Tiberius by Robin Seager presents a comprehensive account of the emperor's character and reign, designed to serve both the general reader and specialists in the study of the early Roman principate. Seager notes that no full-length treatment of Tiberius' rule in English had appeared since C. Marsh's 1931 study, despite major advances in scholarship. Over the ensuing decades, discoveries in epigraphy and papyrology, along with a steady stream of research on particular aspects of Tiberius' life, reshaped the historical landscape and underscored the need for a fresh synthesis. His biography responds to this gap, aiming to integrate political, social, and personal dimensions into a narrative that reflects both the complexity of the evidence and the importance of the reign itself.
Seager also defends the imperial biography as a valid scholarly form. Some critics have suggested that biography of rulers is either obsolete or misleading, but in the case of Tiberius such an approach is unavoidable. The political and social development of the Roman Empire under his rule was inseparably bound up with the character and personal history of its leader. Tiberius' policies, his relationship with the Senate, his military background, and his gradual retreat from Rome all reveal the close interdependence of individual temperament and imperial institutions. By situating the emperor within this dynamic, Seager argues that neither the history of the empire nor the life of Tiberius can be understood in isolation. His work thus offers not just a portrait of one man but an exploration of how personality and power intertwined at a formative stage of the Roman imperial system.
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.
