| Emperors between AD 14 - AD 98 | |
Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Year of the Four Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva
Tiberius A.D. 14-37
 The ruins of Tiberius's villa on Capri |
Tiberius was not Augustus's first choice as heir, being a stepson through Augustus's marriage to Livia, Tiberius's mother. Augustus had also adopted Drusus, Tiberius's brother, and his own nephews Julius, Lucius, and Agrippa Postumus, sons of Augustus's sister Julia and Marcus Agrippa. However, Drusus died early and Julia's sons were still very young when Augustus was forced to consider whom to name as his heir so as to avoid another civil war. By A.D. 4, Tiberius was clearly being groomed to succeed to the throne. (It was rumored that his mother Livia hastened the process by murdering Augustus, but most feel that Augustus actually died a normal death.) Augustus had been the first emperor, so there was no precedent for succession when he died. After he had been buried and deified, the Senate met to declare Tiberius emperor. The historian Tacitus wrote that the Senate voted various powers and titles for Tiberius but that Tiberius protested he was getting too old and wanted just a limited portion of control. However, he ultimately accepted all the powers voted to him although he refused the title "Augustus."
From the beginning Tiberius and the Senate were at odds. He expected them to grant whatever he demanded and, according to Tacitus, considered the senators "men fit to be slaves." Sensing lack of control at the top, the more powerful legions began to complain about the conditions of their service. Eventually mutinies in Pannonia and Germania had to be put down and not without much bloodshed. Despite this shaky beginning, Tiberius's first years were generally good. He seemed a fair man who named competent governors to the provinces. He adhered to Augustus's plans by grooming his own adopted son, Germanicus, to succeed him. But in A.D. 19 Germanicus died a suspicious death. His widow, Agrippina, claimed that her husband had been murdered by Piso, governor of Syria, together with other plotters. Piso committed suicide without naming others. (An inscription recently found in Spain contains the text of the "Senatorial Decree concerning Cn. Piso, Senior" and includes Germanicus's death-bed accusation of Piso.) There is speculation that Tiberius himself was involved in the assassination plot. |
| The Praetorian Prefect was a man named Sejanus who became Tiberius's closest advisor. According to Tacitus, as Sejanus and Tiberius were dining in this grotto in Sperlonga, a rock dislodged from the ceiling and Sejanus saved the emperor's life by throwing himself over Tiberius. But by now, intrigue, plotting, jealousy, and treachery were rife in the palaces, and Sejanus's career plummeted. |  |
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By 31 A.D. Tiberius had become depressed by his inability to trust anyone. He pulled away from public life and from Rome itself, spending most of his time on the beautiful island of Capri, enjoying this view from his palace. |
| On Capri Tiberius brooded over the death of his son Drusus, who had been killed by Sejanus (or so Tiberius had been told). Tiberius saw to it that all accused of involvement were killed, many of them thrown to death from this seaside cliff near the villa on Capri. |  |
 The seaport of Misenum |
The emperor died at age 78 in his villa at Misenum, the seaport that had been enlarged by Augustus. It is possible that his was a natural death, but it may have been helped along by supporters of Caligula. There was little love left for Tiberius in the senate, among the people in the palace, or among the citizens of the city. During his reign, the people of the provinces enjoyed peace, the governors performed their duties with no more than the usual amount of greed, and there were no expensive wars. But his absence from Rome in the last years of his reign left too much control in the hands of scheming courtiers. Paranoia, suspicion and denunciations caused many deaths. The Senate, reacting to the mob's opinion, refused to elevate Tiberius to divinity. His will named Caligula and Gemellus as joint heirs. The handwriting was on the wall: the empire was in for a more terrifying future. |
Sources:
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
http://www.roman-emperors.org
-- J.Jahnige, November 2003
Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Year of the Four Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva
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