“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate ruled in Judea, Herod was tetrarch in Galilee, Philip, his brother, tetrarch in Iturea and the Trachonite region, and Lysanias tetrarch in Abilene, under the high priests Anna and Caiaphas, there was a word of God to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went through all the surrounding country of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:1-3).
Tiberius I, Claudius Nero (November 16, 42 BC - March 16, 37) - Roman emperor from the Julio-Claudian family, who ruled in 14-37. With perseverance and selflessness, he achieved military successes in Armenia, Gaul, Pannonia, Illyria, Germany, returned to Rome several times in triumph. But after becoming emperor, he became indifferent to the interests of the empire. Completely abandoned state affairs. He grew in cruelty and unbridled temper. Torture, executions, violence, sadism. At the seventy-eighth year of his life, he was strangled.
Tiberius' father, Nero the Elder, belonged to a branch of the ancient patrician family of the Claudians. Fought against Octavian during the Philippian War. In 40 B.C. the family of Tiberius was forced to flee from the persecution of the emperor Octavian Augustus, but after the amnesty returned to Rome. In 39 B.C. Tiberius' mother, Livia, was introduced to Octavian, who fell in love with her, divorced on the very day his daughter Julia the Elder was born, and forced Nero the Elder to divorce Livia while she was expecting a child. In 38 B.C. Libya had a son - Drusus, and after 3 days Octavian married her. When Nero the Elder died, the brothers Tiberius and Drusus moved to their mother, to the house of their stepfather, Emperor Octavian Augustus.
In 20 B.C. Tiberius married Vipsania Agrippina, daughter of the prominent Roman general Marcus Agrippa. In 12 B.C. died the husband of Julia the Elder, son-in-law of Octavian, Agrippa, whom Octavian Augustus considered as his heir. Octavian chose Tiberius as his successor, forced him to divorce his beloved wife Vipsania and marry his daughter Julia the Elder. It is possible that due to bad relations with his second wife, Tiberius retired to voluntary exile in Greek Rhodes, where he lived as a simple citizen and attended philosophical schools. In the year 2 from R.Kh. Octavian Augustus, condemned his daughter for debauchery and on behalf of Tiberius gave her a divorce. In the year 4, the emperor announced Tiberius as his successor. In the year 14, Emperor Octavian Augustus died, his will indicated the only heir - Tiberius.
He spent the first 12 years of his reign in Rome. At first he acted with an eye to the law and public opinion, but then, filled with contempt for people, he gave full power to his secret vices. As far as before he was absorbed in the cares of the state, so now he indulged in secret lust and base idleness (Tacitus: Annals; 4; 67). In 27 he moved to about. Capri, where he indulged in debauchery, and the last 10 years of his reign in Rome never appeared. He no longer replenished the decuries of horsemen, did not appoint either prefects or military tribunes, did not change governors in the provinces; Spain and Syria were left without consular legates for several years, Armenia was captured by the Parthians, Moesia by the Dacians and Sarmatians. Gaul was devastated by the Germans - but he did not pay attention to this, to great shame and no less damage to the state (Suetonius. "Tiberius." 39-41).
He became especially furious in the last 6 years of his old age. He killed his relatives with hatred. Invented torture. Not a day passed without execution, whether it was a holiday or a reserved day. With many, children and children of their children were condemned together. Relatives of the executed were forbidden to mourn them. Accusers, and often witnesses, were given any rewards. No denunciation was denied credibility. Any crime was considered criminal, even a few innocent words. The bodies of the executed were thrown into the Tiber. Many were tortured and executed on Capri, and then the corpses were thrown from a high cliff into the sea.
Shortly before his death, Tiberius went to Rome. On the way he became ill, he fell ill. But those close to him did not wait for his death and strangled the old man.
Even before becoming emperor, Tiberius was friendly with Herod Antipas, who was brought up and studied in Rome with his brother Aristobulus. Friendly relations were maintained even when Herod Antipas became tetrarch 1 and Tiberius became emperor. In 17 A.D. Herod Antipas built a city on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, named after Tiberius - Tiberias, or Tiberias, which is why the lake also acquired another name - Tiberias. Tiberius deposed the high priest Anna and confirmed the high priest Joseph Caiaphas. During the reign of Tiberius, Pontius Pilate (from 26 to 37 AD) was appointed prefect of Judea, under whom Jesus Christ was crucified. 
"Tiberius and Agrippina". Peter Paul Rubens, 1614
1. In Dr. Greece: ruler of four regions or one-fourth of a region (tetrarchy).
Only for a short time; but grief for the vices and misfortunes of his own family tormented him incessantly. August was married three times, but had only one daughter, Julia, from his second wife Scribonia. Julia, who from her earliest youth indulged in terrible debauchery and over the years more and more cast off from herself all shame, morality and decency, was married for the first time to Marcus Marcellus, the son of the noble Octavia, from her first marriage with Gaius Marcellus. The son-in-law and nephew of Octavian Augustus seemed to be of the same character as his mother, and everyone around him loved young man just like her. Augustus appointed him his successor, but Marcellus (23 B.C.) died an untimely death, leaving no heirs. Then Augustus married a third time, to the power-hungry Libya , widow of Tiberius Claudius Nero. Libya used all sorts of intrigues to decide at the head of the army and government controlled his sons from his first marriage, Tiberius and Druza. A skillful intriguer, she knew well how to manage her husband without showing the appearance that she was interfering in government affairs. Livia not only meekly endured her husband's frequent infidelities, but sometimes, in order to better take advantage of his weaknesses, she even helped him with her influence on women. She soon reached her goal: we have already seen what high places her sons occupied in the army; in every military undertaking, in every significant public affairs, Drusus and Tiberius enjoyed preference over all.
Emperor Tiberius. Bust
But in general, no matter how great the influence of Livia on Augustus, the emperor must have well known the character of his stepsons and only in the extreme decided to appoint them as his heirs. After the death of Marcellus, he preferred to them his friend Agrippa, to whom he owed his victory, and whom he had previously showered with all sorts of favors. Having married him to the widow of Marcellus, he looked at him as his future successor. But Agrippa, who had from. Julius of three sons and two daughters, died (in 12 BC), and then Tiberius, the beloved son of Livia, began to appear wherever circumstances required the presence of an authorized representative of the emperor. Finally, Yulia was also married off to him; the hope of Livia to see him as heir to the throne was thus close to being realised, but was again dashed when the eldest sons, Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, reached an age to take part in public affairs. Unfortunately, both young men did not have any military talents, and besides, early spoiled by the bad education of their depraved mother and court flattery, they did not show the slightest ability for public employment. Despite this, their death was a misfortune for the whole world, because Octavian Augustus was then forced to transfer his imperial reign to the most terrible personality of his family, Tiberius. The sad chronicle of that time claims that Livia got rid of her grandchildren with poison. Be that as it may, Tiberius was adopted by Augustus and declared heir to the imperial throne, with the obligation, in turn, to adopt and accept as co-rulers his nephew, the son of Drusus. But Augustus soon had to remove the only surviving native grandson, the son of Agrippa and Julia, Agrippa Postuma born after the death of his father. Although this young man was adopted by Augustus, he soon showed such wild and animal inclinations and fell into such unbridled debauchery that his grandfather had to exile him to a desert island in the Mediterranean. Soon after, the emperor was forced to remove his mother from Rome as well. For your the highest degree depraved way of life, she was exiled to a small island, near the Campanian coast. Augustus no longer saw Julia, who died in poverty shortly after the accession to the throne of her third husband.
The beginning of the reign of Tiberius
In A.D. 14, the seventy-year-old Augustus died, leaving his stepson Tiberius an empire made up of the most diverse parts. Unfortunately, he did not make a healthy political organism out of it, directing it to the legal path by issuing a constitution. Already the reign of Augustus was closer to a real despotism, seeking the location of low flatterers and mob and relying on the army, than to a true monarchy, the strength of which lies in the people themselves. Everything was based on the personality of the sovereign, and this main feature The nature of the new form of government was revealed with all its shortcomings and horrors when, after the death of Augustus, power passed into the hands of the emperor Tiberius - a man whose predominant qualities were envy, timidity, sensuality and cruelty. The wits of Rome said that Augustus deliberately chose this man as his heir, so that the meekness of his own government would stand out even more clearly in comparison with the cruel tyranny of Tiberius. Only misanthropes can believe without evidence of something like this, and in general to assert something without positive grounds is a sign of a perverse and sick mind. In the appointment of Tiberius, we are rather ready to see the work of Livia. By forcing his successor to adopt Germanicus, Augustus, at least for a short time after his death, protected the world from the terrible consequences of the frenzied temper of the tyrant.
Roman aureus. On the right - Tiberius, on the left - his mother, Livia
Emperor Tiberius, who reigned from A.D. 14-37, was a man of gloomy character, prone to cruelty and despotism. Moreover, in his relations with Augustus, he was accustomed from early youth to such pretense, which very few sovereigns possessed. He never let anyone notice what he wanted, and his words and gestures spoke rather the opposite of what nested in his soul. Tiberius was always friendly to those he hated and harsh and cold to those he liked. Those who guessed it, he pursued and hated, and many during his reign were executed only because they understood and solved it. And the first government business of Tiberius was cunning and pretense. Immediately after the death of Augustus, he summoned the imperial guards to himself, gave orders to the troops as an emperor, ordered the death of Agrippa Postumus as a dangerous rival, and despite the fact that before the meeting of the senate he showed an appearance that he did not want to accept power, but convened senators only in order to to read to them the testament of Augustus and consult with them about the honors that should be paid to the deceased. When Augustus, by the verdict of the senate, was recognized as a god and buried with all sorts of splendor, Tiberius stood on ceremony for some time, saying that he did not consider himself capable of taking on the burdensome duty of the ruler, and only after the formal requests of the senate accepted the rank of emperor.
Tiberius and Germanicus
The first eight years of the reign of Emperor Tiberius were generally quite meek and just, because the fear of Germanicus kept his hatred of people within certain limits. He should have been wary of his nephew - especially since he was at the head of the eight legions entrusted to him by Augustus to conquer Germany, and the army loved their brave leader so much that immediately upon news of the death of Augustus asked him to accept the rank of emperor. Although Germanicus rejected this proposal, Tiberius had to be all the more careful not to give rise to displeasure, because Germanicus was a brilliant success in Germany, and the respect of the people and soldiers for him increased more and more. Therefore, Tiberius in the first years of his reign performed all the duties of a wise ruler. He eased taxes and declined the proposal made to him to introduce new taxes, saying that "a good shepherd should shear his sheep, and not tear their skin." Tiberius removed from the senate the miserable flatterers, of whom there were many; He forbade welcoming speeches with the title of sovereign, unusual in Rome, and sometimes patiently endured the grumbling of some senators, declaring publicly that in a free Senate the word should be free. He accepted the invitations of the Roman nobles, gave them visits, and in general in all his actions did not show himself not only as a despot, but even as an emperor.
But in fact, all the efforts of Tiberius from the very beginning were aimed at removing Germanicus from his Germanic legions under a plausible pretext. Tiberius considered this possible in A.D. 17, when german war, which already cost a lot of people and money, did not bring, except for fame, not the slightest benefit. He recalled his nephew to Rome, gave him a brilliant triumph, and then sent him to the East as commander in chief. Germanicus waged a glorious war there for two years with the border peoples, but was insulted several times by the Roman governor of Syria, and finally poisoned by him (in 19 A.D.). An investigation was ordered over his killer, but the accused, seeing that Tiberius wanted to extradite him, took his own life, or maybe he was killed on the secret order of the emperor himself.
Tiberius and the temporary Sejanus
Since that time, the real character of the emperor Tiberius began to be more and more clearly indicated; the vileness of the people crowding around him makes him more and more courageous in the execution of his planned crimes, until in the year 23 A.D. he becomes his favorite Sejan , which finally turns him into a perfect tyrant. Sejanus, the son of Sey Strabo, who commanded the guard under Augustus, belonged to the class of horsemen. By pacifying the extremely dangerous uprising of the Pannonian legions, he entered into favor with Tiberius and, after the death of his father, became prefect Praetorians or head of the guard. His first order upon assuming a new position was to change the permanent residence of the Praetorians, which had very important consequences. Under Augustus, the guards in Rome were maintained only by three cohorts of Praetorians and a small detachment of Germans and Spaniards, and most of the guards were stationed throughout Italy. fortified camp at the gates of Rome. He took advantage of the pretext that otherwise it would be difficult to collect soldiers even in case of emergency, and that they would deteriorate from relations with the city dwellers. This measure had a decisive influence on the fate of the entire state, because, by changing the attitude of the Praetorians and their superiors towards the sovereign and citizens, it made the emperor dependent on his guard and made its commander the second person in the state.
From now on, the reign of Tiberius becomes completely, despotic and military. He no longer hid before anyone, and the temporary worker Seyan was an obedient and capable instrument of all his plans. Brutal persecution and bloody executions took place daily; everyone who aroused suspicion was expelled or condemned to death. Remorse and longing followed the tyrant Tiberius among his occupations, which constituted his entertainment; he suspected everyone: his family, the best writers of his time, and everything noble and good. Sejanus skillfully supported this secret fear of his sovereign and did not allow him to deviate from the once chosen path. But neither Sejanus nor Tiberius were the real inventors of this terrible system of government, which was then introduced for the first time and which all cruel emperors have since imitated. It was rather a natural consequence of the moral state of the generation represented by Tiberius and Sejanus. Debauchery, luxury and idleness became the only goal of life for most of the Romans: all the best aspirations, all the highest motives were sacrificed to it. The senators showed the emperor from the very beginning, by their low flattery, that they were ready to endure all kinds of despotism, and showered him with such great honors that he himself once remarked to them with a sneer that it would have been better if they had waited for the end of his reign before deciding to render him such extraordinary honors! Thus, then, as always, the abomination and insignificance of the ruled caused and made possible this terrible tyranny of the ruler. Emperor Tiberius and his temporary worker could not have abused their power so terribly if they had not dealt with a relaxed, immoral, cowardly and cowardly generation.
Only the perfect corruption, insignificance and meanness of the Romans were the fault of the fact that in the reign of Tiberius people made a real craft of espionage, slander and denunciations, and that this sad occupation developed more and more under subsequent governments, poisoning all the vital juices of the state. In fact, as soon as in the second year of the reign of Tiberius, Roman Gispon, a poor man from the lower stratum of the mob, managed to acquire wealth and influence by false slander and by his example showed countless other scammers the way to wealth and nobility, when slander and false denunciations began to be made more and more often and more often, and every meritorious or high-ranking person was more and more endangered as the moral corruption of Roman society increased. Thus, it was not tyrants like Sejanus, who, with the light hand of Tiberius, began to dominate the empire, corrupted the manners and morals of the Roman world, but rather they themselves became so under his influence. Of course, here, as in everything, there was interaction, and such a hypocritical ruler, incapable of anything good, like Tiberius, had to act extremely perniciously on a generation that sacrificed all the noblest aspirations of the heart and great memories of the past to the most despicable selfishness. and not only tolerated all baseness, but voluntarily volunteered for it.
With the cessation public life depravity began to make rapid progress, and the introduction of military despotism, the persecution of all the best and the dominance of gloomy violence, more and more immersed the Roman world in sensual pleasures and depravity, which reached its highest degree in the era of emperors. In general, by the example of his own debauchery, the emperor Tiberius had an extremely harmful influence on morals. In the first best years of his reign, he still tried to curb the passion for pleasure that had taken possession of him. But with the appearance on the scene of the temporary worker Seyan, from day to day, he himself indulged more and more in sensual pleasures, although he was already at the age when a person usually tries to tame his passions. Tiberius's own nature, on which everything beautiful, good and noble had absolutely no influence, and the interest of those who either wanted to imitate him out of self-interest and thirst for pleasures, or, like Sejanus, control him through his own passions, attracted the emperor to his shameful depravity.
Masterfully taking advantage of the weaknesses of the emperor, Sejanus gained such power over the secretive and distrustful Tiberius that the historian Tacitus explains this as a miracle, attributing it not so much to the art of this rogue as to the wrath of the gods on Rome. The clever head of the guard tried with all his might to consolidate the seized power for himself, and for this purpose, by means of poison, he got rid of the son of Tiberius, aroused distrust in the soul of the tyrant towards members of his own family and persuaded him to expel some of his relatives. In 29, Sejanus even succeeded in persuading Tiberius to retire from Rome; thus, full play was opened to his influence. According to other reports, the emperor Tiberius left the capital voluntarily, wanting to hide his shameful way of life from the crowd, or being ashamed to show the people his person, exhausted by voluptuousness: in old age he became stooped and thin, and completely lost his hair, his face was pitted with wrinkles and very often covered with plasters. But this news is not entirely consistent with what other historians say about the appearance of Tiberius. Leaving Rome, the emperor traveled for some time in Campania, and then retired to the islet of Capri, which promised him many pleasures with its warm winters and cool summers, and besides, with its impregnable shores, protected him from all attacks. Here he indulged in the most shameful and unnatural amusements, while Sejanus, as the governor of the emperor Tiberius, took care of the execution of his brutal prescriptions and committed the same cruelties to strengthen his own power. Sejanus persecuted throughout Italy all persons belonging to the imperial family or in any way trying to incite the people against him or against the tyrant; the insignificant senate was only an obedient instrument of his plans. Surrounding any more or less respected person with spies, Sejanus constantly supported the incredulity and fear of the emperor; the same, whom he held as if in captivity, paid him all kinds of honors, so that finally, in the words of one ancient historian, it seemed that the temporary Sejanus was the emperor, and Tiberius the ruler of one island of Capri.
Remains of the Villa of Tiberius on Capri
Sejanus already felt so strong that he began to think about how to become emperor himself. Already in temples, in squares and in many private houses one could see his statues next to the images of the reigning family, when suddenly Tiberius lost interest in him. The emperor, who last years of his life he was almost always drunk, once, either he himself, in a moment of sobriety, saw where he went, or he was frightened by Seyan's request to marry the imperial princess to him, who revealed to him the real intentions of the temporary worker, or finally warned by the widow of his brother Drusus, who handed him a note. Be that as it may, the emperor Tiberius immediately decided to kill his confidant and plenipotentiary minister. To do this, he used all the tricks of his pretense. Now he treated Sejanus in a friendly way, giving him hope to agree to the marriage he desired, and thus kept the man, who had become strong and beloved by the soldiers, from any decisive step; then he wrote to him that he was dying, and certainly wanted to return to Rome; sometimes he patronized the creatures of Seyan, sometimes he rejected his proposals and showed signs of disfavor towards him.
Finally, ordering one of his confidants, Macron, whom he had already predicted in advance to be the prefect of the guard, to arrest Sejanus, he acted so carefully that not a single eastern despot ordering the execution of his vizier could act more cunningly than Tiberius. Since the tribunate, by transferring the supreme power of the people to the person of the emperor, gained much more importance than before, Sejanus was lured into the senate by false news that the senators, by order of Tiberius, should transfer to him the dignity of a tribune. At the same time, Macron, having shown to the Praetorians who stood guard at the Senate building, the order of Tiberius to appoint him, Macron, as the prefect of the guard, ordered the soldiers to remove all night guards, and presented each Praetorian, on behalf of the emperor, with an amount equivalent to 228 Russian pre-revolutionary rubles . In the letter of Tiberius to the Senate, at first it was said about extraneous things, then a few light reproaches followed Sejanus, then something else again, and finally, at the very end, an order to arrest Sejanus. At the slightest movement in favor of Sejanus, Macron had to skip the end, and could give the letter a completely different look. But the deal had a good outcome; immediately after reading the letter, Seyan was arrested, and not a single voice was raised in his favor. Although the emperor’s letter did not say a word about his execution, for fear of a rebellion by the guards, however, the senators, who understood the will of Tiberius very well, despite his silence, immediately ordered Sejanus to be executed (31 AD). Then, on the orders of Tiberius, the innocent children of Sejanus, all his other relatives and even just acquaintances, were executed. At first, these cruelties were dressed in the legal form of a trial, but it seemed to the emperor too long, and he arranged a general massacre, ordering, without any trial, to execute at once all the arrested friends of Sejanus.
With the fall of Sejanus, cruelties followed one another. Distrust, greed and deep hatred of people took possession of the soul of the emperor, and his rule began to rely more and more on one brutal violence, that is, military power, horror and fear. Tiberius was already over seventy years old, and he was still drinking and having fun, like the most promiscuous youth. Finally, in the 78th year of his life, the emperor fell ill, and seeing the proximity of death, carefully tried to hide his position. He pretended to be vigorous and healthy, started hunting, and traveled around Campania and the seashore, as if about to return to Rome. One day during these walks, he fell ill very seriously: he had a faint, which everyone took for death. Macron and all those around Tiberius immediately swore allegiance Gaius Caesar Caligula, the son of Germanicus, who was the inseparable companion of his grandfather, a companion of his orgies and a performer of all his whims. He was adopted by Tiberius and declared heir to the throne.
Death of Tiberius. Artist J.-P. Laurent, 1864
As soon as the court had time to congratulate Caligula as emperor, when suddenly the news came that Tiberius was still alive, and demanded dinner for himself. This news spread general confusion. Caligula would have died if he had not taken some quick and decisive action; so he at once followed the advice of the head of the guard, Macron, who was in the same danger, and allowed him to strangle the old man Tiberius with pillows (in March 37 AD).
(Tiberius Caesar Augustus, at birth was named Tiberius Claudius Nero, Tiberius Claudius Nero) (42 BC - 37 AD), Roman emperor from 14 to 37 AD. His mother Livia divorced her husband in 38 BC to marry Octavian (later Emperor Augustus). After Tiberius was adopted by Augustus (4 AD), he was called Tiberius (Julius) Caesar, and after the death of Augustus - Tiberius Caesar Augustus. Tiberius accompanied Augustus on a trip to the East in 20 BC. (and represented in his person the person of the emperor at the coronation of the king of Armenia, and also received from the Parthians the Roman military banners they had taken during the defeat of Crassus in 53 BC) and to Gaul in 16 BC, and then devoted himself to the main way of a military career. He conquered Pannonia on the Danube (in 12-9 BC), after which he led campaigns in Germany (9-7 BC and again in 4-6 AD). In 6–9 AD Tiberius suppressed uprisings in Illyricum and Pannonia. Tiberius subjugated the area in the north of the Empire up to the Rhine and Danube and consolidated Roman domination here, turning these rivers into northern borders Roman Empire.
Tiberius' personal life was sacrificed by Augustus to his dynastic combinations. In 11 BC Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce his pregnant wife, Vipsania Agrippina, by whom he already had a son, Tiberius Drusus, and to marry Augustus's widowed daughter Julia. This marriage was unsuccessful, and, perhaps, had a detrimental effect on the character of Tiberius. Augustus' plan was to make Tiberius guardian of Julia's two eldest sons from her marriage to Agrippa, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, to one of whom Augustus planned to transfer power. But in 6 BC. Tiberius was tired of being an obedient tool, he retired and retired to the Greek island of Rhodes, where he was until 2 AD. This caused the displeasure of Augustus, especially since just before that he had endowed Tiberius with the powers of a tribune for a five-year term. In 2 BC Augustus condemned Julia to exile for adultery and facilitated her divorce from Tiberius. In 4 AD, after the death of Lucius and Gaius Caesar, Augustus adopted Tiberius, obliging him to adopt Germanicus, the son of his brother Drusus and great-nephew of Augustus. For the next 10 years, Tiberius was, in essence, the co-ruler of the emperor.
Augustus died on August 19, 14 AD, and on September 17, a meeting of the Senate took place, at which a kind of competition in hypocrisy took place: the senators pretended that they could not wait to express their admiration for the new sovereign, and Tiberius pretended to be unworthy of this honor and unable to accept responsibility for the Empire. In the end, of course, he gave in to the requests.
The Principate of Tiberius passed under the sign of fidelity to the precepts of Augustus. In the field of foreign policy, he followed the principle of maintaining existing borders. After the death of King Archelaus in 17 AD. Cappadocia became a Roman province. Mathezhi in Lugdun Gaul in 21 AD were easily suppressed. Twice the Roman Empire was threatened by conflict with Parthia, but in 18 AD. Germanicus, who was sent to the East with emergency powers, was able to take him away, and just before the death of the emperor, peace was preserved thanks to the governor of Syria, Lucius Vitellius. The provinces flourished under Tiberius, not least because of the peace and frugality of the emperor.
The Roman population resented the lack of public spectacles, reproaching the emperor for stinginess (after his death, 2.3 billion or even 3.3 billion sesterces remained), although the usual distribution of bread continued under Tiberius, albeit on a smaller scale. Relatives of Tiberius himself and members of the most noble senatorial families were subjected to executions and exiles, the number of accusations of treason being dealt with in the Senate was constantly increasing. When in 19 A.D. Germanicus died in Syria, the Romans suspected that he was poisoned by order of Tiberius. In 23 AD in Rome, the son of Tiberius Drusus died, poisoned by the prefect of the Praetorian guard Elius Sejanus, right hand Tiberius. From that moment on, accusations of treason and execution that arose one after another were connected mainly with the problem of succession to the throne. Hatred of society or fear for one's life (but by no means a desire to indulge in heinous perversions, as gossipers claimed) prompted Tiberius to leave Rome and in 26 AD. leave for Capri. The absence of Tiberius had a negative impact on the administration of the Empire. Sejanus, who replaced Tiberius in Rome, was eager for power, but in 31 AD. Tiberius accused him of conspiracy and executed him.
In Rome (but not in the provinces), the reign of Tiberius was perceived as a disaster, mainly due to the inability or unwillingness to stop the avalanche of treason trials and because of the emperor's lack of a sense for loyal people. Tiberius died in Campania, where he moved from Capri.
Literature
:Gaius Suetonius Tranquill. Life of the Twelve Caesars. M., 1964
Cornelius Tacitus. Annals. - In the book: Cornelius Tacitus. Works, vol. 1. M., 1993
second roman emperor
Also great pontiff (since 15), multiple consul (13 and 7 BC, 18, 21 and 31), multiple tribune (every year from 6 BC to 37, except for 1 BC - 3 AD).
Full title at the time of death:
Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti filius Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribuniciae potestatis XXXIIX, Imperator VIII, Consul V - Tiberius Caesar Augustus, the son of the Divine Augustus, the Great Pontifex, is endowed with the power of the people's tribune 38 times, the emperor 8 times, the consul 5 times.
Origin
Tiberius was the first child in the family of Nero the Elder, who belonged to a branch of the ancient patrician family of Claudius, leading from the consul of Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Appius Claudius Caecus.
Mother - Livia Drusilla, daughter of Mark Claudian, born Appius Claudius Pulchra. Mark Claudian also belonged to one of the branches of the Claudian family, but adopted after the loss of his parents by Mark Livius Drusus, he formally belonged to the plebeian class. Tiberius thus belonged to a patrician family on his father, in contrast to the first emperor Octavian Augustus, who passed the status of patrician through his adoption by Julius Caesar.
Tiberius' father supported the Republicans, fought against Octavian during the Philippian War, then supported Pompey, then Mark Antony. He took part in the Perusin War on the side of Lucius Antony and Fulvia. In 40 BC. e. his family was forced to flee Rome, fearing proscription and persecution by the victorious civil war Octavian. First, Nero the Elder and Libya rushed to Sicily, then they fled to Greece with little Tiberius in his arms, who was born in Rome on November 16, 42 BC. uh..
In 39 BC e. Octavian proclaimed an amnesty, and Tiberius' parents were able to return to Rome. In the same year, Libya was presented to Octavian. Legend has it that Octavian fell in love with Livia at first sight. One way or another, but he divorced his second wife Scribonia on the very day when she gave birth to his daughter Julia the Elder. Then Nero the Elder was forced to divorce Livia, who was six months pregnant.
January 14, 38 BC e. Libya had a son - Drusus, and after 3 days Octavian married Livia. The wedding was attended by her first husband (Nero the Elder) as the father of the children of Livia, as well as the planted father of the bride. It was rumored that Drusus, brother of Tiberius, was actually the child of Octavian, not Nero the Elder.
Through his mother's second marriage, Tiberius became the stepson of the most powerful man in the Roman Empire.
During the time of August
Carier start
After the marriage of Octavian and Livia, Tiberius stayed at his father's house. In 33 BC e. Nero the Elder died, after which Tiberius and Drusus moved to their mother, to the house of their stepfather Octavian. Then the nine-year-old boy received his first oratory experience, speaking at the funeral of his father. In 29 BC e. Tiberius and Drusus appeared with Octavian in his chariot at the triumph on the occasion of Octavian's victory over Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium.
For the first time, the question of heirs arose before Octavian Augustus during a severe illness in 26 BC. e. Neither Tiberius nor Drusus were considered as heirs because of their infancy. The first candidates for power were the devoted commanders Agrippa and Marcellus, married to the daughter and sister of Augustus, respectively. Augustus had no male children of his own.
TIBERIUS Claudius Nero (Tiberius Claudius Nero) (11/16/42 BC - 03/16/37 AD), from 09/17/14 - Roman emperor, son of Senator Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, stepson August after Livia's remarriage.
Tiberius was considered the first commander after Agrippa in the army of Augustus. In 20 BC undertook a campaign in Armenia, in 15 BC. together with his brother Drusus, he captured the territory of the Rets, reached the sources of the Danube, from 12 to 9 fought with the Pannonians, and from 8 to 7 - with the Germans.
For dynastic reasons, in 12 BC. divorced his first wife Vipsania and married the daughter of Augustus - Julia.
In 6 BC left for about Rhodes, where he lived in voluntary exile until 2 AD. e. Only after the death of all pretenders to the throne, Augustus in 4 AD. adopted Tiberius, gave him the name Tiberius Julius Caesar and declared him his heir. The fact that he was in the shadows for a long time could not but affect him and his controversial character.
From 4 to 6, he was again in Germany, where in 5 he managed, with the support of the army and navy, to reach the Elbe. Tiberius was preparing to fight the Marcomanni, led by Marobod, but was forced to return to Pannonia and Dalmatia to suppress rebellions (6-9 AD). After the defeat of the Cherusci, Tiberius in 10-12 years. fortified the borders along the Rhine.
In 13, he became co-emperor, and after the death of Augustus, emperor. Having become the head of state, Tiberius continued to pursue the policy of Augustus. During his reign, monarchical power was strengthened, the state treasury increased, and the system of government in the provinces improved. He partly refused to return the collection of taxes on farming. At the same time, the plebeians lost their last political rights, tk. under Tiberius, the comitia were no longer convened. Starting from 15 all trials on charges of violating the law on lese majesty were directed against representatives of the opposition of the Senate, resulting in countless exiles, confiscation of property and executions. The Praetorian Guard was stationed in Rome, and its equestrian prefects gained immense influence.
With the accession to the throne, Tiberius was also forced to deal with the suppression of military rebellions in Germany and Pannonia, the pacification of the rebels led by Takfarinat in Numidia in 17-24, as well as restoring order in Gaul and Thrace in 21. The conquest of Germany was stopped with a recall in Rome Germanicus. In 18, Tiberius proclaimed the Roman provinces of Cappadocia and Commagene.
Over time, Tiberius became unsociable and suspicious, which was the reason for his decision to leave Rome and go to Campania on Capri; he never returned to Rome. Starting from 21 and until 31, the prefect of the Praetorians, Sejanus, practically ruled the country. Among others, Drusus, the son of Tiberius, became a victim of his ambition. After the execution of Sejanus, Macron took his place. Tiberius died on an estate near Cape Mizen.
Most often, he was portrayed as a tyrant and a hypocrite, especially for Tacitus, which is understandable given the hostile attitude towards Tiberius that was characteristic of the Roman aristocracy. This characteristic is refuted by recent research scientists. Biography written by Suetonius, portrait of Tiberius in the Pergamon Museum.
Dictionary of antiquity. Per. with him. - M.: Progress, 1989
tribune power received 38 times (first time - June 26, 6 BC, then - annually on June 26, except for 1 BC, 1-3 AD)
Emperor: I (9 BC), II (8 BC), III (6 BC), IV (8 BC), V (9 BC), VI (11 BC), VII ( 13), VIII (16)
Consul: I (13 BC), II (7 BC), III (with Germanicus, 18), IV (with Drusus, 21), V (with Sejanus, 31 G.).
