List of Roman Emperors
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a simplified list see: Concise list of Roman Emperors
. For more information, see History of the Roman Empire.
| Emperor of the Roman Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image:Vexilloid of the Roman Empire.svg Coat of Arms of the Roman Empire |
||
| Image:Statue-Augustus.jpg | ||
| Augustus of Prima Porta | ||
| First emperor | Augustus Caesar | |
| Last emperor | Romulus Augustus | |
| Emperorship started |
27 BC |
|
| Emperorship ended |
476 AD |
|
The Roman Empire is a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The Roman Empire is considered to have begun with the creation of the Principate in 27 BC when Augustus began skillfully centralizing power, bringing an end to the Republic of Rome in fact but not appearance. Roman citizens would go on considering themselves under a republic for another 300 years.
The Latin term Imperium Romanum (Roman Empire), the best-known Latin expression was the word imperium denotes a territory known as homoland, indicates the part of the world under Roman rule. Roman expansion began in the days of the Republic with their war with Carthage, but reached its zenith under Emperor Trajan. At this territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5,900,000 km² (2,300,000 sq mi) of the earth's surface.[1]
The Five Good Emperors is a term that refers to five consecutive emperors of the Roman Empire— Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. The term is first coined by the political philosopher, Niccolò Machiavelli, in 1503:
- From the study this history we may also learn how a good government is to be established; for while all the emperors who succeeded to the throne by birth, except Titus, were bad, all were good who succeeded by adoption; as in the case of the five from Nerva to Marcus. But so soon as the empire fell once more to the heirs by birth, its ruin recommenced.[2]
In the late 3rd century AD, after the Crisis of the Third Century, Diocletian established the practice of dividing authority between two emperors, one in the western part of the empire and one in the east, in order to better administer the vast territory. For the next century this practice continued, with occasional periods in which one emperor assumed complete control. However, after the death of Theodosius I in 395, the two halves were permanently divided between his two sons, Honorius ruled in the west while Arcadius ruled in the east.[3] While the Eastern Empire flourished after the empire was divided the western had internal problems from the begin which lead to a civil war which would lead to the Western Roman Empires downfall in 476 AD when Odovacar took power.[4] The Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire lasted until 1453 with the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks.[5] When the Eastern Empire collapsed it gave birth to the successor state Empire of Trebizond. The Empire of Trebizond was conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1461.
Contents |
Principate
Julio-Claudian dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
| Image:Aug11 01.jpg |
Possibly assassinated by poisoning, otherwise old age |
|
| Image:Tiberius palermo.jpg |
Possibly assassinated by suffocation, otherwise old age |
|
 |
Assassinated by his bodyguards |
|
|
Image:Emperor Claudius.jpg |
Poisoned by his wife |
| Image:Nero Glyptothek Munich 321.jpg |
Committed suicide under duress |
Year of the Four Emperors
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
 |
Murdered by Otho |
|
|
Image:OthoDen.jpg |
Committed suicide |
|
Image:Aulus Vitellius (MRABASF Matritum) 01.jpg |
Murdered in the Forum |
| Image:Vespasianus02 pushkin.jpg |
Peaceful death |
Flavian dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
| Image:Vespasianus02 pushkin.jpg |
Peaceful death |
|
| Image:Titus Augustus Denarius.png | ||
|
Image:Domitien.jpg |
Assassinated |
Nervan-Antonian dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
|
Image:Nerva Tivoli Massimo.jpg |
Peaceful death |
|
Image:Trajan-Xanten.JPG | |
| Image:Hadrien-ven.JPG | ||
| Image:Antoninus Pius Glyptothek Munich 337.jpg | ||
|
Image:Marcus Aurelius Glyptothek Munich.jpg | |
|
Image:Lucius verus.jpg | |
| Image:Commodus Musei Capitolini MC1120.jpg |
Assassinated: strangled by a wrestler |
Severan dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
| Image:Pertinax.jpg |
Murdered by soldiers on the Palatine |
|
 |
Sentenced to death by the Senate; murdered on the Palatine |
|
|
Image:Septimius Severus busto-Musei Capitolini.jpg |
Peaceful death |
| Image:Caracalla.jpg |
Assassinated |
|
|
Image:Geta.jpg |
Murdered by Caracalla |
|
Image:Aureus Macrinus-RIC 0079.jpg |
Executed |
|
Image:055 Diadumenianus.jpg | |
|
Image:Elagabalo (203 o 204-222 d.C) - Musei capitolini - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 15-08-2000 .jpg |
Assassinated |
|
Image:Alexander severus.jpg |
Crisis of the Third Century
Emperors during the height of the Crisis
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
|
Image:Max thrax.jpg |
Assassinated |
| Image:Gordianus elder pushkin.jpg |
Committed suicide |
|
|
Image:GordianusIIsest.jpg |
Killed in battle |
|
Image:Pupienus.jpg |
Murdered by the Praetorians |
| Image:070 Balbinus 30 mm ext.jpg | ||
|
Image:Gordian iii.jpg |
Unknown; possibly murdered |
|
Image:Портрет Филипа Араба.jpg |
Killed in battle |
|
Image:Traianus Decius.jpg | |
|
Image:081 Herrenius Etruscus.jpg | |
| Image:082 Hostilianus.jpg |
Peaceful death |
|
|
Image:Trebonianus Gallus bronze well-lit.jpg |
Murdered by his own soldiers |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
| Image:ValarianusIsest.jpg |
Captured by Persians: died in captivity |
|
| Image:Gallienus.jpg |
Assassinated |
|
| Image:093 Saloninus.jpg |
Dominate
Tetrarchy and Constantinian dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
|
Image:DSC04500i Istanbul - Museo archeol. - Diocleziano (284-205 d.C.) - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg |
Peaceful death |
 |
Abdicated. |
|
| Image:Const.chlorus02 pushkin.jpg |
Peaceful death |
|
| Image:Galerius.jpg | ||
|
Image:Follis-Flavius Valerius Severus-trier RIC 650a.jpg |
Murdered or forced to commit suicide in captivity |
|
Image:Emperor Maxentius Louvre Ma3522bis.jpg |
Died in a battle by drowning in the Tiber |
 |
Forced to commit suicide |
|
|
Image:Musei Capitolini-testa bronzea di Costantino-antmoose.jpg |
Peaceful death |
|
Image:Licinius1.jpg |
Executed |
|
Image:Daza01 pushkin.jpg |
Committed suicide |
|
Executed |
|
|
 |
|
|
Image:Constantine II.jpg |
Killed in battle |
|
 |
Peaceful death |
| Image:Emperor Constans Louvre Ma1021.jpg |
Killed by Magnentius |
|
 |
Committed suicide |
|
|
Image:JulianusII-antioch(360-363)-CNG.jpg |
Unknown |
|
Image:Jovian1.jpg |
Peaceful death |
Valentinian dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
|
Image:ValentinianI.jpg |
Peaceful death |
| Image:Valens Honorius Musei Capitolini MC494.jpg |
Killed in battle |
|
| Image:158 Gratianus.jpg |
Assassinated |
|
|
Image:Statue of emperor Valentinian II.JPG |
Deposed; died in suspicious circumstances |
Theodosian dynasty
|
Details |
Portrait |
Death |
|---|---|---|
|
Image:Theodosius.jpg |
Peaceful death |
| Image:Arcadius.jpg | ||
|
Image:Honorius steel engraving.jpg |
Western Empire
Eastern Empire
References
-
Chris Scarre, Chronicle of the Roman Emperors, Thames & Hudson, 1995, Reprinted 2001, ISBN 0-500-05077-5
-
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, Penguin Classics, Michael Grant Publications Ltd, 1971, Reprinted 1985, ISBN 0-14-044060-7
-
Martha Ross, Rulers and Governments of the World, Vol.1 Earliest Times to 1491, Bowker, 1978, ISBN 0-85935-021-5
-
Clive Carpenter, The Guinness Book of Kings Rulers & Statesmen, Guinness Superlatives Ltd, 1978, ISBN 0-900424-46-X
-
R.F.Tapsell, Monarchs Rulers Dynasties and Kingdoms of The World, Thames & Hudson, 1981, Reprinted 1987, ISBN 0-500-27337-5
- ^
"The Roman Empire and its citizens". aboutroma.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
- ^
Machiavelli, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livy, Book I, Chapter 10
- ^
Chester G. Starr, A History of the Ancient World, Second Edition. Oxford University Press, 1974. pp. 670-678.
- ^
Isaac Asimov. Asimov's Chronology of the World. Harper Collins, 1989. p. 110.
- ^
Asimov, p. 198.
See also
- List of Roman dictators
(501 - 44 BC)
- List of Roman usurpers
- Roman usurper
- Second Triumvirate
(43 - 33 BC)
External links
- Biographies of Roman Emperors
.
- List of the Roman Emperors 27 BC - 395 AD
- Portraits and fact files
- The Roman Law Library
by Yves Lassard and Alexandr Koptev.
| Roman Emperors
by Epoch |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| see also
: List of Roman Emperors · Concise list of Roman Emperors · Roman Empire |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
