38 Facts About Tiberius

Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Claudius Nero and his wife, Livia Drusilla.

Tiberius adopted his nephew, the able and popular Germanicus, as heir.

When Tiberius died, he was succeeded by his grand-nephew and adopted grandson, Germanicus's son Caligula, whose lavish building projects and varyingly successful military endeavours drained much of the wealth that Tiberius had accumulated in the public and Imperial coffers through good management.

When Tiberius died, he was given a sumptuous funeral befitting his office, but no divine honours.

Tiberius came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive and sombre ruler who never really wanted to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him "the gloomiest of men".

Tiberius's mother was a member of the Livii family, an ancient plebeian but prominent family, through the adoption into it of his maternal grandfather.

Shortly thereafter Tiberius began appearing in court as an advocate, and it was presumably at this time that his interest in Greek rhetoric began.

Tiberius then led a sizeable force into Armenia, presumably to establish it as a Roman client state and end the threat it posed on the Roman-Parthian border.

Tiberius was appointed to the position of praetor, and was sent with his legions to assist his brother Drusus in campaigns in the west.

Tiberius was very reluctant to do this, as Julia had made advances to him when she was married, and Tiberius was happily married.

Suetonius claims that when Tiberius ran into Vipsania again, he followed her home crying and begging forgiveness.

In 6 BC, Tiberius launched a pincer movement against the Marcomanni.

Tiberius, forbidden to see the woman he loved, found himself married to a woman he loathed, and publicly humiliated by her nighttime escapades in the Roman Forum.

Tiberius was cremated with all due ceremony and, as had been arranged beforehand, deified, his will read, and Tiberius, now a middle-aged man at 55, was confirmed as his sole surviving heir.

Tiberius had statues of Sejanus erected throughout the city, and Sejanus became more and more visible as Tiberius began to withdraw from Rome altogether.

Tacitus claims that more treason trials followed and 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.

However, Tiberius only made a half-hearted attempt at the end of his life to make Caligula a quaestor, and thus give him some credibility as a possible successor, while Gemellus himself was still only a teenager and thus completely unsuitable for some years to come.

Tacitus relates that the emperor appeared to have stopped breathing, and that Caligula, who was at Tiberius's villa, was being congratulated on his succession to the empire, when news arrived that the emperor had revived and was recovering his faculties.

Suetonius reports that, upon recovering after an illness, and finding himself deserted by his attendants, Tiberius attempted to rise from his couch, but fell dead.

Seneca the Elder reports Tiberius having died a natural death.

Suetonius describes Tiberius as being pale skinned, broad shouldered, left-handed, and exceptionally strong and tall for a Roman, although he had poor posture.

Tiberius wore his hair cut short at the front and sides but long in the back so it covered the nape of his neck in a style similar to the mullet, which Suetonius claims was a family tradition of the Claudian gens.

Suetonius describes his eyes as being larger than average, while a passage in Pliny indicates they were grey or blue-grey; polychromy restoration on a bust of Tiberius depict him with grey eyes and hair.

Tiberius himself wrote an autobiography which Suetonius describes as "brief and sketchy", but this book has been lost.

Tiberius's text is largely based on the Acta Senatus and the Acta Diurna, as well as speeches by Tiberius himself, and the histories of contemporaries such as Marcus Cluvius Rufus, Fabius Rusticus and Pliny the Elder.

Ultimately, Tacitus's opinion on Tiberius is best illustrated by his conclusion of the sixth book:.

Tiberius's account is more sensationalist and anecdotal than that of his contemporary Tacitus, and delves into Tiberius's numerous alleged debaucheries while at Capri.

One of the few surviving sources contemporary with the rule of Tiberius comes from Velleius Paterculus, who served under Tiberius for eight years in Germany and Pannonia as praefect of cavalry and legatus.

Tiberius banished the rest of Rome's Jewish population, on pain of enslavement for life.

Jossa finds it "unthinkable" that Tiberius was aware of Christianity as a faith separate from Judaism.

The early Christian Church's view of Tiberius has generally been favourable.

The 2nd-3rd Century Christian apologist Tertullian said Tiberius approached the Senate with a request to acknowledge Christ as a deity, citing evidence of his miracles, and his resurrection following his crucifixion.

Tiberius is said to have taken Pilate's report to the Senate.

Tiberius had to be content with the protection of Christians from malicious prosecution by senators; St Jerome adds that this was under the penalty of death.

Tiberius refused to be officially worshipped as a living god.

Tiberius allowed a single temple to honour both his own genius and that of the Senate, at Smyrna.

Tiberius has been represented in fiction, in literature, film and television, and in video games, often as a peripheral character in the central storyline.

Tiberius was married twice, with only his first union producing a child who would survive to adulthood:.