Tiberius - (Blackwell Ancient Lives) 2nd Edition by Robin Seager (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Robin Seager has updated his classic biography of Tiberius, which focuses on the Emperor's complex character as the key to understanding his reign.

• The most readable account available of the life of Tiberius, the second Roman emperor.
• Argues that Tiberius' character provides the key to understanding his reign.
• Portrays Tiberius as a man whose virtues and beliefs were corrupted by power.
• Shows how Tiberius' fears of conspiracy and assassination caused him to lose his grasp of reality.
• A new afterword discusses important new evidence that has come to light on the reign of Tiberius.

From the Back Cover

Robin Seager traces the life of Tiberius from his birth in Rome in 42 bc during the death throes of the Republic, through his military career and reign as Emperor, to his death in ad 37. Tiberius' complex character is the key to understanding his reign. Challenging the common ancient view of Tiberius as a consummate hypocrite, Seager portrays him instead as a man whose virtues and beliefs were corrupted by power, who lost his grasp of reality as his fears of conspiracy and assassination spiralled out of control, and who finally resorted to ruling by terror.

The second edition of this highly readable biography contains a substantial afterword, reconsidering various questions and discussing important new evidence that has come to light since the book was first published.

Review Quotes

About the Author

Robin Seager is Reader in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of Pompey: A Political Biography (1979), Ammianus Marcellinus: Seven Studies in His Language and Thought (1986) and Pompey the Great (Blackwell, 2002).