Eager for Glory

Eager for Glory is a biography of Nero Claudius Drusus, the younger brother of Tiberius and stepson of Augustus. Drusus emerged from the first imperial household as an administrator and commander entrusted with campaigns in the Alps and beyond the Rhine. Powell reconstructs how he organised bases, roads and river operations while leading Roman forces towards the Elbe in an attempt to turn Germania into a permanent sphere of imperial control.

Because the surviving evidence is fragmentary, the book combines ancient texts, inscriptions, coins, archaeology and the probable movement of Roman units to recover the shape of Drusus’s career. It also examines his marriage to Antonia, his relationship with Augustus and Tiberius, and his legacy through Germanicus and Claudius. His accidental death in 9 BC ended a rapid military rise and helped create the heroic reputation preserved by his descendants.