- Title
- Tiberus and Rhodes
- Creator
- Bellemore, Jane
- Relation
- Klio: Beitraege zur Alten Geschichte Vol. 89, Issue 2, p. 417-453
- Relation
- http://www.akademie-verlag.de/olb/de/1.c.335300.de?_reiter=archiv
- Publisher
- Akademie Verlag GmbH
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2007
- Description
- In 6 BC, Tiberius left Rome and went to the island of Rhodes, giving as the reason for his departure the need for a break from service to the state (commeatum [...] a continuatione laborum petiit). Because Tiberius was the second man in the empire at that time, in an almost unassailable position to succeed Augustus, and he did go on to become Rome's next princeps in AD 14, it has been assumed that his request for a furlough was merely the pretext for his departure, not the 'real' reason, which must have been political. In addition, the fact that Tiberius remained on Rhodes for several years has given rise to the view that his departure from Rome was an error in judgement that he must have regretted. These doubts concerning Tiberius' motive for leaving Rome stretch back to antiquity. None of our ancient sources believed Tiberius' primary excuse for going to Rhodes, not the eulogising Velleius Paterculus, nor any other of the others less favourable to him (Tacitus, Suetonis and Cassius Dio). None could accept that Tiberius did not want to be emperor and that he willingly disqualified himself in 6 BC, and so they seek, in different ways, to explain his action in departing and his reasons for remaining on Rhodes for as long as he did.
- Subject
- Tiberius; Rhodes; emperor; succession
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/34901
- Identifier
- uon:3767
- Identifier
- ISSN:0075-6334
- Language
- eng
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