Tiberius Flashcards
(22 cards)
Senate - Tiberius - respect
- Suetonius 30 – ‘gave the appearance of restoring popular liberties by seeing that the senate and the magistrates enjoyed their former dignity and authority’
- Suetonius 30- ‘referred all public business, however important or unimportant, to the senators.’
Senate - Tiberius - sycophancy
Men fit to be slaves.” — Tacitus 3.65
Sycophancy
- ‘they threw themselves at his feet imploring him to change his mind’ (Suet 24) - to the point they lost their patience that he would not accept to be princeps
- Tacitus 3.65 – ‘The greatest figures had to protect their positions by subserviency’
Senate - Tiberius - cruelty
Cruelty
- ‘asked the Senate to choose 20 of the most prominent members.. Of these, barely two or three survived’ (Suet 50) (partly due to purge after Sejanus)
Senate - Tiberius - challenge
Challenge
- Senators and society treated Sejanus as the emperor, had only contempt for Tiberius (CD 58.4)
Equestrian - Tiberius - cruelty
Cruelty
- ‘her father, a distinguished knight, and her brother a former praetor, saw condemnation ahead and killed themselves.’ (Of a family with links to Pompey and had divine lineage) (Tac 6.18)
Soldiers - Tiberius
Army
- Army in Germany refused to acknowledge him since they didn’t chose him (Suetonius 25)
- Soldiers ‘wanted a new leader, a new order of things, and a new republic.’ (VP 2.125)
Plebs - Tiberius - positive actions
Positive
- reorganised the defective grain supply and the slave barracks (Suet 8)
- Velleius Paterculus 2.129 – ‘How often did he honour the people with Largesses ‘ 2.30 –‘What public buildings did he construct’ (unreliable (Suet 46 ‘close…miserliness’ 47 - no public works (but needed?))
largesse negative
restricted largesse to senators, not Hortalus (47)
No shows at all
Some limited generosity of 1mil sesterces and at the fire
BUT CUT EXPENDITURE - 2.7bn sesterces at end of rule
‘to the tiber with Tiberius’ - Tac
SPQR - Tiberius - cruelty
Cruelty
- ‘treason charges became so commonplace that they…cost the lives of more Roman citizens than any civil war.’ (Seneca Younger On benefits 3.26) (exaggeration)
(Suet 61 x ref) (Tac 6.19 ‘emperor ordered the execution of all in cohorts with Sejanus…massacre…dead in heaps’
Suet 61: executions every day,
men condemned with or by children and relatives forbidden to mourn,
rewards for those who told on them and sometimes witnesses - informer’s word believed always. Violating girls before killing them - example from Tacitus of sejanus’ children
Tib and Germanicus (mutiny, disobey, plebs, character)
Should Germanicus desire the throne, they made it manifest they were ready.” – Tac. 1.35
“Tiberius criticized him for infringing a ruling of Augustus.” – Tac. 2.59
Germancius ‘lowered price of corn’ (2.59)
‘a kind hearted man’ (2.57 - opposition to Piso and Tib)
Germanicus Piso conspiracy x2 - death x3
“Piso’s arrogance’… [refused to follow Germanicus’ orders].” – Tac. 2.57
“It is the wickedness of Piso and Plancina that have cut me off.” – Tac. 2.71
‘uncertain’ if posioned’ (2.73)
“If it was me you loved… avenge me!” – Tac. 2.71
‘Not even the honours due to every noble.” – Tac. 3.5
Sejanus positive
‘common enough for eminent men to employ distinguished assistants…Augustus and Agrippa’ (VP 127)
‘outsanding administrator… sought no personal advantage’ (VP 127)
Sejanus negative influence
“He was more emperor than Tiberius.” – Dio 58.5
“Seduction of Livilla… murder of Drusus.” – Tac. 4.3
“Statues erected… sacrifices made to him.” – Dio 58.4
Sejanus death
“Macro delivered the letter denouncing Sejanus.” – Dio 58.9
“They stood up and left him.” – Dio 58.10
“His body was dragged and thrown into the Tiber.” – Dio 58.11
“His daughter was raped before execution.” – Tac. 5.9 xref S 61
Sejanus aftermath
Suet 61
Becomes more extreme after Sejanus
Sejanus killed on false pretences (persecuting Nero and Drusus) in fact Tiberius reponsible for Nero and Drusus
(disproving Tiberius’ account in his autobiography).
Tacfarinas
‘numidian….{gangs} into a military body…head of the Musulamian people’
Tacfarinas grain threatened? 2.87 ‘commons protested’ against corn prices’ (Tib ‘fixed’ a lower price) 19AD
Apronius decimation of troops (3.21) leading to defeating Tacfarinas (partially)
- then Blaseus, then Dolabella (kills the ‘arch rebel’ ‘this marked the end of hostilities’ ) - triumph rejected (4.25-6) due to Sejanus influence
Religion strengthened
‘banished all astrologers[except those who abandoned] that art’ (Suet 36)
- ‘he consecrated the temples, ruined by age or fire, the restoration of which had been undertaken by Augustus.’
Imperial cult rejection
‘he vetoed all bills for the dedication of temples and priests to his divinity’ (Suet 26)
- ‘he forbade such offerings to be made to any human being’ ‘he forbade the consideration of any measure which proposed honours for himself’ (CD 58.8)
Tac 4.38 ‘rejection of divine honours’
Imperial cult acceptance
‘shall sacrifice a bull on behalf of the safety of our rulers and gods and the eternal continuance of their rule’
Details 8 day civic festival.. Tib. Responds ‘i myself am satisfied with more moderate honours suitable for men’ (Inscription at Gytheion)
- 4.37 Spain wanted to ‘follow example of Asia’ and erect shrine to Tiberius’ ‘I offered no opposition’ BUT ‘ I am mortal’
CD 58.4 ‘sacrificed to the images of Sejanus as they did to Tiberius’
Religion - not caring
Tiberius not caring
- ‘He lacked any deep regard for the gods or religious scruples’ (Suet 69)
- ‘After the death of Augustus he showed equal respect for the gods and for his adoptive father’s memory’ (Suet 70)
Tiberius cult for augustus
Coin venerating ‘divine Augustus’ - sestertius (34AD)
Tac 1.78 - permission to build a temple to Augustus in Spain ‘precedent set for all the provinces (AD 15)
4.36 Cyzicus ‘were charged with neglecting the cult of the deified Augustus…violence to Romans…forfeited their freedom’ (disagreement with CD 57.24 ‘imprisoned some Romans…not completed shrine to Augusts’)
Foreign cults
- ‘He abolished foreign cults at Rome’ (Suet 36)
CD 2.85 ‘banished most’ of the Jews’ as ‘converting many of the natives’
Josephus 18.3 ‘Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four men’ (as converted one noblewoman)
