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Blackwell Ancient Lives
Tiberius
Robin Seager has updated his classic biography of Tiberius, which focuses on the Emperor’s complex character as the key to understanding his reign.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 3, 2017
How to be a good emperor Post-Augustus
- Allow for the senate to resume control, stopping the rise of autocracy.
"Tiberius made repeated efforts in the early years of his reign to force the senate to assume its responsibilities[...] the senate still found servility[...] small wonder that every time Tiberius left the senate he muttered 'O men fit for slavery'."
- Replenish the treasury through virtuous means
"Tiberius refused to accept legacies from unknown persons or those who wanted to defraud their natural heirs."
- Be humble
"Tiberius proclaimed that he was master only to his slaves, imperator to his armies and princeps to the rest."
"Tiberius was scrupulous in the matter of divine honours for himself, refusing temples, priests and statues at Rome[…] divine honours should be reserved for Augustus, who had conferred such great benefits upon the entire world."
- Let posterity rise to you
"Tiberius replied that he was not so desperate for glory, after winning or refusing so many triumphs in his young, as to crave in his old age an empty reward for a peregrination of the suburbs."
- "A proposal was submitted to rename the months September and October to Tiberius and Livius. Tiberius replied 'What will you do if you have thirteen Caesars?'."
"Tiberius did not affix his own name to any buildings; only those of the original builders appeared. Tiberius was a traditionalist, with no desire for self-advertisement."
How to be a bad emperor Post-Augustus
- Care not for affection brought through the display of games
"Their [the Roman populace] favourite amusement were of no interest to Tiberius. He did not enjoy gladiatorial games, and limited the number of bouts that might be put on."
- Build no public buildings
"Tiberius left the two buildings he started still uncompleted at the time of his death."
- Leave Rome twice: for 19 years
---
It's a shame Tiberius is not well known, with most focus given to the rise and fall of Sejanus, Tiberius' imperial bodyguard (Praetorian Guard). Tiberius did not suit the Roman Empire straight after Augustus. The senate had previously lost their power during Augustus' reign, and were consequently immobilised from making any decisions, scared in case Tiberius disagreed. However, Tiberius did not want this. After numerous attempts at instilling power back into the senate, Tiberius left: irritated by the servility of the senate and their dependence on his word. Unfortunately, this lack of interest in Roman politics and life was not shared by others. Sejanus fed on this, increasing his power and influence on the Emperor and Rome.
- Allow for the senate to resume control, stopping the rise of autocracy.
"Tiberius made repeated efforts in the early years of his reign to force the senate to assume its responsibilities[...] the senate still found servility[...] small wonder that every time Tiberius left the senate he muttered 'O men fit for slavery'."
- Replenish the treasury through virtuous means
"Tiberius refused to accept legacies from unknown persons or those who wanted to defraud their natural heirs."
- Be humble
"Tiberius proclaimed that he was master only to his slaves, imperator to his armies and princeps to the rest."
"Tiberius was scrupulous in the matter of divine honours for himself, refusing temples, priests and statues at Rome[…] divine honours should be reserved for Augustus, who had conferred such great benefits upon the entire world."
- Let posterity rise to you
"Tiberius replied that he was not so desperate for glory, after winning or refusing so many triumphs in his young, as to crave in his old age an empty reward for a peregrination of the suburbs."
- "A proposal was submitted to rename the months September and October to Tiberius and Livius. Tiberius replied 'What will you do if you have thirteen Caesars?'."
"Tiberius did not affix his own name to any buildings; only those of the original builders appeared. Tiberius was a traditionalist, with no desire for self-advertisement."
How to be a bad emperor Post-Augustus
- Care not for affection brought through the display of games
"Their [the Roman populace] favourite amusement were of no interest to Tiberius. He did not enjoy gladiatorial games, and limited the number of bouts that might be put on."
- Build no public buildings
"Tiberius left the two buildings he started still uncompleted at the time of his death."
- Leave Rome twice: for 19 years
---
It's a shame Tiberius is not well known, with most focus given to the rise and fall of Sejanus, Tiberius' imperial bodyguard (Praetorian Guard). Tiberius did not suit the Roman Empire straight after Augustus. The senate had previously lost their power during Augustus' reign, and were consequently immobilised from making any decisions, scared in case Tiberius disagreed. However, Tiberius did not want this. After numerous attempts at instilling power back into the senate, Tiberius left: irritated by the servility of the senate and their dependence on his word. Unfortunately, this lack of interest in Roman politics and life was not shared by others. Sejanus fed on this, increasing his power and influence on the Emperor and Rome.
June 24, 2017
How to continue on an empire after possibly the greatest emperor Rome has known and will ever know, was your predecessor...no pressure.
Tiberius was a man who did not wish to be emperor to begin with (he was a soldier first and foremost and was content at that), he reluctantly took on the role and felt it to be a burden rather then it being a way for him to leave his mark and glory. In fact he was Augustus's last choice to become emperor and was not even supposed to have been a permanent emperor, simply a stand in until the heir was of age. He was a very practical man, did not believe in ostentation, he was very frugal and did not wish to be worshipped as a god or have statues or temples in his honor. He simply wished to do the best he could, by keeping Rome stable, and have people remember him in their minds and memories as a decent man.
I had it in my mind prior to reading this bio that he was not a very good emperor, which was not really the case at all. He did not really push Rome forward with innovation nor did he sqaunder the empire and ruin it. He wished to carry out his reign keeping Augustus's hopes for the empire close in mind and not going against his late stepfathers wishes, especially when it came to expanding the empire. In this way he would not have to make many decisions. He kept to the status quo and was content in doing so. He kept Rome and the empire stable, Granted he spent little of his reign in Rome as he longed to retire to a quiet island. In his later years his reign would become deemed a somewhat "reign of terror" as he felt he could no longer trust anyone as he would be betrayed by his closest companion Sejanus. But I won't spoil any more of the man's life for those who have yet to read into him.
Tiberius was a man who did not wish to be emperor to begin with (he was a soldier first and foremost and was content at that), he reluctantly took on the role and felt it to be a burden rather then it being a way for him to leave his mark and glory. In fact he was Augustus's last choice to become emperor and was not even supposed to have been a permanent emperor, simply a stand in until the heir was of age. He was a very practical man, did not believe in ostentation, he was very frugal and did not wish to be worshipped as a god or have statues or temples in his honor. He simply wished to do the best he could, by keeping Rome stable, and have people remember him in their minds and memories as a decent man.
I had it in my mind prior to reading this bio that he was not a very good emperor, which was not really the case at all. He did not really push Rome forward with innovation nor did he sqaunder the empire and ruin it. He wished to carry out his reign keeping Augustus's hopes for the empire close in mind and not going against his late stepfathers wishes, especially when it came to expanding the empire. In this way he would not have to make many decisions. He kept to the status quo and was content in doing so. He kept Rome and the empire stable, Granted he spent little of his reign in Rome as he longed to retire to a quiet island. In his later years his reign would become deemed a somewhat "reign of terror" as he felt he could no longer trust anyone as he would be betrayed by his closest companion Sejanus. But I won't spoil any more of the man's life for those who have yet to read into him.
January 28, 2018
3.5 Stars
Robin Seager has written a comprehensive look at the career of Tiberius, rather than the life of Tiberius. This isn't bad, but it does leave some important factors out as for Tiberius, perhaps more than anyone, it is vital to understand the man in order to understand the Emperor. And this fact isn't lost to Seager, he calls it out himself, yet we get little to no discussion of Tiberius' temperament, habits, or relations outside of how it pertains to Tiberius' career. On one hand it's an advantage to this biography that Seager barely touches on the scandalous gossip surrounding Tiberius, especially the last half of his reign. There is a very concentrated effort to not address the outlandish but instead to make sense of the reasonable. But the downside to this is that in some cases important stories are left unaddressed. For example, did a younger Tiberius try to blackmail his younger brother with a forged letter, and if so, how does this play into our understanding of Tiberius' temperament? What of his apparent hard drinking habits even before he became princeps? We read nothing.
For anyone interested in the Emperor Tiberius, this book is definitely a necessity, and as a definite fan of Tiberius myself, I track with Seager's apologetic approach and he does take effort to call out at certain times when there is a limit to how apologetic is reasonable. Because of Seager's sometimes almost short-hand style, I wouldn't recommend this as an intro text as he does write with an expectation that the reader can keep up (Caligula is called Gaius, for example).
To my surprise Livia gets very little attention despite the prominent role she continued to play throughout much of Tiberius' reign, most certainly to the detriment of his patience and to their mother-son relationship, which emphasizes how much this book is focused on Tiberius' career more than not. Seager likes to drop interesting tidbits while failing to elaborate, such as suggesting that Tiberius' failing physical appearance may have also played into his retirement from the city, but doesn't bother to clarify what that means. Or, elsewhere, that Claudius' son died an embarrassing death but doesn't bother to conclude that thought to its logical conclusion- well, how DID he die then? (The boy choked on a pear, by the way).
The other great failing of this updated edition are the updates themselves. They sit at the back not referenced in the main text, but would be 100% better served as referenced end notes for that is really what they are, but unless you read until the end and find that out, you will read the whole book and then realize that updated research has affected what you just read 100 pages earlier. Even if you read the forward telling you that the updates sit at the back, you still have to go there first to see how they ft into the larger narrative.
Ultimately, Seager does do a great justice to the career of Tiberius and offers some insightful opinions and informative discussions about why Tiberius acted as he did throughout his life, a man who, to this day, remains difficult to peg which makes him all the more fascinating.
Robin Seager has written a comprehensive look at the career of Tiberius, rather than the life of Tiberius. This isn't bad, but it does leave some important factors out as for Tiberius, perhaps more than anyone, it is vital to understand the man in order to understand the Emperor. And this fact isn't lost to Seager, he calls it out himself, yet we get little to no discussion of Tiberius' temperament, habits, or relations outside of how it pertains to Tiberius' career. On one hand it's an advantage to this biography that Seager barely touches on the scandalous gossip surrounding Tiberius, especially the last half of his reign. There is a very concentrated effort to not address the outlandish but instead to make sense of the reasonable. But the downside to this is that in some cases important stories are left unaddressed. For example, did a younger Tiberius try to blackmail his younger brother with a forged letter, and if so, how does this play into our understanding of Tiberius' temperament? What of his apparent hard drinking habits even before he became princeps? We read nothing.
For anyone interested in the Emperor Tiberius, this book is definitely a necessity, and as a definite fan of Tiberius myself, I track with Seager's apologetic approach and he does take effort to call out at certain times when there is a limit to how apologetic is reasonable. Because of Seager's sometimes almost short-hand style, I wouldn't recommend this as an intro text as he does write with an expectation that the reader can keep up (Caligula is called Gaius, for example).
To my surprise Livia gets very little attention despite the prominent role she continued to play throughout much of Tiberius' reign, most certainly to the detriment of his patience and to their mother-son relationship, which emphasizes how much this book is focused on Tiberius' career more than not. Seager likes to drop interesting tidbits while failing to elaborate, such as suggesting that Tiberius' failing physical appearance may have also played into his retirement from the city, but doesn't bother to clarify what that means. Or, elsewhere, that Claudius' son died an embarrassing death but doesn't bother to conclude that thought to its logical conclusion- well, how DID he die then? (The boy choked on a pear, by the way).
The other great failing of this updated edition are the updates themselves. They sit at the back not referenced in the main text, but would be 100% better served as referenced end notes for that is really what they are, but unless you read until the end and find that out, you will read the whole book and then realize that updated research has affected what you just read 100 pages earlier. Even if you read the forward telling you that the updates sit at the back, you still have to go there first to see how they ft into the larger narrative.
Ultimately, Seager does do a great justice to the career of Tiberius and offers some insightful opinions and informative discussions about why Tiberius acted as he did throughout his life, a man who, to this day, remains difficult to peg which makes him all the more fascinating.
June 12, 2019
This is a bad book. I'm sure Robin Seager knows a great deal about Tiberius and about the times in which he lived. He cannot, however, pass that information along. His paragraphs are often filled with unrelated sentences that left me very frustrated. I have read very good biographies of Augustus and Caesar (and others) and while reading them I felt drawn into the narrative. There is none of that here. Seager never develops any sort of depth of character with Tiberius. At the end of this book I feel as if I only have a surface level understanding of Tiberius. It is as if I just read the wiki-page of Tiberius (very unsatisfying). Life is too short to read bad books, and this is a bad book. If you are interested in Tiberius look elsewhere.
October 26, 2018
There were some interesting points, and I do feel that I better understand Tiberius and his reign after reading this book. However, there are definitely some slow points where Seager's writing devolves into a litany of names and dates that are difficult to parse through. It is clear, though, that Seager is well versed on the history of Tiberius and is a knowledgeable source from which students of Roman imperial history can draw.
February 17, 2020
Readable but uneven.
February 7, 2013
Go- to book if you want to read about Tiberius' career. Focuses on political aspects first and foremost. The subtitle ("Essential Clinical Skills for Nurses") has nothing to do with this book.
June 29, 2014
still probably the classic
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews