II. Tiberius (Julio-Claudian Dynasty II)
Emperor 14 AD to 37 AD
Born: November 16th 42 BC Died: March 16th 37 AD
Tiberius was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Emperor Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Augustus. After becoming a very successful general, he later married Augustus’ daughter Julia and became his heir. He had been offered significant power in the empire several years before Augustus died, but spurned it and went into a self-imposed exile from Rome, believed to be due to the many scandals perpetuated by his wife while he was on campaign. However, because Augustus had outlived all of his other heirs, Tiberius was forced to become emperor upon his death in 14 AD.
Tiberius was not loved by the people during his reign because he clearly did not want the position; he was not interested in ceremonies, did not hold audience over games, nor sought the pleasure of the populace. After the death of his son Drusus Julius Caesar in 23 AD, he became more reclusive than ever, and exiled himself from Rome again, leaving administration in the hands of his unscrupulous Praetorian Prefect Sejanus. Sejanus' Praetorians controlled the imperial mail, and therefore the information that Tiberius received from Rome. Sejanus began a series of purge trials of Senators in the city of Rome, removing those capable of opposing his power as well as extending the imperial (and his own) treasury. In 31, Sejanus attempted a coup by courting the powerful Julian family to place himself in the position of Emperor. However, Tiberius got a letter through to the Senate condemning Sejanus and ordering his immediate execution. The historian Tacitus claims that whereas Tiberius had been hesitant to act at the outset of his reign, now, towards the end of his life, he seemed to do so without compunction. Hardest hit were those with ties to the Julians. As Tacitus describes “Executions were now a stimulus to his fury, and he ordered the death of all who were lying in prison under accusation of complicity with Sejanus. There lay, singly or in heaps, the unnumbered dead, of every age and sex, the illustrious with the obscure. Kinsfolk and friends were not allowed to be near them, to weep over them, or even to gaze on them too long. Spies were set round them, who noted the sorrow of each mourner.”
Little was done to indicate how his succession was to take place; his own sons and immediate family were all dead. The only candidates were Caligula, the sole surviving son of his nephew Germanicus, and his own grandson, Tiberius Gemellus, but they were both young and inexperienced politically. Tiberius died on March 16th 37 AD, at the age of 77. Tacitus records that upon the news of his death the crowd rejoiced, only to become suddenly silent upon hearing that he had recovered, and rejoiced again at the news that Caligula had smothered him, though this is not recorded by other historians. In his will, Tiberius had left his powers jointly to Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus. Caligula's first act was to void Tiberius's will and have Gemellus executed.
Were he to have died prior to 23 AD, he might have been hailed as an exemplary ruler. Tiberius left the imperial treasury with nearly three billion sesterces upon his death. Rather than embark on costly campaigns of conquest, he chose to strengthen the existing empire by building additional bases, using diplomacy as well as military threats, and generally refraining from getting drawn into petty squabbles between competing frontier tyrants. Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest generals, conquering Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and Germania. But he came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive, and somber ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him “the gloomiest of men."