Tiberius, Roman Empire

Augustus reaches his final decades of life. He has been emperor for 45 years, and in all that time, Rome has largely known peace; there have been no victorious generals camping threateningly outside the city, no fratricidal power struggles and no civil war.

Still, an awkward question hangs in the air: who will succeed him? After all, as the official line goes, Augustus is no king. He is the simply the first among equals, who has received his powers because of his extraordinary service to the state. Surely, on his death, as the restorer of peace and the Republic, Augustus should return all powers to the people of Rome.

But the princeps argues that for peace to survive, a successor to his position must be named. Augustus has only his daughter Julia, who, being a woman, cannot succeed him as emperor. Instead, he grooms three of his young relatives: Lucius and Gaius Caesar, and Tiberius Claudius Nero (his wife’s son from a previous marriage). Instead of a dynastic coup plotted to ensure the continued dominance of the Julio-Claudian family, Augustus presents this succession as the establishment of a Roman tradition, the right successor carefully chosen by the current emperor to ensure the preservation of the Roman peace. He gives his possible successors commands and honours, boosting their reputation, and making it seem to the Roman people that they are right for the job.

Tiberius, at the time of Augustus' death, is a storied commander, leading legions against Germans and Armenians, and recovering the standards lost by Crassus to the Parthians at Carrhae. He is an introverted, guarded and grim middle-aged man, but disciplined and competent. Tacitus portrays him as an unwilling emperor, happily retreating to Rhodes to study Stoic philosophy when it seemed that Gaius and Lucius were the favoured candidates for succession.

Tiberius is declared emperor by the Senate in 14 CE, Gaius and Lucius having died beforehand. According to the accounts of Suetonius and Tacitus, he at first seems reluctant to rule as an autocrat, taking great pains to appear as a member of a community of equals, refusing titles such as ‘Lord and Master’, ‘Father of the Country’ and ‘Augustus’ (except when corresponding with foreign kings). He even abstains from complaint if laws were passed that were against his wishes. Rome prospers and peace reigns, for nine years, Tiberius rules well and moderately.

But the emperor begins to become more and more uncomfortable at court. After the death of his two young sons Drusus and Germanicus, Tiberius becomes paranoid, sure that Drusus had been poisoned. He retreats to his sumptuous Villa Jovis on Capri and spends the rest of the reign ruling from the island. He will never return to Rome.

Whilst Tiberius is away, Sejanus, the captain of his guard, takes care of the day-to-day affairs of state. No one apart from Sejanus can interpret Tiberius’ wishes, and so he grows more and more powerful by the day. Soon, Sejanus has the support of the people and many in the Senate, he is emperor in all but name. He begins abusing his authority, and as he orders the arrest and execution of his rivals, a reign of terror grips Rome. 

His star has risen far, and soon it arouses the suspicion and jealousy of the old emperor. Sejanus’ fall is even quicker than his rise: one day, he is summoned to the Senate, where he is arrested, tried for treason and executed, followed by the systematic purging of his family and allies.

The rest of Tiberius’ reign was severe and tyrannical, marked by reprisals and show trials. But, for the vast majority of people in the empire, the Augustan peace still holds. For the poor in Rome and those living in the provinces, the Tiberian era is as peaceful and functional as one could hope.

Tiberius dies in 37 CE at 77 years of age. His accession ends any far-fetched dreams of a restored Republic and establishes the Julio-Claudian clan as dynastic rulers of the Roman Empire. Though the early part of the reign carried on with the successes of Augustus’ administration, as the years wear on, we see a deepening rift opening up between Tiberius and the elite clique around him. Paranoid suspicions, mixed with antipathy and disdain for those below, become a preoccupation of the emperors throughout imperial history, and none exemplify this more than Tiberius’ young successor, Gaius.