Tiberius and His Age

Myth, Sex, Luxury, and Power

Edward Champlin, Robert Kaster

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Press
01 March 2025

Biography: historical, political & military; Ancient history: to c 500 CE

Rome's second emperor, Tiberius (42 BCE-CE 37), has traditionally been seen as a villainous hypocrite

treacherous, grasping, vindictive, and depraved. But in Tiberius and His Age, Edward Champlin draws on vast and diverse evidence to show that Tiberius was

and was seen by contemporaries to be

recognisably human and far more complex than the monster of the hostile tradition that began with Tacitus and Suetonius.

Focusing on the overlapping themes of luxury, sex, power, and, especially, myth, Tiberius and His Age examines Tiberius's standing as a folkloric figure in the Roman popular imagination and his conscious use of mythological themes to consolidate his power. It argues that the striking stories of Tiberius's sexual depravity, which literary sources passed on to later generations, are ultimately incoherent fictions, the work of a brilliant fantasist who hated the emperor. The book's portraits of three important figures in Tiberius's circle

the gourmands Asellius Sabinus and Marcus Apicius and the emperor's lieutenant, Sejanus

provide new perspectives on the emperor and his age. Tiberius's passions for astrology, gastronomy, and mythology, which have often been seen as eccentric scholarly diversions, are revealed instead to be central to contemporary Roman debates and keys to understanding his personality, his power, and the lasting image of Roman emperors.

Incisive, witty, and original, Tiberius and His Age presents a startlingly new picture of Tiberius and the culture and politics of the early Roman Empire.

By: Edward Champlin
Edited by: Robert Kaster
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm,
ISBN: 9780691139241
ISBN 10: 0691139245
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 01 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Edward Champlin is professor of classics and Cotsen Professor of the Humanities, emeritus, at Princeton University. His books include Nero, Final Judgments: Duty and Emotion in Roman Wills, 200 B.C.-A.D. 250, and Fronto and Antonine Rome. Robert A. Kaster is the Kennedy Foundation Professor of Latin, emeritus, at Princeton. He is the author of, most recently, How to Do the Right Thing: An Ancient Guide to Treating People Fairly (Princeton).