Editing Germanicus (section)

==House and early life==
[[File:RomaAraPacis ProcessioneSudParticolare.jpg|upright=1.35|right|thumb|''[[Ara Pacis]]'': processional frieze showing members of the Imperial household (south face). Germanicus is the toddler holding Antonia Minor's hand.]]
Germanicus was born in Rome on 24 May 15 BC to Nero Claudius Drusus and [[Antonia Minor]] and had two younger siblings: a sister, [[Livilla]], and a brother, Claudius. His paternal grandmother was [[Livia]], who had divorced his grandfather [[Tiberius Claudius Nero (praetor 42 BC)|Tiberius Claudius Nero]] around 24 years before Germanicus' birth. Livia's second marriage was to the [[Roman emperor]] Augustus. His maternal grandparents were the [[Second Triumvirate|triumvir]] [[Mark Antony]] and Augustus' sister [[Octavia the Younger|Octavia Minor]].<ref>{{harvnb|Meijer|1990|pp=576–577}}.</ref> Germanicus was a key figure in the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty]] of the early Roman Empire. Tiberius, Germanicus' uncle, became the second Roman emperor and would be succeeded by Germanicus' son [[Caligula|Gaius]]. Germanicus was also the brother of the fourth emperor, Claudius, and the grandfather of the fifth emperor, [[Nero]].<ref name="Salisbury3">{{harvnb|Salisbury|2001|p=3}}.</ref>

When Augustus' chosen successor, [[Gaius Caesar]], died in AD 4, he briefly considered Germanicus as his heir. His wife Livia persuaded him to choose his stepson Tiberius instead. As part of the succession arrangements, Augustus adopted Tiberius on 26 June AD 4, but first required him to adopt Germanicus, thus placing him next in the line of succession after Tiberius.<ref group="note">Tiberius had to adopt Germanicus first because his own adoption by Augustus resulted in the loss of ''[[sui iuris]]'', which included the legal right to adopt {{harv|Swan|2004|p=142}}.</ref> Germanicus married Augustus' granddaughter, [[Agrippina the Elder]], probably the next year, to further strengthen his ties to the imperial family.<ref name=Salisbury3/><ref>{{harvnb|Swan|2004|pp=142–144}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Levick|1999|p=33}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pettinger|2012|p=235}}.</ref> The couple had nine children: [[Nero Julius Caesar]]; [[Drusus Caesar]]; Tiberius Julius Caesar (not to be confused with emperor Tiberius); a child of unknown name (normally referred to as ''Ignotus''); Gaius the Elder; Gaius the Younger (the future emperor "Caligula"); [[Agrippina the Younger]] (the future empress); [[Julia Drusilla]]; and [[Julia Livilla]]. Only six of his children came of age; Tiberius and the Ignotus died as infants, and Gaius the Elder in his early childhood.<ref name=Salisbury3/>