Back to ancient history yet again. Today in 16 A.D., Julia Drusilla was born. She was the daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. She had two sisters: Julia Livilla and Agrippina the younger. She had five brothers: Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar, Tiberius Caesar, Gaius Caesar, and Gaius Caesar Germanicus (nicknamed Caligula and became third emperor of Rome from March 28, 37-January 24, 41). She was born in Ambitarvium, north of the later city of Koblenz, Germany.
Drusilla married Lucius Cassius Longinus om 33. but they divorced in 37. By the time, the rumor was that Caligula had become a lover to all three sisters. He may have even told the couple to divorce. Drusilla was reportedly Caligula's favorite. Due to the relationship between the two (although we do not honestly know how far it went), she was gained a bad reputation and was even called a prostitute by later scholars. Just how much was true is unknown. What is known is that she occupied the place of honor during her brother's dinner parties, as if she were the female head of the household, i.e., his wife.
She did marry again--Marcus Aemillius Lepidus. What he reportedly was to Caligula I will not say here. It is confusing and not nice to talk about. If you are interested, you can check out the sites at the end.
Drusilla died June 10, 38. There is a rumor that she was pregnant with Caligula's child, and he felt threatened by this supposed divine child. Some say he essentially killed her for this reason, but others say it was a fever. (Don't you just love ancient history? And you thought your family was weird!) It is said that Caligula never got over her death. He buried her with honors, and he acted as a grieving widower. He did have the Roman Senate declare her a goddess--Diva Drusilla. She was the first woman in Roman history to have this honor.
Following her death, Marcus (her truly widowed husband) began going after Caligula's other two sisters. It was discovered that his reasoning was to hopefully overthrow Caligula. Of course Marcus was swiftly executed. Caligula did name his only daughter after her--Julia Drusilla.
Although we cannot even begin to imagine this strange tale, it has been suggested that Caligula was merely doing what the Hellenistic Monarchs of the Ptolemaic dynasty where marriages between brothers and sisters were normal, not scandalous. Remember Cleopatra?
For more information, check out these links:
- http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Drusilla.html
- http://nethelper.com/article/Drusilla_(sister_of_Caligula)
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