Tiberius' Hellenism

Suetonius and Tacitus give accounts of specific interests of the emperor Tiberius in literature, art, and philosophy, as well as his predilection for Greek customs, above all in his leisure activities. While these were clearly more developed than those of most Romans, because of his unusual mid-career exile on Rhodes, a major intellectual center, the writers characterize them in an unsympathetic light as pedantic and eccentric. While his Greek learning went far beyond that of even the most educated Romans, he developed all the typical vices which Romans traditionally regarded as the liabilities of Greek education. His devotion to the difficult and obscure Hellenistic poets Euphorion, Rhianus, and Parthenius was considered ridiculous, and so was his pleasure in the company of grammarians, with whom he engaged in guessing games about abstruse trivia in Greek mythology and literature. While his taste in art led him to take illegitimate possession of great masterpieces, it was marred by its pornographic turn. He showed little interest in the mainstream philosophic schools and preferred to cultivate astrology. Tiberius’ friendship with Thrasyllus, who was not only an astrologer, but an important scholar of philosophy, was the most lasting and significant friendship of his life, and his own skill in astrology was his most substantial intellectual achievement, one, which, according to the sources, he used to evil purposes in his public life as emperor. Finally, during his last years in isolation on Capri, he abandoned all restraint in pursuing perverse, even cruel, sexual proclivities he had presumably first indulged on Rhodes.

In my article, I attempt to gain a clear perspective on this aspect of Tiberius’ private life, largely neglected by modern biographers, which, as I shall show, are also important in his policies as emperor. His favorite poets did in fact have considerable influence on Roman littérateurs, but of an earlier generation. His taste sheds light on the diminished Roman literary life during his own reign and during the last years of Augustus. From this point of view I will consider the Appendix Vergiliana, Manilius, Germanicus, and Ovid’s late work. Tiberius’ interest in astrology was not an eccentric obsession, but a continuation of Augustus’ policies, which both restricted the practice of astrology and gave it official recognition.

I will argue that Tiberius’ capabilities in literature and astrology were the result of superior intelligence and development and were not unrelated to the great achievements of Augustus reign. Tiberius’ personal contributions should be understood as much in the context of historical circumstances as in his own character.