Happy Birthday, You Bastard

16th September, Julia Drusilla

Julia Drusilla

16th September, 16AD

Caligula was boorish, puerile, mean and rude. None of which should come as a surprise, nor disqualify him from serving as an emperor. He made particular sport of humiliating a certain Praetorian tribune named Cassius Chaerea, mocking the way he spoke and his supposed effeminate manner. Caligula would change the watchwords for Chaerea’s duty to ‘Venus’, an incredibly feminine word, or ‘Priapus’, the name of a minor phallic god with a huge dick. When Chaerea bowed to kiss the emperor’s ring, Caligula would “hold out his hand to kiss, forming and moving it in an obscene fashion”.

Chaerea could take no more. Although there were probably dozens of plots ready to go at any second, he struck first. Caligula was, shockingly, mingling with actors - male actors at that - in a narrow corridor below the palace when Chaerea drew a blade and stabbed him in the throat. The tight passageway, thronged with people, left no room for escape. Chaerea and his fellow plotters hacked wildly at the falling emperor, stabbing those around him, too. Innocent senators and bystanders fell under the whirling blades. Caligula’s Batavian guards scrambled to stop them, but couldn’t get near the dying emperor.

In the ensuing bloodbath, dozens died. The assassins had worked themselves into such a determined fury to slaughter Caligula, that they could barely stop. Not only were dozens caught in the crossfire of the feverish stabbing, but people were dying in the confusion. They were stabbing everyone. It took the Praetorians to stop the slaughter.

In the end, Chaerea didn’t have enough influence to dictate what happened next and in the chaos, the plotters hunted down Caligula’s wife, Caesonia, and their young daughter Julia Drusilla, cutting them to pieces.

The infant Julia Drusilla was only a year old and was murdered by being dashed against a wall. Quite a lot is written about her, considering her young age. Later writers considered her illegitimate and the only reason Caligula liked her was her ‘savage temper’ which caused her to attack other children her age. Which is, of course, palpable bullshit.

But there lies the problem. This young child is not the Julia Drusilla we are interested in. Instead, we are interested in her aunt, Caligula’s sister, the Julia Drusilla after whom the child was named. Like the nonsense surrounding the child, the stories surrounding the relationship between Julia and her brother are almost certainly attempts by later writers to discredit his reign and smear his name.

The chaos that surrounded the assassination of Caligula very nearly saw the Senate abandon the model of emperor, for which there was no constitutional need, and revert to a Republic and it was only the swift intervention of the Praetorian Guard, who dragged Claudius out of hiding and dumped him on the throne, that saw the empire continue.

Claudius refused attempts to ‘damn the memory’ of his nephew’ and so it was left to later writers to do it for him, making up lurid stories about him, including his relationship with Julia, in order to paint him in a worse light. Caligula was mad and bad, but not to that extent.

And in the centre of all this was Julia herself, whose own memory had been thrown onto the fire along with her brother’s. To all ancient writers, women are merely pawns in their attempts to draw their own narratives and as such, they are either portrayed as witches, bitches or whores as the story requires. Julia was none of these things and her own voice is lost to history because, as always, history was written by men.

Nearly everyone who has written about Caligula since he died, including famous modern accounts by Robert Graves in his brilliant I, Claudius, has attempted to portray him as wildly insane. In the TV version of I, Claudius, he literally rips a baby - his own baby - from Julia’s womb and eats it, a story that is entirely made up for the show.

This artistic licence with the memory of Caligula is largely because the major accounts of his life are lost. Into this gap, history has simply thrown a whole bucket full of insane theories and Julia’s memory has suffered from it accordingly. Caligula was never that insane and was never portrayed as being that insane by ancient writers, either. If he had been that mad, that would have given his worst excesses some mitigation and that would never do. Perhaps his memory deserves some salvation, perhaps not. But nothing Julia Drusilla ever did should mean that her memory is beyond such redemption.

Julia Drusilla, born in 16AD, was the second daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, and the beloved sister of Emperor Caligula. Her life was relatively short, but her legacy is forever intertwined with the reputation of her infamous brother. Much of what is believed about Drusilla stems from the complex, often malicious historical accounts about Caligula. The most infamous claim is that she and her brother engaged in an incestuous relationship. However, when closely examining the sources, this accusation appears more like an attempt to smear Caligula's name rather than a reflection of actual events.

Drusilla was born into one of the most prominent families in Rome. She was a great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus and was raised alongside her siblings, including her brothers Nero (not that one!), Drusus, and the future emperor Caligula. The family was known for its high profile and connections to power, but it was also marked by tragedy. Drusilla’s father, Germanicus, died in mysterious circumstances when she was very young, and her mother, Agrippina, famously clashed with Emperor Tiberius, eventually dying in exile. This turbulent family history set the stage for Drusilla’s life under her brother Caligula’s reign.

Caligula became emperor in 37AD, and one of his first acts was to bring back his three sisters from exile. Among them, Drusilla was his favourite, and their bond was famously close. Caligula elevated his sisters to unprecedented levels of power for women in Roman society, having their names included in public vows and honouring them with titles that signalled their importance in the imperial family. Drusilla was even made heir to the throne in the event of Caligula's death, a highly unusual move that reflected their close relationship. However, the nature of this relationship became the subject of much speculation, and historians from antiquity onward have debated whether their bond crossed into the realm of incest.

The claim that Caligula and Drusilla were lovers originated in the writings of Suetonius and Cassius Dio, both of whom wrote their accounts many years after the events in question. These historians painted Caligula as a tyrannical and depraved figure, and their accusations about his sexual behaviour were part of a broader narrative designed to portray him as morally degenerate. According to these sources, Caligula treated Drusilla not only as his sister but as his wife, having an open sexual relationship with her and showing her more affection than he did his actual wives. When Drusilla died in 38AD, Caligula was said to be so devastated that he declared her a goddess, an unprecedented honour for a Roman woman.

However, when we consider these claims in the broader context of Roman politics and the agenda of the historians who recorded them, it becomes clear that the story of incest was likely exaggerated, if not entirely fabricated. Roman historians, particularly Suetonius, often used tales of sexual immorality to discredit emperors they disliked. In Caligula’s case, stories of his alleged incestuous relationship with Drusilla were part of a larger attempt to depict him as a monster. The sheer absurdity of some of the other claims made about Caligula’s reign, such as his plan to make his horse a consul, calls into question the reliability of these sources. Furthermore, no contemporary records exist that confirm the rumors about Caligula and Drusilla’s relationship, suggesting that these stories may have been exaggerated in the years after Caligula’s assassination in 41AD.

Another layer to the story of Drusilla’s supposed incestuous relationship with Caligula is the political climate of the time. Caligula’s reign was marked by a desire to consolidate power within his family, particularly after years of political intrigue and betrayal under Tiberius. His decision to elevate his sisters, especially Drusilla, to positions of great prominence was likely motivated by this desire to keep power within the family. However, in a society as patriarchal as ancient Rome, the idea of a brother showing such favor to his sister could easily be twisted into something scandalous. By naming Drusilla his heir, Caligula was breaking with convention in a way that invited criticism. His enemies, eager to discredit him, could easily have used his closeness to his sister as evidence of moral corruption.

Drusilla’s death in 38AD was a turning point in Caligula’s reign. According to ancient sources, he mourned her intensely, going so far as to enact a period of public mourning throughout the empire. Her deification was another step in Caligula’s attempts to elevate his family to divine status, a political move that was not entirely without precedent. The Julio-Claudian dynasty, to which Caligula belonged, had long cultivated a sense of divinity around their rule, with Augustus being declared a god after his death. However, the deification of Drusilla, especially at such a young age, fed into the narrative of Caligula’s excesses and contributed to the enduring image of him as an irrational and unstable ruler.

Caligula’s deep affection for Drusilla was further evidenced in 39AD when his wife, Caesonia, gave birth to a daughter, whom he named Julia Drusilla in honour of his late sister. This act reinforced the idea that Drusilla held a special place in Caligula’s life and served as a lasting tribute to her memory. Naming his daughter after his sister also symbolized Caligula’s desire to maintain his sister’s legacy within his family, ensuring that her name continued in Roman history. Unfortunately, the younger Julia Drusilla did not live long enough to carry forward her aunt’s memory; she was tragically killed alongside her parents in 41AD during the assassination of Caligula. This decision to name his daughter after his beloved sister further complicates the narrative surrounding their relationship, with some seeing it as an indication of his familial devotion rather than evidence of any immoral conduct.

In many ways, Drusilla’s story has been overshadowed by the scandals that surround her brother. Little is known about her personal life beyond her role as Caligula’s sister. She was married twice, first to Lucius Cassius Longinus and later to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, but there is little evidence to suggest that either marriage played a significant role in her life or legacy. Her deification by Caligula, though extraordinary, did not translate into a lasting religious cult, and after her brother’s assassination, her memory was largely erased from public life, as the new regime sought to distance itself from the excesses of Caligula’s reign.

Ultimately, the narrative of Drusilla and Caligula’s supposed incestuous relationship seems to be more a product of political smear tactics than historical reality. The evidence for such a relationship is scant, and much of what we know comes from biased sources eager to vilify Caligula. Drusilla’s life, though short, was significant in her brother’s reign, and her deification highlights the close bond they shared. However, the enduring scandal surrounding her name is more a reflection of the broader efforts to discredit Caligula than a true reflection of their relationship.

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