the daughter of Agrippa, and mother of Drusus), but was compelled by Augustus and Livia to divorce so he could enter a tragically unhappy marriage with the widowed Julia.

This chain of events spelled opportunity for Gallus, who married the freshly divorced Vipsania Agrippina. By marrying her, Gallus believed he had taken a step closer to the principate, but instead all he gained was the enmity of Augustusí eventual heir, Tiberius. Despite the apparent political advantages of the marriage, it seems the two were compatible, for she bore Gallus at least five sons, and Gallus welcomed his new step-son Drusus, then just a toddler, who he claimed and raised as his own.

Gallus had a distinguished career in government. It seems one of his earliest posts in government was the position of moneyer in about 16 B.C., after which he advanced through the cursus honorum at an accelerated pace under the patronage of Augustus. Gallus later served in the senate, was consul in 8 B.C., and then was governor of Syria from 6ñ5 B.C.

Though Gallus had been friendly with Augustus, his relationship with Tiberius was understandably poor, for not only was Gallus perceived as a competitor for the throne, but his sharp wit and opportunistic marriage to Tiberiusí former wife earned him no gratitude. Tiberiusí initial hatred for Gallus only grew when the latter made a fierce remark at the senate meeting in A.D. 14 where Tiberius was being confirmed emperor.

Gallus later fell victim to the political intrigues of Sejanus, and was accused by Tiberius of having had an adulterous affair with Agrippina Senior. Although Gallus had enjoyed a long and fruitful career, his downfall was rapid. He was imprisoned in 30 (one year after Agrippina Senior had suffered the same fate), and even after Sejanus was executed in 31, neither Agrippina nor Gallus emerged from their imprisonment, for Tiberius had no intention of freeing these two trouble-makers. Gallus died of starvation three years after his arrest without ever receiving a trial.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Gallusí coinage as governor of Syria was struck in 5 B.C., and there is no doubt that this portrait issue can be attributed to him. Though there is no record of his being a moneyer, Gallus appears also to have struck coins as one of Augustusí three moneyers who perhaps served in 16 B.C. (the date of this college of moneyers is not certainly known). Though the approximately eight years between his serving as moneyer and becoming consul is less than the decade normally required, Gallus enjoyed such special patronage with Augustus that it would come as no surprise if his progress was more rapid than normal.

LIVIA

AUGUSTA, A.D. 14ñ29

WIFE OF AUGUSTUS

MOTHER OF TIBERIUS AND OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS

STEP-MOTHER OF JULIA

GRANDMOTHER OF GERMANICUS, CLAUDIUS, LIVILLA AND DRUSUS

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA, BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF NERO

Julia Augusta (earlier Livia Drusilla), 58 B.C. ñ A.D. 29. The influence of Livia in the construction of the Empire cannot be underestimated, for she was the first matriarch of the Julio-Claudians, and one of the most trusted advisers of her second husband, Augustus (Octavian). Indeed, for Augustusí last 52 years, Livia was perhaps the most influential person in his life.

Before marrying Augustus she was married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, by whom she gave birth to the future emperor Tiberius, and to his younger brother, Nero Claudius Drusus. However, her husband had fought against Augustus in 40 B.C. and only returned to Italy when it was safe. In 38 B.C., while she was still pregnant with Nero Claudius Drusus, she divorced her first husband and married Augustus, who had been married three times before. This marriage was a successful political union based on what by all accounts was a genuine love and compatibility, but it produced no children.

Livia accompanied Augustus on many of his campaigns, and in his will she was adopted into the Julii family and given the lofty title of Augusta. She was the first lady to receive that title, and it was given sparingly until the principate of Domitian (81ñ96), after which it was granted to wives of the Augusti as a matter of formality.

Livia was legendary for her dignity and chastity, as well as for her tireless efforts to clear the path for her own sonís accession. This required the banishment and murder of many people. Among her victims, it was rumored, were Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar and, even more likely, her own husband. Fearing that Augustus would try to bring his banished grandson Agrippa Postumus back into the Imperial fold (and thus cost her own son, Tiberius, the inheritance), she is said to have poisoned Augustus as a preventive measure. Livia may also be credited with ordering the subsequent murder of Agrippa Postumus to assure he would never pose a threat to Tiberiusí principate. However, it should be noted that some historians consider these accusations of murder made against Livia to have been false.

After the death of Augustus in 14, Liviaís life became far more difficult, as her son Tiberius eagerly shed her domineering influence. Even though she had inherited the name and title Julia Augusta from her deceased husband, Tiberius refused her any additional honors. What began as mere intolerance grew with the passage of time to become hatred, and she devoted her last few years to counteracting the intrigues of her sonís praetorian prefect, Sejanus.

When Livia died in 29, Tiberius (who was then living in self-exile on Capri) did not attend her funeral, disregarded the instructions in her will, and forbade her deification. Her death was a great loss to the many who fought hard to limit the powers of Sejanus and Tiberius, and within months Agrippina Senior, Nero Caesar (and soon after, Drusus Caesar) were all banished or imprisoned. She was consecrated by her grandson Claudius in 42.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Though Livia makes an impressive showing on provincial coinage during the reigns of her husband and son (and more modestly under Caligula, Claudius and Nero), there are markedly fewer dedicated to her in the Imperial series. This comes as somewhat of a surprise since she was Augustusí wife for 52 years and subsequently survived for 15 years into her sonís principate. Indeed, there seems to be only one issue of Imperial coinage which offers a portrait bust of Romeís first Augusta ó a dupondius struck grudgingly by her son in 22/3.

That the bust of Salus (health) on the dupondius represents Livia is a foregone conclusion. The supplemental inscription AVGVSTA is of great importance, for Livia was the only woman to hold the title Augusta at the time. Furthermore, its symbolism of a recovery from illness is shared with a sestertius from the same series depicting a carpentum, which certainly alludes to a supplicatio decreed by the senate for her recovery from illness. Tacitus (Annals 3.64) tells us that in the latter part of 22 Livia fell so seriously ill that Tiberius hastily return to Rome, adding that when Livia recovered the senate vote a supplicatio for her and decreed that great games (ludi magni) were to be held in honor of the Julian house. That the carpentum sestertius is inscribed Ivliae Avgvst is additional evidence, for she was given both that name and that title in the will of Augustus. The other two dupondii in this series (inscribed Ivstitia and Pietas) are traditionally attributed to Livia, but in fact neither represents her. Of paramount importance is the fact that both lack the supplemental inscription Avgvsta (which undoubtedly would have been added based on the precedent set by the Salus dupondius). Furthermore, there are a host of reasons why they are more applicable to others. See the discussions following the biographies of Livilla, Antonia and Agrippina Senior for further details.

It is worth noting that Livia was about 80 years old when the Salus dupondius was struck. That she appears to be pleasantly middle-aged is of no consequence, for it was standard since the reign of Augustus to falsify the youth of Imperial personages. The portrait on the Salus dupondius is identical to those on some provincial coins struck in Liviaís honor, most notably a didrachm of Byzantium (RPC 1779) and a bronze of Oea (mod. Tripolis) in North Africa (RPC 835).

TIBERIUS A.D. 14ñ37

SON OF LIVIA

STEPSON, SON-IN-LAW AND HEIR OF AUGUSTUS

HUSBAND OF VIPSANIA AGRIPPINA AND JULIA

BROTHER OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS

FATHER OF DRUSUS (BY VIPSANIA AGRIPPINA)

SON-IN-LAW OF AGRIPPA

FATHER-IN-LAW OF LIVILLA

GRANDFATHER OF LIVIA JULIA, AND(?) OF TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

UNCLE AND ADOPTIVE FATHER OF GERMANICUS, CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

ADOPTIVE GRANDFATHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA.

Potential Heirs of Tiberius
Germanicus	A.D. 19	Murdered
Drusus	A.D. 23	Murdered
Nero Caesar	A.D. 30	Banished
Sejanus	A.D. 31	Executed
Drusus Caesar	A.D. 33	Starved
Tiberius Gemellus	A.D. 37	Executed
Caligula	ó	Succeeded
Note: Two other potential heirs were Germanicus Gemellus (who died in childhood) and Claudius (who was never seriously considered by his uncle Tiberius).

Tiberius Caesar Augustus (earlier Tiberius Claudius Nero), 42 B.C. ñ A.D. 37. Tiberius was the eldest of two sons born to Livia and Tiberius Claudius Nero, the head of the aristocratic Claudii family. His father was a strong believer in the Republic, and as such he took up arms against the Triumvirs in 40 B.C. After losing a battle he was forced to flee from the Triumvirs, and did not return to Italy until the following year. He suffered further injury when in 38 B.C. one of the Triumvirs, Octavian (Augustus), forced him to divorce Livia so that Octavian could take her as his own wife.

At the time Tiberius was 4 years old, and Livia was pregnant with his younger brother, Nero Claudius Drusus. Thus, while still a child, Tiberius was destined to play an important role in the politics of Rome. He was given his first important task in 20 B.C., when he led a campaign against the Parthians. Tiberius showed immediately that he had a flair for military leadership, and he recaptured the standards Crassus had lost 33 years before. Tiberius then tried his hand at governing Gaul in 16 B.C., and campaigned in the Alps in the following year with his brother. Tiberius then returned to Rome in 13 B.C. to assume his first consulship.

In the following year, 12 B.C., tragedy struck when the celebrated commander Agrippa died, for not only was he the husband of Augustusí only daughter, but he was also the emperorís foremost heir. Agrippaís death had dire personal consequences for Tiberius, who in 11 (or possibly 12) B.C. was forced to divorce his own beloved wife, Vipsania Agrippina. This was a doubly-cruel blow to Vipsania, who not only lost her loving husband, but who would now have to face life without her heroic father, Agrippa.

But it was not much better for Tiberius, who was forced to divorce his young, beautiful wife Vipsania (by whom heíd had a son, Drusus, who would be his future heir) so he could enter into an unhappy marriage with the widowed Julia. Tiberius spent most years of his marriage campaigning on the frontiers, as he could not tolerate Julia. During this period Tiberius was also the guardian of Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, his new stepsons, who replaced their father as heirs-apparent.

Tragedy struck again in 9 B.C. when Tiberiusí younger brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, died by accident. By 6 B.C. Tiberius found the political and social environment in Rome so unbearable that he moved to the island of Rhodes, where he isolated himself for eight years. Meanwhile in Rome, his wife, Julia, was engaging in embarrassing adulterous affairs, for which she was banished in 2 B.C. and was eventually killed 16 years later. Throughout Tiberiusí self-exile his life seems to have been in danger, for the eldest heir-apparent, Gaius Caesar, did not want him back in Rome.

Tiberius returned in August of A.D. 2 on the condition that he not participate in public affairs. Shortly after Tiberius had returned, the younger heir, Lucius Caesar, died, and only two years after that, in A.D. 4, the oldest heir, Gaius Caesar, also died. Though the deaths of the boys must have come as a great relief to Tiberius (who was now 46 years old), it was traumatic for Augustus, whose options for an heir had narrowed considerably. Indeed, the only legitimate candidates were Tiberius and his remaining grandson, the temperamental 16-year-old Agrippa Postumus. So Augustus formally adopted both of them in A.D. 4., at which time Tiberius changed his name to Tiberius Julius Caesar and grudgingly adopted his nephew Germanicus as his son.

While Tiberius and Germanicus went off to fight in Pannonia and Germany, Agrippa Postumus continued to estrange his grandfather, never outgrowing his foul disposition. Three years later, in A.D. 7, Agrippa Postumus was banished, never to return. With renewed vigor, Tiberius spent most of his next eight years fighting in Germany and in the Balkans (during which the Roman general Varus lost his three legions to a Germanic ambush in the Teutoburg forest) and proved once again that he was a capable soldier and a competent leader.

He finally returned to Rome in October of A.D. 12, upon which he was granted supreme power along with Augustus, who was in his 75th year. In the summer of 14, Tiberius left Rome to head an army in the Balkans, but just when he arrived, he was instructed by Livia to return, presumably because she feared Agrippa Postumus would be named successor while Tiberius was absent. However, by the time Tiberius had returned, Augustus was either already dead or nearly so.

Despite the objections of Asinius Gallus (who we are told had long-aspired to the throne) and Tiberiusí displays of false modesty, the senate hailed the 54-year-old Tiberius as the second emperor of Rome in August of the year 14, upon which he changed his name to Tiberius Caesar Augustus. The change of regime did not go over well with the public or with the army. The frontier legions showed signs of open mutiny and, to prevent a revolution, Tiberius sent his nephew Germanicus to Germany, and then his son, Drusus, to Pannonia to restore order.

After a rocky start, Tiberiusí principate was launched by a fresh offensive deep into German territory, which Germanicus had the honor of leading. Though Germanicusí work was yet unfinished in 17, the new heir-apparent was recalled to Rome, where he celebrated a magnificent triumph. In the following year Tiberius shared the consulship with Germanicus, whom he then sent to Asia to settle a variety of urgent matters.

Tiberius perceived the great popularity of Germanicus as a threat ó not only to his own regime, but also to the one he envisioned for his natural son, Drusus. Thus, Tiberius (it is believed) ordered his governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, to poison Germanicus when he returned to Antioch in 19. His widow, Agrippina Senior, and the people of Rome were outraged and demanded a trial. They received it in 20 and Tiberius found it politically expedient to abandon Piso, who was found guilty and killed himself.

Tiberius had narrowly escaped serious consequences, but in the process his goal was achieved, for now his son, Drusus, was clearly next in line to the throne. Thoughout all of the controversy Drusus had remained on the frontiers fighting, and in May of the year 20 he was recalled from Pannonia so he could jointly hold the consulship with his father, Tiberius.

Father and son were on good terms when he first arrived, but with the passage of time they grew apart. In the meantime, the praetorian prefect, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, had become increasingly important in Tiberiusí regime, even though personally Tiberius did not care for him. Since Sejanus himself aspired to the throne, he was only too willing to poison Tiberiusí mind against the other possible heirs, including his own son, Drusus, with whom Sejanus had come into public conflict on more than one occasion.

But Sejanus was as crafty as he was ambitious, and he had already seduced Drususí wife, Livilla. Their adulterous affair moved from the lewd to the macabre when they conspired to murder Drusus so that they could later be wed and eventually claim the throne themselves. So Drusus was administered a slow-acting poison by his wife, the effects of which caused his death on September 14 of the year 23. The plot was so well concealed that it only became known when Sejanusí own wife revealed it prior to her own death eight years later.

Two years after Drususí murder, Sejanus asked Tiberius for the widow Livillaís hand in marriage, but the request was denied because the prefect was not a senator, but merely an equestrian, and the match was not sufficiently dignified. As major a setback as this was, it did not cure Sejanus of his ambition, for he next determined to become emperor by default.

Tiberius was tiring of life in Rome and in 26 he left the capital. He first established residence in Campania, and in 27 settled permanently on the picturesque island of Capri in the Bay of Naples, never again returning to Rome. He left the day-to-day business of Roman politics in the hands of Sejanus, who had become de-facto ruler in the capital. Indeed, not only did he have the backing of Tiberius, but he also had an extensive network of spies and the might of the praetorian guards behind him.

In 29, Tiberiusí 86-year-old mother, Livia, died. Their relationship had been cold for at least 15 years, and recently he had refused even to speak with her. Her estranged son, consumed by his debauched lifestyle on Capri, did not even come to Rome for her funeral. Furthermore, he refused her deification and ignored the instructions in her will. If Liviaís death was pleasing to Tiberius, it was a windfall for Sejanus, who had long combated the forceful Augusta.

In that same year Sejanus renewed his attacks on the remaining obstacles in his rise to supreme power. In 29 and 30, three leading opponents ó Agrippina Senior and her two eldest sons, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar ó were imprisoned or banished after Sejanus charged them with a variety of offenses, including planning to overthrow Tiberius. Now, the only possible heirs other than Sejanus were Tiberius Gemellus (the grandson of Tiberius), Caligula (the youngest son of Germanicus) and Claudius (Tiberiusí bookish and sickly nephew).

The Imperial partnership between Tiberius and Sejanus reached its apex in 31. In this single year Sejanus held the consulship with Tiberius (even though he was not of senatorial rank), and plotted to overthrow his regime. Details of Sejanusí plot, however, were discovered by Tiberiusí sister-in-law Antonia, who had become the matriarch of the Julio-Claudians when Livia died in 29. Antonia informed Tiberius of the imminent coup ó certainly not out of love for Tiberius (who probably had ordered the poisoning of her eldest son, Germanicus), but out of a desire to punish Sejanus, who had systematically targeted her grandchildren.

Five years of voluntary exile had not diminished Tiberiusí survival instinct, and he arranged for Sejanusí arrest, execution and replacement all in one fell swoop. Sejanusí family and partisans were then hunted down with such speed and ferocity that it shocked contemporaries. There now remained six years in Tiberiusí principate, which the ancient historians characterize as being increasingly filled with debauchery.

The emperor was residing at Villa Jovis (the villa of Jupiter) on the eastern summit of Capri. Here, Tiberius is said to have occupied himself with literature, mythology, language, astrology and unwholesome acts of violence and sexual perversion. We are told that condemned men were thrown to their deaths from the precipitous cliffs that flanked the villa, and that if they survived the fall, they were beaten to death below by men armed with oars and boat hooks. The aged emperorís sexual exploits are equally disturbing, and the future emperor Vitellius was numbered among the young male prostitutes, known as spintriae, who indulged the emperorís desires.

Residing with him on the island (and no doubt subjected to the cruelties of the environment) were Tiberius Gemellus and Caligula, both of whom were named Tiberiusí heirs in 35. Caligula was older than his cousin by a decade, and certainly was the craftier of the two, for he had made his own plans for succession by securing the loyalty of the new praetorian prefect, Macro. While on a brief excursion to the mainland on March 16 of 37, the 7 7-year-old Tiberius died in his seaside villa at Misenum in Campania.

One version ó which is not entirely unbelievable ó is that Caligula had pulled Tiberiusí signet ring from his finger before he was dead, and that the prefect, Macro, proceeded to smother the emperor with a pillow when he began to speak. In any event, the partnership of Caligula and Macro had at long last come to fruition, and the unfortunate Tiberius Gemellus was executed a few months later on a charge of treason, leaving Caligula unopposed as emperor.

Though the people called for Tiberiusí desecration, his corpse was taken by armed escort to Rome where he was cremated by the soldiers, after which his ashes were placed in Augustusí mausoleum. Tiberiusí frugality, Claudian arrogance and stiff personality caused him to be unpopular among the people, the senate, and oftentimes, the army. Indeed, it can rightly be said that he neither sought, nor received the love of his people. His reign was eventful only because of the dynastic intrigues and his regrettable association with Sejanus. Without these exceptional circumstances, his reign no doubt would have been a dull affair.

Curiously enough, the event of Tiberiusí reign that has had the greatest impact on world history ó the ministry and crucifixion of Jesus Christ ó was no more than a minor event in the eyes of the emperor, who at the time was occupied indulging his pleasures on Capri.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: With Tiberius we find almost a complete reversal of the coinage policy of his predecessor, Augustus. Whereas Augustusí gold and silver offered an amazing variety of types, his aes coinage was mundane and utilitarian. Tiberiusí precious metal coinage, in contrast, was dull and unimaginative, but his aes coinage is of great interest. Not only does it offer some memorable types, but it also established firmly the practice of honoring both predecessors and family members.

In the years 22 and 23 Tiberius struck a series of dated aes dedicated to family members who, in addition to himself, included his adoptive father Augustus (sestertius and as), his mother Livia (sestertius and ëSalusí dupondius), his son Drusus (as), his daughter-in-law Livilla (ëPietasí dupondius), his twin grandsons Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus (sestertius), and Agrippina Senior and/or Antonia (ëJustitiaí dupondius). Each of these types may be found in this catalog under the listings of the persons named.

This series is especially interesting because by 22/23, Tiberius was fond of none of these people, except Antonia (if she is even meant to be represented) and his twin grandsons (who were too young yet to have offended him or, perhaps, to have aroused his later suspicions that they were fathered by Sejanus). As such, the series is the perfect illustration of the propaganda value of coinage in the Empire, even if the messages promoted were not truthful.

When Tiberius ascended the throne, he sent his son Drusus and his nephew Germanicus to the Danube and Rhine, respectively, to prevent rebellion by the frontier legions. Since coins of Tiberius had not yet been produced, both Drusus and Germanicus countermarked existing bronzes with the abbreviated name of Tiberius. Also of note is that billon tetradrachms were first struck at Alexandria during Tiberiusí reign for the first time since the regime of queen Cleopatra VII. Though they were further debased with the passage of time, the denomination served as the principal coin of the sealed Egyptian economy for nearly the next three centuries.

DRUSUS

SON AND INTENDED HEIR OF TIBERIUS

STEP-SON OF ASINIUS GALLUS

SECOND HUSBAND (AND COUSIN) OF LIVILLA

FATHER OF LIVIA JULIA AND(?) TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

COUSIN AND BROTHER-IN-LAW OF GERMANICUS AND CLAUDIUS

GRANDSON OF LIVIA AND AGRIPPA

FATHER-IN-LAW OF NERO CAESAR

Drusus Julius Caesar, (often called Drusus the Younger or Drusus Junior), 14/13 B.C. ñ A.D. 23. Drusus was the son of Tiberius and Vipsania Agrippina, the woman whom Tiberius was forced to divorce in 12 B.C. so he could marry Augustusí widowed daughter, Julia. Even though he was essentially raised by his step-father, the senator Asinius Gallus, he was the only natural son of Tiberius, and thus a potential heir to the throne.

Drususí prospects as heir brightened in A.D. 2 when he was hailed princeps iuventutis, and further in A.D. 4, when his father was adopted by the emperor Augustus. Though Augustus was not fond of Tiberius, he evidently saw some promise in young Drusus. No doubt, Augustus had a hand in arranging the young manís marriage to Livilla, the sister of Germanicus. The marriage occurred shortly after A.D. 4, the year Livillaís previous husband, Gaius Caesar (Augustusí eldest grandson), had died from an injury he received fighting the Parthians.

This marriage bound together the two branches of Liviaís family and served to cement Drususí position as a legitimate heir. Drusus and Livilla soon had a daughter named Livia Julia for whom no coins were struck, but who in 20 or 22 (accounts vary) was wedded to Germanicusí eldest son, Nero Caesar. Drususí prospects brightened further when Agrippa Postumus, the last grandson of Augustus, was banished in A.D. 7. This fortuitous event cleared the path for Tiberius and his son considerably.

Now only Germanicus and his three sons remained as rivals. Though slightly younger, Drusus was a contemporary of his popular cousin and adoptive brother, Germanicus. Tacitus informs us that not only were the two boys good friends, but that they did not allow their apparent rivalry to come between their friendship.

The most positive development of all for Drusus, however, occurred in 14, when Augustus died and the throne was passed on to his own father, Tiberius. Indeed, Drusus played an immediate and important role when he was sent to Pannonia to cure the frontier legions of their mutinous attitudes. Much like his cousin Germanicus (who had been sent to Germany to do likewise), Drusus won the army over with his strong personality and inspirational speeches.

In the year following his fatherís accession, Drusus held the consulship, and from 17 to 20 he commanded in Illyria, for which he celebrated a triumph. The year 19 was especially eventful, for his cousin (and adoptive brother) Germanicus was murdered in far-away Antioch by the Syrian governor, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. There was no doubt in the minds of the people that Piso had acted on orders of Tiberius.

Only a few weeks later (indeed, only a few days after news of Germanicusí death reached Rome) Drususí wife Livilla gave birth to twin boys ó Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus. With the birth of the twins (always an auspicious event to the Romans), Tiberius now had a dynasty of his own, complete with an able son and two grandsons. Now the path was clear for Drusus, who was much older than Germanicusí three sons. Indeed, what was a tragic year for Rome, was a glorious one for Tiberius.

But there was another contender for the throne ó one not yet suspected by Tiberius ó his praetorian prefect, Sejanus. Drusus was incensed at the power which Sejanus had amassed ó power no doubt he felt entitled to as the emperorís only son and the leading Imperial commander in the field. He was also perceptive enough to see that Sejanus was looking after his own interests before those of his father. Thus, Sejanus and Drusus swiftly became mortal enemies, and it was not long before they clashed.

Time proved that Drusus was no match for Sejanus, who was not about to let Drusus interfere with his own grand scheme. In 21, Drusus held his second consulship and was given the tribuniciae potestas, and thus was a virtual co-ruler with his father. However, Sejanus had long been engaged in an adulterous affair with Drususí wife, Livilla (indeed, he may have sired the twin boys), and together they plotted to remove Drusus from contention. Sejanus convinced Livilla to administer a slow-acting poison, from which Drusus died on September 14, 23. So ended the story of Drusus.

His father, Tiberius, we are told, was not particularly distressed, for with the passage of time he had become less and less fond of his son, whom we are told was vicious and of poor moral character. The young man apparently had a cruel streak and found great pleasure in killing. Indeed, the legionnaires had named the sharpest kind of sword, the drusiani, after him.

The secret of Drususí death remained concealed for eight years, and was only revealed in 31 by Sejanusí wife, Apicata, as she cleared her conscience before her own execution. With the passing of Drusus, the field of likely candidates had narrowed to the two eldest sons of Germanicus, and they proved to be the next targets of Sejanus and Tiberius. As for the two other candidates: Caligula was only 11 years old, Tiberiusí nephew Claudius was considered too sickly to be of consequence, and the twin grandsons of Tiberius were mere children.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Drususí lifetime Imperial coinage is limited to an as, a dupondius and a sestertius in the series produced by Tiberius in 22/23. Drusus himself is portrayed on the as, his wife Livilla is portrayed (in the guise of Pietas) on the dupondius, and the twin boys Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus are portrayed on the sestertius. Tiberius struck silver drachms (denarii) at Caesarea in Drususí honor in 32/33 and 33/34. The central date of these two issues is 33, and since the tenth anniversary of Drususí death occurred in that year, it no doubt was the reason for this otherwise inexplicable issue. This coinage is especially appropriate since only two years before, in 31, it was revealed that Drusus had been murdered by Livilla and Sejanus. After learning of this, Tiberius no doubt felt a measure of personal guilt for having invested enough trust and authority in Sejanus that he was able to murder Drusus with such ease.

LIVILLA

WIFE OF GAIUS CAESAR; WIFE AND COUSIN OF DRUSUS

MOTHER OF TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

DAUGHTER OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

SISTER OF GERMANICUS AND CLAUDIUS

GRANDDAUGHTER OF LIVIA, MARC ANTONY AND OCTAVIA

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF TIBERIUS, JULIA AND AGRIPPA

SISTER-IN-LAW OF AGRIPPINA SENIOR

AUNT OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA AND BRITANNICUS

Livia Julia or Livia Claudia (often called Livia or Julia Livilla the Elder), c. 13 B.C. ñ A.D. 31. Although little-discussed in numismatic circles, Livilla was an important lady during the principates of Augustus and Tiberius. As the only daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia (and the sister of Germanicus and Claudius), she was a desirable bride.

The date of Livillaís birth is uncertain, though it must have occured sometime between 14 and 11 B.C. Her absence from the design on the Ara Pacis has led some researchers to surmise that she was born in 12 or 11 B.C., though most prefer 13 B.C.

Her first marriage, in 1 B.C., was to Gaius Caesar, the eldest grandson of Augustus, and the young man in whom he had the highest hopes for succession when he came of age. Indeed, this marriage not only cemented the families of Augustus and Livia, but it also secured Livillaís eventual position as empress. Livilla accompanied her husband on his mission in the East, traveling extensively while there, but she suffered a great blow in A.D. 4 when her husband died at age 24 from a wound he received in battle against the Parthians.

Livilla was now a young widow, and eligible for another political marriage. Her second and final marriage was to her only cousin, Drusus, the son of her uncle Tiberius. Augustus is said to have seen promise in Drusus, and no doubt both he and Livia were happy to arrange the marriage in hopes that it would unite the two branches of Liviaís family. The marriage occurred shortly after A.D. 4, and soon resulted in a daughter named Livia Julia, for whom no coins were struck.

We hear little of Livilla until well into the principate of Tiberius, and what we are told is less than flattering. After what seems to have been an initial period of closeness, Livilla and Drusus eventually grew apart. This spelled great opportunity for Tiberiusí prefect, Sejanus: not only did he find Livilla a worthy conquest (for he was notorious for his seduction of noble wives), but through her Sejanus perceived a method of removing Drusus from the succession. It is difficult to determine when their adulterous affair began, but it may have been early enough for him to have sired her twin boys, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus, to whom Livilla gave birth in 19.

Indeed, at some point later, Tiberius became openly suspicious that Sejanus ó not Drusus ó was the twinsí natural father, thus making them not his grandsons. But what followed was far worse, for Sejanus was able to convince Livilla to poison her husband, Drusus, so that he could marry her as soon as she became eligible. The plan was executed with great precision, and Drusus died of what seemed to be natural causes in 23.

Livilla was now a widow again, and in the year 25 Sejanus asked Tiberiusí permission to marry her. But Tiberius denied the request, explaining that Sejanusí low birth made the match impossible. Despite this setback, the two apparently continued their amorous relationship for the next six years, during which Sejanus made every sinister effort to achieve his goal of becoming emperor.

In 31, everything Sejanus and Livilla had planned came together at once, and just as swiftly fell apart. The first problem occurred when Livilla learned that Tiberius had given Sejanus permission to marry her own daughter, Livia Julia. Though Sejanus defended the marriage as a mere formality, Livilla understandably did not want Sejanus to share beds with both mother and daughter. (Note: There is confusion among the ancient historians on this matter, and it may well be that Sejanus actually got permission to marry Livilla, not her daughter, Livia Julia.)

When Antonia (the mother of Germanicus) found a document revealing Sejanusí plot to overthrow Tiberius, she delivered it to him personally. The aging emperor had Sejanus arrested and executed. As part of Sejanusí downfall, a great many of his partisans and family were also arrested and executed. Among them was Sejanusí ex-wife, Apicata, who in the final hours of her life revealed that Sejanus and Livilla had conspired to poison Drusus. Her statement was confirmed through the interrogation of other sources, and as a result Livilla was executed in that same year that same year, and suffered damnatio memoriae.

LIVIA JULIA

Though there are no coins known for Livia Julia, the granddaughter of Tiberius and the daughter of Livilla and Drusus, her story is of great interest. She was born shortly after Livilla and Drusus were wed, and, unlike Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus (who may have been sired by Sejanus) there is no reason to doubt her parentage. At the very least Livia Julia was their half-sister.

She herself was wed to her cousin Nero Caesar (the eldest son of Germanicus), either in 20 or 22 (Tacitus suggests the former, but the latter seems equally likely). Just as with her parentsí marriage, this union bound the two branches of Liviaís family. It turned out to be a promising union for Livia Julia because shortly after they were wed, her father, Drusus, died, thus making Nero Caesar the leading heir to the throne. But her clear path to becoming empress lasted only a few years, for in 31 her husband was executed on the orders of Sejanus, the prefect of Tiberius who had been having an adulterous affair with her mother, Livilla, for more than a decade.

Historians are in some disagreement over what happened next. It seems as though Sejanus pursued Livia Julia as the perfect bride by whom he could further his personal ambitions. At the height of his power in 31, Sejanus seems to have gained Tiberiusí permission to marry her. Since Livia Julia was the eldest descendant of Tiberius, she was a better marriage prospect than her mother, Livilla, with whom Sejanus was still adulterously involved. As if this werenít strange enough, it must be considered that Livia Julia was available for marriage only because Sejanus had executed her husband.

But fate quickly sorted out the loose ends. Both Sejanus and Livilla were executed in 31 for their various crimes, and the mother-daughter love triangle never came to fruition. Livia Julia survived the chaos and in about 33 married a ìmere knight from Tiburî named Gaius Rubellius Blandus, by whom she had a son named Rubellius Plautus. Since her son was Tiberiusí great-grandson ó and thus a potential rival to the throne ó he was put to death by Nero in 62. Concerning the fate of Livia Julia, we are told by more than one source that she was murdered (seemingly in 43) on orders of Valeria Messalina, the third wife of Claudius, and thus predeceased her son by perhaps as much as two decades.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Livilla is represented on only one coin type ó a dupondius of 22/23 issued by Tiberius in the name of his son, Drusus. However, this is not acknowledged in the standard references, such as RIC, BMC and Cohen. Though this correct identification was proposed late in the 19th Century, it was not adopted in Cohenís multi-volume treatise (which was revised and republished from 1880ñ1892), and as a result it has been largely overlooked.

Of the three dupondii which Tiberius struck in the ëfamilyí bronzes of 22/23, the one which honors Livilla bears the bust of Pietas, the personification of duty toward the gods, the state, and the family. As such, Pietas was the ideal guise for the public image of Livilla. She was, after all, the wife of Drusus and the mother of Tiberiusí twin grandsons. Equally strong evidence can be found with the reverse inscription, for it is the only one of the three dupondii which bears Drususí name and titles (the other two name Tiberius). In the family aes series of 22/23, only three coins bear Drususí name in the inscriptions: the as which portrays Drusus, the sestertius which honors the twin sons he allegedly sired, and the Pietas dupondius. The three coins make a family set: a sestertius for the children, a dupondius for the mother and an as for the father. As if more evidence were necessary we should also consider that these are the only three Imperial coins bearing the name of Drusus (and, as such, they all should be of relevance to Drusus and his family). Indeed, to conclude anything other than that it is Livilla who is meant to be honored by the Pietas dupondius is simply to ignore the overwhelming evidence at hand.

Ironically, this issue reflects the public image of Livilla as a devoted mother and wife, in reality she was neither. Not only did she conspire with her adulterous lover Sejanus to murder her husband, but it seems likely that her twin sons were sired by Sejanus. As such, the Pietas dupondius is one of the least-forthright issues of the Julio-Claudians. For details about the other two dupondii in the series, see the Numismatic Notes following the biographies of Livia, Antonia and Agrippina Senior.

TIBERIUS GEMELLUS

HEIR APPARENT (OF TIBERIUS), A.D. 35ñ37

SON OF LIVILLA AND DRUSUS or SEJANUS

BROTHER OF GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

COUSIN OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA AND BRITANNICUS

GRANDSON OF ANTONIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS, AND(?) TIBERIUS

GREAT-GRANDSON OF OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY AND(?) OF LIVIA AND AGRIPPA

Tiberius Julius Caesar Gemellus, A.D. 19ñ37. As Tiberius searched for an heir to replace his own son, Drusus, who died in 23, he initially adopted the two eldest sons of Germanicus, though no doubt he hoped one of his twin grandsons, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus, would eventually succeed. Theoretically, both of these boys were in Tiberiusí direct bloodline, and thus to him were preferable to the sons of Germanicus.

However, Tiberius suspected (and over time was convinced) that the twins were born of the adulterous affair between Livilla and Sejanus. Were this the case, they would have been of no closer relation to him than Germanicusí sons, and this uncertainty was always in the back of his mind. Suetonius tells that Tiberius ìhatedî Tiberius Gemellus for being born of adultery, and that as such, he likened himself to the Trojan hero Priam, who also had outlived his entire family.

During the last years of Tiberiusí life on Capri, his options for a youthful heir had narrowed to Tiberius Gemellus and his grandnephew Caligula (the only surviving son of Germanicus, whom he had adopted as a grandson). Claudius, it seems, was still considered too sickly for the job. Tensions between Tiberius and Caligula grew on Capri, for Tiberius was aware of the latterís capacity for brutality. Indeed, the dying emperor feared for the life of Tiberius Gemellus, and Tacitus tells us that in the last few months of his life, a weeping Tiberius clasped the 18-year-old boy and said to Caligula: ìYou will kill him! And someone else will kill you!î

Since Tiberius had formally adopted Tiberius Gemellus and Caligula as co-heirs in 35, there must have been ample tension between the two young men as Tiberiusí health declined. Indeed, Suetonius tells us that Tiberius spared their lives not out of personal affection, but rather due to the counsel of his chief astrologer. Even so, Caligula was not willing to leave his own fate to chance, and so he made a pact with the praetorian prefect Macro. When Tiberius died (some said with the assistance of Macro), Caligula was hailed emperor just as had been planned.

Caligula then adopted his younger cousin and hailed him princeps iuventutis. But this arrangement did not last, and in the same year Caligula executed Tiberius Gemellus on suspicion of taking a poison antidote, an act which constituted treason. But Suetonius informs us that the smell Caligula detected on Tiberius Gemellusí breath was not an antidote, but medicine for ìa persistent cough which was getting worse.î

NUMISMATIC NOTE: It would seem that only three provincial cities struck for Tiberius Gemellus, and coins depicting him are understandably rare. The earliest pieces are from Cyrene, for they show him with his father and his brother and must date prior to 23. Most likely these African issues are associated with the ëfamilyí bronzes struck at Rome by Tiberius and Drusus from 22 to 23. Later in his life, when he was an heir-apparent to Tiberius, coins seem to have been struck in his honor at Corinth and at Philadelphia in Lydia sometime between 35 and 37.

GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

SON OF LIVILLA AND DRUSUS or SEJANUS

BROTHER OF TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

COUSIN OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA AND BRITANNICUS

GRANDSON OF ANTONIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS, AND( ?) TIBERIUS

GREAT-GRANDSON OF OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY AND( ?) OF LIVIA AND AGRIPPA

Germanicus Julius Caesar Gemellus, A.D. 19ñ23/24. Although ancient historical sources make appropriate references to his twin brother, Tiberius Gemellus (who survived into his 18th year and was named co-successor to Tiberius), they are understandably silent regarding Germanicus Gemellus, who died at age 5. Some authorities place his death in 23, the same year as his father died, others in 24. The word gemellus is an infrequently used form of the word geminus, which means ëtwin.í

NUMISMATIC NOTE: The Imperial issue (a sestertius with the twinsís heads upon crossed cornucopias), and most likely the provincial issues, portraying Germanicus Gemellus and Tiberius Gemellus were struck by Tiberius c. 22ñ23.

SEJANUS

PRAETORIAN PREFECT, A.D. 14ñ31

POTENTIAL SUCCESSOR OF TIBERIUS

COMPANION OF LIVILLA

FATHER(?) OF TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF CLAUDIUS

UNCLE OF CLAUDIA ANTONIA

Lucius Aelius Sejanus, c. 20/16 B.C. ñ A.D. 31. As the praetorian prefect of Tiberius, and his principal adviser from 23 to 31, Sejanus figures prominently in Julio-Claudian history. Indeed, when addressing the senate, Tiberius characterized Sejanus as ìthe partner of my labors.î

Though Suetonius tells us that Tiberius did not like him personally, Sejanus was his main instrument in the destruction of Germanicusí family. He also served as the emperorís agent in Rome for the first five years Tiberius spent in self-exile on Capri. Though he was of distinguished parentage on his motherís side, and his father had been a very successful man, Sejanus belonged to an equestrian (not a senatorial) family from Volsinii in Etruria. Ironically, it was only because his ambitions were so high that he rightly could be accused of ìlow birth,î a fact that Sejanus spent the best years of his life trying to overcome.

Sejanus entered into the service of Tiberius along with his own father, with whom he shared the duties of praetorian prefect in Rome. When his father was appointed prefect of Egypt, Sejanus became the sole commander of the guard. Relatively early in his career (in the year 20 according to Tacitus) Sejanus arranged to have his daughter betrothed to the eldest son of Claudius (a boy named Claudius Drusus, for whom no coins were struck). Unfortunately, the boy, who was almost of age, choked to death on a pear a few days later, robbing Sejanus of an Imperial marriage that might have changed the course of his sinister career. Even the marriage of his sister Aelia Paetina to Claudius (who was not emperor, or even an heir-apparent at that time) did not improve Sejanusí nobility.

As time passed, Tiberius trusted Sejanus with ever-increasing authority that gave him a free hand in eliminating the potential rivals to the throne. His first victim was Tiberiusí own son, Drusus, with whom Sejanus often found himself in conflict. Sejanus seduced Drususí wife, Livilla, and their adulterous affair took a foul twist when he compelled her to poison her husband. In the same year Sejanus took yet another step to increase his power when he convinced Tiberius to let him gather all nine praetorian cohorts (which traditionally were spread out among Rome and other Italian cities) and station them in a single barracks in Rome. This event was to have a great impact not only on Sejanusí authority, but also on the way Rome was ruled for the next 450 years.

Sejanusí most gruesome task, however, was to exterminate the sons of Germanicus, whom Tiberius increasingly feared as rivals to the throne. For Sejanus (who himself was aspiring to the throne), this was pleasurable work ó the fewer claimants, the better his own chances. Although Sejanus was successful in almost all of his endeavors, he suffered a great setback in 25 when his request to wed the recently widowed Livilla (with whom he was still carrying on an affair) was denied by Tiberius due to his low birth. However, Sejanus quickly recovered from this blow and moved on to other tasks.

The first of these was convincing Tiberius to act upon his desire to leave Rome and live the rest of his life in isolation on the island of Capri. Tiberius first left to Campania in 26, but by 27 had established his residence on Capri and never again returned to Rome. Sejanus now had virtually supreme authority in Rome, and acted both as the eyes and ears of Tiberius. The year 29 also brought good news to Sejanus, for Tiberiusí mother, Livia, died. This made his sinister work easier to conduct, and in 29 and 30 he was able to imprison or banished his three most potent enemies: Agrippina Senior and her two eldest sons, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar.

But all of these foul acts were merely leading up to the year 31, when Sejanus conspired to overthrow Tiberius himself. During that year not only was Sejanus named joint consul with Tiberius, but Tacitus informs us that he was also able to convince Tiberius to give him the hand of his granddaughter, Livia Julia, in marriage. While this marriage no doubt suited Sejanus, it brought a violent objection from Livilla, who would not stand by idly as her own lover of several years married her daughter. As if the family aspect of this were not disturbing enough, it must also be remembered that Livia Julia was now a widow only because Sejanus had recently arrested and executed her husband, Nero Caesar. (It is worth noting that the ancient sources are not entirely clear whether it was the mother or daughter to whom Sejanus was betrothed.)

Regardless, Suetonius tells us that Tiberius took this outrageous action only to placate Sejanus while his downfall was arranged. The house of cards built by Sejanus was now beginning to tumble, and he determined to usurp the throne before the opportunity passed him by. Amid of all this tragedy Antonia ó now the matriarch of the Julio-Claudians ó appears to have found a document revealing Sejanusí plot. No doubt with great pleasure, she informed her brother-in-law Tiberius of her discovery.

Tiberius reacted quickly and cunningly, offering Sejanusí job to an ambitious soldier named Naevius Sertorius Macro if he would arrest Sejanus. The arrest was made in the senate house, and according to Tacitus, Sejanus was executed on October 18 (after which Macro served as praetorian prefect from 31ñ38.). As a consequence, Sejanusí family and partisans were hunted down and executed with shocking ferocity, and the many statues of himself he had erected were destroyed.

During the turmoil of this counter-revolution, Sejanusí wife, Apicata, revealed that Sejanus and Livilla had conspired to poison Drusus. Thus, the doomed Apicata took satisfaction in causing the demise of Livilla, who had been mistress to her husband for several years. Perhaps the greatest unsolved mystery of Sejanusí legacy was whether or not he was the natural father of Livillaís twin sons, Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus. Though they were officially attributed to Livillaís husband, Drusus, ample suspicion existed, and we are told that even Tiberius was convinced Sejanus was their father.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: No portrait coins of Sejanus exist, although a provincial coinage of Bilbilis in Spain mentions him by name as the joint-consul of Tiberius in 31, the year to which the coins are dated. Some of Sejanusí Spanish bronzes were purposefully damaged, by which his memory was condemned for his crimes against the state.

NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS

SON OF LIVIA

STEPSON OF AUGUSTUS

BROTHER OF TIBERIUS

HUSBAND OF ANTONIA

FATHER OF GERMANICUS, CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDFATHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA, BRITANNICUS, LIVIA JULIA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLU

GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF NERO

Nero Claudius Drusus (often called Drusus the Elder or Drusus Senior), 38ñ9 B.C. Nero Claudius Drusus was the youngest son of Livia and Tiberius Claudius Nero, head of the Claudii family. His father took up arms against Marc Antony and Augustus (Octavian) in 40 B.C., and after losing a battle he fled and did not return to Italy until the following year.

In 38 B.C. Augustus forced Tiberius Claudius Nero to divorce Livia so Augustus could take her as his own wife. At the time this occurred Nero Claudius Drusus had been conceived, but not yet born. Thus, Nero Claudius Drusus was born into the family created by the marriage of Livia to Augustus, and into the Julio-Claudians. Augustus treated Nero Claudius Drusus as if he was a natural son of his own, for he raised him in his own household and saw to his education.

In 18 or 16 B.C., Nero Claudius Drusus married Augustusí niece Antonia, a remarkable woman who was destined to outlive her husband by nearly half a century. Their brief marriage of about seven years was a success, and they had three children. The first was a son born in 15 B.C., who eventually was given the name Germanicus; the second was Livilla, a daughter born in about 13 B.C.; and the last was a sickly son named Claudius, born in 10 B.C. All three children were destined for important roles in the history of the Julio-Claudians, with the youngest son becoming emperor in 41.

The career of Nero Claudius Drusus was as exceptional as it was brief. In 15 B.C. he campaigned with Tiberius against the Raetians and Vindelicians, and three years later he dedicated the famous altar to Augustus at Lugdunum. He was considered by Augustus to be his most capable general, and so he entrusted him with the invasion of Germany in 12 B.C. He spent the next three years fighting a host of Germanic nations. During these campaigns he conducted geographic explorations which were of great use to future generals.

In 9 B.C. he held the consulship, but died unexpectedly at the age of 29. He broke one of his legs after being thrown from his horse, and was taken to the armyís summer camp, where he survived in agony for a month, only to die of complications from the wound. Tiberius was devastated. He traveled from Rome to the army camp at great speed, and arrived shortly before his brother died. He then accompanied his brotherís body back to Rome for the entire, arduous journey.

The news was taken badly by Augustus, who had known him since the moment he was born and had raised him as his own. The grief-stricken emperor later wrote a biography of Nero Claudius Drusus. But hardest hit of all was his wife, Antonia, who at age 27 was widowed, and refused ever to marry again.

Although Nero Claudius Drusus was refused a full triumph for his Germanic campaigns (the results of which were somewhat illusory), in his memory the senate awarded him and his descendants the surname Germanicus, which his eldest son adopted. Nero Claudius Drusus was popular among the people, the soldiers and the senate (for he is said to have harbored strong Republican sentiments), and his death caused a lengthy period of mourning.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: All of Nero Claudius Drususí coins were struck by his son Claudius more than half a century after his death. Claudius was almost exactly 1 year old when his father died.

ANTONIA

AUGUSTA, A.D. 37 AND 41

WIFE OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS

DAUGHTER OF MARC ANTONY AND OCTAVIA

HALF-SISTER OF MARCELLUS

SISTER OF ANTONIA MAJOR (GRANDMOTHER OF NERO)

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND NIECE OF LIVIA

SISTER-IN-LAW OF TIBERIUS

MOTHER OF GERMANICUS, CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDMOTHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA, BRITANNICUS, LIVIA JULIA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER OF NERO

Antonia (Antonia Minor), 36 B.C. ñ A.D. 37. Of distinguished parentage, Antonia was also fabulously wealthy, for she inherited vast land holdings in the East from her father, Marc Antony. Though she needed no further credentials, Antonia became even better connected within the Julio-Claudians when in 18 or 16 B.C. she married Nero Claudius Drusus, the youngest son of Livia.

Antoniaís older sister (also named Antonia, and referred to by historians as Antonia Major) married into the Domitii family, giving birth to the Ahenobarbus who married Agrippina Junior and sired the future emperor Nero. Early in her life Antonia built a family Nero Claudius Drusus, who died a premature, accidental death. Together they produced three children who played important roles in Julio-Claudian history. The first, a son who eventually took the name Germanicus, arrived in 15 B.C. Their next, a daughter named Livilla born in about 13 B.C., was destined for a troubled life. Their last, a son named Claudius, born in 10 B.C., was sickly from birth but outlasted his contemporaries to become emperor in 41.

After her husbandís tragic death in 9 B.C., Antoniaís life took on a new character, for her grief was unbounded. She refused to remarry, though she remained active in raising her three children and in seeing to her economic interests in the East. She was especially active during the principate of her brother-in-law Tiberius, during which she witnessed firsthand the banishment, murder or execution of two children, their spouses, and two of her grandsons. When her mother-in-law, Livia, died in 29, Antonia became the matriarch of the Imperial household, depleted though it was.

Her most noteworthy contribution later in life occurred in 31, when she discovered a document proving that the ambitious prefect Sejanus was planning to overthrow Tiberius. Indeed, it was Antonia who informed Tiberius, and she must have been satisfied to know that she was the instrument of Sejanusí downfall, for he personally had caused so much tragedy in her family. Antonia now had only two surviving male heirs ó her youngest son, Claudius, and her youngest grandson, Caligula. Antonia had gone to great lengths to protect Caligula from Sejanus, and also to curb the boyís bad behavior.

When Tiberius died in March of 37, and Caligula emerged as sole emperor, Antonia tried to exert a moderating influence over her grandson. Historians tell us that Caligula initially honored his grandmother (then the only true ëmatriarchí of the Julio-Claudians) with all the honors previously accorded Livia, which included the title of Augusta, the top role in the priesthood of Augustus, and the privileges of the Vestal Virgins.

Though doubts have been raised as to whether Antonia was hailed Augusta by Caligula, there seems little cause for confusion. An inscription from Corinth names both Antonia (as Augusta) and Tiberius Gemellus, and thus it must date to the first few weeks of Caligulaís principate. However, it is possible that she did refuse the title as Suetonius proposes. Clearly, the title was not used extensively with Antoniaís name until after it was reconferred on her posthumously in 41 by her surviving son, Claudius.

Caligula quickly came to resent Antoniaís meddling, and is said to have either poisoned her or to have driven her to suicide less than two months after he had become emperor, for she died on May 1 at the respectable age of 72. We are also told that Caligula did not attend her funeral in person, but rather watched her pyre burn from the comfort of his dining room. If this version of history can be trusted (and that is far from certain), it ranks among the greatest acts of ingratitude imaginable considering how hard Antonia fought to protect him from Sejanus. Four years later, Antonia was given posthumous honors by Claudius, who succeeded his nephew Caligula.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Most of Antoniaís coins ó aurei, denarii, dupondii and provincial issues ó were struck posthumously by her surviving son, Claudius, who ruled from 41ñ54. The few issues struck during Antoniaís lifetime include provincial coins from the beginning of Caligulaís reign (in 37), when Antonia was first awarded the title of Augusta, and, seemingly the issue of ëJustitiaí dupondii struck by Tiberius in 22/23 (which are traditionally misattributed to Livia). As such, these dupondii are of some interest, because they are the only Imperial coins struck in honor of Antonia during her lifetime.

It seems unlikely that we have an actual portait of Antonia on these dupondii, for the features of Justitia are impersonal and idealized. This certainly is not the case with the other two dupondii in this series, which are rightly attributed to Livia (as Salus) and Livilla (as Pietas). Instead, what we have with Justitia is simply the personification of justice herself.

In the most general sense this coin applies specifically to the trial of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso for the murder of Germanicus. From that perspective it is applicable to three people: Tiberius, Antonia and Agrippina Senior. In the first case, Tiberius, this is certain not only because the coin was struck in his name, but also because he went to great lengths of ìdamage controlî to distance himself from the controversy over Germanicusí murder, which he successfully pinned on Piso as an act of his design. In the latter two cases, Antonia and Agrippina Senior, we can rightly view the bust of Justitia as symbolic of both women. Each suffered greatly from the murder of Germanicus ó Antonia for having lost her only promising son, and Agrippina Senior for having lost the husband to whom she was so devoted. The facial features of Justitia are non-specific enough that she could easily apply to either of these women without ruling out one or the other. In all of these respects it is a masterful piece of propaganda, for in one fell swoop it honored three people. For further discussion of the three dupondii in this series, see the Nusmismatic Notes for Livia, Livilla and Agrippina Senior.

GERMANICUS

SON OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

BROTHER OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

HUSBAND OF AGRIPPINA SENIOR

FATHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

ADOPTED SON OF TIBERIUS

SON-IN-LAW OF AGRIPPA AND JULIA

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF DRUSUS

GRANDSON OF LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

GRANDFATHER OF NERO

UNCLE POSTHUMOUSLY OF BRITANNICUS, LIVIA JULIA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

Germanicus Julius Caesar, 15 B.C. ñ A.D. 19. The older brother of Claudius and one of the legendary heroes of Rome, Germanicus was murdered in the prime of his life and was revered ever after. Though he received his name from German victories achieved by his father (Nero Claudius Drusus), Germanicus himself fought against the Germans on more than one occasion.

The year A.D. 4 was an eventful one for Germanicus, and for Rome. Augustusí eldest grandson, Gaius Caesar, had just died, leaving him with only one grandson, the repugnant Agrippa Postumus. So, dynastic arrangements were reconfigured yet again. Augustus jointly adopted Agrippa Postumus and his step-son, Tiberius, as heirs-apparent, at which time Tiberius was compelled by Augustus to adopt his own nephew Germanicus.

Although Germanicus was still far down the ladder of succession, he figured prominently into Augustusí contingency plans. It was at this point that Tiberius and the 19-year-old Germanicus left to wage war in Pannonia and Germany. A year later, in A.D. 5, Germanicusí status as potential heir was confirmed when he married Agrippina Senior, a granddaughter of Augustus. Their marriage was remarkably fertile, as they had nine children, one of whom (Caligula) was destined to be an emperor.

Germanicus was named consul both in 12 and 18. On the strength of his character alone he prevented a rebellion by the Rhine legions in 14, upon the death of Augustus. However, Germanicus obtained his place in history during the next three years, when he campaigned in Germany. Much like his fatherís campaigns of a quarter century before, Germanicusí daring exploits made great press in the capital, but had only fleeting results.

Contributing to his popularity with the army was his visit to the battlefield in the Teutoburg forest where Varus had lost three legions in an ambush seven years before. Indeed, Tacitus tells us that avenging the defeat of Varus was the only purpose of the campaign. In concert with his German campaigns, Germanicus assembled a fleet of some 1,000 ships in 16, which he failed to use with much success.

None of this pleased Tiberius in Rome, who viewed it as being contrary to his personal interests. After all, Germanicus was spending vast sums of money to benefit his own public image. Being both fiscally conservative and concerned about the longevity of his own regime, Tiberius recalled Germanicus in 17. Upon arriving in Rome, Germanicus celebrated a magnificent triumph before the people, who seem to have adored him unconditionally.

In the meantime, the eastern portion of the Empire had become unstable. Political upheavals in Armenia, Cappadocia, Commagene, Syria and Judaea required prompt attention, and so Tiberius sent Germanicus on a mission to settle these complex affairs. Germanicusí charm and talent served him equally well in the Greek East, though he seems to have abused his authority when he entered the emperorís province of Egypt to relieve a sudden famine without first receiving written permission from Tiberius. When Germanicus returned to Antioch he died under mysterious circumstances on October 10, A.D. 19. Though it was reported as a death by illness, all of Rome was certain he had been poisoned.

The grief of the Romans was unbounded, and we are told that they screamed for days, and painted on walls ìGive us back Germanicus!î Though Tiberius had expected there to be public mourning, he could not have anticipated it would be so emotionally charged. Leading the cry for justice was Germanicusí widow, Agrippina Senior, who had been with Germanicus in Antioch and had carried his ashes back to Rome. Her protestations resulted in the recall of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (a nobleman whom Tiberius had installed as the governor of Syria at the same time he had sent Germanicus to the East) to Rome. In 20 Piso was tried for the murder by the senate, with the trial being presided over by Tiberius himself.

Tiberius was now in a difficult position, for almost certainly it was on his orders that Piso had poisoned Germanicus. But the emperor was a crafty politician, and he distanced himself from the trial, abandoning Piso in the process. Piso was found guilty for his actions, and as a result he committed suicide. His wife of the time, Plancina, who Tacitus tells us was spared only due to the intercession of Livia, was forced to commit suicide in 34, after both Livia and Agrippina Senior were dead.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Though Tiberius did not honor his adopted son on Imperial coinage, he portrayed him extensively on provincial coinage (on which he often appears with his cousin Drusus). Germanicus did not appear on Imperial coinage until nearly two decades after his death, when he was honored by his only surviving son Caligula (37ñ41), and then by his brother Claudius (41ñ54).

AGRIPPINA SENIOR

WIFE OF GERMANICUS

DAUGHTER OF AGRIPPA AND JULIA

GRANDDAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS

SISTER OF GAIUS CAESAR, LUCIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA POSTUMUS AND JULIA THE YOUNGER

SISTER-IN-LAW OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

MOTHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

GRANDMOTHER OF NERO

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF ANTONIA

AUNT OF BRITANNICUS, LIVIA JULIA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS AND GERMANICUS GEMELLUS

Vipsania Agrippina, 14 B.C. ñ A.D. 33. The daughter of the commander Agrippa and Julia (the only daughter of Augustus), Agrippina Senior was destined to lead a life of tragedy and misery. In A.D. 5 she was married to Germanicus, the eldest grandson of Livia. Their marriage not only resulted in nine children (six of whom survived to adulthood and appear on coinage), but also served to bind the families of Augustus and Livia.

Agrippina was remarkably devoted to her husband, and accompanied him on all of his military campaigns. Initially this was on the Rhine from 14 to 16, and later during his mission in the East from 18 to 19. When Germanicus was poisoned by the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, it spelled the ruin of Agrippinaís life. Though she had no hard evidence, she knew, based on the circumstances and the nature of Piso himself that he had acted on orders of Tiberius.

After Agrippina bore Germanicusí ashes back to Rome, she became outspoken in her demand for justice. Tiberius and Sejanus did not react well to her protestations, for they only added fuel to a fire they had hoped would be extinguished without much fanfare. Thanks to her efforts, Piso was recalled in 20 to Rome, where he stood trial, was found guilty, and committed suicide in response to the verdict.

From 19 to 29 Agrippina Senior proved to be an outspoken critic of Tiberius and his vicious prefect, Sejanus. With the same political adeptness with which he had abandoned Piso during his murder trial, Tiberius struck a dupondius which alludes to the tireless efforts of Agrippina in seeking justice for her slain husband. However, this small measure of public acknowledgment did not reduce the personal desires of Tiberius and Sejanus to ruin Agrippina Senior once and for all.

The pair began to malign Agrippinaís reputation at every possible occasion, and even accused her of having had an adulterous affair with Gaius Asinius Gallus, a sharp-tongued character who had himself aspired to the throne since the reign of Augustus. In 26 Agrippina was refused the right to remarry, which did little to better her relations with Tiberius. By the year 29, Sejanus and Tiberius had managed to defame Agrippina and her eldest son Nero Caesar enough that they were both arrested.

Agrippinaís punishment was so severe that she lost an eye during a flogging she received from a centurion. In that same year the senate banished her to the island of Pandateria, where she starved to death four years later. While she was in exile, Sejanus himself was executed, bringing his reign of terror to an end. But this did her no good, for she was not released, her eldest son, Nero Caesar, died, and her second son, Drusus Caesar, was imprisoned only to die as well. Tacitus informs us Agrippina died on October 18 of 33, the same day on which Sejanus had been executed two years before. Agrippina Seniorís memory was honored by her only surviving son, Caligula, who became emperor in 37 (indeed, the first act of his reign was to bring back to Rome the ashes of his mother and his two brothers) and later still by her brother-in-law Claudius.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Agrippina Senior was represented on coinage with some frequency. However, during her tragic lifetime this probably occurred only once on Imperial coinage: on a dupondius issued by Tiberius dated to 22/3, which traditionally has been attributed to Livia. In this case Agrippina is represented by Justitia, the personification of justice. Of the three dupondii in the series, Justitia offers the least-human portrait. Both the Livia (Salus) and the Livilla (Pietas) issues have human portraits, but in the bust of Justitia we see little more than the personification herself, complete with the linear forehead and nose joined by an unbroken line.

Since the facial features are not very helpful, we must rely on the historical context. The two viable candidates are Germanicusí wife, Agrippina Senior, and his mother, Antonia, as his murder would have been a great loss to both of them, and the concept of justice would apply to both. Because Agrippina Senior was younger and more important to the dynasty, she is the one most likely identified here, however, Antonia was not combative with Tiberius during the justice-seeking process, and thus would have been a more likeable candidate for Tiberius to honor.

Considering the artists at the mint were more than capable of producing exacting images, the indistinct character of the Justitia bust must be assumed to have been purposeful. This almost leads one to conclude that it was meant to represent Agrippina Senior and Antonia simultaneously, and interchangeably. We can only be certain that it does commemorate the justice achieved on behalf of the murdered Germanicus, and that the portrait bust was not meant to represent Livia.

Agrippina Seniorís posthumous issues were far more extensive than her single lifetime issue. Her last-surviving son Caligula struck a massive issue of aurei, denarii as a compliment to the dual-portrait coins he also struck for Germanicus and Divus Augustus. Caligula also struck sestertii portraying her, which a few years later were followed up with a similar issue by her brother-in-law Claudius (which themselves were restored some three decades later by the emperor Titus). It is no exaggeration to say that a height in Julio-Claudian coin artistry was achieved on her portrait sestertii. The first ones, struck by Caligula, are the finest, and those later struck by Claudius are nearly as masterful.

NERO CAESAR

SON OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

ADOPTED GRANDSON AND POSSIBLE HEIR OF TIBERIUS

HUSBAND (AND COUSIN) OF LIVIA JULIA

SON-IN-LAW OF DRUSUS

BROTHER OF DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

NEPHEW OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDSON OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

COUSIN OF BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

GREAT-GRANDSON OF AUGUSTUS, LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

Nero Julius Caesar, A.D. 6 (or 7)ñ30/1. Nero Caesar began his public life on favorable terms with the emperors Augustus and Tiberius, perhaps because he and his younger brother, Drusus Caesar, were not the immediate heirs to the throne.

In 20 or 22 (Tacitus suggests the earlier date, though the latter seems equally likely) Nero Caesar was married to Tiberiusí own granddaughter Livia Julia, who had just come of marriage age. By this point in time the political scenario had changed, for the young manís father, Germanicus, had recently been murdered. Now the only more-suitable candidate that remained was Drusus, the son of Tiberius ó and this was simply because he was older.

Thus, what had begun as an amicable relationship between Nero Caesar and Tiberius degenerated into a life-and-death struggle. With the passing of Germanicus, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar were now fatherless, and were targets for Tiberius and his prefect Sejanus, who wanted to be rid of them as badly as did Tiberius. When Tiberiusí own son, Drusus, died four years later (in 23), the emperor had even more reason to fear the sons of Germanicus, for they were the only significant rivals to Tiberiusí twin grandsons (who were then merely 4 years old).

When Nero Caesar married Tiberiusí own granddaughter, Livia Julia, the young man had perhaps believed this would endear him to the emperor, or at the very least afford him a degree of protection. But this was not the case, for Livia Julia would routinely reveal their private conversations to her mother Livilla, who would then pass the information to her adulterous lover Sejanus.

Tiberius and Sejanus defamed Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar at every opportunity. Sejanus was especially crafty, and persuaded Drusus Caesar that he would gain the throne if he turned against his older brother. When the boysí great-grandmother Livia died in 29, they lost what little protection she had afforded them. In that same year, Sejanus convinced the senate to declare both Nero Caesar and his mother, Agrippina Senior, public enemies and to arrest them.

Most likely in the following year, Nero Caesar was exiled to the Pontian Islands, where he died in 30 or 31 (authorities disagree). Though he may have been executed, Suetonius tells us that he was forced to commit suicide when an executioner displayed a hanging noose and the hooks by which his corpse would be dragged. He further tells us that his and his brotherís bodies were chopped into so many pieces that ìÖ great difficulty was later found in collecting them for burial.î Even the right of a decent burial, it seems, was denied by Tiberius. It was not until six years later that he and Drusus Caesar were honored by their brother, Caligula, who erected statues and struck coins in their names after he became emperor.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Coins honoring Nero Caesar and his younger brother Drusus Caesar were struck by their adoptive grandfather Tiberius, and by their surviving younger brother, Caligula.

DRUSUS CAESAR

SON OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

ADOPTED GRANDSON AND POSSIBLE HEIR OF TIBERIUS

BROTHER OF NERO CAESAR, CALIGULA, DRUSILLA AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, AND JULIA LIVILLA

NEPHEW OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDSON OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

COUSIN OF BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

GREAT-GRANDSON OF AUGUSTUS, LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

Drusus Julius Caesar, A.D. 8ñ33. Drusus Caesar faced a similar fate to that of his brother (see the preceding biography), at first enjoying Imperial favor, but eventually finding the team of Tiberius and Sejanus too powerful to withstand.

Before he had reached his 20th year, Drusus Caesar realized the peril of his situation and allied himself with Sejanus, who had promised him the throne if he conspired against his older brother, Nero Caesar. But even this treacherous effort failed to win over Sejanus, for he had no intention of giving to Drusus Caesar that which he himself desired. Indeed, no amount of cooperation with Sejanus and Tiberius could erase Drusus Caesarís blood lines. As long as he lived Drusus Caesar constituted a threat to Tiberiusí hopes for his surviving grandchild, Tiberius Gemellus, and to Sejanusí private designs on the throne.

In the year 29 the terror reached a new level when the boyís great-grandmother, Livia, died. Sejanus recognized their vulnerability and went on the offensive, using his extensive spy network (which included Drusus Caesarís new wife, Amelia Lepida, who relayed personal information to Sejanus) and the support of Tiberius from Capri. Drusus Caesarís mother, Agrippina Senior, and his older brother, Nero Caesar, were both arrested in 29, and neither of them emerged from their subsequent banishments.

Young Drusus Caesarís day of reckoning was not far off, and in 30, it seems, he too was arrested by Sejanus on trumped-up charges made by, among others, Cassius Severus, who was the chief accuser in his treason trial. The senate promptly declared him a public enemy, and the unfortunate young man was imprisoned in the Palatine dungeons (some authorities are silent on when this happened, and others suggest this actually happened in 33).

Even when Sejanus was executed in 31, Drusus Caesar was not released by Tiberius, for he was still perceived as a threat. After perhaps three years of imprisonment, Drusus Caesar was starved so severely that he ate the fleece of his mattress, and soon died. Like his brother two years before, Drusus Caesarís corpse was reportedly chopped into such small pieces that they could not easily be collected for a burial which, in any case, he was refused by Tiberius. After his death, the senate was shocked when pages from his diary were read aloud, recounting the agony of the last days of Drusus Caesarís life. Four years later, he and the older brother whom he had betrayed were honored by their younger brother, Caligula, who had survived to become emperor.

GAIUS (CALLED ëCALIGULAí) A.D. 37ñ41

HEIR APPARENT (OF TIBERIUS), A.D. 35ñ37

SON OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

ADOPTED GRANDSON AND HEIR OF TIBERIUS

HUSBAND OF CAESONIA

FATHER OF DRUSILLA MINOR

BROTHER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

NEPHEW OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDSON OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

COUSIN OF BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

GREAT-GRANDSON OF AUGUSTUS, LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (earlier Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus), a.d. 12ñ41. Of all the emperors of Rome, Caligula is the best known for his personal depravity and abuse of power. Much like reports made concerning the final years of Tiberius on Capri, however, specific episodes of Caligulaís behavior may have been exaggerated by the ancient historians. Even so, his dementia cannot be underestimated.

Caligula had a very different view of the office of emperor than did his predecessors. He would settle for nothing less than full and unquestioned authority, and even made strides toward having himself worshipped as a god, as well as an emperor. He was blessed with a sharp mind and a natural talent for public speaking and theatrics. This combination of talent and mental illness made him a formidable opponent for those who were accustomed to a rational emperor.

It was impossible to predict how Caligula would react to a situation ó with generosity, indifference or shocking cruelty. His relationship with the senate was even worse than Tiberiusí had been, and when he appointed his horse to the senate it was not an act of lunacy, but rather a flamboyant condemnation of that institution. Likewise, when he collected seashells as evidence of having conquered Neptune, he tested the limits of his power by demanding a triumph from the senate.

Regrettably for the Roman state, Caligula had little or no formal training in administration, or in warfare. Thus, he failed miserably in these vital areas and, much like the most debauched of eastern Greek kings, he sought to wield his authority through fear rather than virtue. Caligula was addicted to nearly every form of sexual deviation, including incest, and took personal delight in his cruelties, especially if they involved degrading people who dared not resist.

Though it seems clear that Caligula suffered from a host of mental and physical illnesses, it is difficult to identify them exactly. He is said to have suffered from epilepsy as a child and later in life was able to sleep only about three hours per night. When he was just a small boy with his parents at military camps in Germany, he earned his nickname ìCaligulaî from the soldiers because of the military boots he wore (a regular boot was called a caliga; his nickname, caligula, is the diminutive form meaning ìlittle bootî).

If anything positive can be said of the young Caligula, it is that he was a survivor. His youth was haunted by the destruction of his family at the hands of Tiberius and Sejanus, which resulted in his fatherís murder when Caligula was only 7 years old, and the downfall of his mother and two brothers when he was in his late teens. These events must have unnerved the young man and contributed greatly to his future mental problems.

But the torture was just beginning for this future emperor, for he subsequently spent five years (from 32 to 37) on the island of Capri with Tiberius during the final, haunting years of that emperorís life. By this point in time, Tiberius had narrowed the succession to Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus (theoretically his grandson, but whom he suspected to have been sired by the former prefect Sejanus). Since Tiberius, in 35, had declared Tiberius Gemellus and Caligula co-heirs to the throne and to his personal fortune, no doubt there was tension between the two young men as Tiberiusí health declined.

Caligula was seven years older than his cousin and was also the craftier of the two, for he had secured the loyalty of the praetorian prefect Macro to ensure that there would be no doubt about his succession. His association with Macro may have gone back to 31, when he and Tiberius enlisted the prefectís help in arresting Sejanus. In any event, we are told that Caligula was sleeping with Macroís wife, and that when Tiberius died on March 16, 37 (with the able assistance of Macro, some said), Caligula was hailed emperor with Macroís help.

He returned to Rome, was warmly received by the senate, the people and the army, and adopted the name Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Nearly all had tired of Tiberiusí stingy and cruel regime, and with the accession of Caligula came the opportunity for renewal, and for leadership by the only surviving son of Germanicus. Caligula immediately adopted Tiberius Gemellus and hailed him princeps iuventutis, though at the same time he convinced the senate to alter Tiberiusí will so that he received all of the wealth rather than sharing it with Tiberius Gemellus.

Caligulaís grandmother Antonia ó who was then the matriarch of the Julio-Claudians ó made the fatal mistake of trying to restrain Caligulaís aggressions. Though Caligula at first honored Antonia and hailed her as the new Augusta, he soon tired of her heavy-handed influence, and is said to have forced her death on May 1, less than two months after his accession. However, this was only one of several important occurrences in the early part of Caligulaís reign, for in October of 37 the new emperor fell deathly ill. The episode was so serious that he named his beloved sister Drusilla heir to the Empire.

Though Caligula soon recovered physically, the near-death experience contributed to the decline of his mental state. His first two important acts after his recovery were the murders of Macro and Tiberius Gemellus early in 38. Caligula had already tired of Macroís strong influence as praetorian prefect in Rome, so he appointed him prefect of Egypt, but even at that, he forced him to commit suicide shortly before he was to set sail.

After first ridding himself of his meddlesome grandmother, Antonia, and his overbearing prefect, Macro, Caligula next removed his cousin Tiberius Gemellus, who was the only serious rival to the throne. The unfortunate young man was executed on suspicion of taking an antidote for poison ó an act which constituted treason. But Suetonius informs us that the odor Caligula detected on his cousinís breath was no antidote, only cough medicine. The act was not opposed, for Tiberius had not been beloved, and his grandson thus did not enjoy the support of the army. Caligula, quite to the contrary, had an illustrious pedigree: he was the son of Germanicus, the grandson of Agrippa and Nero Claudius Drusus, and the great-grandson of the Divine Augustus.

Shortly after these episodes occurred, Caligula was in for yet another terrible shock. His favorite sister, Drusilla, whom he is said to have loved both spiritually and physically, died on June 10, 38. His grief was unbounded, and he forced the public to mourn for an extended period of time. Furthermore, he gave her the distinct honor of becoming the first woman to be consecrated.

Within a few months, Caligula had recovered from the shock, and began to take out his aggressions on those whom he perceived as enemies. At the beginning of 39, Caligula reinstated the treason trials which had so marred Tiberiusí principate, and which resulted in the deaths of many great men. The senate now had no doubt that Caligula was both cruel and unstable.

The emperor next traveled to Germany, where he launched a military campaign in imitation of his father and paternal grandfather. His expedition had no tangible result, other than the deaths of many other fine men. Among those killed for allegedly plotting against him were the general Gaetulicus and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the widower of Caligulaís sister, Drusilla, who up until that point was one of the emperorís frequent bed companions, and perhaps his most likely heir.

Caligula did not stop with these crimes, for he soon banished his two remaining sisters, Agrippina Junior and Julia Livilla. After wintering at camps in Gaul and Germany, Caligula returned to Rome on August 31, 40, out of fear that the senate and the praetorian guards might be plotting against his life. This turned out to be one of Caligulaís more rational fears, for three serious plots were formed, with the last one being successful.

His end came swiftly on January 24, 41, underneath the palace on the Palatine Hill: before his German bodyguards could come to his rescue, he had been stabbed to death by praetorians and senators. Also perishing in the ambush (or later that same day) were his fourth wife, Caesonia, and their baby daughter, Drusilla Minor. Caligula was temporarily buried in the Lamian gardens, but later his remains were moved to the Mausoleum of Augustus.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Perhaps the most interesting reverse type of Caligulaís reign is that which depicts his three sisters standing in a row in the guises of Securitas, Concordia and Fortuna. Caligula, however, did not limit his honorary issues to the living, for he struck massive issues in the names of deceased members of his ill-fated family. Among those honored were his father Germanicus, his mother Agrippina Senior, his two brothers Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar, his great-grandfather Augustus (the inscription PRON (pronepos) means great-grandson), and ironically, it would seem, Agrippa, the grandfather who he despised for his low birth even though the Empire was built upon his military genius.

A sestertius which shows Caligula saluting the praetorian guards (to whom he gave a generous bonus upon his accession) is of particular interest. Not only is the boldness of the design unprecedented in the Empire, but, it also lacks the SC customarily placed on aes coinage. This coinage was no doubt unnerving to the senators who Caligula despised and mistrusted. For both of the reasons cited, we must conclude that Caligula took great pleasure in producing this issue, and that he saw to it personally.

A long-running controversy in Roman numismatics is when the striking of precious metal coins shifted from Lugdunum (which had been doing the lionís share of this since about 15 B.C.) back to Rome (which in the meantime had produced aes coinage). Sometime between the reigns of Tiberius (14ñ37) and Otho (69) the shift occured; some scholars prefer the first year of Caliglaís reign (the view taken in RIC), whereas others ó seemingly with a stronger case ó prefer the year 64, late in the reign of Nero.

Surprisingly, Caligula was not subjected to the damnatio memoriae process by which ones memory was condemned for crimes against the state. However, the senate did order that his aes coinage be recalled and melted because it bore the SC, a state of affairs they found intolerable. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find aes of Caligula on which the portrait is purposefully damaged or the first C in the obverse inscription (the letter on his Imperial coins which represents his full name, Gaius) is chiseled off.

CAESONIA

FOURTH WIFE OF CALIGULA

MOTHER OF DRUSILLA MINOR

Milonia Caesonia, d. A.D. 41. Not surprisingly, Caesonia began her association with her future husband, Caligula, as a mistress. He had been married three times before: in 33, to Junia Claudia; in 37, to Livia Orestilla; and in 38, to Lollia Paulina, making Caesonia his fourth. Caesonia was older than Caligula, and had three children from a previous marriage. We are told not only that she was promiscuous, but that Caligula adored her, although he would not marry her until she bore him a child. So on the day Drusilla Minor was born (or perhaps a month earlier) late in the summer of 39, they were wed. Despite his reprehensible conduct in other aspects of life, Caligula does appear to have been devoted to his last wife and daughter. Caesonia and Drusilla Minor were both murdered on January 24, 41 by the soldier Julius Lupus, either at the same time or shortly after Caligula was killed in an ambush beneath the palace on the Palatine Hill.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Caesoniaís portrait seems to appear only once ó on a rare bronze issued in 40/41 by the Judaean king Herod Agrippa I. The bust of Salus (health) on aes struck at Carthago Nova (nos. 563ñ4) by Caligula is often misattributed as a representation of Caesonia. The obverse inscription dates the Carthago Nova pieces to A.D. 37ñ38, and Caligula did not marry Caesonia until late in the summer of 39. In this case Salus represents nothing more than a hope for the health of the Imperial family in Rome, for in 37 Caligulaís grandmother Antonia fell deathly ill, and Caligula himself was bed-ridden and nearly died.

DRUSILLA MINOR

DAUGHTER OF CALIGULA AND CAESONIA

GRANDDAUGHTER OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

Julia Drusilla (often called Julia Livilla the Younger), A.D. 39ñ41. Little is known of Drusilla Minor, the daughter of Caligula and his fourth wife, Caesonia. The infant was honored with the same name as her fatherís beloved sister, Drusilla, who had died only about one year before. Since Caesonia was so promiscuous, Caligula was not entirely certain of his paternity of Drusilla Minor. But Suetonius tells us his initial doubts were dispelled when he observed her trying to scratch the eyes and faces of her little playmates. Drusilla Minor was murdered on January 24, 41, along with her mother at the time (or later in the same day) that Caligula was assassinated in a corridor beneath the palace on the Palatine Hill. Her end was as swift as it was brutal, for a praetorian guardsman crushed her head against a wall.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: No portrait coins are known of Drusilla Minor. She makes only one appearance on coinage ó as a standing figure on a coin struck by the Judaean king Herod Agrippa I. Agrippa I was raised at the Imperial household in Rome from the age of 6, and was a close friend of Caligula, Caesonia, and Claudius. Although she is shown as a more mature figure on Agrippaís coin, she is identified by the accompanying inscription ©YΓATPI, meaning ìdaughter.î Unfortunately for collectors, this rare coin is also in great demand for its importance to Herodian specialists. (Note: Because this coin also has a portrait of her mother Caesonia ó and it is also her only coin ó the catalog listings of mother and daughter are combined).

DRUSILLA

DAUGHTER OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

SISTER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR AND JULIA LIVILLA

NIECE OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDDAUGHTER OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

COUSIN OF BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS,

GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS, LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

Julia Drusilla, A.D. 16ñ38. The second daughter born to Germanicus and Agrippina Senior, Drusilla was the favorite sister of Caligula, her older brother by four years. Their relationship was incestuous, and Caligula was caught by his grandmother Antonia when he first seduced Drusilla before she was of age. Despite their being siblings, and married, they allegedly continued their unnatural relationship into adulthood.

Drusillaís first husband, Lucius Cassius Longinus, the consul of 30, was selected for her in 33 by her adoptive grandfather, Tiberius. But this was not to the liking of Caligula, who took her from him and treated her as his lawfully married wife. Drusillaís next marriage, in 38, was to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, a descendant of the Triumvir Lepidus. He was deeply involved with the Imperial family, and is said to have had sexual relations not only with his wife Drusilla, but also with Caligula and his two sisters-in-law, Julia Livilla and Agrippina Junior. But his eventful life came to an end in 39, when he and the general Gaetulicus were executed by Caligula for allegedly conspiring to murder him.

When Caligula fell deathly ill late in 37 ó just a few months after his accession ó he named Drusilla as heir to the Empire. But Caligula soon recovered, only to suffer the loss of his beloved sister in the summer of the following year. Drusilla died on June 10, 38, when she was only 22 years of age.

Perhaps nothing could have injured Caligula more than Drusillaís death, and in response he deified her. This was an unprecedented act, for even Livia had not yet been deified. Accompanying the deification was a mandatory period of public mourning throughout the Empire, during which it was a capital offense to laugh, to bathe, or even to dine with oneís relatives. Drusillaís widower, Lepidus (who until his wifeís death was considered to be Caligulaís most likely successor), was executed in the following year, allegedly for conspiring against the emperorís life.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Drusilla appears on a few Imperial and provincial coinages, usually with her sisters. In the latter case, when she is shown as a standing figure, she is given the attributes of Concordia. All of these coins were struck during the reign of her brother, Caligula ó some while she was alive, others after she died and had been deified.

JULIA LIVILLA

DAUGHTER OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

SISTER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR AND DRUSILLA

NIECE OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

GRANDDAUGHTER OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

COUSIN OF BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS,

GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS, LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

Julia Livilla (the Younger), A.D. 17/18ñ42. Although Caligula cherished Drusilla, he was not overly fond of his youngest sister, Julia Livilla.

She was the last child of Germanicus and Agrippina Senior, and Tacitus tells us she was born on the island of Lesbos shortly after her parents landed there early in the year 18. The date of her birth, however, is not certainly known. Though Tacitus suggests she was born in 18, Suetonius tells us the three sisters were born in ìsuccessive years,î which would place Julia Livillaís birth in 17 since Agrippina Junior was born in 15 and Drusilla in 16.

As soon as Julia Livilla came of age (in 33), her adoptive grandfather, the emperor Tiberius, married her to Marcus Vinicius, a man remembered for his mild character and elaborate oratorical style. Although Caligula is said to have slept with Julia Livilla on occasion, he did not care much for her, and instead drew greater pleasure from making her available for his friends to sleep with.

When her elder sister, Drusilla, died in mid-38, Julia Livillaís life took a turn for the worse. Late in 39, when the widower Aemilius Lepidus (with whom Julia Livilla was alledgedly having an affair) was tried and convicted of plotting against the emperorís life, both Julia Livilla and her eldest sister, Agrippina Junior, were also implicated. As a result of the trial, the sisters were exiled to the Pontian Islands late in the year. Slightly more than a year later, their despotic brother was murdered, and the sistersí fates rested in the hands of his successor, their uncle Claudius.

He promptly recalled both young women in 41, and though he eventually married Agrippina Junior, he was not impressed with the behavior of Julia Livilla. She was quickly returned to her exile ó seemingly at the request of Claudiusí wife, Valeria Messalina ó after being accused of having an adulterous affair with Seneca, the man who would tutor her sisterís son Nero. In the following year (42), Julia Livilla was executed on charges perhaps made by Messalina that Tacitus tells us not only were unsubstantiated, but against which she was not given the opportunity to defend herself.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Julia Livilla appears on very few Imperial and provincial coins, and her portrait bust occurs only on provincial coinage ó once, or perhaps twice. All coins which honor her were struck by her brother, Caligula, sometime between 37 and 39. She is most often shown with her two sisters, and when shown standing she is given the attributes of Fortuna. Some researchers believe her portrait occurs on an issue attributed in this and in other catalogs to Julia (the daughter of Augustus) and her eldest son, Gaius Caesar. Though it might actually represent Julia Livilla and Gaius (ëCaligulaí), it seems better placed as an Augustan issue.

CLAUDIUS A.D. 41ñ54

SON OF NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

BROTHER OF GERMANICUS AND LIVILLA

HUSBAND OF PLAUTIA URGULANILLA, AELIA PAETINA, VALERIA MESSALINA AND AGRIPPINA JUNIOR

NEPHEW OF TIBERIUS

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF SEJANUS

FATHER OF BRITANNICUS, CLAUDIA OCTAVIA AND CLAUDIA ANTONIA

GRANDUNCLE AND ADOPTIVE STEP-FATHER OF NERO

GRANDSON OF LIVIA, MARC ANTONY AND OCTAVIA

UNCLE OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, JULIA LIVILLA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

BROTHER-IN-LAW OF GAIUS CAESAR, DRUSUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (earlier Tiberius Claudius Drusus), 10 B.C. ñ A.D. 54. Although the appearance of being sickly would be a disadvantage in the lives of most Romans, it proved to be an effective defense in the treacherous world of the Julio-Claudians. Because of the physical effects of his childhood diseases, which included a speech defect, Claudius survived the virtual extinction of his branch of the family either by being considered a nonentity, or by being kept around as the butt of jokes. Despite his physical ailments, Claudius was far from incapable, and his intelligence served him both in his private life, and as emperor.

He was born at the provincial city of Lugdunum (in Gaul) on the very day that the great altar of that city was dedicated. He was a well-connected child, being the grandson of Marc Antony and Livia, the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia, and the brother of Germanicus and Livilla.

In his youth he was tutored by the historians Livy and Pollio, and gained a thorough knowledge of Roman and related history. The subject proved to be of great interest to him, and he penned books on the history of the Carthaginians, the principate of Augustus, the game of dicing, and he even wrote an autobiography (which was not well-received). Regrettably, none of these works survive.

He also spent a great deal of his time amusing himself by attending games, gambling, womanizing and drinking. His family life was understandably poor, with even his own mother, Antonia, describing him uncharitably as ìa monster of a man.î Indeed, Claudius did have a cruel streak, for he is said to have enjoyed watching the faces of gladiators as they died. Later in his life, he seems to have become an alcoholic, a debilitation which no doubt contributed to his being dominated by his last wife, Agrippina Junior, and their adviser Pallas.

He fared poorly in his six arranged marriages, only four of which actually materialized. He was first betrothed to a noblewoman, Aemilia Lepida, but it did not occur once her parents fell out of favor. His second match was to Livia Medullina, who died on the very day they were to be wed.

His first marriage was to Plautia Urgulanilla, whom he divorced c. 24 for adultery and on the suspicion that she attempted to murder him. Of the two children from the marriage, the first, a boy, choked to death on a pear, and the second, a daughter, was believed to have been sired by his freed-man Boter, and as such was denied. Claudius next married Aelia Paetina, by whom he had a daughter named Claudia Antonia. But he divorced her after the fall of Sejanus in 31, and engaged in a long-term affair with a concubine Calpurnia. Next, in 39, he married the debauched 14-year-old Valeria Messalina. Together they had a daughter named Claudia Octavia, and a son originally named Germanicus, but who later was named Britannicus after his fatherís victory in Britain.

The marriage with Valeria Messalina ended in extraordinary disgrace (see her biography), and so she was executed. His final marriage, in 50, was to his niece, Agrippina Junior. This union not only resulted in his own murder four years later, but also in the murder of his only son, Britannicus. Indeed, Tacitus tells us that Claudius believed it was his destiny first to suffer, and finally to punish the infamy of his wives.

During the first 47 years of his life, Claudius remained in the background of Julio-Claudian politics. Augustus entrusted him with only one augurate, and his uncle Tiberius invested no authority in him. Though Claudius was not immune to drink and various entertainments, he seems to have led a quiet, scholarly life as crimes of every description were committed all around him.

Despite the anonymity of his early life, Claudius was brought forward in 37 by his sadistic nephew Caligula, who made him consul and heaped responsibilities upon him. No doubt Caligula was aware that his uncle was brighter than most imagined, but also, Caligula enjoyed having him around as a butt of his jokes.

When Caligula was murdered by the praetorians on January 24, 41, Claudius feared for his own life. No doubt, he considered the possibility that the praetorians (which had risen to great power a couple of decades earlier under Sejanus) would kill him as well. If they had wished to extinguish the remaining Julio-Claudian males, it would have been an easy task, for only Claudius and two small boys, Nero (age 4) and Britannicus (age 1) remained candidates.

The 50-year-old Claudius was discovered cowering behind a curtain in the palace, and was conducted to the camp of the praetorians, who declared their support for him at the same time that the senate was debating the possibility of restoring the Republic.

On this surprising turn of events, the historian Tacitus wrote: ìThe more I think about history, ancient or modern, the more ironical all human affairs seem. In public opinion, expectation, and esteem no one appeared a less likely candidate for the throne than the man for whom destiny was secretly reserving it.î

Clearly, the praetorian guards selected Claudius because they believed he could be easily controlled. Though Claudius had no military distinction in his past, he was the brother of Germanicus and son of Nero Claudius Drusus, both of whom were heroes to soldiers. Claudius began his principate by paying a bonus of 15,000 sestertii (150 aurei) to each of the praetorians, which no doubt helped in crushing the senate-backed revolt of Scribonianus in Dalmatia in 42. He furthered his reputation with the army by personally taking part in the invasion of Britain in 43.

The major consequence of aligning himself so closely with the praetorians (as his uncle Tiberius had done) was that he earned the enmity of the senate, which would haunt him throughout his principate. Indeed, much of the ìbad pressî he received may be attributed to the poor relationship he had with the senate, and thus with the literati of the Empire. Claudius was a careful administrator who demanded that senators take their responsibilities seriously, a request which did not endear him to that august body.

In addition to the army, Claudius also relied heavily on his wives, freedmen and friends. This earned him even greater indignation from the senate, which now had another element with which they had to contend for authority. Foremost among his freedmen was Narcissus; even the father of the future emperor Vitellius numbered among his friend-advisers. However, Claudius receives the worst condemnation for his deep reliance on the counsel of his wives, all of whom had agendas of their own.

He was a strict ruler who executed at least 35 senators and 300 knights. For this practice Claudius was much maligned both in his lifetime and thereafter (notably by Seneca and Nero), but there were at least six serious attempts on his life, and he may have over-reacted out of fear.

Despite his stringent security measures and often violent retributions, Claudius was, on balance, a thoughtful and careful emperor who applied common sense to his legislation. He was traditional in his views, and vigorously supported the laws, values and religion of Rome, while at the same time being open-minded enough to see the Empire as something much larger than Italy itself, for he encouraged vacant seats on the senate to be filled with candidates from Roman Gaul.

His military conquests and building projects (both being categories by which emperors are often measured) were considerable. He added Britain, the provinces of Mauretania and Thrace to the Empire, completed two massive aqueducts, and in 42 began construction of a new port at Ostia that would be completed by Nero.

Though Claudius had always relied on the army and his closest advisers, there is ample evidence that he was firmly in control for the first eight years of his principate. However, when he wed his niece Agrippina Junior in 49, he came to be greatly influenced by his new wife and her ally, the freedman Pallas. Agrippina Junior went to great lengths to purge the palace of Claudiusí supporters, and in turn replaced them with men loyal to her.

In the meantime, over a three-year period, Agrippina had convinced Claudius to heap honors upon her own son, Nero, to such a degree that he was honored far more than Claudiusí own son, Britannicus. Having carefully constructed the scenario by which Nero would succeed Claudius uncontested, Agrippina was free on the evening of October 12, 54, to feed her 64-year-old husband a dish of poisoned mushrooms, which he devoured without suspicion. The first dose apparently did not take, and a second was required. So Agrippina had his doctor administer a second one, which proved fatal in the early hours of October 13.

Agrippinaís plan was executed without a hitch, and her son Nero was hailed emperor without hesitation. Britannicus was soon poisoned, and thus removed as a rival. As successfully as Agrippina had achieved her ambition, she found her son less than willing to share authority with his domineering mother, and she spent the last five years of her life struggling to maintain her authority and her life.

NUMISMATIC NOTES: The accession of Claudius was secured by the praetorian guards, who escorted him within their walls shortly after the murder of Caligula. In recognition of their inital and continued support, Claudius issued aurei and denarii depicting the praetorian camp with its circuit wall inscribed Imper(ator) Recept(us), as well as a second type bearing the inscription Praetor(ianus) Recept(us) and showing him greeting a soldier. His aes coinage is also of considerable interest, though it does not honor the praetorian. It is clear on stylistic grounds that Claudius struck much of his early aes coinage at auxiliary mints in Spain, Gaul and the Balkans. It is also of some interest that after coining aes so heavily up through about 45, production ceased, and no significant issues of Imperial sestertii, dupondii or asses were struck for about two decades, when Nero began sometime between 62 and 64. In addition to striking coins in his own name, Claudius also issued Imperial commemoratives for Augustus, Livia, Antonia, Nero Claudius Drusus, Germanicus and Agrippina Senior.

Perhaps the most interesting issue of Claudius, however, is a quadrans (or semis) which might mark his 50th year (his age upon accession). It depicts on its reverse the altar of Lugdunum, and since Claudius was born in Lugdunum on the very day the great altar was dedicated, this is a compelling conclusion to draw. However, von Kaenel (Münzpragüng und Münzbildnis des Claudius, AMuGS 9, Berlin, 1986) opts for 44/45 instead. Chronology aside, the coinís greatest impact is on the theory of the location of the Imperial mint for precious metal coins from the reigns of Tiberius through Otho. This innocuous little coin cannot be separated on any stylistic ground from Claudiusí precious metal issues, and its Lugdunese iconography is thus an important indicator that Claudius was still striking precious metal coins in Lugdunum. The ëshiftí from Lugdunum to Rome, therefore, must have occured after Claudius stopped striking coins (seemingly in 44/45 for aes and in 51/52 for precious metals). The two possibilities are the production hiatus between Claudius and Nero, or later in the reign of Nero. The latter prospect is now heavily favored, with Claudiusí altar quadrans being only one part of a larger body of evidence.

CLAUDIA ANTONIA

DAUGHTER OF CLAUDIUS (BY AELIA PAETINA)

HALF-SISTER OF CLAUDIA OCTAVIA AND BRITANNICUS

NIECE OF SEJANUS

STEP-SISTER OF NERO

Claudia Antonia, A.D. 27ñ66. Of Claudia Antonia, the daughter of Claudius by his second wife, Aelia Paetina, not much is known except that she enjoyed a good reputation and endured a tragic life. Even though her fatherís earlier marriage to Urgulanilla had produced two children, Claudia Antonia was destined to be Claudiusí longest surviving child.

Claudiusí first child was a boy named Claudius Drusus, who met an inauspicious death in the year 20, just a few days after he had been betrothed to a daughter of Tiberiusí prefect, Sejanus. Suetonius reports: ì[Claudius] lost Drusus just before he came of age, choked by a pear which he had playfully thrown up and caught in his open mouthÖ .î To the satisfaction of those who suffered the loss of the boy (among whom would have been Claudia Antonia), the murderous pear tree was uprooted. Claudiusí second child by Urgulanilla was a daughter apparently sired by Claudiusí freedman Boter, and so she was denied.

Of Claudia Antoniaís mother, Aelia Paetina, the sister of Sejanus, we know little except that she had married Claudius by the year 28, and was abandoned by him after three years of marriage as a consequence of her brotherís downfall. Claudius then engaged in an affair with his concubine Calpurnia, and subsequently entered into a disastrous marriage with Valeria Messalina in 38. For Claudia Antonia, her fatherís marriage to Messalina meant she acquired two younger step-siblings, a boy, Britannicus, and a girl, Claudia Octavia.

Following the disgraceful end to his marriage to Valeria Messalina, Claudius considered re-marrying Aelia Paetina, but instead chose his niece Agrippina Junior, whom he had recalled from exile. With this fourth and final marriage, Claudia Antonia gained three more step-brothers. Two of them, named Pompeius and Sulla, were soon executed, and the remaining boy, later known as Nero, was destined to marry his adoptive sister Claudia Octavia and to become emperor.

The remaining five years of her father Claudiusí life were eventful, and Claudia Antonia no doubt observed the manipulation of her father by her step-mother, Agrippina Junior. Claudia Antonia survived the transition of power from Claudius to Nero in 54, shortly after which she endured the murder of her half-brother Britannicus in 55.

Claudia Antonia had two husbands, both young noblemen of the highest birth. The first, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, whom she married in 41, was put to death by Claudius. The second, Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, who was characterized by Tacitus as stupid, timid and despicable, fell victim to Nero, who was convinced in 56 that he had participated in a plot against his life. Tacitus tells us, however, that there was no plot, and that the lies of an old palace slave condemned the innocent man to banishment.

Claudia Antonia suffered a similar fate at the hand of her step-brother Nero, who implicated her in Piso s failed murder plot of 65, and had her executed in the following year. Though some historians doubt its veracity, one explanation for her being targeted was her apparent refusal to marry Nero after he had killed his second wife Poppaea with a kick to the stomach.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: All coins portraying Claudia Antonia were struck by her father Claudius. In every case she shares the canvass with her half-sister, Octavia and/or her half-brother, Britannicus.

VALERIA MESSALINA

AUGUSTA, A.D. 41ñ48

THIRD WIFE OF CLAUDIUS

MOTHER OF BRITANNICUS AND CLAUDIA OCTAVIA

DAUGHTER-IN-LAW OF ANTONIA

STEPMOTHER OF CLAUDIA ANTONIA

GRANDDAUGHTER OF OCTAVIA

Valeria Messalina (or Messallina), c. A.D. 25ñ48. The dissolute third wife of Claudius, Valeria Messalina married him in 39, when she was only 14 years old. She soon bore him two children, Britannicus and Claudia Octavia. Upon marrying Claudius, and though quite young herself, she also became the adoptive mother of Claudia Antonia, whom Claudius had had by his earlier marriage to Aelia Paetina.

Valeria Messalina was not shy about her ambitions, and she was ruthless in her pursuit of them. Most shocking was her destruction of her female rivals, including two of Claudiusí nieces, Livia Julia (the only daughter of Drusus and Livilla) and Julia Livilla (the youngest sister of Caligula). Not surprisingly, Valeria Messalina was instrumental in the persecution of Agrippina Junior, whose son, Nero, was the rival to her own son, Britannicus. Since Nero and Britannicus were the only important male heirs of the Julio-Claudians, the throne would go to one of the two boys after the death of Claudius.

Suetonius and Tacitus tell us that she tried to have young Nero strangled one night as he slept, but that the attempt was foiled when the would-be murderers were frightened by a snake that emerged from beneath the boys pillow. Despite her less-than-virtuous demeanor, Valeria Messalina was made the head Vestal in 43. This appointment was in particularly bad taste, for she was notoriously promiscuous.

Indeed, it was this element of her personality which caused the greatest scandal in the principate of Claudius. Valeria Messalina had become smitten by Gaius Silius, the consul-designate who was reputedly the best-looking young man in Rome. So uncontrollable were her passions for Silius that even though she was still the emperorís wife, she married her lover in 48 while Claudius was away in Ostia.

The couple either did not wish to hide their deed, or were unable to do so. When Claudius found out with the aid of his freedman Narcissus, he did not take the news well, and it was only due to his freedmanís decisive actions that disaster was averted. Many historians believe the marriage may have been the first stage of a coup against Claudius, in which the newlyweds would install Britannicus as emperor.

Though Claudius had always had poor luck with wives, this was the most shocking and humiliating event of his life. In what most considered justifiable revenge, Silius was brought to the praetorian camp (where Claudius had been taken for safety) and was swiftly executed. Messalina was driven to suicide, after which her memory was damned.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: All coins of Valeria Messalina were struck under Claudius. A didrachm from Caesarea shows the dynasty of Claudius headed by his third wife Valeria Messalina, who appears on the obverse. The reverse ó a masterpiece of Julio-Claudian propaganda ó shows the two children by Valeria Messalina (Claudia Octavia and Britannicus) holding hands, and Claudia Antonia, Claudiusí daughter by his earlier wife, Aelia Paetina, standing alone. This general format was adopted for similar issues struck elsewhere, and in the cases where the busts only were shown, those of Claudia Octavia and Britannicus are confronted to indicate their shared parentage, and the bust of Claudia Antonia is shown at the right facing her half-siblings.

BRITANNICUS

SON OF CLAUDIUS AND VALERIA MESSALINA

BROTHER OF CLAUDIA OCTAVIA

HALF-BROTHER OF CLAUDIA ANTONIA

STEP-BROTHER OF NERO

COUSIN OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, AGRIPPINA JUNIOR, DRUSILLA, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND JULIA LIVILLA

Britannicus (earlier Tiberius Claudius Germanicus), A.D. 41ñ55. As the natural son of Claudius and one of only two male heirs to the Julio-Claudian family, Britannicus would seemingly be the successor to his father. But with the passage of time, Claudiusí son was surpassed by his step-son, Nero, who not only would replace Claudius as emperor, but who also would murder Britannicus soon thereafter.

Britannicus, according to Suetonius, was born 22 days into the reign of his father (February, 41), who was then consul for the second time. Though the senate awarded him with the new name Britannicus in honor of his fatherís invasion of Britain in 43, his name at birth seems to have been Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. But even this is debated among historians, who also cite Tiberius Claudius Caesar as his birth name.

Suetonius tells us that Claudius would proudly pick up little Britannicus and show him to soldiers or to audiences at games, all of whom would echo his declaration: ìGood luck to you, my boy!î The seemingly bright future of Britannicus, however, was darkened when his mother, Valeria Messalina, was disgraced and executed in 48. Britannicus was 7 years old at the time, and some suspected his mother had planned to overthrow her husband, and place Britannicus on the throne.

Especially damaging to his position was his fatherís marriage to Agrippina Junior, who had three sons of her own, including a boy who would be renamed Nero. Though Britannicusí two step-brothers, Pompeius and Sulla, were executed, Nero remained, and was rapidly promoted beyond Britannicus, who was three years his junior. At the time Nero was adopted by Claudius in 50, he was hailed princeps iuventutis, which made him guardian of Britannicus. Perhaps most damaging to Britannicusí future, however, was the marriage of his own sister Claudia Octavia to Nero in 53.

Even though Claudius began to doubt the suitability of Nero toward the end of his own reign, nothing was done to strengthen Britannicusí standing. By that point, Agrippina Junior had replaced the key tutors, advisers and guardsmen with men loyal to her, and so the boy could rely on no one.

Thus, when Claudius was murdered by his wife, Agrippina Junior, Britannicus was locked away with his sister, Claudia Octavia, and his half-sister, Claudia Antonia, so that Nero could be hailed emperor without dispute. This left Britannicus in dire straits, for he had no real authority, yet he remained a legitimate rival to Nero. It came as no shock when Britannicus was poisoned at a dinner on February 11, 55, only four months into Neroís reign. The scenario hardly differed from the removal of Tiberius Gemellus by Caligula a generation before.

Though the teenagerís death was officially attributed to epilepsy, it was not seriously doubted that he had been murdered. One person who knew for sure was Britannicusí boyhood friend Titus (the future emperor), who had shared some of the fatal beverage and had suffered severely from the poison. Britannicusí sister, Claudia Octavia (who was then Neroís wife), witnessed the shocking affair, but was unable to help her brother as he violently perished a few feet away. Britannicusí body was cremated that evening and a quiet funeral was held the following day.

It is difficult to say whether he was poisoned by Nero or by Agrippina Junior. Agrippina, however, is said to have wanted to keep Britannicus around as a ìbackupî in the event Nero became too unruly, and so it would seem Nero gained on both ends. Subsequently, other rivals were eliminated, including Marcus Junius Silanus (who, like Nero, was a great-great-grandson of Augustus), and much later a rival named Rubellius Plautus, who was the great-grandson of Tiberius, and thus a great-great-grandson of both Livia and Agrippa.

Historians are at a loss to explain why Claudius allowed Britannicus to be victimized. Having personally witnessed so much murder and treachery within his family, Claudius easily could have predicted that the boy would not long survive after his own death. Perhaps his memories of the boyís mother, Messalina, were so painful to Claudius that he simply gave up on Britannicus.

Some believe the reason for his abandonment was that Nero was also his natural son, conceived long prior to his marriage to Agrippina Junior. Though this possibility sounds far-fetched, there are a number of anecdotes recorded by ancient historians that indicate this may have been a well-kept family secret. The very fact that Claudius put to death Agrippinaís two other sons, Pompeius and Sulla, and spared Nero seems to lend credence to this theory. However, if this were a common rumor in the Imperial household, it does seem odd that the gossipy Suetonius did not mention it directly, for he did not shy away from rumor and innuendo.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: A considerable number of small bronzes were struck in the cities of Asia Minor for Britannicus. Most if not all of them were struck near the end of the reign of his father Claudius. Britannicusí most impressive issue is of ësestertiií from an Imperial mint in the Balkans. Though it almost certainly belongs to the end of the reign of Claudius (as a companion to the sestertius of Agrippina Junior and the sestertii and dupondii of Nero as Caesar), some have theorized, rather fancifully, that it was struck a quarter-century later by the emperor Titus (who attended the banquet at which Britannicus was poisoned) as a memorial issue to his boyhood friend. In this context it would be associated with the many ërestoredí aes struck by Titus. But Britannicusí coin differs from others in the series in two important ways: it was struck in the Balkans (not at Rome) and there was no prototype issue to restore. Despite the many different issues struck for Britannicus, overall his coins are quite rare, especially in comparison to those struck for Nero during the same period (5054). Of specific interest is the lack of Imperial coinage for Britannicus (the ëBalkan sestertiusí aside), especially in light of the fact that young Nero had aurei, denarii and cistophori struck for him. All of this numismatic evidence supports the historical record, and we must conclude that from the very outset Britannicus was not the favored heir.

AGRIPPINA JUNIOR

AUGUSTA, A.D. 50ñ59

WIFE (AND NIECE) OF CLAUDIUS

MOTHER OF NERO

DAUGHTER OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

SISTER OF NERO CAESAR, DRUSUS CAESAR, CALIGULA, DRUSILLA AND JULIA LIVILLA

NIECE OF CLAUDIUS AND LIVILLA

STEP-MOTHER (AND COUSIN) OF BRITANNICUS

GRANDDAUGHTER OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

COUSIN OF BRITANNICUS, TIBERIUS GEMELLUS, GERMANICUS GEMELLUS AND LIVIA JULIA

GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS, LIVIA, OCTAVIA AND MARC ANTONY

Julia Agrippina (often called Agrippina the Younger or Agrippina Minor), A.D. 15ñ59. Born late in 15 at Ara Uborium, Agrippina Junior was the eldest daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina Senior. She was also the sister of Caligula, the mother of Nero, and the niece of Claudius, whom she would marry some 34 years later. As such, she had the unique distinction of having been the sister of one emperor, the wife of another, and the mother of yet another.

The chronology of Agrippinaís life up until the time of her marriage to Claudius in 49 is vague. She was only 3 or 4 when her father, Germanicus, was murdered in Antioch. When Agrippina turned 13 (in 28), Tiberius betrothed her to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, a reprehensible man by whom she bore the future emperor Nero.

During the next five years she not only suffered through a difficult marriage, and the sexual relationship with her brother Caligula, but she also witnessed the murder of her mother and two older brothers, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar. Indeed, Agrippinaís life could hardly be described as pleasant. Perhaps her devotion to her future son (the one who would be named Nero) was so extreme because of the extraordinary circumstances of her early life.

Agrippina and her two younger sisters survived the reign of Tiberius, along with their adoring brother, Caligula, who succeed him as emperor. At the beginning of their brotherís reign, the three sisters were honored (and continued to be seduced), and it was several months into Caligulaís principate that Agrippinaís famous son, Nero, was born.

But when Caligulaís favorite sister, Drusilla, died in mid-38, Agrippina and Julia Livillaís relationship with their brother worsened. Late in 38, at Mainz, the sisters were implicated in the conspiracy of the general Gaeticus, and were subsequently exiled for about two years. During their exile, in the year 40, Agrippinaís near-invalid husband Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, the father of Nero, died.

After their tyrannical brother Caligula was murdered in 41, Agrippina and Julia Livilla were recalled by their uncle Claudius, who had been hailed emperor in his place. Claudius quickly tired of Julia Livilla, who wasted no time in engaging in an embarrassing affair with the philosopher Seneca. Both Julia Livilla and Seneca were exiled in that same year, with the former being executed in 42.

Claudius decided to keep Agrippina around, as he was fond of her and she apparently had behaved acceptably. At some point after her return from exile, Agrippina married Marcus Junius Silanus, a former consul who had given his daughter to Caligula in marriage shortly before he ascended the throne (but the daughter, Junia Claudilla, died in childbirth). The sources are unclear about when Agrippina married Marcus Junius Silanus, though Tacitus assures us it was before she married Claudius.

With the passage of time, this marriage was dissolved, for Claudius, had grown unnaturally fond of her. Agrippinaís love life was strange and incestuous, for she not only engaged in sexual relations with her brother, but she was now seducing her uncle. According to Suetonius: ìShe had a nieceís privilege of kissing and caressing Claudius, and exercised it with a noticeable effect on his passions Öî

Having observed the emperorís affections for Agrippina, the enormously wealthy freedman Pallas allied himself with Agrippina, and persuaded Claudius to seek special approval from the senate to marry his niece. On January 1, 49 (shortly after the execution of his former wife, Valeria Messalina), Claudius made Agrippina Junior his fourth and final wife.

The following year, 50, was eventful for the new family. Agrippina was hailed Augusta, and the new Roman settlement on the Rhine, Colonia Agrippinensis, was named in her honor. As for her son, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarhus, he was adopted by Claudius and was renamed Nero. Although Claudius adopted Nero, according to Suetonius he executed Agrippinaís other two boys, who where named Pompeius and Sulla. The ancient sources (it seems) are unclear whether the latter two boys were Neroís brothers, or his step-brothers by Marcus Junius Silanus.

The adoption of Nero in 50 meant that Claudiusí own son, Britannicus, had a legitimate competitor as heir. Indeed, it demonstrates how much influence Agrippina had over her husband, for she was able to convince him that it was in Britannicusí best interest that he have the older Nero as his guardian. It also demonstrates that she would stop at nothing to achieve her goals: we are told that when a soothsayer prophesied that if Nero became emperor, he would afterward kill his mother, Agrippina replied ìLet him kill me, only let him rule!î

Some three years after Nero had been hailed princeps iuventutis (in 51), Agrippina arranged his marriage to Claudia Octavia, the daughter of Claudius from his earlier marriage with Valeria Messalina. Since Claudia Antonia was the sister of Britannicus, Nero was not only the boyís guardian, but also his brother-in-law. With each successive step, the noose was tightened around the neck of young Britannicus.

But time was equally desperate for Agrippina, for Nero was less than two months away from turning 17, and if she waited much longer she would lose all claims to regency over him when he ascended the throne. So, taking no chances, Agrippina served Claudius a dish of poisoned mushrooms at dinner on October 12, 54. A second dose of poison was required to finish off the 64-year-old emperor, who died in the early hours of the 13 th.

During the first few months of Neroís principate, Agrippinaís influence over her son was considerable. Nero seemed amenable to her authority, having chosen ìbest of mothersî as the watchword for his first day on the throne. She was aided by three important allies, the freedman Pallas (who was rumored to be her lover), the praetorian prefect Burrus, and Neroís tutor, Seneca. Although there seems little merit to the rumor, she was said to have seduced her son in an effort to increase her control over him.

Regardless of the tactics Agrippina employed, her heavy-handed manner soon wore thin. The next major event which Agrippina may have engineered was the poisoning of her sonís main rival, Britannicus, at dinner on February 11, 55. With the death of Britannicus, Nero was unopposed by any serious rival, and consequently had no further use for his mother, whom he expelled from the palace later that year. The government was then placed in the hands of Seneca and Burrus, who also had turned against Agrippina.

Neroís mother survived another four years, though she was constantly on guard against murder attempts. Indeed, Nero found killing her no easy task, and it required that he invent an elaborate scheme. If we can trust Tacitusí account, he constructed a ship that was rigged to collapse upon her and then capsize. In March of 59, Nero thus invited his mother to dine with him at Baiae, after which she boarded the magnificent vessel in the Bay of Naples.

When the ship collapsed and sank, his 44-year-old mother survived the ordeal and swam ashore (during her banishment by Caligula, she had taken up sponge diving, and thus was a strong swimmer). She sought refuge in one of her villas at Baiae, where she was murdered either by soldiers or by the freedman Anicetus. Though few could condone Neroís matricidal act, even fewer appear to have mourned her passing.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Agrippina Junior first appears on coins struck by her brother Caligula, when he reigned from 37 to 41. On these sestertii she is shown in the guise of Securitas standing beside her two sisters (who are depicted in the guises of Concordia and Fortuna). Her more impressive appearances, however, are as Augusta on coins struck from 50 to 54 (as the wife of Claudius), and from 54ñ55 (as regent for her son, who had succeeded Claudius as emperor).

NERO A.D. 54ñ68

CAESAR, A.D. 50ñ54 (under Claudius)

SON OF AGRIPPINA JUNIOR (BY AHENOBARBUS)

HUSBAND OF CLAUDIA OCTAVIA, POPPAEA AND STATILIA MESSALINA

FATHER OF CLAUDIA NERONIS

ADOPTED SON AND SUCCESSOR OF CLAUDIUS

NEPHEW OF CALIGULA

STEP-BROTHER OF CLAUDIA ANTONIA, BRITANNICUS AND CLAUDIA OCTAVIA

GRANDSON OF GERMANICUS AND AGRIPPINA SENIOR

GREAT-GRANDSON OF AGRIPPA, JULIA, NERO CLAUDIUS DRUSUS AND ANTONIA

GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON (AND PATERNAL GREAT-GRANDSON) OF MARC ANTONY AND OCTAVIA

Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (earlier Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus), A.D. 37ñ68. One of the most infamous of the Roman emperors, Nero was born in December of 37, the son of Agrippina Junior and her loathsome first husband, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who had been consul under Tiberius in 32 and died when Nero was only 3 years old.

Fatherless and without an inheritance (for Caligula had seized his fatherís worldly possessions), Nero was raised by his mother, who herself was sent into exile by her brother Caligula from 39 to 41. She was recalled after his murder in 41, and eventually married her uncle, the emperor Claudius, on New Yearís day, 49. The wedding greatly enhanced Neroís chances of eventually becoming emperor.

In that same year Nero also gained as a tutor the philosopher Seneca, whom his mother had convinced Claudius to recall from Corsica (where he had been in exile for eight years, allegedly for having had an adulterous affair with her youngest sister, Julia Livilla). In the following year, 50, Claudius adopted the boy, at which point he acquired the more familiar name, Nero. As a result of his adoption, Nero became guardian of his stepbrother, Britannicus.

Britannicus was three years younger than Nero, and, even though he was the natural son of the reigning emperor, he was accorded lower status than his new step-brother. In 51 Nero was hailed princeps iuventutis, and the emperorís preference for him advanced further in 53 when he allowed Nero to marry his own (youngest) daughter Claudia Octavia, who also was the sister of Britannicus.

In addition to being older than Britannicus, Nero also had the advantage of being a grandson (rather than a nephew) of Germanicus ó a legendary figure among both the people and the army. But all of this mattered little, for it was his mother, Agrippina Junior, who was taking the necessary steps to assure that he became emperor. In mid-October 54, Agrippina poisoned her husband Claudius and detained Britannicus so that Nero could ascend the throne uncontested.

During the first few months of Neroís reign, Agrippinaís influence was considerable, for she had regency over him. But her heavy-handed manner soon displeased Nero. Upon the urging of his friend, the future emperor Otho, Nero expelled his mother from the Palace shortly after he (or Agrippina) poisoned his rival, Britannicus, at a dinner on February 11, 55.

The government was now firmly in the hands of Nero, who had just turned 18. Since he had ousted his mother, Nero sought advice and support from Seneca and Burrus, both of whom had adeptly turned against Agrippina at the right moment. Although it took a great deal of planning, Nero was able to murder his mother four years later, in March of 59.

A few dramatic episodes aside, the first five years of Neroís reign were productive and peaceful under the guidance of Seneca and Burrus. Nero even made grandiose promises to the senate of a return to the principles of his great-great-grandfather, the Divine Augustus. The succeeding years were less impressive, as Nero indulged his passions for Greek culture, drinking, singing, acting, musicianship, and sexual adventure. Meanwhile, he left the seemingly mundane aspects of governing an Empire to a succession of advisers.

From 60 to 63 there were two serious crises in the provinces. The first occurred in far-away Britain, where in 60 a revolt erupted under the Celtic queen Boudicca. Some 70,000 people (mostly Romans) were murdered in London, and still more elsewhere; the Roman reprisals were equally terrifying, claiming the lives of 80,000 or more. The revolt bore an uncanny resemblance to the attack of the Pontic king Mithradates VI on Roman citizens in Asia nearly 150 years before. Meanwhile, in Asia, the general Corbulo, with some difficulty, was able to wrest Armenia from the Parthians and install a puppet king.

The year 62 was eventful for Nero, as he was able to rid himself of three important members of his entourage: the praetorian prefect, Burrus, his tutor, Seneca, and his first wife, Claudia Octavia. Burrus died an apparent natural death (though some believe he was murdered), Seneca was encouraged to retire, and Claudia Octavia was divorced and executed. Nero swiftly replaced Claudia Octavia with his lover Poppaea, who was formerly the wife of his friend Otho (whom Nero had earlier removed by appointing him governor of Lusitania). Now nearing his 25th year, Nero had completely reconstructed his life and his regime.

For the remainder of his reign, Nero relied upon lower-born men or Greek and Oriental freedmen for his policies and for the maintenance of his government. In the meantime, he devoted an unconscionable amount of time to indulging his passions. His frequent stage performances as an actor, poet, singer and musician were not to the liking of the public. Not only was his talent considered marginal, but his public appearances were thought undignified.

Though Neroís new freedom pleased him immensely, the senate and the public soon tired of his antics, which they deemed more in line with a Greek king than a Roman emperor. Especially shocking was the Great Fire of 64, in which much of Rome burned to the ground. Nero, who was at the seaside town of Antium when it started (there seems little truth to the rumor that Nero ìfiddledî while Rome burned), did much to relieve suffering during and after the blaze, and then placed blame squarely on the small Christian community in Rome. However, many believed Nero had the fire started so that he could clear the land necessary to build his famous ìGolden House,î which he had begun to construct on a more modest level a few years before.

So massive and expensive was this project that it seems inconceivable that Nero would build it even in the best of times. With all of its gardens it occupied more than 300 acres of the best land in Rome, stretching from the Circus Maximus to beyond the Baths of Trajan and consuming prime land of the Palatine, Caelian and Esquiline hills. It had an artificial lake, and a colossal statue of Nero some 120 feet tall that was housed in a vestibule so large it required a triple-colonnade a mile long. The palace was a miracle of engineering; the dining hall had a ceiling which perpetually revolved by power of water, and other ceilings were made of ivory, and were cleverly built so as to shower guests with perfume and flowers.

Not only did Neroís new palace prevent the original inhabitants from returning to rebuild, but it compounded the fiscal crisis Rome faced from the general rebuilding of the capital, and the expensive wars in Britain and Armenia. Thus, it comes as no great surprise that in the following year, 65, a plot against Neroís life was formed.

The coup was headed by a nobleman named Gaius Calpurnius Piso, who hoped to replace Nero as emperor. Though well-organized, it was exposed shortly before its target date in mid-April, and Neroís reprisals were harsh. In the same year, Nero kicked his pregnant wife, Poppaea, to death in a fit of rage. He subsequently married Statilia Messalina, a depraved and ambitious woman who proved to be his last wife.

Neroís next great venture was his ìgrand tourî of Greece in 67, where he competed in the Isthmian, Pythian, Olympic and Nemean Games. He had to bring forward the dates of the latter two Games so they could be held while he was in Greece, and, not surprisingly, the emperor won numerous contests against more qualified candidates. At the Olympic Games Nero won a chariot race even though he fell out of his chariot midway. During one of Neroís drawn-out performances, the future emperor Vespasian fell asleep, and was dismissed from the emperorís entourage.

The Greek excursion was not only indulgent, but also was incredibly expensive when the Imperial coffers were in no position to afford it. Were it not for Neroís policy of restriking silver coins in Egypt and Syria, the Empire certainly would have been bankrupt. The political consequences of his extravagence were enormous, and the ex-slave Helius (whom Nero had left in charge of the government in Rome during his absence), traveled to Greece to beg his immediate return. Grudgingly, Nero complied even though he had not fully availed himself of Greek hospitality.

Nero returned to Rome late in 67, and within a few months a revolt broke out in Gaul under Julius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis. Though Vindex was easily defeated in May, he had gained the allegiance of Galba, one of Neroís most capable generals, who commanded legions in Spain. A revolt was also sparked in North Africa under Clodius Macer, and the Rhine legions (which had defeated Vindex) refused to take further commands from Nero. With all of these sinister developments in the provinces, the emperorís support in Rome eroded quickly.

With the assistance of a freedman named Phaon, Nero fled to his villa a few miles outside Rome. But Phaon seems to have betrayed Nero, for it was only a few moments later that soldiers confronted the cowering emperor in a back room. On June 9, 68, the 30-year-old Nero died in what is best described as a combination suicide attempt and murder. His last words ìQualis artifex pereoî (though translated differently depending on the source) were to the effect: ìWhat an artist the world is losing!î

NUMISMATIC NOTE: If anything truthfully can be said of Nero, it is that he paid close, personal attention to his coinage. Neroís artistic sense can clearly be seen on his coinage, which does not feature the austere portraits of his predacessors, but instead offers a highly individualized image. His penchant for music and the arts in general is demonstrated by the Imperial reverse type that shows him as Apollo playing a lyre. The fiscal crises which struck Rome beginning in about 62 had an impact on coinage, for some time between 62 and 64 Nero reintroduced aes coinages (struck at both Rome and Lugdunum), which had not been struck at the main Imperial mints for nearly two decades. Furthermore, the intrinsic value of his precious metal coinage was decreased ó slightly in the first decade of his reign, and more precipitously in 64 when Nero reformed his coinage (from 54 to 64 his precious metal coins are dated, thereafter they are undated). The weight of the aureus was dropped by about 2% (to 45 per Roman pound) and the denarius by about 7% (to 96 per Roman pound).

The debasement strategy was employed to an extreme in the eastern provinces where unimagineable quantities of tetradrachms in Egypt and Syria were recalled and melted, only to be replaced just as rapidly with new coins with a lower silver content. This occured most dramatically at Alexandria in Egypt, where silver content fell from about 23% to about 15% (in 65/6) and the output was enormous. It has been suggested that the profits Nero accrued from the conversion at Alexandria was sufficient to fund the rebuilding of Rome.

Not surprisingly, the Alexandrian tetradrachms from Neroís regnal years 10 through 14 (63/4 to 67/8) are remarkably common. Erik Christiansen, in The Roman Coins of Alexandria (Denmark, 1988), notes that when he studied tetradrachms of Neroís regnal year 12, he identified 1019 different dies out of the 1032 coins he examined. Considering this was only one year (and was a limited sampling within that year), one quickly comes to realize how many new tetradrachms Nero struck. Indeed, Christiansen notes that fully one-third of the coins in each Alexandrian tet-radrachm hoard found at the turn of the last century was Neronian, and that experts such as Giovanni Dattari sent thousands to the melting pot because the bullion was worth more than the coins themselves.

Back in Rome and Lugdunum, Nero paid as much attention to his Imperial aes coinage as he did to the precious metal issues. He sometimes indicated a dupondius with the marking II, an as with the marking I, and a semis with the letter S. Furthermore, he experimented with different alloy-denomination combinations. The sestertius and the dupondius had traditionally been struck in orichalcum (an golden-colored mixture of copper and zinc often called ìbrassî), whereas the as, semis and quadrans were struck in pure copper. Nero struck some of the smaller three denominations in orichalcum. The fact that orichalcum was more highly valued than copper is shown not only by the historical record, but also by the fact that the orichalcum asses, semisses and quadrantes are lighter than their copper counterparts, and consequently are noticeably smaller in diameter. Neroís motivations for this experiment remain a mystery. Indeed, only rarely was the same done by later emperors, such as Vespasian and Trajan and Hadrian. In every one of these later cases these coins weigh less (are considerably rarer) than the standard copper issues.

Yet another interesting (but unresolved) aspect of Neroís reign is the strong likelihood that precious metal coin production was shifted from Lugdunum to Rome either at the beginning of his principate or in about 64, when his ëpost-reformí coinage was first struck. See the Numismatic Note of Caligula for details.

CLAUDIA OCTAVIA

AUGUSTA, A.D. 54ñ64

FIRST WIFE (AND FIRST COUSIN-ONCE-REMOVED) OF NERO

DAUGHTER OF CLAUDIUS AND VALERIA MESSALINA

SISTER OF BRITANNICUS

HALF-SISTER OF CLAUDIA ANTONIA

Claudia Octavia, A.D. 40/1ñ62. The youngest daughter of Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina, Claudia Octavia died young after enduring a tragic life. Her date of birth is unknown, but certainly was before 41, shortly after which her brother Britannicus was born.

She was originally betrothed to Lucius Junius Silanus, a nobleman descended from Augustus who was in good favor with Claudius. But Silanus was discredited so that Claudia Octavia could be betrothed to Nero in 49 (for that match had dynastic importance: in that same year her father, the emperor Claudius, married his own niece Agrippina Junior, who happened to be the mother of her future husband, Nero).

Claudia Octavia and Nero were married in 53, apparently premature of the normally acceptable age of 15. But since they were first-cousins-once-removed, and their parents were niece and uncle, this was just one of several dubious aspects of their family relations. The families of Claudius and Germanicus were now linked by two marriages. Neroís marriage to Claudia Octavia was especially important, for he was already Claudiusí adopted son, and in 51 was hailed princeps iuventutis. Thus, the marriage virtually guaranteed he would be Claudiusí successor.

In the following year, 54, Nero became emperor after Claudius was poisoned. With her new husband being hailed emperor, Claudia Octavia was made Augusta, a title she held until her downfall eight years later. One can only imagine how she viewed this honor ó perhaps reluctantly, as she had earned it only because her father had been murdered. Her anguish could only have been increased when she witnessed her only brother, Britannicus, die violently from poison at a banquet that she also attended.

In addition to witnessing the murder of her father and brother, the young bride was treated terribly by Nero, who tried to strangle her to death several times and openly engaged in adulterous relationships. After five years of sour marriage, Nero became enamored of Poppaea Sabina, who then was the wife of Neroís close friend, the future emperor Otho. In 58, Nero seduced Poppaea and sent Otho to Lusitania (mod. Portugal) so that he could have her to himself.

Neroís relationship with Poppaea continued until, in 62, he determined to get rid of Claudia Octavia so he could marry Poppaea. To achieve this, he claimed Claudia Octavia was sterile (which may well have been true), and that as such she could not perform the duties required of an empress. The divorce was quickly granted (in 62), and Claudia Octavia was sent to rural Campania to live under military guard.

But the ex-empress was very popular among the people, and when a rumor of her reinstatement was sparked, Nero decided to get rid of her by inventing charges of adultery and treason. Claudia Octavia, then perhaps 22 years old, was exiled to the island of Pandateria, where she was executed on June 9th of 62, after which we are told Neroís new wife, Poppaea, gloated over her severed head.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Two categories of coinage were struck for Claudia Octavia. The earliest pieces depict her as the daughter of Claudius (on which she always appears with her step-sister, Claudia Antonia) and the-later pieces as the wife of Nero.

POPPAEA

AUGUSTA, A.D. 62ñ65

SECOND WIFE OF NERO (FORMER WIFE OF OTHO)

MOTHER OF CLAUDIA NERONIS

Poppaea Sabina, A.D. 31 (or before)ñ65. The second wife of Nero, Poppaea is described by the historian Tacitus as having possessed ìevery asset except goodness.î She was a beautiful young woman with hair the color of amber, who was rumored to have bathed in the milk of asses.

Tacitus continues: ìFrom her mother, the loveliest woman of her day, she inherited distinction and beauty. Her wealth, too, was equal to her birth. She was clever and pleasant to talk to. She seemed respectable. But her life was depraved Ö To her, married or bachelor bedfellows were alike. She was indifferent to her reputation ó yet insensible to menís love, and herself unloving. Advantage dictated the bestowal of her favors.î

Poppaea was the daughter of a homonymous mother (who was a daughter of Poppaeus Sabinus, the consul of A.D. 9) and T. Ollius (who died in 31), and originally was married to the praetorian prefect Rufrius Crispinus, by whom she bore a child. But she was seduced away from Crispinus by the future emperor Otho, an extravagant young man who was one of Neroís closest friends. This seduction was quickly transformed into marriage, after which Otho boasted to Nero about the particular charms of Poppaea. Tacitus speculates that Otho enticed Nero into taking a communal interest in Poppaea so that he would be tied closer to the princeps, but that Othoís plan backfired when Nero decided he wanted Poppaea to himself.

So in 58, Nero seduced Poppaea and sent Otho to govern Lusitania so as to distance him from Rome. For the next four years Nero continued to tolerate his politically important but personally unfulfilling marriage to Claudia Octavia, the daughter of the former emperor Claudius. Both Nero and Poppaea dissolved their existing marriages in 62, and 12 days later they were married. Neroís affection, however, was limited to Poppaea and their own family, for he murdered Rufrius Crispinus, her only son from her previous marriage.

In short order the royal couple produced a daughter of their own, Claudia Neronis, who was born at Antium, probably early in 63. Neroís joy was so great that the infant was hailed Augusta along with her mother. But the Imperial coupleís good fortune ended when Claudia died four months later.

By 65 Poppaea had become pregnant again, and Nero could anticipate having a child to replace Claudia Neronis, and possibly an heir to the throne. However, in the summer of that year, after having been chastised for returning so late from the races, Nero delivered a swift kick to Poppaeaís stomach that proved fatal for both mother and fetus. By all accounts, Nero loved Poppaea deeply and was anxiously awaiting the birth of their second child, which have led some to believe the kick was ìmisguided.î After this grave national disaster, Nero promptly deified Poppaea as well as her unborn child.

Although Poppaea possessed certain enviable attributes, few mourned her death. The death of Poppaea marked the beginning of Neros period of great cruelty, which would last three years before he was finally murdered.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Poppaea is represented on provincial coinages struck by Nero in Egypt and other provinces. On Imperial coinage she seems to make one appearance, standing next to Nero on a reverse type inscribed Avgvstvs Avgvsta (though the empress may be Statilia Messalina).

CLAUDIA NERONIS

AUGUSTA, A.D. 63

DAUGHTER OF NERO AND POPPAEA

Claudia Neronis (or Claudia Augusta), A.D. 63. Little can be said of Claudia Neronis because of the brevity of her life. Tacitus reports that she was born at Antium, the same city at which Nero had been born 26 years earlier. She most likely was born early in 63, though some authorities suggest 64. Tacitus says Neroís joy for his new daughter ìexceeded human measureî and the infant and her mother were both hailed Augusta. But the familyís elation was not to last, as Claudia died at only 4 months of age. Grief stricken, Nero had her declared a goddess.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Tacitus notes that upon the birth of Claudia Neronis, the senate decreed the construction of a temple of Fertility, presumably to be built at Antium, which also was to host circus games. This building may be the one depicted on the only coin that honors Claudia Neronis.

STATILIA MESSALINA

AUGUSTA, A.D. 66ñ68

THIRD WIFE OF NERO

Statilia Messalina (or Messallina), lifespan unknown. The third and final wife of Nero, Statilia Messalina was empress from 66ñ68. She was wealthy, well-bred, and was noted for her intelligence and beauty. Regrettably for her, she married Nero when he was at his most depraved.

Though Statilia Messalinaís family was noble at the time of her marriage to Nero, its fame was recent, and due almost entirely to the achievements of Titus Statilius Taurus, who was second only to Agrippa in his distinction as a commander of Augustus. She seems to have been a daughter of a later T. Statilius Taurus, who was consul in 44.

In 65 Nero had kicked to death his beloved wife, Poppaea, who was then pregnant with their second child (the first one having died at 4 months old). After this tragic event, Nero went into depression, which only worsened after he was refused marriage by Claudia Antonia, another daughter of his adoptive father Claudius, and a half-sister of his first wife. For refusing, Nero implicated Claudia Antonia in Pisoís plot of 65, and in the next year put her to death. Meanwhile, Nero continued his search for a bride.

In that same year, he decided upon Statilia Messalina, who had been a lover of his. However, she had recently married Marcus (Julius) Vestinus Atticus ó her fourth husband ó a man who not only was one of the consuls of 65, but who was a political enemy of Nero. So Nero decided to remove Vestinus, but when it could not be proven that he had been privy to the murder plot of Piso, Nero resorted to strong-arm tactics. He sent guards to collect him at his home high above the Forum, but Vestinus locked himself in a bedroom and committed suicide.

Although Nero was murdered in the Palace coup of 68, Statilia Messalina survived the revolution and the civil war that followed. She would have married the future emperor Otho (who previously had been the husband of Neroís second wife, Poppaea Sabina) had his death not prevented the union. Indeed, Suetonius tells us that of the two letters Otho wrote the night before he committed suicide, one of them was to Statilia Messalina.

NUMISMATIC NOTE: Though the empress portrayed standing next to Nero on his Avgvstvs Avgvsta coinage is thought by some to be Statilia Messalina, she is most likely Poppaea, Neroís second wife. Statilia Messalina is represented on a few provincial issues.