Tiberius Claudius Nero ( 204–202 BC) was a Roman senator. In 204 BC, as

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...

, he was assigned to govern

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, in which capacity he gathered and shipped supplies of grain and clothing for soldiers under the command of Scipio in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Elected

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

for 202 BC, he was assigned to Africa with ''

imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...

'' equal to that of Scipio, but storms and delays in his preparations prevented him from ever arriving. His consular colleague was M. Servilius Pulex Geminus. He was the last consul of the

Claudii Nerones The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius C ...

until his descendant (the future emperor)

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

was elected in 13 BC. It is possible that this Nero was the one who in 172 BC participated in diplomatic missions. The historical sources for which pose difficulties.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

says he was sent on an embassy with a Marcus Decimius to

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and islands in the Aegean, including

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

and

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, and travelled as far as Syria and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. His task was to renew friendships and alliances, and to gather information on the influence of

Perseus of Macedon Perseus ( grc-gre, Περσεύς; 212 – 166 BC) was the last king (''Basileus'') of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He was the last Antigonid to rule Macedon, aft ...

. Polybius says he was accompanied by Postumius Albinus and a Marcus Junius Brutus, and describes their mission as urging the allies, particularly Rhodes, to join the Romans against Perseus. Livy also has a similar account (42.45.1–7) that seems to repeat but confuse what he had reported earlier. It is also possible that this Claudius Nero was either the Tiberius Claudius Nero who was praetor in 178 BC, or the praetor of 181 BC who had the same name.See discussion by Broughton, ''MRR''¹ p. 415, notes 4 and 5.

Friedrich Münzer Friedrich Münzer (22 April 1868 – 20 October 1942) was a German classical scholar noted for the development of prosopography, particularly for his demonstrations of how family relationships in ancient Rome connected to political struggles. He d ...

favors the praetor of 178 in this role. It is possible that the two later are also one and the same, possibly the consuls son.

References

Dates, offices, and ancient sources unless otherwise noted from T.R.S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'' (American Philological Association, 1951, 1986), vol. 1, pp. 306, 315, 412–413, 415 (notes 4 and 5); vol. 2 (1952), p. 546. {{DEFAULTSORT:Claudius Nero, Tiberius 3rd-century BC Roman consuls 3rd-century BC Roman praetors 2nd-century BC diplomats

Roman governors of Sardinia