Tiberius was Rom’e Second Emperor, and the one who ruled Rome while Jesus was crucified. That in itself makes him one of the most famous emperors, but he was probably also Rome’s second or third most infamous — coming in right after Caligula and Nero. The funny (or sad) thing is that both Caligula and Nero relate to Tiberius who kind of ushered in an era of darkness. But the thing is...:
Tiberius might have just been super misunderstood.
The tales of his perversion might be nothing more than gossip, but... I’ll be discussing that in the video anyway. More notes in the notes below. Duh.
For now... enjoy:
Episode 2 of ’Rome’s Greatest Emperors’: Tiberius — The Depressed Emperor
Notes:
A lot of the depravity that is attributed to Tiberius was written about some decades after his death, and mostly by people that hate him. Either for personal reasons, or because they stand with the Republic and discredit all emperors, or because they are Augustus fanatics that want to belittle every other emperor... there are many reasons.
In fact, there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to Tiberius: Did he only act like he didn’t want to be emperor to seem more like Augustus? Was he the victim of gossip? Did his mother assassinate everyone that was in front of him to succeed the throne, or did death just conveniently come knocking? Did Tiberius have Germanicus killed himself?
In the case of historic accounts being biased — just look at biopic movies we now have — they often twist the reality of a person that is still alive, just for the sake of better storytelling, and millions of people get the wrong idea of who the real persona actually is or was. Who’s to say that Roman writers did not do the same?
Of course, I can only work with what I am given, and I am confident that through all the mess, I am giving you the best possible narrative that stays true to ancient writings. If you are interested in alternative versions and interpretations, I encourage you to take this video as a starting point to dive deeper into history and its many contradictions and theories.
Note that I refer to Augustus as ’Augustus’ throughout this video, but before 27 BCE he was not Augustus, but known as Octavian.
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Footage:
Netflix’ Roman Empire, Dracula Untold, Joker.
Music:
- Asher Fulero - Nocturne
- Asher Fulero - Surrender
- Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (by Beethoven)
- Cooper Cannell - Lullaby
- Doug Maxwell_Media Right Productions - Solo Cello Passion
- Esther Abrami - No.1 A Minor Waltz
- Esther Abrami - No.4 Piano Journey
- Esther Abrami - No.7 Alone With My Thoughts
- Josh Kirsch_Media Right Productions - It’s Coming
- Wahneta Meixsell - Allemande
- Wahneta Meixsell - Gymnopedie No. 3
- Earnest by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
- Despair and Triumph by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
- Heartbreaking by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.