Tiberius Claudius Nero ( 82 – 33 BCE) was a Roman politician, senator, and praetor who lived in the

1st century BC The 1st century Before Christ, BC, also known as the last century BC and the last century Common Era , BCE, started on the first day of 100 BC, 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC, 1 BC. The Anno Domini, AD/BC notation does not ...

. He was notable for being the first husband of

Livia Livia Drusilla (30 January 59 BC AD 29) was List of Roman and Byzantine empresses, Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal Adoption ...

Drusilla, before she divorced him to marry the future emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, and the biological father of the second Roman emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

Ancestry

Nero was a member of the republican

Claudia gens The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician (ancient Rome), patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain t ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He was a descendant of the censor

Appius Claudius Caecus Appius Claudius Caecus ( 312–279 BC) was a statesman and writer from the Roman Republic. He is best known for two major building projects: the Appian Way (Latin: Via Appia), the first major Roman road, and the first Roman aqueduct, aqueduc ...

. Nero was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and his mother was a descendant of the Claudian gens. Nero had a sister named Claudia, who married the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

Quintus Volusius.

Life

Nero had served as a

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

in 48 BCE, commanding his fleet in the Alexandrian War. As a reward for his contribution, Nero was made pontiff, replacing Publius Scipio. Julius Caesar also sent Nero to

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

to create and monitor Roman colonies (Suetonius notes Narbo and Arelate). Despite his service with Julius Caesar, Nero was an

Optimate ''Optimates'' (, ; Latin for "best ones"; ) and ''populares'' (; Latin for "supporters of the people"; ) are labels applied to politicians, political groups, traditions, strategies, or ideologies in the late Roman Republic. There is "heated ...

at heart. After the murder of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BCE, Nero suggested that Caesar's assassins be rewarded for their services to the state, which went against the part of the Senate that wanted to persecute Caesar's assassins. Despite this suggestion, Nero was elected

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

in 43 BCE for 42 BCE. Around the time Nero was elected praetor, he married his relative

Drusilla, whose father Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus was from the same

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

. His son of the same name was born November 16, 42 BCE, in

Fondi Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...

, Italy.

Elaine Fantham Elaine Fantham (born Elaine Crosthwaite, 25 May 1933 – 11 July 2016) was a British-Canadian classicist whose expertise lay particularly in Latin literature, especially comedy, epic poetry and rhetoric, and in the social history of Roman women. ...

believes it is likely that Nero had been married before he wed Livia, as he was looking for a wife in 50 BC when he approached Cicero to marry his daughter Tullia.

Second Triumvirate

Towards the end of Nero's praetorship, the

Second Triumvirate The Second Triumvirate was an extraordinary commission and magistracy created at the end of the Roman republic for Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian to give them practically absolute power. It was formally constituted by law on 27 November ...

began to break down, causing a dangerous situation in Rome as the triumvirs went to battle with each other. Because of this turmoil, Nero's praetorship was extended, and he was forced to choose sides. Due to his distrust of

Octavian Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in ...

, he cast his lot with

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

. In 41 BCE, he fled Campania, where he was in charge of the garrison, with Livia and Tiberius in tow, joining Antony's brother Lucius Antonius in

Perusia The ancient Perusia, now Perugia, first appears in history as one of the 12 confederate cities of Etruria. It is first mentioned in the account of the war of 310 or 309 BC between the Etruscans and the Romans. It took, however, an important pa ...

. Perusia was besieged by Octavian's men by the time Nero arrived, and when the town fell in 40 BCE, he was forced to flee first to Praeneste, and then

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. In 40 BCE, Octavian and Mark Antony reconciled. In Naples, Nero tried in vain to raise a slave battalion against Octavian and then asked for refuge with

Sextus Pompey Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius ( 67 – 35 BC), also known in English as Sextus Pompey, was a Roman military leader who, throughout his life, upheld the cause of his father, Pompey the Great, against Julius Caesar and his supporters during the la ...

, who was then acting as a pirate leader in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, but was denied. Nero, with his family, joined Mark Antony soon after in

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

. After three years of fleeing from Octavian, Nero returned to Rome with Livia and three-year-old Tiberius. Octavian immediately after catching sight of Livia, fell in love with her, despite the fact that she was still married. Octavian was married to Scribonia, with whom he had a daughter named Julia, now known as Julia the Elder. Octavian and Scribonia divorced. At the time of Augustus's divorce, Livia was 6 months pregnant with Nero's second son. Nero was persuaded or forced by Octavian to divorce Livia. Octavian and Livia married on January 17, 38 BCE waiving the traditional waiting period. Nero was present at their wedding, giving Livia away "just as a father would". Nero and Livia's second son was born in early 38 BCE and he was named Decimus Claudius Drusus, which was later changed to

Nero Claudius Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), commonly known in English as Drusus the Elder, was a Roman general and politician. He was a patrician Claudian but his mother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the s ...

. After his birth, Augustus sent Drusus to Nero to raise him.Dio, ''Roman History'' 48.44.1-5, https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/48*.html Using a cognomen such as ''Nero'' as a first name was unusual, as was the prominence given to his maternal lineage in adopting ''Drusus'' as his cognomen.

Death

Nero died in 33 BCE, leaving Augustus as his sons' guardian. Tiberius, aged 9, delivered his father's funeral eulogy on the

Rostra The Rostra () was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the Comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to t ...

in Rome. When the future Roman emperor

celebrated his coming of age, he staged two

gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

ial contests; one was held at the Forum in memory of his father and the other at the amphitheatre in memory of his grandfather Drusus.

Notes

References

Further Reading # Barret, Anthony A. 2002. “Family Background.” In ''Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome'', 3-18. New Haven: Yale University Press. # Barret, Anthony A. 2002. “Marriage.” In ''Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome'', 19-28. New Haven: Yale University Press. # Dennison, Matthew. 2010. “Fugitive.” In ''Livia, Empress of Rome'', 58-64. New York: St. Martin’s Press. # Dennison, Matthew. 2010. “'A man and his family should live together as partners.’” In ''Livia, Empress of Rome'', 121-129. New York: St. Martin’s Press. # Huntsman, Eric. 2009. “Livia Before Octavian.” ''Ancient Society'' 39: 121-169. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44079922. # Levick, B. 1975. “’Julians and Claudians.’” ''Greece and Rome'' 22 (1): 29-38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/642828. # Strauss, Barry. 2019. “Tiberius: The Tyrant.” Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine, 47-78. New York: Simon and Schuster. {{DEFAULTSORT:Claudius Nero, Tiberius 80s BC births 33 BC deaths 1st-century BC Romans Roman Republican generals Ancient Roman politicians

Roman Republican praetors Roman quaestors Roman Republican admirals Family of Tiberius