Italy / Holland: 'Tiberius, Emperor of Rome' (42 BCE - 37 CE), line engraving by Aegidus Sadeler (Netherlands, 1570-1629), after Titian, 17th Century

Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, he became step-son of Octavian (later to become Augustus, first emperor of Rome) after his mother was forced to divorce Nero and marry him.

Tiberius would eventually marry Augustus' daughter from his previous marriage, Julia the Elder, and later be adopted by Augustus, officially becoming a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar.

In relations to the other emperors of this dynasty, Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.

Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest generals, with his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, creating the foundations for the empire's northern frontier. However, he came to be known as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him tristissimus hominum, 'the gloomiest of men'.

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