Two descendants of Caesar Augustus, uncle and nephew, shared the name Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus.

The elder Silanus won an honourary triumph and gave a lavish gladiatorial display. He was praetor in AD 48. The emperor Claudius betrothed him to his daughter Octavia, but this was broken off in 48 when Agrippina the Younger, hoping to secure Octavia as bride for her son Nero, falsely charged Silanus with open affection toward his sister. Consequently Claudius broke off the engagement and forced Silanus to resign from public office. He committed suicide on New Year's Day, AD 49, the same day that Claudius and Agrippina married.

The younger Silanus was the son of the elder's brother, Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus. After his father's murder, he was raised by his aunt Junia Lepida and her husband Gaius Cassius Longinus. A respected young nobleman, he became a rival in his youth to Nero. Expelled from public life by Nero after his accession to the purple, Silanus was banished to a small country town. He was killed in a stand off with his guard.