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Agrippa’s death in 12 BC elevated Tiberius and Drusus with respect to the succession. At Augustus’ request, Tiberius divorced Vipsania and married Julia the Elder, Augustus’ daughter and Agrippa’s widow.
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Thus, when in AD 13, the powers held by Tiberius were made equal, rather than second, to Augustus’s own powers, he was for all intents and purposes a “co-princeps” with Augustus, and in the event of the latter’s passing, would simply continue to rule without an interregnum or possible upheaval.Tiberius already had the administrative and political powers of the Princeps, all he lacked were the titles—Augustus, Pater Patriae, and the Civic Crown (a crown made from laurel and oak, in honor of Augustus having saved the lives of Roman citizens).Tiberius, however, attempted to play the same role as Augustus: that of the reluctant public servant who wants nothing more than to serve the state.Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla.His mother divorced his father and was remarried to Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian.In 24 BC, at the age of seventeen, Tiberius entered politics under Augustus’s direction, receiving the position of quaestor, After several years of negotiation, Tiberius led a sizable force into Armenia, presumably with the goal of establishing it as a Roman client-state and as a threat on the Roman-Parthian border, and Augustus was able to reach a compromise whereby these standards were returned, and Armenia remained a neutral territory between the two powers.
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