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Tiberius

biographical name

Tiberius as a young man, marble bust found in Egypt in 1896; in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, …—Courtesy of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

(born Nov. 16, 42 BC—died March 16, AD 37, Capreae, near Naples) Second Roman emperor (AD 14–37). He was raised by Augustus, who had married his mother, Livia Drusilla. In his first military command, at age 22, he recovered Roman legionary standards lost for decades in Parthia and returned to great acclaim. He was forced to give up his beloved wife to marry Augustus's daughter Julia (12 BC). Despite becoming tribune, he went into self-imposed exile on Rhodes (6 BC), becoming an angry recluse. By 4 BC Julia was exiled for promiscuity by Augustus, who recalled Tiberius and named him his heir. As emperor he initially ran the state efficiently and instituted some reforms, with only occasional severity, such as exiling Rome's Jewish population on a pretext. When his son Drusus died mysteriously, he gave his trust to Sejanus and was persuaded to move to Capri (27). He became increasingly violent, killing and torturing at a whim. After Sejanus became coconsul in 31, Tiberius became suspicious of his ambition and executed him, then named Caligula his heir. In 37 the Praetorian Guard declared its support for Caligula and killed Tiberius when he was on his sickbed.