Tiberius

For the city in Israel, see Tiberias.

Early Life

Tiberius Claudius Nero was born on 16 November 42 BC to Tiberius Nero and Livia Drusilla. From his birth in a noble family, Tiberius was destined for public life. But during his boyhood the old Roman Republican system of rule by Senate and magistrates, which had been tottering for decades, was finally toppled and replaced by an autocracy under the able and ambitious Octavian (later known as Caesar Augustus). It proved fateful for Tiberius when, in 39 BC at age three, his mother divorced his father Tiberius Nero and married Octavian, thereby making the infant Tiberius the stepson of the future ruler of the Roman Empire.

Related Topics:
16 November - 42 BC - Tiberius Nero - Livia Drusilla - Roman Republic - Senate - Autocracy - Caesar Augustus - 39 BC - Roman Empire

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Tiberius's early life was relatively uneventful, even if the times were not. In 32 BC, as civil war loomed between Mark Antony and Octavian, Tiberius made his first public appearance at the age of nine and delivered the eulogy at his natural father's funeral. In the years following the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, as Octavian secured his position as Roman Emperor and became Augustus, Tiberius grew to maturity and took his first real steps in public life. In 29 BC, he took part in Augustus?s triumph for the Actium campaign, riding on the left of Augustus in the triumphal chariot. Five years later, at the age of seventeen, he became a quaestor and was given the privilege of standing for the praetorship and consulship five years in advance of the age required by law.

Related Topics:
32 BC - Civil war - Mark Antony - Battle of Actium - 31 BC - Roman Emperor - 29 BC - Triumph - Quaestor - Praetor - Consul

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He then began appearing in court as an advocate and was sent by Augustus to the East where, in 20 BC, he oversaw one of his stepfather's proudest successes. The Parthians, who had captured the standards of the legions lost in the failed Eastern campaigns of Marcus Crassus (53 BC), Decidius Saxa (40 BC), and Mark Antony (36 BC), formally returned them to the Romans. After returning from the East, Tiberius was granted praetorian rank and, in 13 BC, he became consul. Between his praetorship and consulship, he was on active duty with his brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, combating the tribes in the Alps. His personal life was also blessed at this time by a happy marriage to Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Augustus?s life-long friend and right-hand man, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The marriage probably took place in 20 BC or 19 BC and during his consulship of 13 BC, his wife produced a son, Julius Caesar Drusus.

Related Topics:
Advocate - 20 BC - Parthians - Legions - Marcus Crassus - 53 BC - Decidius Saxa - 40 BC - 36 BC - 13 BC - Nero Claudius Drusus - Alps - Vipsania Agrippina - Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa - 19 BC - Julius Caesar Drusus

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When Agrippa died in 12 BC, Tiberius, on Augustus?s insistence, divorced Vipsania and married Agrippa's widow, Julia Caesaris. The union was not a happy one and produced no children. Tiberius had been happily married to Vipsania and, following an embarrassing display in public, he was ultimately forbidden by Augustus even to see her. Nevertheless, Tiberius's elevation in his stepfather's succession scheme continued. He received important military commissions in Pannonia and Germania between 12 BC and 6 BC and proved very successful in the field. He was consul for a second time in 7 BC, and, in 6 BC, he was granted tribunician power (tribunicia potestas) and an extensive commission in the East. In essence, Tiberius had replaced Agrippa as Augustus?s successor. He was Julia's husband, the leading general in the state, and he enjoyed a share of the emperor's power. Everything seemed settled, until the darker side of Tiberius's personality intervened.

Related Topics:
12 BC - Julia Caesaris - Pannonia - Germania - 6 BC - 7 BC - Tribunician power

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Without warning, in 6 BC Tiberius announced his withdrawal from public life and went to live on Rhodes with some personal friends and an astrologer. Whatever his motivation, the move was not only a snub to Augustus, but it was also highly inconvenient to his succession plans. Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar were still too young to assume the heavy responsibilities of the Principate, and Augustus now had no immediate successor to assume power and see the boys to maturity, since Tiberius's brother Drusus had died of an illness in 9 BC. If anything had befallen Augustus during that time, the Principate could have been washed away.

Related Topics:
6 BC - Rhodes - Astrologer - Gaius Caesar - Lucius Caesar - Principate - 9 BC

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Whatever had been Augustus?s opinion of Tiberius, he seems to have had little patience with, or affection, for him after his exile. Something of Augustus?s irritation is revealed by his repeated refusal to allow Tiberius to return to Rome after Tiberius realized the delicacy of his position on Rhodes; and this in spite of pressure brought to bear on Augustus by his influential and persuasive wife, Livia. When Tiberius's tribunican powers ran out in 1 BC, they were not renewed, and his situation became even more precarious. According to Tacticus, he was expecting a ship bearing the order for his death. When the ship arrived in 2 AD, however, it brought quite different tidings.

Related Topics:
1 BC - Tacticus - 2 AD

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