Drusilla of Mauretania

Drusilla (; between AD 30-40 – after 54) was a princess of the Roman client kingdom of Mauretania in North Africa. She was a descendant of Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt and Roman triumvir Mark Antony, most likely through their grandson, Ptolemy of Mauretania. She was married to the procurator Marcus Antonius Felix in the reign of Roman emperor Claudius.

Family Drusilla's lineage is not entirely clear; Tacitus calls her a granddaughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, which would make her a daughter of King Juba II and Queen Cleopatra Selene II of Mauretania, but the chronology of her lifespan makes it more likely that she was their great-granddaughter. Being descendant of Cleopatra VII, Drusilla was probably born to Ptolemy of Mauretania (son of Juba and Selene) and his wife, Julia Urania, as Cleopatra's sons Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus are presumed to have died childless.

Her mother may have been a member of the Royal family of Emesa - she could be "Queen Julia Urania" who is mentioned in the funeral inscription of her freedwoman Julia Bodina at Caesaria.

Early life Drusilla was most probably born in Caesaria (modern Cherchell, Algeria), the capital of the Roman client kingdom of Mauretania. She was named in honor of Ptolemy of Mauretania's (her presumed father) second maternal cousin Julia Drusilla, one of the sisters of the Roman Emperor Caligula who died around the time of her birth.

First marriage Ptolemy of Mauretania was executed while visiting Rome in 40. Mauretania was annexed by Rome and later became two Roman provinces. Drusilla was probably raised in the Imperial Family in Rome. At an unknown point before 54 AD, most likely around 53 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius arranged for her to marry Marcus Antonius Felix, a Greek freedman who was the Roman Governor of Judea.

Drusilla held the Latin honorary title of Regina.

Second marriage Drusilla's second husband could potentially be her distant relative, the Emesene Priest King, Sohaemus, who ruled from 54 until his death in 73. Sohaemus was the Priest of the Syrian Sun God, known in Old Arabic as El-Gebal . If true, through this marriage Drusilla became Queen consort of the Roman client kingdom of Emesa. Drusilla and Sohaemus may have had a son, Gaius Julius Alexion, also known as Alexio II, who later succeeded his father as Emesene Priest King. A possible descendant of Drusilla was the Syrian queen of the 3rd century, Zenobia of Palmyra. According to some speculation she may also have been an ancestor of Julius Bassianus, father of empress Julia Domna (wife of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and mother of emperor Caracalla) as well as Julia Maesa (maternal grandmother of the emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander).

Ancestors