Lucius Tiberius
Lucius Tiberius (sometimes Lucius Hiberius, or just simply Lucius; also Thereus in Claris et Laris) 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 also appears in later, particularly English literature such as the Alliterative Morte Arthure and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. The motif of a Roman Emperor defeated by Arthur appears in the Old French literature as well, notably in the Vulgate Cycle. 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 British kings Belinus and Brennius had defeated Rome in the past. In retaliation, Lucius gathers heathen armies from Spain and North Africa and invades the lands of Arthur's allies on the continent in Brittany. Rome is supposed to be the seat of Christianity, but it is more foreign and corrupt than