Obolos 18

Nero Claudius Drusus, Died 9 BC. Aureus (Gold, 19.5 mm, 7.73 g, 1 h), minted under his son, the emperor Claudius, Rome, 41-45. NERO CLAVDIVS DRVSVS GERMANICVS IMP Laureate head of Nero Drusus to left. Rev. Triumphal arch with DE above and GERM on the architrave surmounted by an equestrian statue of Nero Drusus galloping to right between two military trophies, each with a bound captive seated below. BMC 95. BN 3. Calicó 315. RIC 69. Light marks, otherwise, very fine.

From the Trausnitz Collection, ex Künker 24, 10 March 1993, 249.

Nero Claudius Drusus, often known as Drusus Senior, was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia, but was born after Livia’s divorce and marriage to Octavian in 38 BC. Octavian, the later Augustus, treated him as his own son; he became a military officer and began campaigning with his elder brother Tiberius in Raetia in 15 BC. He married Antonia, the daughter of Marc Antony and Octavia, Augustus’ niece, and had three children of his own, Germanicus, murdered in 19, Livilla, the wife of Drusus the Younger, executed in 31, and the future emperor Claudius, who issued this coin in his father’s honor. Drusus Senior invaded Germany in 12 BC and was quite successful, but in 9 BC he accidentally fell from his horse and died from the complications of a broken leg shortly thereafter. He was not honored with a full triumph under Augustus, but he was commemorated by an arch, created from one of the support arches of the Aqua Virgo,which was probably set up shortly after his death.