Footnote

b Indicative of the uncertainty, The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia states: “In 13 AD (or according to Mommsen 11 AD) T[iberius] was by a special law raised to the co-regency.” It may also be noted that, although Tiberius was associated with Augustus in rulership, not until his sole rule did he begin to reign as Caesar. Logically, therefore, the ‘fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’ was the actual fifteenth year of his reign. Though himself favoring the count of the fifteenth year from the time of the co-regency, Dutch scholar J. J. Van Oosterzee acknowledges: “The reigning years of a Roman emperor were, indeed, commonly dated from the time when he governed alone.”