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Tiberius Julius Alexander

Tiberius Julius Alexander (fl. 1st century) was an equestrian governor and general in the Roman Empire. Born into a wealthy Jewish family of Alexandria but abandoning or neglecting the Jewish religion, he rose to become the 2nd procurator of Judea (c. 46 – 48) under Claudius. While Prefect of Egypt (66–69), he employed his legions against the Alexandrian Jews in a brutal response to ethnic violence, and was instrumental in the Emperor Vespasian's rise to power. In 70, he participated in the Siege of Jerusalem as Titus' second-in-command.[1] He became the most powerful Jew of his age, and is ranked as one of the most prominent Jews in military history.[2]

Tiberius Julius Alexander

1st century
Alexandria, Egypt

before 46 – 70

Roman–Parthian War of 58–63, Battle of Delta, Alexandria (c. 68), Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70)

Early life[edit]

Tiberius Julius Alexander was probably born early in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius (14–37). His father was Alexander, an Alexandrian Jew who held the office of Alabarch as head of customs on the Arabian frontier,[2] but it may have denoted a senior customs official. The family of the older Alexander, a member of the Egyptian gentry, had Roman citizenship, something not infrequent among the wealthy Jews of Alexandria.[2][3] He also had business connections both with Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, and with Antonia, mother of the emperor Claudius.[4] Another prominent member of Tiberius Alexander's family was his uncle, the philosopher Philo.[2]


With both Tiberius and his younger brother Marcus Julius Alexander, the father preferred to give them a grounding in classical languages, rather than have them receive a traditional Jewish education, and both had been groomed to enter into the Roman bureaucracy[2] Marcus Julius Alexander was the first husband of Herodian Princess Berenice. Marcus died in 43 or 44, leaving no children. The Jewish historian Josephus introduces his portrait of Tiberius by condemning him for impiety, explaining that he "did not remain in his ancestral customs".[5] This has traditionally been taken to mean that he became an apostate from Judaism at an early age, a view which finds some support in his appearance as a character in two of Philo's philosophical dialogues, making arguments against divine providence which Philo attempts to refute.[6] However, some more recent scholars believe that Josephus is criticizing Alexander simply for his decision to take up the service of Rome, placing the interests of the Empire above the Jewish religion.[7]


He nevertheless continued to benefit from his family's connections, which were enhanced after the Emperor Claudius came to power in 41. Agrippa had helped to secure Claudius' accession after the assassination of Caligula, and was appointed king of Judea. Tiberius' father, who had been imprisoned by Caligula, was released on Claudius' orders, and it was at this time that his younger brother Marcus became Berenice's husband.[8] Tiberius's first senior appointment was as governor of the Thebaid in 42 CE.[2]

Career until 63[edit]

Tiberius Alexander was evidently well enough connected for an equestrian career in Roman public life. The first position he is known to have held, beginning in about 42, was that of epistrategus of the Thebaid, one of the three regions into which the Roman province of Egypt was divided.[9] This was an administrative and judicial post involving no military command. He may have perhaps maintained contacts with his brother Marcus, who was trading in the same area until his premature death in 43 or 44.[10]


In recognition of his administrative abilities in the Thebaid after four years of service there, Claudius appointed him procurator of Judea in 46 CE.[2] The province had returned to direct Roman rule only after the death of Agrippa in 44, and from the tenure of Alexander's predecessor Cuspius Fadus it had been a hotbed of zealot nationalism. Despite the opinion of some fellow Jews that he was a turncoat, his period of office as Procurator in Judea was marked by peace, as Josephus himself writes.[2] He did condemn James and Simon, sons of an earlier rebel named Judas of Galilee, to crucifixion. It was also at this time that Judea was afflicted by a severe famine. In 48 he was succeeded by Ventidius Cumanus.[11]


Alexander appears to have risen in the ranks – though the details are unknown, until, with the reign of Nero, he served as a staff officer under the prominent general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo during campaigns against Parthia, under whom he distinguished himself.[2] In 63 he was dispatched along with Corbulo's son-in-law to escort the Armenian king Tiridates, with whom he himself had initiated negotiations,[2] to the Roman camp, on the first stage of his journey to receive the status of client king from Nero.[12]

Later career[edit]

By this time, Vespasian's position in Rome was secure. The details of Alexander's career under the new emperor remain unclear. A damaged papyrus refers to Alexander as holding the position of "Praetorian Prefect", which is open to two interpretations. It could indicate his rank during Titus' campaign in 70, which would mean that he held his own independent imperium (commanding authority). According to another view, it means that he became Prefect of the Praetorian Guard at Rome, which in later years became a common position for former Prefects of Egypt.[26] In either case, Alexander attained a position in the Roman Empire that was unparalleled for a man of Jewish birth, not to mention one who suffered from the further stigma of an Egyptian origin. The xenophobic speaker of Juvenal's first Satire, composed in the late 1st or early in the 2nd century AD, complains of passing the Forum's triumphal statues, "where some Egyptian Arabarch's had the nerve to set up his titles. At his image it's right to do more than piss!"[27] This is very likely a reference to Alexander.[28]

Prefects, Procurators, and Legates of Roman Judaea