Augustus:
Succeeded Julius Caesar. The book labels Julius Caesar as a dictator and Augustus as Rome’s first Emperor, though saying he wasn’t called that at the time, as Rome’s republican sentiments were still relatively strong in the background.
He was a victorious commander in his younger years, but turned Rome into a wealthy peaceful empire during his long reign. He was largely a good ruler.
His first few successor choices didn’t work out, either dying or not being suited to it, so he went with Tiberius, the daughter of his wife Livia from her first marriage.
He posthumously adopted his wife Livia in his will, giving her more political power during her son’s reign.
Tiberius:
A soldier-emperor. He sort of tried to return power to the nobility at the start, attending senate sessions and whatnot, but was disgusted by the slavishness of the nobles, they had been largely turned into sheep. By the end of his reign, he was very hostile to the senate. He was not charismatic and not well liked.
He was the first ruler not to try to expand the Roman kingdom. The armies were now for defending the peace instead of conquest.
Nero:
Started alright when he was young and under the influence of his 2 mentors, including Seneca. He was even more of a degenerate than normal for Rome. He also fancied himself a performer.
Vespasian: Became emperor through the legions he commanded, not the senate. Was the first emperor who was without noble blood. Had a reputation as a tightwad, raising taxes and cutting spending, which was really necessary for Rome to recover from Nero’s frivolousness. Him and his son Titus were the ones who sacked Jerusalem in AD 70.
Titus: Wasn’t bad, but died after just a few years of rule in AD 81 from an illness.
Trajan: Considered to be a very good emperor. First emperor from the provinces and not Italy.
Hadrian: more intellectual than previous emperors. Big time Hellenist who was infatuated with Greek thought. He wore a beard, resulting in a singlehanded change of the Roman custom from one of shaved faces, which it had been for centuries. Every emperor after him for 150 years wore a beard as well.
He to a great extent owed his becoming emperor to Plotina, the wife of Hadrian, who helped him advance throughout his career. It wasn’t a love affair though. Hadrian was “primarily homosexual,” and had love affairs with young boys.
In response to a revolt in Judea, which had started because Hadrian was goin to rebuild Jerusalem as a Roman city, tons of Jews were killed. After the revolt was finally put down in AD 135 Jews were only a minority in Judea.
He died in AD 138.
Marcus Aurelius:
The best example in history of a “philosopher-king.” He lived the greek philosophy of Stoicism. Also, he is really the only ancient ruler to bare his soul to posterity. His book Meditations is second in sales to only the New Testament of books written during these centuries.
Commodus:
The son of Marcus. He was only 18 when his father died, and had been made co-emperor at 15. He acted like a rebellious teen, finally released from parental constraints when his dad died. He rejected all of the virtue his father sought in favor decadence. People started trying to assassinate him pretty quickly and eventually one try succeeded. He was strangled by his wrestling partner in AD 192 after 12 years of solo rule.
Diocletian:
Ruled for 21 years. He was the only emperor to abdicate, or retire, by choice.
Constantine:
In a real way he converted the empire from paganism to Christianity. He wasn't a perfect man by any means, but he seems to have been a real believer. And his initial conversion to and profession of Christianity did not come at a time when it would have been politically beneficial to him to do so.
Concluding thoughts:
The book was interesting. The writer definitely had a modern bent though, he often spent more time talking about the supposed power of the emperors’ wives then the emperors themselves. It also was incredible how many of the emperors had a thing for young boys.
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