Tiberius Julius Alexander

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Tiberius Julius Alexander was a Roman general and leader in the 1st century CE. He was the son of Alexander Lysimachius, a rich Alexandrian Jew, one of the richest men in the ancient world. Alexander Lysimachius was a customs officer who was Alabarch (governor of all the Jews in Alexandria), and guardian and financial advisor to Antonia, mother of the emperor Claudius. Alexander Lysimachius' son was given the name of Tiberius but assumed the name of Julius himself. He was a Jewish apostate

According to Josephus he was appointed procurator of Judea by Claudius in the year 46. Nero named him a Roman knight, and in the war against the Parthians he was assigned the post of civil governor. Nero also named him prefect of Egypt. This appointment was eventually fatal to the Jews of Alexandria; when they began their struggle with the Alexandrians in order to maintain their rights, Alexander ordered out the Roman legions, and they devastated the Delta, the quarter inhabited by the Jews, and slew about fifty thousand of them.

Alexander supported Vespasian against Vitellius for the position of Roman Emperor, and on receipt of a letter from Vespasian had the Egyptian troops swear an oath of allegiance to the future emperor. As a reward for his loyalty Alexander was appointed by Vespasian to accompany his son, Titus in the First Jewish-Roman War as praetorian prefect (general of the army), the highest office an equestrian could reach. He participated in the Siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of Herod's Temple, to which his father had donated great sums of money for the decoration of the Sanctuary gates in gold and silver.

Tiberius’ uncle was the philosopher Philo and his younger son Marcus was first husband to Berenice, daughter of the Jewish king Herod Agrippa. His brother, Julius Alexander Lysamachus, held the office of alabarch after their father.