Germanicus

Family: Julio-Claudian · Role: grandson of Augustus's sister · First appears: Augustus 64

Germanicus was the son of Drusus the Elder and Antonia, and the brother of Livilla and Claudius Caesar. In the time of Augustus, he married Agrippina the Elder, Augustus’s sister’s grandson, and was appointed with Drusus the Younger as an heir in remainder. After the deaths of Caius and Lucius, Tiberius adopted Germanicus, his brother’s son.

Germanicus was advanced to the quaestorship before the legal age and sent to the army in Germany, where he restored order among the rebellious legions. The soldiers urged him to assume the government, but he refused; he later defeated the enemy, received triumphal honours, conquered the king of Armenia, and reduced Cappadocia to a province. His position made him a rival of Tiberius, who was believed to have arranged his death through Cneius Piso.

Germanicus died at Antioch in his thirty-fourth year after a lingering illness, amid suspicions of poisoning. He had nine children with Agrippina the Elder; two died in infancy and another a few years later, while Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla, Livilla, Nero, Drusus Caesar, and Caligula survived him. The people mourned him at length, crying, “Give us back our Germanicus.” Cneius Piso was tried for his murder, and Publius Vitellius (younger), Germanicus’s intimate friend and companion, prosecuted him and secured his sentence.