Lucius Tiberius

Lucius Tiberius (sometimes Lucius Hiberius, or just simply Lucius) is a Western Roman Procurator or Emperor from Arthurian legend, who is killed in a war against King Arthur. First appearing in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Lucius continues to be featured in later, particularly English literature such as the Alliterative Morte Arthure and Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur. Roman Emperors defeated by Arthur appear in the Old French literature as well, notably in the Vulgate Cycle.

The figure of Lucius is clearly mythical, though whether Geoffrey took the character from tradition or completely created him for propagandist purposes is unknown, as is the case with much material in his Historia. Many of the figures associated with him, such as the kings who side with him, appear to be based on figures from Geoffrey's own era.[1] Geoffrey Ashe theorizes that he was originally Glycerius, whose name was known to have been misspelled as "Lucerius" in texts prior to the writing of the Historia, and was further misspelled by Geoffrey of Monmouth as "Lucius Tiberius/Hiberius".[2] Another theory, proposed by Roger Sherman Loomis, suggests that Lucius is a reflex of the god Lugh, under the name "Llwch Hibernus", which could morph into "Lucius Hiber(i)us".[3]

In the narrative, after Arthur liberates Gaul from Roman Tribune Frollo, a Romanized German who tried to take advantage of Arthur's war with Claudas, word of his great deeds reaches Rome itself. Lucius demands that Arthur pay him tribute and recognize him as his sovereign, as had been done by Britain since the time of Julius Caesar. Arthur refuses on the basis that the (mythical) British kings Belinus and Brennius and the Constantine the Great had held Rome in their power before. In retaliation, Lucius gathers heathen armies from Spain and North Africa and invades the lands of Arthur's allies on the continent in Britanny. Rome is supposed to be the seat of Christianity, but it is more foreign and corrupt than the courts of Arthur and his allies. Arthur and the other kings allied with him hurry across the English Channel to war.

In the Historia, Lucius dies by unknown hand as the armies of Rome and the Empire's Germanic allies are conquered by Arthur's forces. In Malory's version, however, Lucius is killed in a personal duel by Arthur himself during their great final battle. Though there are passages in Geoffrey's work that give him the title "Emperor", he is apparently acting for (fictitious) Emperor Leo, but in most post-Geoffrey versions Lucius himself is Emperor and Leo is omitted.