I Loved Tiberius
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Jeg Elsket Tiberius a 1959 romance novel by Elisabeth Dored. It was first translated into English by Naomi Walford in Great Britain by Methuen and United States by Pantheon Books in 1963 under the name I Loved Tiberius. The novel was written as a careful reappraisal of the contemporary sources, placing Julia and Tiberius in a more positive light.
The novel is set in 1st century BC Rome, centred on Julia the Elder, the daughter of Augustus and her life right up until her death. The novel begins with Julia's birth and her mother being forbidden to see her. The plot is mainly focused on Julia's love life, notably her relationship with her stepbrother, Tiberius.
As children they have an awkward relationship where Tiberius is purposely awkward to Julia. The cruelty of Livia forces Tiberius to look for love else where, only finding it in Julia. Very quickly Julia becomes smitten with her stepbrother and he obsessed with her, despite her only being twelve. They go on to marry other people and have children; Julia to Marcellus, then Agrippa; and Tiberius to Agrippa's daughter Vipsania. Agrippa is deeply in love with Julia and spoils her greatly. However he is aware that she was in love with Tiberius and he with her. After a party where Tiberius attempts to seduce Julia, he begins to worry that the two will use Vipsania and himself as an excuse to see each other. Nonetheless, Julia chooses to go with Agrippa, rather than stay in Rome with Tiberius and Vipsania, when he leaves for a campaign in Gaul. Julia later discovers that Vipsania is in love with someone else, Gellus. She attempts to break them apart only to be blocked by Agrippa who says that she is only doing it to spite Vipsania.
After this, Julia decides to distance herself from Tiberius as much as possible by travelling with Agrippa around the empire. Along the way, the pair discover that Livia has many spies, and Julia advises Agrippa to reduce the influence of these spies. The most notable is Salome, Herod the Great's sister. Livia attempts to get rid of Julia and her two sons by drowning them in a set-accident. However they are saved by Agrippa. Not long after this, Agrippa dies, and Julia's close ally and friend Maecenas, suggests that Livia had him poisoned.
Eventurally Julia and Tiberius marry and are happy until the death of their son, Nero. After the death, Tiberius becomes paranoid that Julia will betray him, and begins treating her badly. On one occasion, he twists her arm so hard he dislocates it. Augustus is disgusted with thing and Tiberius leaves. Julia begins a close friendship with her cousin Iullus. She is arrested for trumped up charges on treason, and is exiled. Her mother, Scribonia, chooses to go with her. While she is in exile, her son Lucius is poisoned and Gaius murdered on a campaign; her daughter Julilla is also exiled on trumped up; and her youngest son Postumus exiled for hitting Livia after he witnesses her confession to having his mother exiled. Augustus later forgives Postumus when he realises, with the help of Agrippina, what Livia had been doing and tries to call him back. However he becomes ill and dies before he is able. Postumus is murdered and Julia decided to kill herself. Before she dies, she finally realises that it was Agrippa, not Tiberius, whom she truly loved; and that Agrippa and Scribonia are the only people who truly loved her.
A majority of the story is based on a series of love-triangles between Julia, Tiberius and Agrippa. There are various other triangles including Julia, Tiberius and Iullus.
