Tiberius
TIBERIUS (tī-bēr'ĭ-ŭs, Gr. Tiberios). Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus succeeded to the principate on the death of Augustus in a.d. 14, becoming thus the second Roman emperor. He was born in 42 b.c., son of Empress Livia, wife of Augustus, by her first husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero. He had a distinguished military career in the East and in Germany, and, in the absence of direct heirs to Augustus, was the logical successor. Augustus, however, did not like Tiberius; and Tiberius for many years, was the passive witness of several attempts to bypass his claims and his abilities. The experience of disapproval and rejection no doubt contributed to the dourness, secretiveness, ambiguity, and suspicious preoccupations that marred the years of Tiberius’s power. A morbid fear of disloyalty led to the heavy incidence of treason trials, which were a feature of the Roman principate under its worst incumbents. There is no evidence that Tiberius was unduly tyrannous, but aristocrats and writers of their number blamed the prince for features of later tyranny and for precedents of many subsequent incidents of oppression. This, added to the natural unpopularity of a reticent and lonely man, left Tiberius with a reputation that modern scholarship, discounting Tacitus’s brilliant and bitter account, has been at some pains to rehabilitate. Tiberius had great ability and some measure of magnanimity; for, in spite of many unhappy memories, he sought loyally to continue Augustus’s policies, foreign and domestic. The rumors of senile debauchery on Capri can be listed with the slanders of earlier years, though there is some evidence of mental disturbance in the later period of the principate. Tiberius died on March 16, a.d. 37. He was the reigning emperor at the time of Christ’s death.——EMB
TIBERIUS tī bĭr’ ĭ əs (Τιβέριος, G5501). Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus, second emperor of Rome, and ruler at the time of Christ’s ministry, was born in 42 b.c., the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia. Livia, shortly to become the mother of a second son, Drusus, was divorced in 38 b.c. in order to marry Octavian, the future Emperor Augustus. Augustus’ lack of an heir, and his tragic frustrations in his search for a competent successor, are outlined in the opening chapters of Tacitus’ Annals. His stepson Tiberius was groomed for this role with a strange reluctance on Augustus’ part, which lacks a full explanation, for he was not potentially an unworthy choice. He was a brilliant military commander, and from 12 to 6 b.c., contributed effectively to Augustus’ long program of stabilizing the frontiers. On the difficult Rhine and Danube frontiers he successfully established security (Cambridge Ancient History 10, 12 describes these constructive campaigns).
That Tiberius was still sole heir in Augustus’ mind in 11 b.c. is shown by the fact that Augustus compelled Tiberius in that year to divorce Vipsania Agrippina, whom he loved, and marry Julia, the twice widowed daughter of Augustus. The marriage proved unhappy, and Julia was banished for adultery in 2 b.c. Four years before that date, at the conclusion of his northern campaigns, Tiberius suddenly retired to Rhodes. Stress with Julia, and Augustus’ obvious intention at this time to train Julia’s two sons, by her second husband Agrippa, as his successors, may have occasioned this act of withdrawal. He returned to Rome in a.d. 2. In a.d. 4, both Gaius and Lucius, Julia’s sons, having died untimely deaths, Augustus was forced to recognize Tiberius as his heir. He was given “tribunician power,” one of the devices by which Augustus maintained the fiction of republican rule, as a mark of this recognition. Augustus also adopted Tiberius as his son, forcing him to adopt in the same way his nephew Germanicus. On adoption Tiberius received “proconsular authority,” another astute constitutional device by which Augustus retained republican form, and disguised his real autocracy.
Augustus died in August a.d. 14, and, in virtue of his “proconsular authority,” Tiberius was able to step smoothly into his place. He was proclaimed Augustus’ successor in the following month, and reigned for twenty-three years. He died in March, 37. Controversy has surrounded his principate. Following Augustus’ behest to hold the empire firmly within its existing lines (Tac. Ann. I. 11), Tiberius abandoned the hope of thrusting the Ger. frontier to the Elbe. He gave his attention to consolidation. This austere and cautious policy earned the wrath of the opposition, and there were still many in the senatorial class who had not accepted the coming of the veiled autocracy of the principate. Tiberius himself, soured by long years of rejection and unhappy home circumstances, exerted himself little to win popularity. He was a morose man, obsessed by fears of treachery. This accounts for the spate of trials for treason which marred his reign (Tac. Ann. I. 72, 73; IV. 6). It was an abuse of a facet of Rom. law that was imitated toward the end of the cent. by Domitian, an admirer of Tiberius. Tacitus, the great historian, himself a member of the senatorial aristocracy, endured Domitian’s principate, and used his mordant style to cleverly denigrate Tiberius who, in his view had shown the later emperor the way to tyranny. Seianus, prefect of the household troops in Rome, was also to blame for some of the evils of Tiberius’ generation. It is characteristic of the pathologically suspicious that they will sometimes too readily trust the untrustworthy. Seianus plotted to replace Tiberius, but was cleverly struck down by the old emperor from his retirement on Capri. The news of Tiberius’ death was welcomed in Rome. The aristocracy hated him for the treason trials, the proletariat for his austerity and contempt for games. Modern scholarship has gone far to rehabilitate Tiberius, but admits the possibility of some mental decay in his declining years.
Bibliography
F. B. Marsh, The Reign of Tiberius (1931); CAH, X. xix. (M. P. Charles-worth) (1934).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
(Tiberios):
1. Name and Parentage:
The 2nd Roman emperor; full name Tiberius Claudius Nero, and official name as emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus; born November 16, 42 BC. His father--of the same name--had been an officer under Julius Caesar and had later joined Antony against Octavian (Augustus). His mother was Livia, who became the 3rd wife of Augustus; thus Tiberius was a stepson of Augustus.
2. Early Life and Relation to Augustus:
Much of his early life was spent in successful campaigning. Although the ablest of the possible heirs of Augustus, Tiberius was subjected to many an indignity, Augustus accepting him as his successor only when every other hope failed. When Julia, daughter of Augustus, became a widow for the second time (12 BC), Tiberius was obliged to marry her (11 BC) in order to become protector of the future emperors. For this purpose he was compelled to divorce his wife, Vipsania Agrippina, who had borne him a son, Drusus. Julia brought Tiberius nothing but shame, and for her immorality was banished by her father (2 BC). Tiberius was consul in 12 BC, and received the proconsular authority, 9 BC. He carried on successful wars in Pannonia, Dalmatia, Armenia and Germany. He retired in disgust to voluntary exile at Rhodes where he spent several years in study. In 2 AD, he returned to Rome, and lived there in retirement, 2-4 AD. On June 27, 4 AD, Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus were adopted by Augustus. From this date on Tiberius came more and more into prominence, receiving the tribunician power for 10 years.
3. Reign:
In 13 AD (or according to Mommsen 11 AD) Tiberius was by a special law raised to the co-regency. Augustus died August 19, 14 AD, and Tiberius succeeded. A mutiny in the Rhine legions was suppressed by Germanicus. The principal events of his reign (see also below) were the campaigns of Germanicus and Drusus, the withdrawal of the Romans to the Rhine, the settlement of the Armenian question, the rise and fall of Sejanus, the submission of Parthia. In 26 AD, Tiberius retired to Capreae, where rumor attributed to him every excess of debauchery. On March 16, 37 AD, Tiberius died at Misenum and was succeeded by Caius.
4. Administration:
On the whole, Tiberius followed the conservative policy of Augustus and maintained the "diarchy." But he approached nearer to monarchy by receiving supreme power for an indefinite period. He went beyond Augustus in practically excluding the people from government by transferring the right of election from the comitia of the people to the senate, leaving to the people the right merely to acclaim the nominees of the senate, and further by imposing laws upon the people without their counsel or discussion. He established a permanent praetorian camp at Rome--a fact of great importance in later Roman history. The administration of Tiberius was that of a wise, intelligent statesman with a strong sense of duty. The civil service was improved, and officers were kept longer at their posts to secure efficiency. Taxes were light on account of his economy. Public security increased. He paid attention to the administration of justice and humane laws were placed on the statute-book.
5. Character:
Though Tiberius was unpopular, he left the empire in a state of prosperity and peace. Of his character the most opposite views are held. His fame has suffered especially from his suspecting nature, which extended the law of majestas to offenses against his person and encouraged delation, which made the latter part of his reign one of terror. The tyranny of Sejanus, too, has been laid upon his shoulders, and he has been accused of the wildest excesses in his retreat at Capreae--a charge which seems to be refuted by the fact that no interruption to his wise administration took place. His character has been blackened most by Tacitus and Suetonius. But on nearer criticism Tiberius’s character will appear in better light. No doubt, toward the close of his reign he degenerated, but his cruelties affected only the upper classes. He was called a tyrant and was refused deification after death, and Augustus was said to have prophesied "Alas for the Roman people who shall be ground under such slow jaws." Tiberius was stern and taciturn, critical with himself and, soured by his own disappointments, was suspicious of others. Pliny the Elder calls him "the gloomiest of men." Much of his unpopularity was due to his inscrutability, to the fact that people could not understand him or penetrate into the mystery of his motives. He rarely took counsel with anyone. His life was frugal and modest--a rebuke to the contemporary dissipation. He felt contempt for the inanities of court life and was supremely indifferent to public opinion, but actuated by a strong sense of duty.
6. Tiberius and the New Testament:
The reign of Tiberius is memorable as that in which fell our Lord’s public ministry, death and resurrection. It also witnessed the preaching of John the Baptist (Lu 3:1), the conversion of Paul and perhaps his first preaching, the martyrdom of Stephen and the first Christian persecution (by the Jews). Tiberius is mentioned by name only once in the New Testament (Lu 3:1): "the 15th year of the reign (hegemonia) of Tiberius." The question is, From what date is this to be reckoned--the date of Tiberius’s co-regency, 13 (or 11) AD, or from his accession, 14 AD? He is the "Caesar" mentioned in the Gospels in connection with Jesus’ public ministry (Mr 12:14 and parallel’s; Joh 19:12,15). Herod Antipas built Tiberias in honor of Tiberius (Josephus, Ant, XVIII, ii-iii). It is unlikely that Tiberius ever heard anything about Christianity; it had not risen as yet into prominence. Early Christian writers wished to represent Tiberius, if not friendly to the new faith, at least as condemning the action of Pilate. According to one apocryphal tradition, Tiberius actually summoned Pilate to Rome to answer for crucifying Jesus. It is true that Pilate was sent to Rome by the governor of Syria to answer to a charge of unjustifiable cruelty, but Tiberius died before Elate reached Rome.
7. Tiberius and the Jews:
Under Tiberius Palestine was governed by Roman procurators. Toward the Jews in Italy, Tiberius showed some intolerance. In 19 AD all the Jews were expelled from Rome according to Josephus (Ant., XVIII, iii, 5), from Italy according to Tacitus (Ann. ii.85), and 4,000 Jewish freedmen were deported to Sardinia to reduce bands of brigands. Philo attributes this severity to Sejanus, and says that after Sejanus’ fall Tiberius, recognizing that the Jews had been persecuted without cause, gave orders that officials should not annoy them or disturb their rites. They were therefore probably allowed to return to Rome (see Schurer, III, 60 f, 4th edition).
LITERATURE.
(a) Ancient literature, as modern, is divided on its estimate of Tiberius; Tacitus Annals i-vi; Dio Cassius Rom. Hist. xivi-xivii, and Suetonius Tib. painting him in the darkest colors, while Velleius Paterculus II gives the other side.
(b) Of modern literature it is enough to cite on opposite sides: J. C. Tarver, Tiberius the Tyrant, 1902; Ihne, Zur Ehrenrettung des K. Tib., 1892, and the moderate estimate of Merivale, Romans under the Empire.