Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.7, 2014

Tiberius’ Retirement to Rhodes: A Study of the Mechanism of the Transfer of Power in the Early Roman Empire

(Abstract)

Wang Zhongxiao

In 6 BC, Tiberius was made tribune for the first time, with a five year term. Augustus subsequently dispatched him to Armenia to deal with a crisis caused by the death of King Tigranes III. However, Tiberius unexpectedly took the decision to retire to Rhodes. The records preserved in ancient writings have conflicting accounts of the motives behind this episode. In fact, a serious disagreement around the issue of “succession to the Princep” had occurred between Augustus and Tiberius just before the latter departed to take up his post in the East, and that was the most important reason for his withdrawal. This case casts light on one facet of the transfer of imperial power within a family during the early Roman Empire.