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Tiberius (42 BCE - 37 CE) was the second Roman Emperor, from 14 CE to 37 CE.

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Overview

Tiberius was the second ruler of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He reigned from 14 CE (after Augustus) to 37 CE (followed by Caligula).

Early Career

Tiberius Caesar Augustus (42 BCE - AD 37), was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37 CE. Tiberius Claudius Nero was by birth a member of the gens Claudia. He was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced his father and was remarried to Octavian in 39 BCE. In 24 BCE, Tiberius received the position of quaestor, and was granted the right to stand election for praetor and consul five years in advance of the age required by law. Similar provisions were made for his brother Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus. In 20 BCE, Tiberius was sent East under Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa to retrieve the standars captured by the Parthians. After several years of negotiation, Tiberius led a sizable force into Armenia, to establish it as a Roman client-state. Augustus reached a compromise whereby these standards were returned, and Armenia remained a neutral territory between the Roman Empire and Parthia. Back from the East in 19 BCE, Tiberius was appointed praetor. While Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus focused his forces in Gallia Narbonensis, Tiberius fought the tribes in the Alps and within Transalpine Gaul. Back to Rome in 13 BCE, Tiberius was appointed as consul. In 12 BCE, Tiberius received military commissions in Pannonia and Germania. He returned to Rome and was consul for a second time in 7 BCE, and in 6 BCE was granted tribunician power (tribunicia potestas) and control in the East. However in 6 BCE, Tiberius, retired to Rhodes. Augustus adopted Tiberius in 4 CE. Along with his adoption, Tiberius received tribunician power as well as a share of Augustus's maius imperium. Tiberius first married Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Their son, Julius Caesar Drusus, was born in 13 BCE. Tiberius later married Augustus' daughter Julia the Elder.

Tiberius Rule

Tiberius Caesar Augustus succeeded to Augustus in 14 C.E. Tiberius followed the steps of Augustus. However, he abolished Augustus advisory council, Consilium Principis, and had matters brought directly to the Senate. The early years of Tiberius principate were characterized by a successful expansion in the West, mainly in Germania, under the leadership of Germanicus Julius Caesar and Tiberius's son, Julius Caesar Drusus. Germanicus, after he quelled a mutiny of the Rhine legions, led them on a short campaign across the Rhine into Germanic territory and quickly occupied all of the territory between the Rhine and the Elbe. Additionally Germanicus’army captured the Teutoburg forest. Back from Germania, Germanicus celebrated a triumph in Rome in 17 CE. In 18 CE Germanicus was granted control over the eastern part of the empire. However, Germanicus died next year, possibly poisoned by Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, the governor of Syria. While In the East, Germanicus annexed in 18-19 C.E. Commagene and Cappadocia. In 22 CE, Tiberius shared his tribunician authority with his son Julius Caesar Drusus, but in 23 CE, Julius Caesar Drusus died. In 26 C.E., till his last year Tiberius retired from Rome to the island of Capri, leaving the government in the hands of Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the praefectus praetorius. Sejanus remained in power till 32 C.E. The years of Sejanus were characterized by trials for treason before the Senate of Senators, wealthy equites and even members of the Imperial family. The last years of Tiberius’ rule, after Sejan execution, were characterized by a complete withdrawal from Rome and political life. Tiberius died in Misenum in 37 CE. He was succeeded by Gaius Caesar Caligula.

Tiberius, the Jews and Judaea

Tiberius closely followed Augustus policy. Yet in 19 CE, the Senate ordered the expulsion from the city of all the Jews together with the priests of the cult of Isis. It seems that the expulsion was a consequence of the complaints of a Roman matrona named Fulvia, probably a theosebes, who was cheated by some members of the Jewish community of Rome, who took her money, instead of sending it to the Temple in Jerusalem. Four thousand Jews, who were liberti, or sons of liberti, were sent to Sardinia in a military unit.

The future Agrippa I was in Rome between 4 B.C.E. and 23 C.E., then from 33 till 37 C.E., where he enjoyed the friendship of Julius Caesar Drusus. Tiberius entrusted him with the education of his grandson Tiberius Gemellus. In the last years of Tiberius’s reign, Agrippa I formed an intimacy with Gaius Caesar Caligula. This cost him a long time in jail.

In Judaea Tiberius appointed three governors--Valerius Gratus (15-26 CE), Pontius Pilate (26-36 CE), and Marcellus (36-37 CE). Tiberius had a privileged relationship with the tetrarch Herod Antipas. Thus Herod Antipas rebuilt the city of Betharamphtha and called it Livias, in honor of the mother of Tiberius, Livia Augusta. The city of Tiberias, built on the western shore of the Lake of Galilee, the main building project of Herod Antipas was named in honor of Tiberius. In 37 CE, Tiberius fully supported Herod Antipas war against the Nabataeans. Thus, when Herod Antipas invaded the Nabataean kingdom and was defeated, Tiberius ordered Vitellius, governor of Syria, to send an army to punish the Nabataeans, but the Emperor’s death, prevented the vindication of Herod Antipas.

As Jesus preached and was executed under Tiberius, legends spread among Christians that Tiberius was informed by Pontius Pilate about the resurrection of Jesus and reported the event to the Roman Senate (see Eusebius).

Tiberius in ancient sources

• See Tiberius (sources)

Tiberius in literature & the arts

• See Tiberius (arts)

Related categories

• Roman Emperors

External links

• Wikipedia