Tiberius | |||||
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Bust of the Emperor Tiberius
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2nd Emperor of the Roman Empire | |||||
Reign | 18 September 14 AD – 16 March 37 AD (22 years) |
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Predecessor |
Augustus, stepfather, father-in-law, and adoptive father (no blood relation) |
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Successor | Caligula, great nephew and adoptive grandson | ||||
Born | 16 November 42 BC Rome |
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Died | 16 March AD 37 (aged 77) Misenum, Italy |
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Burial | Mausoleum of Augustus, Rome | ||||
Spouse |
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Issue |
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House | Julio-Claudian dynasty | ||||
Father | |||||
Mother | Livia Drusilla | ||||
Religion | Roman Paganism |
Full name | |
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Marcus Gallus (adoptive)
Tiberius (Latin: Tiberius Caesar Dīvī Augustī Fīlius Augustus; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March 37 AD) was a Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, a Claudian, Tiberius was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Octavian, later known as Augustus, in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian.
Tiberius would later marry Augustus' daughter (from his marriage to Scribonia), Julia the Elder, and even later be adopted by Augustus, by which act he officially became a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar. The subsequent emperors after Tiberius would continue this blended dynasty of both families for the following thirty years; historians have named it the Julio-Claudian dynasty. In relations to the other emperors of this dynasty, Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.
Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest generals; his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, laid the foundations for the northern frontier. But he came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him tristissimus hominum, "the gloomiest of men."