Tiberius Caesar Bust

Did Tiberius Caesar know Jesus was being crucified? The face of the Roman Emperor, Tiberius from the statue now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples. Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus and the oldest son of Livia, wife of Augustus. Augustus adopted Tiberius in 4 A.D. because he lacked a male heir. He had first adopted his younger stepson Drusus, but he died in 9 B.C. after falling from his horse. In 14 A.D. Tiberius became Emperor of Rome. Whether Tiberius had heard of Jesus, or knew about the crucifixion of Jesus is a matter of speculation. There is no doubt that word about Jesus and his miracles spread quickly throughout the Roman Empire, even to the Imperial Palace on Palatine Hill, but Tiberius had retired to his palace on the Island of Capri in 26 A.D. while all sorts of corruption was happening in Rome. He left Sejanus in charge of Rome who eventually betrayed him and was later tried by the Senate upon orders by Tiberius, and then executed. Meanwhile there were many rumors about Tiberius on Capri involving homosexuality and sexual perversity with young boys, which included all sorts of inhumane cruelty. In this picture it shows the "Tiberius Leap" (Salto di Tiberio) which is a giant 1000 foot cliff that, according to the historians Suetonius and Tacitus, Tiberius hurled his discarded young sexual conquests and victims into the sea to their deaths for orgasmic pleasure. The bust of Tiberius Caesar is important in the study of Biblical Archaeology, it reveals the image and reality of a person mentioned in the Bible, who was the emperor of Rome during the time of Christ's life. "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness." Luke 3:1-2