The Reigns of Roman Emperors 

7.  The beginning of the reign of Tiberius Caesar 

    The usual date given for the start of the reign of Tiberius Caesar is dependent on the belief that Augustus 

died in 

A.D.

 14. Some scholars would count the year 

A.D.

 14 as the first year of the reign of Tiberius; others 

would count 

A.D.

 15 as the first year. Still other scholars would count Tiberius' reign as beginning a couple of 

years earlier, when Tiberius ruled Rome jointly with Augustus, in a power sharing arrangement.

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 (When one 

ruler counts his reign as beginning during the reign of the previous ruler, so that their reigns overlap, this is 

called  antedating. ) 

    Another theory counts the reign of Tiberius as beginning at the time that Tiberius was first chosen as heir to 

the throne. The grandsons of Augustus, named Lucius and Gaius, were in line to succeed Augustus as 

emperor of Rome. But Lucius died in 

A.D.

 2, and Gaius in 

A.D.

 4, according to the usual chronology. About 

this time, Tiberius returned from a self imposed exile on the island of Rhodes.

848

 Soon after his return, 

Augustus decided to choose his stepson, Tiberius, to succeed him as emperor of Rome. According to Dio: 

 Augustus not only adopted Tiberius, but also sent him out against the Germans, granting him the 

tribunician power for ten years. 

849

 It was at that time also that Tiberius, whose name from birth was `Tiberius 

Claudius Nero,' was given the name `Tiberius Julius Caesar.'

850

    Tiberius had a great deal of power in the Roman Empire beginning about ten years before Augustus died. 

Now, in the usual chronology, Augustus died in 

A.D.

 14, and the sudden rise of Tiberius to power occurred in 

A.D.

 4. However, the evidence presented above places the death of Augustus in 

A.D.

 10, four years earlier. So, 

in this revised chronology, the death of Gaius and the appointment of Tiberius as the successor to Augustus 

must also be placed four years earlier, during the year 1 

B.C.

 Augustus appointed Tiberius as his successor by 

adopting him, on June 26, so that he would inherit the throne.

851

 The Roman custom was to count the first full 

calendar year of an emperor's reign as year one. The calendar year containing the death of the previous 

emperor would be counted as the last year of that emperor's reign, even though he only ruled for part of the 

year and the remainder of the year was completed by the next emperor.

852

 Therefore, we should count the 

antedated reign of Tiberius as beginning with the first full calendar year after he was chosen to be the successor 

to Augustus. The first year of Tiberius' reign would then be 

A.D.

 1. 

    Tiberius had a great deal of power beginning with his adoption as heir to the emperor, and he had little or 

no power in the years before that time. His reign over the Roman Empire did, in a real sense, begin from this 

earlier time, because of this sudden increase in power when he became the chosen heir. This is one argument 

in support of the idea that the reign of Tiberius should be antedated, that is, that it should be counted from this 

earlier time (see chapter 2). 

    Antedating did occur in the reigns of some first century Roman emperors. Dio describes the reigns of the 

emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius as lasting, respectively, 9 month and 13 days, 90 days, and 1 year minus 

10 days (for a total of about 2 years time). Yet he gives the length of time from Nero's death to the start of 

Vespasian's reign (the time frame containing the rules of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) as only 1 year and 22 

days. Dio's explanation is a classic example of antedating:   For they did not succeed one another legitimately, 

but each of them, even while his rival was alive and still ruling, believed himself to be emperor from the 

moment that he even got a glimpse of the throne. 

853

 Though he complains about antedating in the reigns of 

Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, Dio himself accepts antedating in the reign of Vespasian to a time several months 

before the death of Vitellius (see sections 16 and 17 below). Furthermore, many modern scholars accepts the 

idea that Tiberius antedated his reign to a point in time at least a couple of years before the death of 

Augustus.

854

 Since antedating occurred in the reigns of these first century Roman emperors,  it is entirely 

possible that Tiberius antedated the start of his reign ten years earlier, rather than 2 years earlier to 

A.D.

 1. 

Further support for this conclusion is found in sections 8 and following, below. 

    The usual date for the first full year of the reign of Tiberius is 

A.D.

 15, the year after Augustus died. My 

revised date for the first full year of Tiberius' reign is 14 years earlier, in 

A.D.

 1. The 14 year difference between 

the usual date and the revised date for the start of Tiberius' reign is due to two adjustments to the usual 

chronology. First, the death of Augustus, and many other dates related to his reign, occurred 4 years earlier 

than generally believed. Second, the reign of Tiberius is to be counted from a point in time, 

A.D.

 1, which is 9 

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