ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> <html><head> <title>Julio-Claudian Genealogy - Tiberius</title></head> <body background="Augustus_bkgd_1.bmp" onLoad="window.moveTo(20,20); window.resizeTo(850,750);"> <!-- DYNASTY TITLE --> <div style="text-align:left; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:00px; top:20px; width:300px; height:40px; padding:0px;"> <table style="text-align:center; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: auto; background-color:yellow;" border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><colgroup span="2"><col span="1" width=300></col></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="background-color: rgb(127, 0, 255); "> <b><div style="color:yellow; text-align:center;">&#160;· The Julio-Claudian Dynasty ·&#160;</div></b> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> <!-- CLOSE-WINDOW CODE --> <div style="text-align:center; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:80%; top:20px; width:50px; height:25px; padding:0px;"> <a tabindex=1 href="JavaScript:window.close()">Close</a> </div> <!-- PAGE TITLE --> <div style="text-align:left; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:15px; top:60px; width:400px; height:60px; padding:00px;"> <p><span style="color:darkgreen"><span style="font-size:larger;">Tiberius</span><br> Step-son and adopted son of Augustus<br> Second emperor, 14 - 37 <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span></span></p> </div> <div style="text-align:left; background-color:transparent; position:absolute; left:00px; top:150px; width:auto; height:360px; margin-left:10px; margin-right:10px; padding:00px;"> <!-- START OF PAGE CONTENT --> <p>Ti. Claudius Nero, born in 42&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">b.c.</span>, already had a successful military career under his belt when, in 12&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">b.c.</span>, on the death of his father-in-law <a tabindex=10 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Vipsanius_Agrippa" target="_blank" title="Wikipedia article on Agrippa">M. Vipsanius Agrippa</a>, he became Augustus s favoured successor.&#160; To secure this arrangement  and in the hope of perpetuating his own blood line  Augustus made him divorce his beloved wife Vipsania, daughter of Agrippa, and marry Julia, daughter of Augustus and his second wife (from whom he was long divorced) Scribonia.</p> <p>The break with Vipsania is one he never got over, many of his contemporaries attributing his dour demeanour to it.&#160; He is said once to have caught sight of her in public and to have stared tearfully after her.</p> <p>His marriage to Julia produced a son, who died in infancy.&#160; Generally, however, it was an unhappy one, owing, no doubt, to Julia s scandalous behaviour and sexual promiscuity.</p> <p>Augustus had promoted high moral values  that is to say, once he had attained power and killed off a few thousand of his opponents  and her behaviour was increasingly embarrassing to him&#160;;&#160; eventually, unable to bring himself to execute her, he banished her to one of the Pontine Islands off the Neapolitan coast.</p> <p><span style="color:green">Tiberius was formally adopted by Augustus in 4&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span></span>&#160; When, in 14&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span>, Augustus died at the age of 76, Tiberius  already joint holder of the <em>imperium</em> (imperial power)  was recalled to Rome and became the second emperor, although he accepted the accolade less than graciously.&#160; Part of the adoption process and the his appointment as heir to Augustus had been <span style="color:green">an obligation on Tiberius to adopt the</span> popular general, his nephew  and <span style="color:green">great-nephew of Augustus</span>  <span style="color:green">Germanicus, as his own heir.</span></p> <p>His brother, Drusus (known to us as Drusus Major), married Antonia Minor, younger daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, and therefore niece of Augustus.&#160; They had three children, including the later emperor Claudius and a daughter named Livilla (actually Livia but known by this diminutive).</p> <p>Drusus Minor, son of Tiberius and Vipsania ought, one might think, to have been heir presumptive and, on the accession of Tiberius, heir apparent&#160;;&#160; certainly Drusus thought so.&#160; Events, however, would settle this inequity.&#160; Germanicus died in action in 19&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span></p> <p>Drusus married his cousin Livilla and they had twin sons, only one of whom, Ti. Gemellus, survived infancy.&#160; It seems that,&#160; around the time of their birth, Livilla came under the influence of <a tabindex=20 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aelius_Sejanus" target="_blank" title=" Wikipedia article on Sejanus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard">Sejanus</a>, the ambitious prefect of the Praetorian Guard&#160;;&#160; in 23&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span> they are said to have plotted and carried out the murder of Drusus, presumably by poisoning, for his death was attributed to natural causes.&#160; Tiberius rejected Sejanus s request to marry Livilla.</p> <p>Tiberius took ever less interest in the actual running of the empire  spending increasing lengths of time away from Rome  and Sejanus became the <em>de facto</em> ruler.&#160; Eventually, around 26&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span>, Tiberius effectively retired to his villa on Capri, isolated from his subjects and from political reality.</p> <p>It is not actually known how Tiberius became aware of the treachery of Sejanus but, in 31&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span>, he sent a letter to the Senate, which summoned Sejanus to hear it read.&#160; Tiberius had ordered his arrest&#160;;&#160; a new prefect  <a tabindex=30 href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naevius_Sutorius_Macro" target="_blank" title=" Wikipedia article on Macro">Macro</a>  had been appointed and Sejanus was taken off and executed.</p> <p>Historians dispute the extent to which Tiberius pursued those associated with Sejanus&#160;;&#160; suffice to say that he took no further interest in the appointment of a successor, having nominated his grandsons, Gaius (Caligula) and Gemellus, as joint heirs.&#160; When, in 37&#160;<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">a.d.</span>, he died, Gemellus was still a teenager and Caligula disposed of him.</p> <p>A footnote pertinent to our times&#160;:&#160; whatever his shortcomings, Tiberius, who had not spent his reign in costly and unproductive military ventures, left the finances of the Roman Empire in a very healthy state.</p> <!-- END OF PAGE CONTENT --> </div> </body> </html>