Tiberius

Also known as: Tiberius Nero · Family: Roman Empire · Role: emperor · First appears: Annals I (1)

As Tiberius Nero, he was the son of Livia and Drusus, and was first dignified by Augustus with military titles and commands. In Annals I, Augustus adopted him as his son and imperial colleague—“he was by Augustus adopted for his son, assumed Colleague in the Empire, partner in the jurisdiction tribunitial”—then made him successor and compelled him to adopt Germanicus, the son of his brother Drusus. When Augustus died at Nola, Livia helped arrange Tiberius’s accession; young Agrippa was murdered, probably on the orders of Tiberius and Livia, and Tiberius presented himself as ruler while the consuls swore fidelity to him.

Tiberius initially resisted the Senate’s pleas, but gradually accepted the Empire while refusing to acknowledge the undertaking openly. His reign brought hostility toward Asinius Gallus, Lucius Arruntius, Quintus Haterius, and Mamercus Scaurus, while he rejected official honors for Livia, requested proconsular power for Germanicus, and sent his son Drusus to suppress the Pannonian revolt under the oversight of Aelius Sejanus. He promoted Germanicus with commands and the title of Imperator, yet feared his popularity, separated him from his old legions, censured his actions, and suspected Agrippina; Cneius Piso was appointed to Syria and later tried in the Senate over Germanicus’s death. Tiberius also rewarded some petitioners and governors, degraded several prodigal senators, and referred provincial claims to the Senate.

By Annals IV, Tiberius publicly elevated Aelius Sejanus as “the sharer of his burdens,” allowed his effigy to be worshipped, and followed his counsels with increasing trust. He withdrew from Rome to Campania, refused Sejanus’s proposed marriage to Livia without immediate approval, and later ordered the murders of Agrippina and Nero in exile; he also treated Nero with stern suspicion and stood in enmity with Caligula. After Sejanus’s fall, Tiberius demanded punishment for his former associate’s friends and dependents, while accepting Thrasullus’s astrological predictions and counting him among his intimate friends. At the end, Macro ordered the room cleared and caused the feeble old Tiberius to be smothered beneath coverings; Charicles had earlier remained his friend, and Lucillius Longus had been his inseparable companion since his retirement at Rhodes.