Tiberius

  • Tiberius (14-37 CE) was the second Roman Emperor and one of Rome’s greatest Generals.
  • He was the Roman Emperor during the Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus.

1.0 BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

  • NAME:
    • Born: Tiberius Claudius Nero
    • Reigned as: Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus
  • DATES OF REIGN AS EMPEROR:
    • Co-Ruler with Augustus (10-14 CE).
    • September 14 CE-16 March 37 CE.
  • FAMILY DYNASTY:
  • DATE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
    • 16 November 42 BCE – 16 March 37 CE
  • PLACE OF BIRTH AND DEATH:
  • PREDECESSOR:
  • SUCCESSOR:
  • TIBERIUS’ RIGHT HAND MAN:
  • HEIR TO THE THRONE BECAUSE:
    • Adopted by Augustus as his son and heir, making him a member of the Julio-Claudian family, and taking the name ‘Tiberius Julius Caesar’.
  • FATHER:
    • Tiberius Claudius Nero
  • MOTHER:
    • Livia Drusilla. In 39 BCE she divorced Nero and married Augustus making Tiberius Augustus’ stepson.
  • WIVES AND CHILDREN:
    • Vipsania Agrippina (16-11 BCE) who he was forced to divorce in order to marry Augustus’ daughter:
      • Drusus Julius Caesar (13 BCE – 23 CE).
    • Julia the Elder (12-2 BCE) (Augustus’ only Daughter by Scribonia)
      • ‘Tiberillus’ an infant son who did not survive.
  • DIED PEACEFULLY OR ASSASSINATED
    • Died aged 78 at his Villa in Misenum, possibly on his way to Rome to inaugurate the Temple of Divi Augustus.
    • It was rumoured that he was smothered by agents of Macro, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, under orders from Caligula, to prevent him reaching Rome.
    • Ironically Caligula was to officially become the first Roman Emperor himself to be assassinated by his own Praetorian Guard.
  • WHERE BURIED:

2. A GOOD OR BAD EMPEROR

  • Tiberius was the second Roman Emperor.
  • Previously Historians thought he was a ruthless tyrant, but more recently he is considered to have ruled with a strong sense of Duty.
  • Tiberius was either controlled by Sejanus, as an unwitting partner in his Persecutions. Or Tiberius used Sejanus to ruthlessly exterminate his rivals to the throne, whilst appearing to be remote from Politics in Capri. Later, he eliminated Sejanus.
  • TIBERIUS’ CHARACTER:
    • A very Cruel Emperor.
    • Suetonius states that he was Duplicitous, Cruel and concealed the Truth.
    • Pliny the Elder Referred to him as ‘Tristissimus Hominum’ meaning ‘the gloomiest of men’
  • TIBERIUS’ POPULARITY
    • Popular at first because of his military successes, but he became very unpopular by the time he died.
    • This was because he allowed the Prefects of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus and later Macro, to persecute his enemies.
  • THE REASON TIBERIUS WAS FAMOUS:
    • One of Rome’s Greatest Generals before he became Emperor: He conquered Raetia in 15 BCE, temporarily Germania between 12 BCE – 6 CE, and Pannonia and Dalmatia between 6-9 CE.
    • In 26 CE Tiberius retired to Capri and left the Empire to be run by the cruel Prefects of the Praetorian Guard, Sejanus and then Macro.
    • Under Tiberius the Praetorian Guard rose to become the Instrument that ran the Roman Empire, making its Prefect the second most powerful man in the Empire.
    • He was the Emperor during the Trial and crucifixion of Jesus. The only reference to him by name is in the Gospel of Luke 3:1. in the New Testament.
  • FAMOUS QUOTES:
    • ‘Power has no limits’
    • ‘Let them hate me, provided they respect my conduct’
    • ‘To have Command is to have all the power you will ever need. To have all the Power you will ever need is to have the world in the palm of your hand.’
    • ‘Better to subvert the Constitution than to remove its guardians’ (whilst defending the Delatores) Tacitus Annals VI.30
    • That ‘Princes were mortal: the State was everlasting’ Tacitus Annala III.6 (referring to the Public mourning for Germanicus.

3. EARLY LIFE

4. REIGN

Germanicus (15-19 CE)

  • Germanicus was the named Heir to Tiberius on Augustus insistence.
  • 15-17 CE Germanicus was made Proconsul and sent to the Rhine where he quelled a Rebellion, and with the 8 Legions, successfully campaigned against Arminius and the German Tribes, avenging the disaster of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE.
  • 17 CE He returned to Rome where he was given a Roman Triumph and made Consul sharing power with Tiberius.
  • 18 CE Taking his wife and family with him, Germanicus was posted to Syria as an Envoy and conducted peaceful negotiations on Tiberius’ behalf with the Frontier Kingdoms. This included the King of Armenia, the King of Nabataea, the King of Parthia, the still independent city of Palmyra, the Client King of Emesa, and the conversion of Commagene from a client kingdom into a Roman Province after the death of its King.
  • 19 CE After a visit to Egypt, Germanicus fell ill. Just before he died, he accused Piso, the Governor of Syria of poisoning him. His wife returned to Rome and publicly accused Piso of her husband’s murder. Piso was summoned by the Roman Senate to explain himself, and afterwards committed suicide.
  • Germanicus was loved by the Romans and very popular in Rome. After his death, suspicion fell on Tiberius who became increasingly unpopular.

The Rise to Power of the Praetorian Guard:

SEJANUS (15-31 CE): Tiberius’ right hand man:

    • Between 14-26 CE, Tiberius increasingly handed over the day to day running of the State to Sejanus who he appointed as Prefect of the Praetorian Guard (15-31 CE), before retiring to Villa Jovis in Capri in 26 CE and leaving him completely in charge of the Roman Empire.
    • Sejanus established this organisation as the most powerful force in the Empire. The Prefect of the Praetorian Guard now became the second most powerful man in the Empire, capable of dethroning Tiberius. Too late, Tiberius realised his mistake and had Sejanus executed, but future Emperors were regularly assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, until they were eventually dissolved in 312 CE by Constantine I.
    • After the death of Sejanus, all his allies were either arrested and executed or imprisoned and the bodies of the dead thrown into the Tiber.

MACRO (31-37 CE):

Tiberius’ Retirement (26 CE)

  • 26 CE Tiberius retired to the Villa Jovis on the island of Capri, until he died in 37 CE.
  • 26-31 CE Sejanus Prefect of the Praetorian Guard acted as Ruler on his behalf, but was finally arrested and executed in 31 CE.

The Revolt of Tacfarinas (14-24 CE)

  • MILITARY CAMPAIGNS/ REFORMS:
    • He conducted no Wars during his Reign.
    • However, he was one of the Greatest Generals of Rome before he became Emperor, having conquered: Raetia with Drusus the Elder in 15 BCE and temporarily Germania with Germanicus between 12 BCE – 6 CE, Pannonia and Dalmatia between 6-9 CE.
  • DOMESTIC POLICY: TAXATION
  • RELIGIOUS REFORMS:
    • Tiberius seems to have viewed the Jews as Christians. It is accepted by Historians that the Romans only made a distinction between the two after the imposition of the Fiscus Judaicus in 70 CE.
    • 19 CE Tertullian states Tiberius ordered the Roman male Jews who were of eligible age, to join the Legions, and the remaining Jews to leave Rome or become slaves.
    • Tiberius appears to have requested the Senate to recognise Christianity during his last years.

5. PERSONAL LIFE

  • CHILDHOOD:
    • Fraught with danger as his parents were always escaping from the scene of one civil war to another.
  • PERSONAL LIFE:
    • Tiberius was very much in love with his first wife Lipsania Agrippina, with whom he became engaged in 33 BCE and married her in 16 BCE. However, for dynastic reasons Augustus pressured Tiberius to divorce her and marry his own daughter Julia the Elder in 11 BCE. Unable to tolerate her immoral behaviour, he eventually divorced her in 2 BCE.
    • 6 BCE Tiberius renounced Public Life although he was the adopted heir to Augustus, and retired to Rhodes where he lived with friends as an Exile.
    • 2 CE Although he realised his mistake and asked to return, he was not permitted to return until Augustus summoned him after the death of his adoptive son Lucius Caesar.
  • LANGUAGES SPOKEN:
    • Greek and Latin
  • AUTHOR OF WRITTEN WORKS:

6. CONSEQUENCES OF TIBERIUS’ REIGN

  • EXPANSION OR CONTRACTION OF THE STATE:
    • The Frontier limits remained the same during his Rule. but as a General under Augustus he had helped expand them.
    • Tiberius resolved conflicts through diplomacy. He avoided War with the Parthian Empire by negotiating over Armenia. Unlike Augustus, he did not attempt the conquest of Britannia.
  • ENRICHMENT OR BANKRUPTCY OF THE STATE
    • Tiberius enriched the Aerarium, the State Treasury and his own Imperial Treasury, the Fiscus.
    • Tiberius did not conduct any wars, so by the time he died he had accumulated in the Imperial Treasury, a Fortune of 2,700,000,000 Sestercii (almost 3 Billion sestercii).

  • Roman Financial Panic of 33 CE

  • Tiberius was forced to adopt surprisingly modern measures to restore liquidity.
    • He suspended the Edict that had required Senators to spend 33% of their Capital on Land in Italia.
    • He lowered the Interest Rate to 0% for three years, by prohibiting interest from being collected on outstanding Loans.
    • He provided 100,000,000 sesterces from his own Imperial Treasury, the Fiscus, to the leading Banking Houses, to lend to their most desperate clients. This immediately had the effect of increasing liquidity and restoring land values.
  • The Panic ended within a few weeks of having started.

7. THE SUCCESSION

  • Augustus obliged Tiberius to adopt Germanicus as his Heir. Germanicus died in Antioch in 19 CE, and the Governor of Syria, Piso, was accused of poisoning him (but it was thought he acted on behalf of Tiberius).
  • Drusus, Tiberius’ own son and Heir, died in 23 CE, possibly poisoned by his own wife, who had become Sejanus‘ lover.
  • Tiberius then adopted as his Heir, his grandson Caligula. Suetonius quotes Tiberius as saying ‘I am preparing a viper for the Roman people’.

8. BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS TO VISIT

  • PALACES AND VILLAS:
    • Palace of Tiberius
      • It was located on the Palatine Hill, Rome. Today, its remains lie under the Farnese Gardens.
    • Villa Jovis
      • Tiberius built 12 Villas on Capri, but this was the largest.
    • Villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga
      • It had a large Grotto, which contained the Sperlonga Sculptures, which were several groups of statues representing various scenes from Greek Mythology. They were found crushed under a rock Fall dated to 26 CE in which Tiberius almost died. The reconstructed statues are on display in a museum at the Villa.
  • MONUMENTS:
    • ‘Temple of Divus Augustus’, Rome
      • Commenced by Tiberius and completed by Caligula (No longer exists).
    • Castra Praetoria, Rome
    • Victory Monument, Nijmegen
      • Dedicated to Tiberius, it is in the Valkhof Museum, Nijmegen, Netherlands
    • Arch of Tiberius
    • Frejus, France
    • City of Tiberius, Israel
      • In c. 20 CE Herod Antipas (Ruler of Galilee and Perea as a Roman Client Kingdom between 4-39 CE) named his new capital city, Tiberius, in honour of his Patron.
      • Tiberius is located north of Judaea on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee.
  • STATUES AND COINS:

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • CLASSICAL SOURCES:
    • Tacitus
      • The Annals, Books 1-6.
    • Suetonius
      • The Lives of the Twelve Caesars Book III: The Life of Tiberius
    • Velleius Paterculus
      •   Compendium of Roman History
    • Dio Cassius
      • Roman History
    • Juvenal
      • Satire X
    • New Testament
      • The Gospel of St. Luke, 3:1

 

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