#tiberius caesar

If you know you know....

Inspired by @stagbeetleboy's post mentioning I, Claudius.

Tiberius: It’s more perfect. You said that imperfectly.

By Didier Descouens - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=116030485

Born 16 November 42 BCE, Tiberius Julius Caesar was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Roman Senator and praetor, and Livia Drusilla, who would later be the first empress of the Roman Empire, both members of the patrician class. In 39 BCE, his mother divorced his father while pregnant and married Octavian Caesar, who would later be known as Augustus. Little else is known about his childhood beyond a couple of public appearances.

By Miguel Hermoso Cuesta - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37279743

When Augustus became ill in 23 BCE, the issue of who would follow him became critical, with the possibility of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a son-in-law and close friend of Augustus, or Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Augustus' nephew and closest blood-related male relative, being raised by Augustus, but since he hadn't actually decided on one, a 'series of potential heirs seem to have been selected' which included Tiberius and his brother Nero Claudius Drusus. Augustus recovered and Tiberius entered politics at the age of 17 in 24 BCE. He took an interest in Greek rhetoric, the art of persuasion, and began appearing in court as an advocate.

In 20 BCE, Tiberius traveled with Augustus toward the Parthian Empire because they'd captured the standards of three legions. Negotiations were held with King Phraates IV of Parthia but whether it was Augustus or Tiberius or both wasn't recorded. They were able to reclaim the standards. Shortly thereafter, he married Vipsanius Agrippina, the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and was appointed praetor, a commander of an army, and sent with Drusus to campaign in the west, focusing on the Alps and Transalpine Gaul. In 15 BCE, he found the source of the Danube and followed it through the bend of the middle course. He returned to Rome in 13 BCE where his son, Drusus Julius Caesar, was born and where he was appointed consul. In 11 BCE, he divorced Vipsania and married Julia the Elder at Augustus' request, though he'd been happily married and he knew of Julia's tendency to cheat. While they were reportedly happy at first, it didn't take long for the relationship to sour. According to Suetonius, a Roman historian, when Tiberius ran into Vipsania again, 'he followed her home crying and begging forgiveness'.

By No machine-readable author provided. Cnyborg assumed (based on copyright claims). - Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30142747

With Agrippa's death in 12 BCE, Tiberius and Drusus became more likely successors so Tiberius received military commissions in areas that were highly volatile and key to Augustus' policies. When Drusus died in 9 BCE, it became obvious that Tiberius was the clearest candidate to follow Augustus. In 6 BCE, Tiberius retired from public life as he was 'on the verge of accepting command in the East and becoming the second-most powerful man in Rome', settling on the island of Rhodes, Greece, though exactly why he did so is uncertain. Some think it was his shame over Julia and desire for Vipsania, others think it was due to his belief that he'd have 'been swept aside once Julia's two sons by Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius, were adopted as Augustus's heirs and came of age'. This caused tensions about the peaceful transfer of power with Augustus being 57 and Julia's sons in their young teens. Augustus tried to convince Tiberius to return, 'even going so far as to stage a serious illness', but Tiberius only went as far as a port at the mouth of the Tiber in Ostia. After this, Augustus refused Tiberius' requests to enter Rome.

After the death of Lucius in 2 CE, and maybe at Livia's insistence, Augustus allowed Tiberius to return to Rome 'as a private citizen and nothing more'. After Gaius' death, Augustus was left with no other heirs than Tiberius, so Augustus adopted Tiberius on the 26th of June, making Tiberius his heir and successor. At that time, Tiberius was required to adopt his brother's son, Germanicus Julius Caesar. He received the powers of a tribune and part of Augustus' maius imperium, or power that 'outranked all other holders of imperium of the same type or rank…within their sphere of command…Imperium maius later became a hallmark of the Roman emperor'.

In 13 CE, Tiberius was made 'co-Princeps' with Augustus, his equal rather than second, which would allow him to 'simply continue to rule without an interregnum or possible upheaval' On 19 August 14 CE, Augustus died and Tiberius became Emperor at the age of 55, the only surviving heir. His position was validated by the Senate on 17 September, taking the titles Augustus and Pater Patriae, 'Father of the country'. He refused the Civic Crown and 'sought to represent himself as a reluctant yet devoted public servant, no more than an ordinary citizen who wanted to serve the state and people to the best of his ability', though his refusal of several honors were taken as insults and 'signs of hypocrisy, not humility' by those who offered them. According to Tacitus, Tiberius considered the Senate 'men fit to be slaves' and this antagonism with Senate continued through his reign, with Tiberius spending the first few years of his reign neglecting his responsibility at 'first Senator', as well as other duties, like paying bonuses to legions bonuses that Augustus had promised them, leading to a threat of mutiny and Germanicus and Drusus were sent to deal with it.

By Unknown artist - English Wikipedia, original upload 4 June 2004 by ChrisO under same filename, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=392757

Germanicus was sent east in 18 CE after receiving the first full triumph since Augustus' of 29 BCE and died a bit over a year later, in October 19 CE, accusing the governor of Syria of poisoning him. The governor committed suicide when it became obvious that the Senate would side against him in the trial. In 22 CE, Tiberius elevated his son Drusus to share his authority and a year later, he died 'in mysterious circumstances'. Tiberius made no effort to find another heir and moved to a villa on the island of Capri, 'which was a traditional holiday retreat for Rome's upper classes, particularly those who valued cultured leisure and a Hellenised lifestyle', in 26 CE.

By No machine-readable author provided. Buckeye~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). - CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=553604

While Tiberius was in Capri, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, Praetorian Prefect, head of the Praetorian Guard who protected Rome itself, was left in charge of the state, acting as Tiberius' Socius Laborum, 'Partner of my labours'. Sejanus wasn't Tiberius' successor, though he'd made a request to marry Tiberius' niece Livilla, but withdrew it. As Sejanus was also in charge of the postal service, he controlled the flow of information between Tiberius and Rome. Livia may have checked Sejanus' powers, but died in 29 CE. Sejanus undertook a program of removing those who could oppose his powers and enlarging the treasury, which he used as his own. Germanicus' widow and two sons, Nero Julius Caesar and Drusus Caesar, were arrested and sent to exile where they 'all died in suspicious circumstances' in 30 CE. Caligula, Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla survived the purge.

By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2385731

In 31 CE, Sejanus began to try to ingratiate himself with the Julian family, trying to be adopted and place himself in line for succession, perhaps even being named regent. Livilla, the daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor and aunt of Caligula, who was Sejanus' lover for years, was implicated in the plot that involved overthrowing Tiberius to take over the throne with those who tried to stop them being 'tried for treason and swiftly dealt with'. Sejanus was called to Senate 'where a letter from Tiberius was read condemning Sejanus and ordering his immediate execution'. He and several of his fellow conspirators were tried and executed within a week. Tacitus, a Roman historian, reported that there were more trials for treason and that Tiberius began acting 'without compunction' toward the end of his reign, saying 'Executions were now a stimulus to his fury, and he ordered the death of all who were lying in prison under accusation of complicity with Sejanus. There lay, singly or in heaps, the unnumbered dead, of every age and sex, the illustrious with the obscure. Kinsfolk and friends were not allowed to be near them, to weep over them, or even to gaze on them too long. Spies were set round them, who noted the sorrow of each mourner and followed the rotting corpses, till they were dragged to the Tiber, where, floating or driven on the bank, no one dared to burn or to touch them.'

After that flurry of action, Tiberius withdrew completely from Rome, leaving the empire to 'run under the inertia of the bureaucracy established by Augustus, rather than through the leadership of the Princeps'. Caligula and Tiberius' grandson Tiberius Gemellus were considered for heirs, with Tiberius making a 'half-hearted attempt at the end of his life to make Caligula a quaestor, and thus give him some credibility as a possible successor, while Gemellus himself was still only a teenager and thus completely unsuitable for some years to come'.

By Jean-Paul Laurens - Photothèque Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, photo : STC, Ville de Toulouse, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25536332

And tell sad stories of the death of kings;

How some have been deposed; some slain in war,

Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;

Some poison’d by their wives: some sleeping kill’d;"

"All murder’d: for within the hollow crown

That rounds the mortal temples of a king

Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,

Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp."

Isaac II and Alexios III Angelos - Nemanjici: Radjanje kraljevine (2018)

Trajan Decius - Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire (2008)

How did I miss this? [Commentary #1]

Okay, so in Tacitus, he states:

“ Whatever the fact was, Tiberius as he was just entering Illyria was summoned home by an urgent letter from his mother, and it has not been thoroughly ascertained whether at the city of Nola he found Augustus still breathing or quite lifeless. For Livia had surrounded the house and its approaches with a strict watch, and favourable bulletins were published from…