Tiberius - Blood Soaked Mud

When Tiberius became emperor, he was a morose, sullen unhappy man, already in his mid fifties. As Augustus' stepson, Tiberius was strategically placed but he would by no means automatically became heir to the empire.

He was born in November, 42 BC, the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero, a member of the distinguished Claudian house and Livia Drusilla. The older Tiberius fought against Octavian in the Civil War and in 40 BC was forced to flee to Greece. He returned to Italy in the following year and then was encouraged to divorce Livia so that Octavian could marry her. Within a dozen years, Octavian had become Augustus and Tiberius was the stepson of Rome's first emperor.

Augustus' first choice to succeed him was his nephew, Marcellus, whom he married to Julia. But the young man died in 23 BC so he turned next to the dependable Agrippa and married him to his widowed daughter Julia to ensure the Julian bloodline was maintained in the succession. The marriage produced five children, Gaius, Lucius, Agrippina, Julia and Agrippa Postumus. Gaius and Lucius were designated as eventual heirs. The death of Agrippa in 12 BC removed him from the list of heirs but Augustus still had his two grandsons. However, it was at this time that Tiberius was moved into the line of succession in the event that something happened to Augustus and the two young heirs could not guide the empire. To seal the succession, Tiberius was forced to divorce his wife and marry the twice widowed Julia, a marriage that proved to be a fiasco. Augustus began to regret the trust that he'd placed in Tiberius and, as Gaius and Lucius, matured, Tiberius found himself becoming almost a non entity. Tiberius retired to the island of Rhodes where he lived for 8 years before being allowed to return to Rome. By 4 CE, both Gaius and Lucius were dead and Augustus, old and disappointed, had to turn to Tiberius once again.

What Augustus really felt about Tiberius is unclear. One tradition has Augustus exclaiming on his deathbed "Alas for the Roman people, to be ground by jaws that crunch so slowly!". It was apparent that he did think Tiberius to be stiff and austere, and when adopting Tiberius on June 27, CE, he added the words, "This I do for reasons of state."

Tiberius was back with the legions almost immediately following his adoption, campaigning deep into Germany. Of his military prowess there was no doubt, but he still had almost no experience of running the empire and there wasn't much effort made to give him any experience.

His problems as emperor began almost immediately. He pushed his mother, whom he blamed for many of his earlier disappointments, into an uneasy retirement. He gave a polite but decidedly deaf ear to the Senate that had always viewed him as cryptic and obscure. He was blamed by many of the persecution of Julia's last remaining son, Agrippa Postumus.

Because of his frugality, personality and distaste for public spectacles, the masses loathed Tiberius and he did very little to improve his public image. Popular sentiment favored his nephew Germanicus, the son of his deceased brother, Drusus. Germanicus had married Julia's daughter by Agrippa. Germanicus was also the son of Antonia, the daughter of Augustus' sister, Octavia. Augustus, who wished to have his bloodline regain the throne in the future, had directed that the young Germanicus would succeed Tiberius. The public made it very obvious that they preferred that the transfer of power take place sooner than later.

Things came to a head in 19 CE when Germanicus died suddenly while on an Eastern tour. Charges that Gnaeus Piso, Tiberius' governor of Syria, poisoned Germanicus prompted a trial but Piso committed suicide before the matter was settled. This did nothing but fuel the suspicions of many that Germanicus had been murdered.

By 26 CE, Tiberius had wearied completely of Rome, the Senate, it's people, his irksome relatives and of plots and intrigues. The sudden death of his son, Drusus in 23 CE, was also a blow that Tiberius never fully recovered from. He now left the capital and took up residence on Capri. From there, Tiberius guided the Roman world almost for the remainder of his life.

He left in charge his friend, L. Aelius Sejanus, a man whom he trusted completely. How far back Sejanus' friendship with Tiberius went is unclear but Tiberius knew him well when he'd succeeded Augustus in 14 CE. It is possible that Sejanus was introduced to Tiberius by his father who was a commander in the praetorian Guard, a position that Sejanus held joint with him after Tiberius' accession.

While Tiberius was in Capri, Sejanus worked to strengthen his position. Treason trials were utilized to eliminate his personal and political enemies and to impress the Emperor with his vigilance. To many, it seemed as though a 'reign of terror' had been unleashed upon Rome. Innocent people died and there was no lack of false charges and accusations. But to be fair to Tiberius, he often interceded and sometimes personally investigated the details of a case when he suspected the evidence. However, this period was severe enough to earn the emperor an extremely bad reputation in future histories.

In 31 CE, Sejanus was at the height of his power. Ironically, he would be dead before the year was over. It was a letter to Tiberius from Antonia that prompted his downfall. The anxious grandmother expressed her concerns to Tiberius about the safety of her youngest grandson, Caligula, after having seen the prefect already imprison two of her grandsons with their mother. If, as Antonia was charging, Sejanus was plotting to eliminate Caligula, then Tiberius could never be sure of his own safety. The death of Caligula's brother Nero, who was either murdered or forced to commit suicide must have convinced Tiberius of the validity of Antonia's charges.

Sejanus was brought down by cleverly disguised letter sent to the Senate by Tiberius and delivered by Macro. Sejanus believed the letter contained Tiberius' order to give him tribunician powers when in reality it ordered his arrest. Caught by surprise, he was unable to protect himself and all the bent up hostility and hatred against him was unleashed. Sejanus was promptly executed and his corpse battered and abused.

The question of the succession had yet to be resolved. The two remaining candidates were Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus, the son of Tiberius' son Drusus. Caligula was approximately 10 years older than Gemellus and there is evidence to believe that Tiberius suspected Gemellus of being the offspring of Livilla's adultery with Sejanus. In the end, it was Caligula who became heir apparent.

Tiberius fell ill in 37 CE while traveling around Campania. In typical fashion, he chose to ignore the illness and continue on but was eventually forced to stop at his seaside villa at Misenum. There he died on March 16, 37 CE. Tacitus tells a colorful tell of how Tiberius was thought to be dead and Caligula drew the ring from his finger and was greeted as emperor by the crowd. Then news came that Tiberius had recovered and was calling for food. Macro, commander of the praetorians, smothered the old man and Caligula became the next emperor.

The news of Tiberius' death was not received with tears of grief. Rather, there was calls for the body to be thrown in the Tiber like that of a common criminal. Caligula arranged for the body to be carried under guard and cremated by the soldiers. His ashes were placed in the Mausoleum of Augustus and was followed neither by deification nor official condemnation. It marked an ambivalent end to an ambivalent reign. Though he kept the empire on a steady keel for 23 years, he was only remembered as one who had been despised, even as a young man, as 'bloodsoaked mud.'

Roman People, Second Edition, Robert B. Kebric, Mayfield Publishing Company, 1993

The Oxford History of the Classical World, John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray. Oxford University Press, 1986