Rome: Tiberius Flashcards
Evidence Tiberius was a weak successor to Augustus
- He was not his first choice; his brother Drusus had been Augustus’s favourite of Livia’s children, and Gaius and Lucius had been the groomed successors
- Tacitus Annals 33, “showed signs of hesitation when addressing the Senate” (although Tacitus and Tiberius both argue this was to test the Senate)
- Suetonius 24, “[I accept this position] until I grow old that you may be kind enough to grant me respite”
Evidence Tiberius was actually a strong successor to Augustus
- Had been a strong and efficient deputy under Augustus (both before and after adoption), achieved great military and diplomatic progress in Northern frontiers + East
- He hesitated to take command immediately as Tacitus 1.7 says he did not want to appear as having “wormed his way in by an old man’s adoption and the intrigues of an old man’s wife” also may have wanted to allow the senate to choose someone else if they wished
- ET Salmon says he may have been following Augustus’s example of 27BC, forcing the Senate to implore he step into the position to give him greater mandate
Evidence of Tiberius’s strength/weakness in the provinces
- Pannonian and Germanian revolts 14AD, sends Drusus and Germanicus respectfully and both of them prove they are able to calm the armies- Tacitus “death was better than disloyalty” 1.29
- Tacitus argues when Tiberius recalls Germanicus it was jealousy but in reality the campaigns had been costly in effective (besides there was no reason Germanicus shouldn’t be popular he was Tiberius’s successor)
- Tacitus 3.73, records Tiberius’s outrage when Tacfarinas writes a letter demanding land for him and his rebel troops and threatening war
Evidence Tiberius was following Augustus’s methods
- Germanicus’s expedition on the Rhine was against Tiberius/Augustus’s method of only expanding when necessary, he is soon called back to Rome
- Grooming Germanicus, allowing him to campaign for military glory, sends him to Armenia to familiarise with Eastern empire (Tiberius had been sent there by Augustus)
- 21AD Drusus achieves consulship for 2nd time and is granted Tribunician authority in 22AD
Evidence Tiberius had strained relationship with Senators
- After death of Germanicus, Tiberius asked investigators to give the accused the chance to provide evidence of innocence as he “anticipated malevolence amongst senators and others” Tacitus 123
- Suetonius 61 “Tiberius used to punsih with life those who wished to die”
- During the treason trials only 53 were executed, 30 condemned over a 23 year period
Tiberius strength along borders
- Installs new king of Parthia (on Eastern border often battling over Armenia)
- Tiberius preferred dilpomacy to violence, Tacitus 89 “achieved less by force than by diplomacy”
Tacitus annals page 216 ““astute diplomacy without warfare”
What was the influence of women in Tiberius’s reign
- Agrippina the Elder, wife of Germanicus and grandaughter of Augustus, organised opposition against Tiberius, suspecting him to have poisoned her husband (despite Tacitus recording her husband as asking her “not to anger those in positions above her”)
- Vispania, Tiberius’s first-love arguably weakened him as he was never able to have another son after Drusus
- Julia, exiled for promiscuity under Augustus, Tiberius may have suffered disrespect as a result of his wife’s behaviour
Tiberius relationship with army/plebeians
- Plebs wanted more expansion, provincials wanted less- Tiberius could never please either side
- Due to Tiberius’s frugality, there were always disaster funds, such as after floods or fires- however this also meant less public games/theatre
- Many (such as Tactius) speculate due to his paranoia towards the end of his reign, he was smothered by the head of the Praetorian guard rather than dying of natural causes- and was not deified
Tacitus Annals 3.65
“how ready these men are to be slaves!”
“how ready these men are to be slaves!”
Tacitus Annals 3.65
Suetonius, Tiberius 23-24
“he kept the senate guessing by his carefully evasive answers and hesitations, even when they threw themselves at his feet”
“he kept the senate guessing by his carefully evasive answers and hesitations, even when they threw themselves at his feet”
Suetonius, Tiberius 23-24
Suetonius Tiberius 29-33
“showed excessive courtesy when addressing both individual senators and the senate as a whole”
“showed excessive courtesy when addressing both individual senators and the senate as a whole”
Suetonius Tiberius 29-33
Suetonius Tiberius 26-27
“he also declined to use imperator as a praenomen or Father of His Country as a Title”
