Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus ( 2 BC – January AD 41) was a member of the imperial Julio-Claudian dynasty of Ancient Rome. Domitius was the son of Antonia Major (daughter of emperor Augustus' sister Octavia Minor and her second husband Mark Antony). He married Agrippina the Younger and became the father of the emperor Nero. Biography Early life Domitius' birthdate is uncertain; some interpretations are that he was born around 17 BC while other sources argue he was born a generation later in 2 BC. Domitius was the son of Antonia Major, the niece of emperor Augustus, and her husband Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. He had at least two sisters Domitia and Domitia Lepida, and possibly an older brother named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, whom ancient sources confuse his early career and birthdate with. Career Describing him as "a man loathsome in every respect", Suetonius says that as a young man, Domitius was serving on the staff of his second cousin Gaius Caesar in the east, in AD 2. Domitius killed his freedman for refusing to drink as much as he was told. The reported reason was that the freedman did not get as drunk as Domitius did. On the Appian Way, Domitius was reported to have deliberately run over a child who was playing with his doll. At the Roman Forum, Domitius reportedly pulled out an eye of an equestrian because the equestrian openly criticized him. Although some historians such as Ronald Syme have argued that the Domitius who served with Gaius Caesar may have been an older brother of his and not Nero's father. Gaius Stern claims that the Eastern expedition is actually that of Germanicus in AD 17–19, if one assumes his birth to be in 2 BC and still interpret the violent actions to belong to Nero's father.