History of Europe

Tiberius, the second Roman emperor, cannot be called a tyrant

I'm in trouble now.

Originally I thought that the title of this article would be "The brutality of the crazy Roman emperor Tiberius", but as I investigated this person, I wondered if it was just a squid guy. Has risen.

Since ancient times, Tiberius has been known as a crazy mad king.

History is really difficult. Even in Japanese history, Yoshinobu Tokugawa's evaluation was terrible before the war. He was said to be a two-faced general, and his reputation was horribly low.

That's no surprise. The government at that time was the flow of the Meiji government, and there is no reason to evaluate the general who escapes in front of the enemy.

However, after the war, the evaluation changed, and for some reason he became a great man. If Yoshinobu Tokugawa was fighting head-on with the Ishin Shishi, it is highly possible that his national power would decline and he would have become a colony of Western powers.

History is an evaluation from modern history.

Tiberius, a man who accidentally became an emperor

It is famous that Tokugawa Yoshimune accidentally became a shogun, but Tiberius was not originally a man who became an emperor.

Augustus, the first emperor, sought kinship from his successor. He also wanted an emperor from the Julia gens.

In fact, it was not Tiberius that Augustus wanted for the next emperor.

Augustus had one real child and two son-in-law.

His son-in-law is a daughter born to Scribonia, and his son-in-law is Nero Claudius and Tiberius, the children of his remarriage partner, Revere.

Yuria's husband, her real child, was Agrippa, the right arm of Augustus.

I would like to touch on Agrippa in a separate article, but Augustus's camp, which was not good at military affairs, could be said to be in charge of military affairs, and even without Agrippa, Augustus might not have been the Roman emperor. It is said.

The two had a relationship with their vassals and their masters, but they are also the best friends who were born in the same year and grew up together from an early age.

However, it is said that Augustus was thinking of his successor as Drusus.

Nero Claudius is a fairly talented general who has settled German at the young age of only 20.

However, at one point he died in a fall.

His next candidate for successor was his sister's son Marcus, who married his 14-year-old daughter Yuria, who soon died.

Augustus comes here to marry his right arm, Agrippa, and Yuria. Rather than being as old as a parent and child, a husband who is the same age as his father is actually born.

Julia and Agrippa were a very old couple, but they seemed to be very close friends, and they had five children.

However, Agrippa cannot live as long as Augustus, and Augustus decides to marry his daughter Julia and another son-in-law, Tiberius.

Whether she was married to her father's wishes so far, or whether she had a purely bad relationship with Tiberius, Julia was greatly disturbed after this.

In the end, Augustus had no choice but to exile his real daughter for adultery.

The side of Tiberius is also terrible because he is separated from his beloved wife, Vypsania.

During this time, Lucius and Gaius, the sons of Yuria and the grandchildren of Augustus, die in quick succession.

Augustus's next candidate was Augustus, who died one after another, and Germanicus, who was born to his sister Octavia and Antonius, and his favorite son-in-law, Drusus.

However, Germanicus was too young to be an emperor.

Augustus died with Germanius adopted by Tiberius.

It would have been clear that he was a Roman citizen, the Senate, and the emperor in the eyes of Tiberius.

In this way Tiberius became the second emperor of the Roman Empire.

The real name of Tiberius is "Tiberius Julius Caesar", but this is the name after he was adopted by Augustus, and before that it was "Tiberius Claudius Nero".

Originally from the prestigious Claudius family in the long history of Rome, his relatives include generals who were successful during the Punic Wars, and later formed the "Claudius Roman".

It can be said that it is superior to the Julia gens in terms of prestige.

By the way, a boy named Postumus was born between Julia and Agrippa, but it seems that the result was quite poor, and even Augustus, who was particular about blood relations, could not be selected as his successor.

Tiberius was pretty good

Tiberius was a pretty good man.

This was the case before he became an emperor, and he was excellent even after he became an emperor.

But in my opinion, Tiberius was definitely not popular. If Caesar and Augustus were King Nagashima, would Tiberius be Nomura?

Tiberius was an uninteresting man from beginning to end.

Caesar and Augustus were circus sponsors and popular, including gladiators, but serious Tiberius was dismissed from the Colosseum sponsors. Because of this, it was not popular with Roman citizens.

In Japan, it may be like Toshimichi Okubo, who was hated by the people of his hometown Kagoshima even though he borrowed money for the country. It can be said that Tiberius's domestic affairs and expedition cannot be stingy from a practical point of view.

On the contrary, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Tiberius laid the foundations of imperial Rome, which allowed Rome to enjoy the era later called "Pax Romana".

His policy was simply to take over Augustus's policy.

This seems easy and difficult. He didn't seem to do anything badly, but he didn't do anything extra in a good way.

In the days of Tiberius, the territory was hardly expanded. This is in line with Augustus' policy. Instead of spending extra money, he has a track record of turning the Roman economy by lending about 50 billion yen in terms of present value.

When it comes to domestic affairs, spending was too high during Augustus's time, and without Tiberius' fiscal policy, Rome could even have collapsed rather quickly.

···that? Why is Tiberius treated like a tyrant?

Why Tiberius has become a tyrant

The battle by the gladiators was a pleasure for Roman citizens. From the point of view of the citizens, it doesn't matter if the domestic affairs are fulfilled, and I just like having fun. That's why I think there was a foundation that I didn't like Tiberius.

Or it may have been due to the lack of expeditions.

Especially in the direction of Germanic, it seems that Roman citizens were very dissatisfied with the fact that Germanicus, who was the governor, was placed in the east, although it was overwhelmingly advantageous, and he did not capture Germanicus.

There is a consistency that Tiberius's policy does not fight anyway. For example, he did not fight the eastern power Parthian thoroughly. There were two times during the reign of Tiberius when the Parthians were about to intervene due to the issue of succession to the Kingdom of Armenia, but he succeeded in taking the pro-Roman king to the throne of Armenia and restraining the Parthians. Has been successful.

This is in sharp contrast to the later Roman emperor who was exhausted in the fight against the Sassanid Persia.

Thanks to that, Rome did not have to waste money.

Tiberius also had a good relationship with the Senate.

Many later Roman emperors, including Julius Caesar, were assassinated by Senators, but Tiberius did not.

Tiberius is an emperor but seems to have been a selfless person.

Since July was Caesar and August was Augustus, the proposal to make Tiberius in September was rejected.

"The greatest concern for Tiberius was to keep the Roman Empire safe."

This is the word of Tacitus, a historian who hates Tiberius, but there may be no word that describes Tiberius as much as this.

There are quite a few reasons why Tiberius was left behind as a tyrant, so I would like to list them for a moment.

・ I got off the sponsor of the circus
・ The unfortunate death of Germanicus
・ The seclusion to Capri
・ The purge of the Agrippina clan
・ The execution of Jesus during the reign
・ The runaway and purge of Sejanus

Let's take a closer look at Tiberius's life while touching on these matters.

From the unfortunate death of Germanicus to the retreat to Capri

One of the greatest misfortunes for Tiberius was the death of his successor, Germanicus.

Tiberius was extremely obedient to Augustus' policy, and there was a section that was actually working to make Germanicus a successor. It seems that his relationship with Germanicus was good, without trying to make his real child, Nero Claudius, the emperor.

He, of course, moved Germanicus east of Germanicus, and Germanicus entered Egypt without the permission of the emperor. It seems that there was a suspicion from that time that Tiberius might have assassinated Germanicus as a feud.

The cause of death of Germanicus is said to be malaria. He had a high fever in the middle of the night and died a few days later.

However, at that time, there were rumors that Germanicus was poisoned by Syrian governor Piso. There is also Tiberius behind it.

Later historian Tacitus is also a supporter of the assassination of Germanicus by Tiberius. I don't know the facts.

Either way, Tiberius did not attend the Germanicus funeral. By the way, his grandmother Revere and his mother Antonia did not attend the funeral either.

The condolences are said to have been read by Nero Claudius, the son of Tiberius.

It is not hard to imagine that many Roman citizens were disappointed and skeptical of this.

Rumors spread among Roman citizens that Germanicus had been assassinated, and Syrian Governor Piso was finally tried in Rome on suspicion of killing Germanicus.

There was no evidence of poisoning, but Piso, who was cornered, chose to commit suicide.

Thus the truth goes into the darkness, and only doubts about Tiberius grow in the hearts of Roman citizens.

Even more unfortunate for Tiberius was the death of his real child, Nero Claudius, in 23 AD.

Tiberius retires to Capri Island in the Gulf of Naples, wondering if this has caused him to be mentally distracted.

To the Roman citizens, it would look like they had escaped. Historians who have a positive eye on Tiberius also seem uncertain about this retreat to Capri.

It seems that the Roman emperor had no idea of ​​resigning at that time. No one has retired, considering the time of the Roman kingdom before the republic. In fact, Tiberius may have wanted to retire.

Tiberius didn't come back to Rome after all. There is no doubt that this area was particularly repulsive to Roman citizens.

For more information on Germanicus, please refer to the following article!

Agrippina clan's purge and Sejanus's runaway and purge

Agrippina is the wife of Germanicus and the daughter of Augustus, Julia and Agrippa. She is her daughter-in-law from Tiberius' point of view, but the two were very close.

Tiberius seems to have considered Agrippa's sons Nero-Caesar and Drusus-Caesar as his successors, but in the end he embarked on the purge of the Agrippa clan.

Tiberius, who has withdrawn to Capri, begins to engage in terrorism. He began to execute his political opponents one after another using Sejanus, the captain of the guards called Pratrier.

Nero-Caesar and Drusus-Caesar are made hostile with a craftsmanship strategy that makes heavy use of the "national treason" created by Caesar and maintained by Augustus.

At that time, Augustus' wife and Tiberius's real mother, Revere, died.

Nevertheless, Tiberius did not return to Rome. His mourner sent a letter to the Senate only when Gaius, the son of Germanicus, did it.

It would be criticized even in modern society if there were any humans who did not attend the funeral of his son or his mother.

Tiberius would have been completely mentally ill at this time. As if he was waiting for his mother's death, he soon set about purging the Agrippina clan.

Unfortunately, there are no historical documents showing the details. The Tacitus books do not exist in this area either. The fact is that the Agrippina clan was exiled to the island.

Around this time, the execution of Jesus Christ is carried out.

The famous word of Jesus, "What Caesar is to Caesar," is exactly Tiberius. It seems that the bad reputation of Tiberius in posterity is due to the circumstances around here. Hundreds of years later, Christianity will rule the whole of Europe, and the reputation of Emperor Tiberius at that time cannot be improved.

It can be said that Rome at this time entered a period of turmoil, and it seems that the number of accusations among Senators has increased. It seems that the legs were pulled together in the spirit of doing it before it was done.

However, Tiberius's terrorism seems to have fallen short of the civilian class, and there is a theory that the target of the purge was limited to low-capacity senators.

In any case, it is certain that Tiberius has rectified his guard captain, Sejanus.

There are various theories as to the reason for this.

One is the theory that Sejanus was purely in the way.

The other is the theory that Sejanus was moving against Tiberius's will.

Furthermore, the theory that Sejanus poisoned Tiberius' son Drusus.

I don't know which one is right. Or maybe everything is correct.

Tacitus describes Tiberius as follows:

"Good politics for the first 10 years, good politics and bad politics for the next 7 years, and bad politics for the last 6 years."

The beginning of the last six years is the purge of Sejanus.

His son Dorsus' wife and his daughter-in-law, Revere, was forced to commit suicide, Sejanus's son was also executed, and those involved in Sejanus were quite angry because even slaves were put in prison.

Agrippina and her son Drusus Caesar died one after another. I don't know if it was due to Tiberius.

It seems that this era was a terrorist politics for politicians, but it seems that Tiberius was not crazy because he seemed to have demonstrated his skill in dealing with the financial crisis and inflation.

From a different point of view, he may have just quietly eliminated the disturbing elements of the Roman Empire.

In 37 AD, Tiberius fulfills his natural life at the age of 78. Roman citizens said they shed tears of joy when he died on Capri until the end.

Personal evaluation of Tiberius

Nothing is more difficult than Tiberius's evaluation.

Since ancient times, the evaluation has been divided among historians.

Tacitus, the most famous historian in Roman history, has thoroughly criticized Tiberius.

He seems to have no liking for Tiberius, who laid the foundation of the imperial government, because he has a part that is ideal for the Roman Republic.

Thanks to that, Tiberius has long been regarded as a tyrant, but Voltaire disagreed with it.

German historian Mommsen has given Tiberius a reputation as "one of the best emperors of Rome" as a result of a thorough check of the inscriptions left behind.

Philo, who was called the "Jewish Plato," is a human being of almost the same age, but he is giving a near-maximum compliment to Tiberius.

In fact, overwhelming tyrants were born one after another after Tiberius, but the reason why Rome did not perish is probably because Tiberius laid the foundation on its foundation.

Even in terrorism, there is no evidence that Tiberius was hungry, and it can be said that he was merely hoping for the prosperity of the country of Rome.

It is clearly different from the successive emperors of China and the emperors after Rome, who have diminished the scattered power of the end of the country and executed one after another unwilling things.

I can't say that I'm a great prince, but I think it's impossible to be a tyrant.

If you want to improve your ability like Koei

Leadership:86

Intelligence:87

Political power:94

Charm:35

Is it like that?


* Numerical values ​​are appropriate. Don't worry too much.

All abilities are not as good as Caesar and Augustus, but considering that their reign was stable externally and financially good, I think it is appropriate to give a fairly high evaluation.

A person who has a high ability score but lacks charm.

I get such an image from Tiberius.