Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38-9 BC), usually known as Drusus the Elder, was a Roman statesman and general. His natal father was a patrician Claudian, but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian household. He was the legitimate stepson of Livia Drusilla's second husband, Emperor Augustus. He was also Emperor Tiberius' brother, Emperor Claudius' father and General Germanicus' father, Emperor Caligula's paternal grandpa, and Emperor Nero's maternal great-grandfather.

He led the first major Roman campaigns beyond the Rhine and initiated Germania's conquest, being the first Roman general to reach the Weser and Elbe rivers. Drusus launched a successful invasion into Germania in 12 BC, subjugating the Sicambri. Later the same year, he launched a naval expedition against Germanic tribes along the North Sea coast, defeating the Chauci near the mouth of the Weser and conquering the Batavi and Frisii. He defeated the Usipetes and the Marsi in 11 BC, expanding the Roman rule to the Upper Weser. He started a battle against the Chatti and the resurrected Sicambri in 10 BC, subjugating both. While acting as consul the next year, he overcame the Mattiaci and defeated the Marcomanni and the Cherusci, the latter near the Elbe.

Drusus was returning from his march to the Elbe when he fell from his horse and stayed for a month, by which time Tiberius had joined him. He wrote a letter to Tiberius shortly before his death, complaining about the manner in which Augustus ruled. Suetonius relates that he refused to return to Rome immediately before his death. Drusus' body was returned to the city, and his ashes were interred in the Augustus Mausoleum. He remained extremely popular among the legionaries, who erected a monument in his honor (the Drususstein) in Mogontiacum (modern Mainz).