CIRCA 1ST CENTURY A.D.

Germanicus Julius Caesar (15 B.C.-A.D. 19) was the son of Drusus Major and Antonia Minor and the brother of Claudius, who later became emperor. Tiberius (reigned A.D. 14-37) was his uncle and adoptive father. Germanicus' military career was distinguished; he commanded the eight Roman legions on the Rhine frontier, recovering two of the legionary standards lost after a military disaster in the Teutoberg forest (A.D. 9). He became immensely popular among the people of Rome, who celebrated his military victories. The Roman biographer Suetonius in his Life of Caligula, III, describes Germanicus' '... unexampled kindliness, and a remarkable desire and capacity for winning men's regard and inspiring their affection'. Following his untimely death through illness at Antioch at the age of thirty-four, he was elevated to god-like status.