TIAN-SHAN MOUNTAINS 



5805 



TIBERIUS 



his followers frolic in beds of wild thyme. 



Oberon, king of the fairies in Shakespeare's 



Midsummer Night's Dream, says: 



I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, 

 Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows. 



TIAN-SHAN, teahn' shahri , MOUNTAINS, 

 an extensive mountain system of Central Asia, 

 commencing in Russian Turkestan and extend- 

 ing nearly 1,500 miles in an easterly direction 

 to the Desert of Gobi. It is closely connected 

 with the Atlas system and forms the great bar- 

 rier which divides the watersheds of Balkash 

 and Dzungaria. The system consists of a series 

 of ranges running parallel to each other, with 

 a breadth of about 200 miles. The highest 

 peak is Khan-Tengri, rising 2,400 feet above sea 

 level. To the westward of Khan-Tengri the 

 Tian-Shan range divides into several portions, 

 one of which extends through the Pamir and 

 joins the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas. 



There are numerous roads and passes over 

 the mountains, connecting China, West Turke- 

 stan and Persia. These routes are extremely 

 dangerous in winter, owing to the vast accumu- 

 lation of snow. In this region the snow line is 

 from 11,500 to 12,500 feet above sea level; all 

 peaks above that height are snow clad, and 

 have numerous glaciers many miles in extent. 

 The mountains contain vast mineral wealth 

 almost entirely undeveloped. 



TI'BER, the historic stream on which lies 

 the city of Rome, called in ancient writings 

 "Father Tiber" and the "Yellow Tiber." The 

 former name suggests the affection with which 

 the Romans regarded it ; the latter refers to the 

 color of the water, whose swift current carries 

 down stream great quantities of sand and mud. 

 This sediment, deposited century after century 

 at the mouth of the river, has built up the 

 land until at the present time the harbor is 

 four miles farther out than in the days of an- 

 cient Rome. 



The Tiber is the second largest river of Italy; 

 ranking next to the Po. It rises in Tuscany, 

 in the Apennines, and after a winding course of 

 245 miles empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea (an 

 arm of the Mediterranean) about twenty-six 

 miles below Rome. It enters the sea by two 

 branches, one of which is a channel excavated 

 by the emperors Claudius and Trajan. These 

 two arms surround an unhealthful island known 

 as the Isola Sacra. The Tiber in times past 

 has frequently overflowed its banks and caused 

 great devastation, and costly embankments con- 

 structed at Rome have only partially averted 

 this peril. In 1900 one of the most disastrous 



floods in its history occurred. Under normal 

 conditions the river is navigable for small 

 steamers as far as Rome. 



TIBERIUS, tibe'rius [TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS 

 NERO CAESAR] (42 B.C-A.D. 37), the second Ro- 

 man emperor, the son of Tiberius Claudius 

 Nero, an officer under Julius Caesar, and Livia, 

 who afterwards was the wife of Augustus. His 

 mother used her 

 powerful influ- 

 ence to secure 

 the advancement 

 of Tiberius and 

 his younger 

 brother Drusus, 

 and the former 

 won considerable 

 distinction in the 

 army, carrying on 

 successful cam- 

 paigns in Ger- 

 many and Gaul. 

 Tiberius was com- 

 pelled by Augus- 

 tus to divorce his TIBERIUS 



wifp Vi noun in From a bust in the Museo 

 wile, Vipsania N azionale, Naples. 

 Agrippina, to Augustus, lacking a male 



heir, first adopted his younger 



stepson, Drusus, who died 9 



B - c -> owing to a fall from his 

 horse In A D 4 he adopted 



, 



whom he 



rWntp.H a 

 devoted, a 



was 



tr> 

 to 



marry Julia, the Tiberius, and was succeeded 

 , , , by him as emperor in A. D. 14. 

 emperors daugh- 



ter. For a time after this he lived in seclusion 

 at Rhodes, but he returned in A. D. 1 and again 

 took charge of the army. Although he had no 

 affection for Tiberius and felt little confidence 

 in him, Augustus adopted him and designated 

 him as his successor, and in A. D. 14 Tiberius 

 came to the throne. 



Like so many of his successors, Tiberius at 

 first governed well, and throughout his reign 

 all the provinces of the empire were especially 

 prosperous. In Rome, however, he showed a 

 growing suspiciousness and cruelty. Spies were 

 stationed everywhere to report any opposition 

 to the emperor, and all who were even under 

 suspicion were punished with death. Postumus 

 Agrippa, grandson of Augustus; Germanicus 

 Caesar, the popular nephew of Tiberius; Tibe- 

 rius' own son, Drusus Caesar all were put to 

 death because the emperor feared them; and 

 his own death at Capri at the hands of Macro 

 was but the final act of violence of the reign. 



Tiberius was a man of undoubted genius, 

 clear of judgment, tenacious of purpose; but 

 he was cold, unloving and fond of shrouding 

 all his acts in mystery. Thus he became hated 



