- Lucius Tiberius
Lucius Tiberius (sometimes Lucius Hiberius, or just simply Lucius) is a fictional
Roman Emperor fromArthurian legend appearing first inGeoffrey of Monmouth 's "Historia Regum Britanniae ". No Roman Emperor of that name ever existed; Geoffrey either heard of him from folk tradition or made him up from whole cloth.Geoffrey Ashe theorizes that he was originallyGlycerius , whose name was known to have been misspelled as "Lucerius" in texts prior to the writing of the "Historia Regum Britanniae", and was further misspelled by Geoffrey of Monmouth. May also have beenTiberius II Constantine who attempted to re-establish Roman hegemony in the Western empire.Lucius appears in later, particularly English literature such as
Thomas Malory 's "Le Morte d'Arthur ", and the "Alliterative Morte Arthure ", and a Roman Emperor defeated byKing Arthur appears in French Arthurian literature as well, notably in theVulgate Cycle .Lucius fights to reclaim
Gaul from his treacheroustribune Frollo at the time ofKing Arthur 's rise to power. After Arthur conquers Gaul, word of his great deeds reachesRome , and Lucius demands that Arthur pay him tribute and recognize him as his sovereign. When Arthur refuses, Lucius invades the land of Arthur's allies on the continent, and Arthur and his knights hurry across theEnglish Channel to do battle with him. Arthur defeats Lucius and addsItaly to his lands.
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