DIsclaimer - sometime in grade 11/12 I was talking to Tegan about 2 essays I had to write for Ancient History - my friends once discussed the fact that the best way for me to learn stuff wasto put it to lyrics of a song or into a movie - because I have a knack for remembering whole paragraphs of movie script after seeing it once maybe twice - definitely more
The first essay (i just found this in a box) was about Tiberius and references to people I know, in jokes and things that only made sense the weekend the essay (inclass no notes) had to be written.
*All spelling is as written minus the crossed out words*
-> Ok Augustus was a real groovy (i.e NON jerk) people person sort of like the list Pastor Neil made today, very charismatic and organisational person Tiberius came soon after him and as a different personality = more brooding and quiet.
Consequently he wasn't as popular with the people. Bed
So he was just a quiet little guy probably a bit like Chris duPlessi you'll find why I say that in a sec.
The Romans were punny wuns: they wanted their heirs to inherit their power; they also had a lot of divorce. The long and the short of it was that Augustus liked Tiberius and wanted him to inherit the throne. So he made him divorce his wife Aspasia (I corrected - Vispania) (I think that was her name- isnt it ugly?!?) So he could marry Augustus' relative Julia. That way he would be Augustus' heir, fair enough you say. But here come the complications -> this is why Tiberius was such a busch TIberius was madly in love with little Aspasia -> he thought she was a legend and genuinely adored her. But the Emporer is the Emporer and you gotta do what he says, so he divorced poor Aspasia and married Julia as required. So then comes complication no.2 : Julia was such a slut and gave him very bad publicity plus he was still all hungup over Aspasia (that's why he's like Chris) so he got mega depressed.
The public life wasn't really his thing. Add up all of this: naturally introverted, depressive, sluttywife and unrequited love -> on top of the public perception of him : evil wife, non-people - person plus compared to Augustus he was NOTHING. Yeah and he didn't care what anyone care about anything.
He offended the Senate. Most of the Ancient historians were senators and they weren't too good at being objective. As a result, if the senators didn't like someone they generally didn't get a glittering write-up in the histories.
In conclusion tiberius was a pretty mixed-up guy and wasn't really cut out for his job. He had a couple of evil cards dealt to him in his lifetime. But a key part in his bad rep is the nasty writeup he got from the Senators.
** Okay I think I actually got a B on that paper if my memory serves -- all my old school stuff is in the loft at my parents house.