Everything about Sejanus totally explained
Lucius Aelius Seianus (20 BC –
October 18,
31 AD), commonly known as
Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the
Roman Emperor Tiberius. An
equestrian by birth, Sejanus rose to power as
prefect of the Roman imperial
bodyguard, known as the
Praetorian Guard, of which he was commander from 14 AD until his death in 31.
While the Praetorian Guard was formally established under emperor
Augustus, Sejanus introduced a number of reforms which saw the unit evolve beyond a mere bodyguard into a powerful and influential branch of the government involved in public security, civil administration, and ultimately political intercession; changes which would have a lasting impact on the course of the
Principate.
During the 20s, Sejanus gradually accumulated power by consolidating his influence over Tiberius and eliminating potential political opponents, including the emperor's son,
Julius Caesar Drusus. When Tiberius withdrew to
Capri in 26, Sejanus was left in control of the entire state mechanism as
de facto ruler of the empire. For a time the most influential and feared citizen of Rome, Sejanus suddenly fell from power the same year his career culminated with the
consulship in 31. Amidst suspicions of conspiracy against the emperor, Sejanus was arrested and executed, along with his followers.
Family
Sejanus was born in 20 BC at
Volsinii,
Etruria, to the family of Cosconia Lentuli Maluginensis and
Lucius Seius Strabo. The Seii were Romans of the
equestrian class (or knights), one of the two upper
social classes of the
Roman Republic and the early
Roman Empire. Officially the equestrians were only the second tier of the elite, behind the
patrician or senatorial class. Sejanus' grandfather however maintained relations with senatorial families through his marriage with Terentia, a sister of the wife of
Gaius Maecenas, who was one of emperor
Augustus' most powerful political allies.
Strabo himself married into equally illustrious families. His first wife was Aelia, the daughter of
Quintus Aelius Tubero, a marriage by which he allied himself with the more prestigious
Aelian gens.
According to the ancient historian
Tacitus, Sejanus was also a former favourite of the wealthy
Apicius, two sons and one daughter: Strabo, Capito Aelianus and Junilla. he was appointed
prefect of the
Praetorian Guard, one of the two most powerful positions a Roman knight could attain in the Empire. This office he carried on dutifully and without incident until the death of the emperor in
14. Little is known about the life Sejanus led prior to this date, but according to Tacitus, he accompanied
Gaius Caesar, adopted grandson of Augustus, during his campaigns in
Armenia in 1 BC. Much more than a guard however, the Praetorians also managed the day-to-day care of the city, such as general security and civil administration. Furthermore, their presence served as a constant reminder to the people and the Senate of the substantial armed force which served as the basis for the imperial power. Augustus was careful however to uphold the
republican veneer of this regime, and only allowed nine
cohorts to be formed (one less than in a normal
Roman legion), which were inconspicuously scattered across various lodging houses in the city, and commanded by two prefects.
When Strabo was assigned to the
governorship of
Egypt in 15, Sejanus became the sole commander of the Praetorians and instigated reforms that helped shape the guard into a powerful tool of the
principate. In
20 the scattered encampments inside the city were centralized into
a single garrison just outside Rome and the number of cohorts was increased from nine to twelve, one of which now held the daily guard at the palace. The practice of joint leadership between two prefects was abandoned, and Sejanus himself appointed the
centurions and
tribunes.
Feud with Drusus
In his capacity of Praetorian prefect Sejanus quickly became a trusted advisor to Tiberius. By 23 he already exerted a considerable influence over the decisions of the emperor, who referred to Sejanus as "my partner in my toils". and in the
Senate his followers were advanced with public offices and governorships. In part due to what the soldiers believed to be bad
omens, Drusus quickly managed to restore the stability in the army and publicly put the chief instigators to death. The camp was purged of mutineers by the Praetorians and the legions returned to the
winter barracks. Despite this success, the following years witnessed a growing animosity between Drusus and Sejanus.
Since the accession of Tiberius, Drusus had been systematically groomed as the successor of his father, successfully commanding legions in
Illyricum in 18, and sharing the consulship with Tiberius in
21. In practice however it was still Sejanus who was the second man in the empire, and he was ambitious to further expand his power. As early as 20, Sejanus had sought to solidify his connection with the imperial family by betrothing his daughter Junilla to the son of
Claudius, Claudius Drusus. At the time the girl was only 4 years old but the marriage was nonetheless prevented when the boy accidentally died a few days later of
asphyxiation.
When this failed it seems Sejanus turned his attention toward eliminating Drusus. By 23 the enmity between the two men had reached a critical point. During an argument Drusus had struck the prefect with his fist, and he openly lamented that "a stranger was invited to assist in the government while the emperor's son was alive". With Tiberius already in his sixties, there was a real possibility of Drusus succeeding his father in the near future. To secure his position Sejanus secretly plotted against him and succeeded in seducing his wife
Livilla.
Consolidation of power
The loss of his son was a major blow to Tiberius, both personally and politically. Over the years he'd grown increasingly disillusioned with the position of princeps, and by sharing the
tribunician powers with Drusus in 22 had prepared to relent some of his responsibilities in favour of his son. With these hopes now dashed, Tiberius left his administration more than ever in the care of Sejanus, and looked toward the sons of
Germanicus as possible future heirs. Following his death, his wife
Agrippina returned to Rome with their five children and became increasingly involved with a group of senators who opposed the growing power of Sejanus. Her relations with Tiberius became increasingly fraught as she made it clear that she believed that he was responsible for the death of Germanicus. The climate was further poisoned by the hatred that Tiberius' mother
Livia Augusta felt for her, since Agrippina's ambition, to be the mother of emperors and thus Rome's first woman, was an open secret. To Sejanus personally, Agrippina's sons
Nero,
Drusus and
Gaius Caligula were considered a direct threat to his power. The Emperor denied this request, warning Sejanus that he was in danger of overstepping his rank. Alarmed by this sudden denigration, Sejanus changed his plans and began to isolate Tiberius from Rome. By fueling his
paranoia towards Agrippina and the Senate he induced the emperor to withdraw to the countryside of
Campania, which he did in 26, and finally to the island of
Capri, where he'd spend the remainder of his life until his death in
37. Guarded by the Praetorians, Sejanus easily controlled all information that passed between Tiberius and the capital.
Despite the withdrawal of Tiberius from Rome's political scene, the presence of Livia seems to have checked Sejanus' overt power for a time. According to Tacitus, her death in 29 changed all that. Sejanus began a series of purge trials of
senators and wealthy equestrians in the city, removing those capable of opposing his power as well as extending the imperial (and his own) treasury. Networks of
spies and informers brought the victims to trial with false accusations of
treason, and many chose suicide over the disgrace of being condemned and executed. Among those who perished were
Asinius Gallus, a prominent senator and opponent of Tiberius who was linked to Agrippina's faction. Agrippina herself and two of her sons, Nero and Drusus were arrested and
exiled in 30, and later
starved to death in suspicious circumstances. Only Gaius (aka Caligula), as the last remaining son of Germanicus, managed to survive the purges of Sejanus by moving to Capri with Tiberius in 31.
Downfall
Denunciation
In 31, despite his equestrian rank, Sejanus shared the
consulship with Tiberius
in absentia, and finally became betrothed to
Livilla. The emperor hadn't been seen in Rome since 26. Sejanus was de facto ruler of the Roman Empire, and senators and equestrians openly courted his favour as if he were such. His
birthday was publicly observed and statues were being erected in his honour.
Through years of crafty intrigues and indispensable service to the emperor, Sejanus had worked himself up to become the most powerful man in the empire. By the end of 31, he'd be arrested, summarily
executed and his body unceremoniously cast down the
Gemonian stairs. Exactly what caused his sudden downfall is unclear: ancient historians disagree about the nature of his conspiracy, whether it was Tiberius or Sejanus who struck first, and in which order subsequent events transpired. Modern historians consider it unlikely that Sejanus plotted to seize the imperial power for himself and, if he'd planned so at all, rather might have aimed at overthrowing Tiberius to serve as a
regent to
Tiberius Gemellus, son of Drusus, or possibly even
Gaius Caligula.
Further details concerning Sejanus' fall are provided by Cassius Dio, writing nearly 200 years after the facts in his
Roman History. It appears that, when Tiberius heard to which extent Sejanus had already
usurped his authority in Rome, he immediately took steps to remove him from power, but realised that an outright condemnation could provoke Sejanus in attempting a
coup against him. He stepped down as consul, thereby forcing Sejanus to do the same, and conferred an honorary priesthood upon Caligula, which rekindled popular support for the house of Germanicus. The ensuing confusion was successful in alienating Sejanus from many of his followers. With the intentions of the emperor no longer clear, it was now deemed a safer course of action at Rome to withdraw from overt support to Sejanus until the matter was clearly settled. to replace Sejanus and accomplish his downfall. On
October 18,
31, Sejanus was summoned to a Senate meeting by a letter from Tiberius, ostensibly to bestow the tribunician powers upon him. At dawn he entered the Senate, but while the letter was being read Macro assumed control of the Praetorian Guard, and members of the vigiles led by
Graecinius Laco surrounded the building.
Execution and aftermath
The same evening, the Senate convened at the
Temple of Concord and summarily condemned Sejanus to death. He was led from prison,
strangled and his body cast onto the
Gemonian stairs, where the crowd tore it to pieces. Riots ensued in which mobs hunted down and killed anyone they could link to the terror regime of Sejanus. The Praetorians in turn resorted to
looting when they were accused of having conspired with their former prefect. Following an issue of
damnatio memoriae by the Senate, his statues were torn down and his name obliterated from all
public records. On
October 24, Sejanus' eldest son Strabo was arrested and executed.
Enraged upon learning the truth, Tiberius soon ordered more executions. Livilla herself committed suicide or, as legend would have it, was forcibly starved to death by her own mother Antonia. According to ancient historians, because there was no precedent for the capital punishment of a
virgin, Junilla was violated before her execution, with the rope around her neck.
Although Rome at first rejoiced at the demise of Sejanus, the city quickly plunged into more extensive trials, as Tiberius relentlessly persecuted all those who could in any way be tied to the schemes of Sejanus or had courted his friendship. The Senatorial ranks were decimated; the hardest hit were those families with political ties to the Julians. Arrests and executions were now supervised by Naevius Sutorius Macro. The political turmoil would continue until the death of Tiberius in 37, after which he was succeeded by
Gaius Caligula.
Legacy
Praetorian Guard
Augustus's death on
August 19 14 marked the end of Praetorian calm, the only time the Praetorian Guard didn't use its military strength to play a part in the politics of Rome to force its own agenda. Augustus would be the sole emperor to command their complete loyalty. The reforms of Sejanus, most significantly the founding of the Castra Praetoria, essentially established the Praetorian Guard as the powerful political force for which it's primarily known today. Henceforth the entire Guard was at the disposal of the emperors, but the rulers were now equally at the mercy of the Praetorians. The reality of this was seen in 31 when Tiberius was forced to rely upon the vigiles against the soldiers of his own guard.
The power Sejanus attained in his capacity as prefect proved
Maecenas right in his prediction to Augustus that it was dangerous to allow one man to command the guard. Cassius Dio notes that after Sejanus, no other prefect except
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus would rise to such influence. Nevertheless, following his death the guard began to play an increasingly ambitious and bloody role in the
Empire. With the right amount of money, or at will, they assassinated emperors, bullied their own prefects, or turned on the people of Rome. In
41 Caligula was killed by conspirators from the senatorial class and from the Guard. The Praetorians placed
Claudius on the throne, daring the Senate to oppose their decision.
Historiography
With the exception of
Velleius Paterculus, ancient
historians have been universally condemning of Sejanus, although accounts differ to which extent Sejanus was manipulated by Tiberius or the other way around.
Tacitus, on the other hand, attributes much of the decline of Tiberius' rule after 23 to the corrupting influence of Sejanus, although he's generally also harsh on Tiberius himself.
Among the writers of the time which fell victim to the regime of Sejanus and its aftermath were the historians
Aulus Cremutius Cordus,
Velleius Paterculus and the poet
Phaedrus. Cordus was brought to trial in 25 by Sejanus under accusations of treason. He was charged for having eulogized
Brutus and spoken of
Cassius as the last of the true Romans, which was considered an offence under the
Lex Maiestas, and the Senate ordered the burning of his writings. His fall is elaborated upon by
Seneca the Younger, in his letter to Cordus' daughter Marcia
To Marcia, On Consolation. Seneca however tells us that her father most likely incurred Sejanus' displeasure for critizising him, because he'd commissioned a statue of himself. Velleius Paterculus was a historian and contemporary of Sejanus whose two-volume
The Roman History details a history of Rome from the fall of
Troy until the death of Livia Augusta in 29. In his work he praises both Tiberius and Sejanus, even defending the latter's high position in the government despite his equestrian rank. How much of Paterculus' writing is due to genuine admiration, prudence or fear remains an open question, but it has been conjectured that he was put to death as a friend of Sejanus.
Sejanus in later literature
The rise and fall of Sejanus have been the subject, or partial subject, of several noted works in literature, including two 17th century plays and 20th century novels:
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