Tiberius

Ti-bihr´ee-uhs

Roman emperor from 14 CE, when he succeeded Augustus, until 37 CE. Thus, he was the reigning emperor during Jesus’s public ministry and (except in Luke 2:1) is the “Caesar” of the NT Gospels. (Luke 3:1) uses his name in fixing the date for John’s preaching and the baptism of Jesus (“in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,” i.e., in 29 CE). Matthew, Mark, and Luke all contain the incident of the questioning of Jesus concerning the payment of taxes to Caesar (Matt 22:15-23; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26).