Monday, March 26, 2018

Tiberius, roman emperor


Tiberius


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Tiberius was 56 when he took power as emperor. It was a succession accompanied by a quiet murder. The victim was Agrippa Postumus, the slow-witted 26 year-old son of his wife Julia's by a previous marriage, feared as a possible rallying point for disaffected persons

Tiberius let the Senate know that he was he who ruled, but he left the Senate with some duties, saving himself from being overburdned with work. He told the Senate to stop bothering him about every question that came up and to take initiative. But, to his disgust, Senators cringed before him.
An amphitheater collapsed killing many, and the Senate took action against the frauds of contractors, including the slackness of authorities responsible for some roads having become impassible. Tiberius dismissed the Senate's desire to crackdown against the idea of freedom for women, but he did suggest it ban those who had come to Rome to put on obscene shows. And he went further than had Augustus by outlawing altogether the Druid religion.
Tiberius didn't like crowds and did not appear at the gladiator contests as had Augustus. Rather than appear as a loving father figure to the citizenry, Tiberius was seen as unfriendly and was a disappointment.
At the age of 68, Tiberius left Rome for the island of Capri, where he would spend the rest of his life, ruling, relaxing and bathing with boys he called his minnows.

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