Lucius Seius Tubero was a
Roman senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
, who flourished under the reign of
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
. He was
suffect consul for February through July of the year 18, succeeding the emperor Tiberius, and as the colleague first of
Germanicus
Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was a Roman people, Roman general and politician most famously known for his campaigns against Arminius in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicu ...
, then of
Livineius Regulus.
The family connections of Seius Tubero have posed a problem for students of ancient history. For example, he is the only consul of either the Roman Republic or Empire to use "Tubero" as a cognomen who was not of the
''gens'' Aelia. The consensus is that Tubero is one of the two brothers of
Sejanus alluded to by
Velleius Paterculus; however, theories defining this fraternal relationship have changed over the years.
Bartolomeo Borghesi first proposed that Seius Tubero was the son of
Lucius Seius Strabo. Then it was proposed that Seius Tubero was by birth the nephew of Strabo's wife, whom Strabo later adopted. The latest theory of his fraternal relationship to Sejanus, proposed by
Ronald Syme, is that Seius Tubero was the son of his wife Junia with her first husband, the jurist
Quintus Aelius Tubero, whom Seius Strabo adopted following his marriage to Junia.
Seius Tubero's first recorded action is in the year 16, as the commander of the cavalry under Germanicus in the battle against the
Angrivarii. He next appears after his consulship, in the year 24, when he and
Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Augur, described by
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
as leading men of the state and close friends of emperor Tiberius, were accused by Vibius Serenus of inciting rebellion and public unrest. Because Lentulus was so old and Tubero in poor health, both were acquitted, and Serenus fled from Rome for Ravenna, only to be brought back before the Senate, tried, and punished with exile.
His life after that incident is a blank. As Tacitus notes that
Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus was "alone of all connected with Sejanus" to avoid death or exile after his fall in the year 31,
[Tactius, ''Annales'', VI.30] it is likely that Seius Tubero died either before Sejanus' fall, or soon after it.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seius Tubero, Lucius
1st-century Roman consuls
Tubero, Lucius
Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome