![]() Augustus appointed his younger stepson, Decimus Claudius Drusus, now 23 years old, to lead the campaign. By annexing the Alps and the lands up to the Rhine and Danube, the Romans could better police the frontier and support the upcoming German campaign. Decimus Claudius Drususīefore the conquest of Germania could begin, the central European alpine region would have to be subjugated. He would die three years later in a riding accident. The 26-year-old Drusus leads his Roman army across the Rhine into Germania in 12 bc. ![]() Augustus appointed the 26-year-old Tiberius to replace Lollius as governor and reorganized the region into Tres Galliae. He understood that the stability of the western end of his empire was closely tied to the intentions of the people across the Rhine. During his subsequent three-year sojourn in Gallia Comata, Augustus thoroughly reviewed the situation on the ground. Roman merchants crossed the river to trade their wares for amber, hides, horses, and iron, and German tribesmen frequently came over in boats to raid the lands to the south. The Rhine was not an impervious frontier. In the spring of 16 bc, Augustus began a thorough reexamination of German frontier policy. Furious at the news, Augustus decided to go to Gallia Comata and personally take command of the situation. The V (Alaudae) Legion, led in person by Lollius, had been ambushed and its prized eagle standard seized. At the top of the list were the Sugambri, Tencteri, and Usipetes tribes, which had formed an alliance. Lollius set out to hunt down and punish the culprits. Germanic warriors had crossed the Rhine and raided deep into Gaul, pillaging and destroying villas and towns. Marcus Lollius was Augustus’s hand-picked man in Gallia Comata, the newly Romanizing regions of France and Belgium. That policy abruptly changed when he received news of the so-called Lollius Disaster. Until 17 bc, Augustus, as head of state, seemed prepared to accept the Rhine River as the northern limit of his imperial ambitions in the west. In the 27 years since the assassination of Julius Caesar, Roman armies under his heir had doubled the size of the empire. The Lollius DisasterĪugustus was a conservative man by nature, disinclined to take wild gambles and preferring to act only after he had planned his next moves thoroughly. While serving in this role, Drusus received instructions from his stepfather to meet him in Gaul. Five years before the stipulated age, he was elected quaestor by the Roman senate, a position responsible for managing public finances. With the patronage and sponsorship of his illustrious stepfather, Drusus was fast-tracked through the cursus honorum, the public service career ladder. Drusus received a good classical education, and when he was 20 he married Antonia Minor, daughter of triumvir Marcus Antonius. Formerly known as Gaius Octavianus Thurinus, Augustus Caesar accepted the boys as his own. Five years later, the father died and the boys were taken back into the care of their mother, who had since married the heir to the great Roman dictator, Gaius Julius Caesar. Just months before, Livia had divorced his father, and the young boy and his older brother, also called Tiberius Claudius Nero, had gone to live with their father. Should he continue on or turn back? His decision would change the course of history.ĭecimus Claudius Drusus, born on January 14, 38 bc, was the child of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. For the first time during the four-year-long campaign, the confidence that had driven him to lead his 35,000 men through an extraordinary adventure to the banks of the Elbe River had suddenly deserted him. ![]() ![]() He was not sure whether he had just woken from a nightmare, had a premonition, or seen a ghost. On a sultry summer night in 9 BC, 29-year-old commander of Augustus Caesar ’s army in Germania bolted upright in his cot, dripping with sweat. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |