Roman Emperors for Latin B

Marcus Aurelius

-As part of Hadrian's terms, Antoninus adopted Marcus and Lucius Verus, the son of Aelius. Marcus became M. Aelius Aurelius Verus; Lucius became L. Aelius Aurelius Commodus -At some time in 138, Hadrian requested in the senate that Marcus be exempt from the law barring him from becoming quaestor before his twenty-fourth birthday -The senate complied, and Marcus served under Antoninus, consul for 139 -For his adoption, he probably would have become triumvir monetalis, a highly regarded post involving token administration of the state mint; after that, he could have served as tribune with a legion, becoming the legion's nominal second-in-command -Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead -Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled -Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal -Marcus was made consul for 140, with Antoninus as his colleague, and was appointed as a seviri, one of the knights' six commanders, at the order's annual parade on 15 July 139 -On 1 January 145, Marcus was made consul a second time -In April 145, Marcus married Faustina, as had been planned since 138. Since Marcus was, by adoption, Antoninus Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Antoninus would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place -On November 30, 147, Faustina gave birth to a girl, named Domitia Faustina -She was the first of at least thirteen children (including two sets of twins) that Faustina would bear over the next twenty-three years -Domitia would die in 151 -In 149, Faustina gave birth again, to twin sons. Contemporary coinage commemorates the event, with crossed cornucopiae beneath portrait busts of the two small boys, and the legend temporum felicitas, "the happiness of the times" -They did not survive long. Before the end of the year, another family coin was issued: it shows only a tiny girl, Domitia Faustina, and one boy baby. Then another: the girl alone. The infants were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian, where their epitaphs survive -They were called Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius -"One man prays: 'How I may not lose my little child', but you must pray: 'How I may not be afraid to lose him'. -Another daughter was born on 7 March 150, Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla -At some time between 155 and 161, probably soon after 155, Marcus' mother, Domitia Lucilla, died -Faustina probably had another daughter in 151, but the child, Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina, might not have been born until 153. Another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, was born in 152. A coin issue celebrates fecunditati Augustae, "the Augusta's fertility", depicting two girls and an infant -The boy did not survive long; on coins from 156, only the two girls were depicted. He might have died in 152, the same year as Marcus' sister, Cornificia -By 28 March 158, however, when Marcus replied, the child was dead, Marcus thanked the temple synod, "even though this turned out otherwise". The child's name is unknown -In 159 and 160, Faustina gave birth to daughters: Fadilla, after one of Faustina's dead sisters, and Cornificia, after Marcus' dead sister -After the death of Antoninus Pius, Marcus was effectively sole ruler of the Empire -The formalities of the position would follow. The senate would soon grant him the name Augustus and the title imperator, and he would soon be formally elected as Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the official cults. Marcus made some show of resistance: the biographer writes that he was "compelled" to take imperial power. -This may have been a genuine horror imperii, "fear of imperial power" -Marcus, with his preference for the philosophic life, found the imperial office unappealing. His training as a Stoic, however, had made the choice clear. It was his duty -Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus' eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle) -Marcus took great care in the theory and practice of legislation -Starting in the 160s, Germanic tribes and other nomadic people launched raids along the northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube. -This new impetus westwards was probably due to attacks from tribes further east. A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior was repulsed in 162 -Far more dangerous was the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since 19, crossed the Danube together with the Lombards and other Germanic tribes. At the same time, the Iranian Sarmatians attacked between the Danube and the Theiss rivers -Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March 180, in the city of Vindobona -He was immediately deified and his ashes were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian's mausoleum until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410 -Marcus gave the succession to his son Commodus, whom he had named Caesar in 166 and made co-emperor in 177 -This decision, putting an end to the series of "adoptive emperors", was highly criticized by later historians since Commodus was a political and military outsider, as well as an extreme egotist with neurotic problems -Marcus Aurelius acquired the reputation of a philosopher king within his lifetime, and the title would remain his after death; both Dio and the biographer call him "the philosopher" -The number and severity of persecutions of Christians in various locations of the empire seemingly increased during the reign of Marcus Aurelius

Gaius Germanicus (Caligula)

-Caligula was born in Antium on 31 August 12 AD, the third of six surviving children born to Germanicus and Germanicus' second cousin Agrippina the Elder -Gaius's brothers were Nero and Drusus -His sisters were Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla -Gaius was nephew to Claudius (the future emperor) -As a boy of just two or three, Gaius accompanied his father, Germanicus, on campaigns in the north of Germania -The soldiers were amused that Gaius was dressed in a miniature soldier's uniform, including boots and armour -He was soon given his nickname Caligula, meaning "little (soldier's) boot" in Latin, after the small boots he wore as part of his uniform -Gaius, though, reportedly grew to dislike this nickname -After the death of his father, Caligula lived with his mother until her relations with Tiberius deteriorated -Tiberius would not allow Agrippina to remarry for fear her husband would be a rival -Agrippina and Caligula's brother, Nero, were banished in 29 AD on charges of treason -The adolescent Caligula was then sent to live first with his great-grandmother (and Tiberius's mother) Livia -Following Livia's death, he was sent to live with his grandmother Antonia -In 30 AD, his brother, Drusus Caesar, was imprisoned on charges of treason and his brother Nero died in exile from either starvation or suicide -Caligula was an excellent natural actor and, recognizing danger, hid all his resentment towards Tiberius -After he became emperor, Caligula claimed to have planned to kill Tiberius with a dagger in order to avenge his mother and brother: however, having brought the weapon into Tiberius's bedroom he did not kill the Emperor but instead threw the dagger down on the floor -Supposedly Tiberius knew of this but never dared to do anything about it -In 33 AD, Tiberius gave Caligula an honorary quaestorship, a position he held until his rise to emperor -Meanwhile, both Caligula's mother and his brother Drusus died in prison -Caligula was briefly married to Junia Claudilla, in 33, though she died during childbirth the following year -Caligula spent time befriending the Praetorian prefect, Naevius Sutorius Macro, an important ally -Macro spoke well of Caligula to Tiberius, attempting to quell any ill will or suspicion the Emperor felt towards Caligula -Caligula accepted the powers of the principate as conferred by the senate and entered Rome on 28 March amid a crowd that hailed him as "our baby" and "our star," among other nicknames -Caligula is described as the first emperor who was admired by everyone in "all the world, from the rising to the setting sun" -Caligula was loved by many for being the beloved son of the popular Germanicus, and because he was not Tiberius -Caligula's first acts were said to be generous in spirit, though many were political in nature -To gain support, he granted bonuses to those in the military including the Praetorian Guard, city troops and the army outside Italy -He destroyed Tiberius's treason papers, declared that treason trials were a thing of the past, and recalled those who had been sent into exile -He helped those who had been harmed by the imperial tax system, banished certain sexual deviants, and put on lavish spectacles for the public, such as gladiator battles -Caligula collected and brought back the bones of his mother and of his brothers and deposited their remains in the tomb of Augustus -In October 37 AD, Caligula fell seriously ill, or perhaps was poisoned -He recovered from his illness soon thereafter, but many believed that the young emperor had changed into a diabolical mind as he started to kill off or exile those who were close to him or whom he saw as a serious threat -Perhaps his illness reminded him of his mortality and of the desire of others to advance into his place -He had his cousin and adopted son Tiberius Gemellus executed - an act that outraged Caligula's and Gemellus's mutual grandmother Antonia Minor -She is said to have committed suicide, although Suetonius hints that Caligula actually poisoned her -He had his father-in-law Marcus Junius Silanus and his brother-in-law Marcus Lepidus executed as well -His uncle Claudius was spared only because Caligula kept him as a laughing stock -His favorite sister Julia Drusilla died in 38 AD of a fever: his other two sisters, Livilla and Agrippina the Younger, were exiled -He hated the fact that he was the grandson of Agrippa, and slandered Augustus by repeating a falsehood that his mother was actually the result of an incestuous relationship between Augustus and his daughter Julia the Elder -In AD 38, Caligula focused his attention on political and public reform -He published the accounts of public funds, which had not been made public during the reign of Tiberius -He aided those who lost property in fires, abolished certain taxes, and gave out prizes to the public at gymnastic events -He allowed new members into the equestrian and senatorial orders -Perhaps most significantly, he restored the practice of democratic elections -During the same year, though, Caligula was criticized for executing people without full trials and for forcing his helper Macro to commit suicide -Caligula's political payments for support, generosity and extravagance had exhausted the state's treasury -Caligula levied taxes on lawsuits, marriage and prostitution -Caligula began auctioning the lives of the gladiators at shows -Wills that left items to Tiberius were reinterpreted to leave the items instead to Caligula -Centurions who had acquired property during plundering were forced to turn over spoils to the state -Despite financial difficulties, Caligula embarked on a number of construction projects during his reign -Some were for the public good, while others were for himself -In AD 39, relations between Caligula and the Roman Senate deteriorated.[61] The subject of their disagreement is unknown -A number of factors, though, aggravated this feud. The Senate had become accustomed to ruling without an emperor between the departure of Tiberius for Capri in AD 26 and Caligula's accession -Additionally, Tiberius's treason trials had eliminated a number of pro-Julian senators such as Asinius Gallus -Caligula reviewed Tiberius's records of treason trials and decided that numerous senators, based on their actions during these trials, were not trustworthy -He ordered a new set of investigations and trials -He replaced the consul and had several senators put to death -Suetonius reports that other senators were degraded by being forced to wait on him and run beside his chariot -Soon after his break with the Senate, Caligula was met with a number of additional conspiracies against him -A conspiracy involving his brother-in-law was foiled in late 39 -Soon afterwards, the Governor of Germany, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, was executed for connections to a conspiracy -In AD 40, Caligula expanded the Roman Empire into Mauretania and made a significant attempt at expanding into Britannia - even challenging Neptune in his campaign - In AD 40, Caligula began implementing very controversial policies that introduced religion into his political role -Caligula began appearing in public dressed as various gods and demigods such as Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Apollo -Reportedly, he began referring to himself as a god when meeting with politicians and he was referred to as "Jupiter" on occasion in public documents -Caligula's actions as emperor were described as being especially harsh to the senate, the nobility and the equestrian order -According to Josephus, these actions led to several failed conspiracies against Caligula -Eventually, a successful murder was planned by officers within the Praetorian Guard led by Cassius Chaerea -The plot is described as having been planned by three men, but many in the senate, army and equestrian order were said to have been informed of it and involved in it -The situation escalated when, in 40 AD, Caligula announced to the senate that he would be leaving Rome permanently and moving to Alexandria, in Egypt, where he hoped to be worshiped as a living god -The prospect of Rome losing its emperor and thus its political power was the final straw for many -Such a move would have left both the senate and the Praetorian Guard powerless to stop Caligula's repression and debauchery -With this in mind Chaerea convinced his fellow conspirators to quickly put their plot into action -On 22 January 41, although Suetonius dates it as 24, Chaerea and other guardsmen accosted Caligula while he was addressing an acting troupe of young men during a series of games and dramatics held for the Divine Augustus -Details on the events vary somewhat from source to source, but they agree that Chaerea was first to stab Caligula, followed by a number of conspirators -Suetonius records that Caligula's death was similar to that of Julius Caesar's -He states that both the elder Gaius Julius Caesar (Julius Caesar) and the younger Gaius Julius Caesar (Caligula) were stabbed 30 times by conspirators led by a man named Cassius (Cassius Longinus and Cassius Chaerea) -The senate attempted to use Caligula's death as an opportunity to restore the republic -Chaerea attempted to convince the military to support the senate -The military, though, remained loyal to the office of the emperor -The grieving Roman people assembled and demanded that Caligula's murderers be brought to justice -Uncomfortable with lingering imperial support, the assassins sought out and stabbed Caligula's wife, Caesonia, and killed their young daughter, Julia Drusilla, by smashing her head against a wall -They were unable to reach Caligula's uncle, Claudius, who was spirited out of the city, after being found by a soldier hiding behind a palace curtain,to the nearby Praetorian camp -All surviving sources, except Pliny the Elder, characterize Caligula as insane -However, it is not known whether they are speaking figuratively or literally -Additionally, given Caligula's unpopularity among the surviving sources, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction -Recent sources are divided in attempting to ascribe a medical reason for his behavior, citing as possibilities encephalitis, epilepsy or meningitis

Caracalla

-Caracalla, of mixed Punic and Syrian descent, was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lugdunum, Gaul, the son of the later Emperor Septimius Severus and Julia Domna -His father died in 211 at Eboracum (now York) while on campaign in northern Britain -Caracalla was present and was then proclaimed emperor by the troops along with his brother Publius Septimius Antoninus Geta -Then in December 211 at a reconciliation meeting arranged by their mother Julia Domna, Caracalla had Geta assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard loyal to himself, leading to Geta dying in his mother's arms -Caracalla then persecuted and executed most of Geta's supporters and ordered a damnatio memoriae pronounced by the Senate against his brother's memory -While Caracalla was mustering and training troops for his planned Persian invasion, Julia remained in Rome, administering the empire -Julia's growing influence in state affairs was the beginning of a trend of Emperors' mothers having influence, which continued throughout the Severan dynasty -According to the historian Herodian, in 216, Caracalla tricked the Parthians into believing that he was sincere in his marriage and peace proposal, but then had the bride and guests massacred after the wedding celebrations -The thereafter ongoing conflict and skirmishes became known as the Parthian war of Caracalla -While travelling from Edessa to continue the war with Parthia, he was assassinated while urinating at a roadside near Carrhae on 8 April 217, by Julius Martialis, an officer of his personal bodyguard -Caracalla was succeeded by his Praetorian Guard Prefect, Macrinus, who (according to Herodian) was most probably responsible for having the emperor assassinated

Commodus

-Commodus was born on 31 August 161, as Commodus, in Lanuvium, near Rome -At the outset of his reign, Commodus, aged 18, inherited many of his father's senior advisers, notably Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus (the second husband of Commodus's sister Lucilla), his father-in-law Gaius Bruttius Praesens, Titus Fundanius Vitrasius Pollio, and Aufidius Victorinus, who was Prefect of the City of Rome -He also had five surviving sisters, all of them with husbands who were potential rivals -Four of his sisters were considerably older than he; the eldest, Lucilla, held the rank of Augusta as the widow of her first husband, Lucius Verus -he first crisis of the reign came in 182, when Lucilla engineered a conspiracy against her brother. Her motive is alleged to have been envy of the Empress Crispina -Her husband, Pompeianus, was not involved, but two men alleged to have been her lovers, Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus (the consul of 167, who was also her first cousin) and Appius Claudius Quintianus, attempted to murder Commodus as he entered a theater -They bungled the job and were seized by the emperor's bodyguard -Quadratus and Quintianus were executed -Lucilla was exiled to Capri and later killed -Pompeianus retired from public life -One of the two praetorian prefects, Tarrutenius Paternus, had actually been involved in the conspiracy but his involvement was not discovered until later on, and in the aftermath, he and his colleague, Sextus Tigidius Perennis, were able to arrange for the murder of Saoterus, the hated chamberlain -In November 192, Commodus held Plebeian Games, in which he shot hundreds of animals with arrows and javelins every morning, and fought as a gladiator every afternoon, winning all the bouts -Also in December he announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator on 1 January -At this point, the prefect Laetus formed a conspiracy with Eclectus to supplant Commodus with Pertinax, taking Marcia into their confidence -On 31 December Marcia poisoned his food but he vomited up the poison; so the conspirators sent his wrestling partner Narcissus to strangle him in his bath -Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy (a de facto damnatio memoriae) and restored the original name to the city of Rome and its institutions -Commodus's statues were thrown down -His body was buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian -In 195 the emperor Septimius Severus, trying to gain favour with the family of Marcus Aurelius, rehabilitated Commodus's memory and had the Senate deify him -Dio Cassius, a first-hand witness, describes him as "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived -His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature

Diocletian

-Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia, some time around 244 -Diocletian may have become involved in battles against the Quadi and Marcomanni immediately after the Battle of the Margus -Diocletian replaced the prefect of Rome with his consular colleague Bassus -Diocletian raised his fellow-officer Maximian to the office of caesar, making him co-emperor -The relationship between Diocletian and Maximian was quickly couched in religious terms -Around 287 Diocletian assumed the title Iovius, and Maximian assumed the title Herculius -Religious legitimization elevated Diocletian and Maximian above potential rivals in a way military power and dynastic claims could not -Spurred by the crisis, on 1 April 286, Maximian took up the title of Augustus -His appointment is unusual in that it was impossible for Diocletian to have been present to witness the event -It has even been suggested that Maximian usurped the title and was only later recognized by Diocletian in hopes of avoiding civil war -Some time after his return, and before 293, Diocletian transferred command of the war against Carausius from Maximian to Flavius Constantius, a former Governor of Dalmatia and a man of military experience stretching back to Aurelian's campaigns against Zenobia -In the spring of 293, in either Philippopolis or Sirmium, Diocletian would do the same for Galerius, husband to Diocletian's daughter Valeria, and perhaps Diocletian's Praetorian Prefect -Constantius was assigned Gaul and Britain. Galerius was assigned Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and responsibility for the eastern borderlands -The Tetrarchic Emperors were more or less sovereign in their own lands, and they travelled with their own imperial courts, administrators, secretaries, and armies - At some time in 299, the emperors took part in a ceremony of sacrifice and divination in an attempt to predict the future -The haruspices were unable to read the entrails of the sacrificed animals and blamed Christians in the Imperial household -The emperors ordered all members of the court to perform a sacrifice to purify the palace -The emperors sent letters to the military command, demanding the entire army perform the required sacrifices or face discharge -Galerius, even more devoted and passionate than Diocletian, saw political advantage in the politics of persecution -He (Galerius) was willing to break with a government policy of inaction on the issue -Diocletian returned to Antioch in the autumn of 302 -He ordered that the deacon Romanus of Caesarea have his tongue removed for defying the order of the courts and interrupting official sacrifices -Romanus was then sent to prison, where he was executed on 17 November 303 -Diocletian believed that Romanus of Caesarea was arrogant, and he left the city for Nicomedia in the winter, accompanied by Galerius -Diocletian argued that forbidding Christians from the bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, but Galerius pushed for extermination -On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed -He demanded that its scriptures be burned, and seized its precious stores for the treasury -Galerius convinced Diocletian that the culprits were Christians, conspirators who had plotted with the eunuchs of the palace -An investigation was commissioned, but no responsible party was found -Executions followed anyway, and the palace eunuchs Dorotheus and Gorgonius were executed -One individual, Peter Cubicularius, was stripped, raised high, and scourged -Salt and vinegar were poured in his wounds, and he was slowly boiled over an open flame -The executions continued until at least 24 April 303, when six individuals, including the bishop Anthimus, were decapitated -A second fire occurred sixteen days after the first. Galerius left the city for Rome, declaring Nicomedia unsafe -Diocletian would soon follow -He declared that he needed to pass the duty of empire on to someone stronger -He thus became the first Roman emperor to voluntarily abdicate his title -Diocletian retired to his homeland, Dalmatia -He lived on for three more years, spending his days in his palace gardens -He saw his tetrarchic system fail, torn by the selfish ambitions of his successors -He heard of Maximian's third claim to the throne, his forced suicide, his "damnatio memoriae" -In his own palace, statues and portraits of his former companion emperor were torn down and destroyed -Deep in despair and illness, Diocletian may have committed suicide -He died on 3 December 311

Augustus

-Gaius Octavius was the founder of the Roman Empire and its first Emperor, ruling from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD -Following the assassination of his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Caesar's will named Octavius as his adopted son and heir -He was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his father's victory at Thurii over a rebellious band of slaves -Due to the crowded nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his father's home village at Velletri to be raised -Octavius only mentions his father's equestrian family briefly in his memoirs -His paternal great-grandfather was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War -His grandfather had served in several local political offices -His father, also named Gaius Octavius, had been governor of Macedonia -His mother, Atia, was the niece of Julius Caesar -In 59 BC, when he was four years old, his father died -His mother married a former governor of Syria, Lucius Marcius Philippus -Philippus claimed descent from Alexander the Great, and was elected consul in 56 BC -Philippus never had much of an interest in young Octavius -Because of this, Octavius was raised by his grandmother (and Julius Caesar's sister), Julia Caesaris -In 52 or 51 BC, Julia Caesaris died -Octavius delivered the funeral oration for his grandmother -From this point, his mother and stepfather took a more active role in raising him -He donned the toga virilis four years later, and was elected to the College of Pontiffs in 47 BC -The following year he was put in charge of the Greek games that were staged in honor of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, built by Julius Caesar -According to Nicolaus of Damascus, Octavius wished to join Caesar's staff for his campaign in Africa, but gave way when his mother protested -In 46 BC, she consented for him to join Caesar in Hispania, where he planned to fight the forces of Pompey, Caesar's late enemy, but Octavius fell ill and was unable to travel -At the time Caesar was killed on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Octavius was studying and undergoing military training in Apollonia, Illyria -Rejecting the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Macedonia, he sailed to Italia to ascertain whether he had any potential political fortunes or security -After landing at Lupiae near Brundisium, he learned the contents of Caesar's will, and only then did he decide to become Caesar's political heir as well as heir to two-thirds of his estate -Caesar, having no living legitimate children under Roman law,had adopted his grand-nephew Octavius as his son and main heir -Upon his adoption, Octavius assumed his great-uncle's name, Gaius Julius Caesar -Although Romans who had been adopted into a new family usually retained their old nomen in cognomen form -To make a successful entry into the upper echelons of the Roman political hierarchy, Octavian could not rely on his limited funds -After a warm welcome by Caesar's soldiers at Brundisium, Octavian demanded a portion of the funds that were allotted by Caesar for the intended war against Parthia in the Middle East -This amounted to 700 million sesterces stored at Brundisium, the staging ground in Italy for military operations in the east -A later senatorial investigation into the disappearance of the public funds made no action against Octavian, since he subsequently used that money to raise troops against the Senate's arch enemy, Mark Antony -Octavian made another bold move in 44 BC when without official permission he appropriated the annual tribute that had been sent from Rome's Near Eastern province to Italy -Arriving in Rome on 6 May 44 BC, Octavian found the consul Mark Antony, Caesar's former colleague, in an uneasy truce with the dictator's assassins; they had been granted a general amnesty on 17 March, yet Antony succeeded in driving most of them out of Rome -This was due to his "inflammatory" eulogy given at Caesar's funeral, mounting public opinion against the assassins -Octavian began to make common cause with the Optimates, the former enemies of Caesar -In September, the leading Optimate orator Marcus Tullius Cicero began to attack Antony in a series of speeches portraying him as a threat to the Republican order -With opinion in Rome turning against him and his year of consular power nearing its end, Antony attempted to pass laws that would lend him control over Cisalpine Gaul, which had been assigned as part of his province, from Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins -Octavian meanwhile built up a private army in Italy by recruiting Caesarian veterans, and on 28 November won over two of Antony's legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain -In the face of Octavian's large and capable force, Antony saw the danger of staying in Rome, and to the relief of the Senate, he fled to Cisalpine Gaul, which was to be handed to him on 1 January -Cicero also defended Octavian against Antony's taunts about Octavian's lack of noble lineage and aping of Julius Caesar's name; he stated "we have no more brilliant example of traditional piety among our youth" -In a meeting near Bologna in October 43 BC, Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus formed a junta called the Second Triumvirate -This explicit arrogation of special powers lasting five years was then supported by law passed by the plebs, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate formed by Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Licinius Crassus -The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions in which 300 senators and 2,000 equites, allegedly were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives -On 1 January 42 BC, the Senate posthumously recognized Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state, Divus Iulius. Octavian was able to further his cause by emphasizing the fact that he was Divi filius, "Son of God" -Antony and Octavian then sent 28 legions by sea to face the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had built their base of power in Greece -After two battles at Philippi in Macedonia in October 42, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide -Mark Antony would later use the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Antony's forces -In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, Antony also branded Octavian as a coward for handing over his direct military control to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa instead -While in Egypt, Antony had been engaged in an affair with Cleopatra and had fathered three children with her -Aware of his deteriorating relationship with Octavian, Antony left Cleopatra; he sailed to Italy in 40 BC with a large force to oppose Octavian, laying siege to Brundisium -This new conflict proved untenable for both Octavian and Antony, however -Their centurions, who had become important figures politically, refused to fight due to their Caesarian cause, while the legions under their command followed suit -Meanwhile in Sicyon, Antony's wife Fulvia died of a sudden illness while Antony was en route to meet her -Fulvia's death and the mutiny of their centurions allowed the two remaining triumvirs to effect a reconciliation -In early 31 BC, while Antony and Cleopatra were temporarily stationed in Greece, Octavian gained a preliminary victory when the navy under the command of Agrippa successfully ferried troops across the Adriatic Sea -While Agrippa cut off Antony and Cleopatra's main force from their supply routes at sea, Octavian landed on the mainland opposite the island of Corcyra (modern Corfu) and marched south -Trapped on land and sea, deserters of Antony's army fled to Octavian's side daily while Octavian's forces were comfortable enough to make preparations -In a desperate attempt to break free of the naval blockade, Antony's fleet sailed through the bay of Actium on the western coast of Greece -It was there that Antony's fleet faced the much larger fleet of smaller, more maneuverable ships under commanders Agrippa and Gaius Sosius in the battle of Actium on 2 September 31 BC -Antony and his remaining forces were spared only due to a last-ditch effort by Cleopatra's fleet that had been waiting nearby -Octavian pursued them, and after another defeat in Alexandria on 1 August 30 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide; Antony fell on his own sword and was taken by his soldiers back to Alexandria where he died in Cleopatra's arms -Cleopatra died soon after, reputedly by the venomous bite of an asp or by poison -Having exploited his position as Caesar's heir to further his own political career, Octavian was only too well aware of the dangers in allowing another to do so and, following the advice of Arius Didymus that "two Caesars are one too many", he ordered Caesarion—Julius Caesar's son by Cleopatra—to be killed, while sparing Cleopatra's children by Antony, with the exception of Antony's older son -After Actium and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian was in a position to rule the entire Republic under an unofficial principate, but would have to achieve this through incremental power gains, courting the Senate and the people, while upholding the republican traditions of Rome, to appear that he was not aspiring to dictatorship or monarchy -Years of civil war had left Rome in a state of near lawlessness, but the Republic was not prepared to accept the control of Octavian as a despot -At the same time, Octavian could not simply give up his authority without risking further civil wars among the Roman generals, and even if he desired no position of authority whatsoever, his position demanded that he look to the well-being of the city of Rome and the Roman provinces -Octavian's aims from this point forward were to return Rome to a state of stability, traditional legality and civility by lifting the overt political pressure imposed on the courts of law and ensuring free elections in name at least -In 27 BC, Octavian made a show of returning full power to the Roman Senate and relinquishing his control of the Roman provinces and their armies -Under his consulship, however, the Senate had little power in initiating legislation by introducing bills for senatorial debate -Although Octavian was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, he retained the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike -The careers of many clients and adherents depended on his patronage, as his financial power in the Roman Republic was unrivaled -In the late spring Augustus suffered a severe illness, and on his supposed deathbed made arrangements that would ensure the continuation of the Principate in some form, while at the same time put in doubt the senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism -Augustus prepared to hand down his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa -However, Augustus handed over to his co-consul Piso all of his official documents, an account of public finances, and authority over listed troops in the provinces while Augustus' supposedly favored nephew Marcellus came away empty-handed -This was a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor -Soon after his bout of illness subsided, Augustus gave up his annual consulship -The only other times Augustus would serve as consul would be in the years 5 and 2 BC, both times to introduce his grandsons into public life -This was a clever ploy by Augustus; his ceasing to perennially be one of two annual consuls allowed aspiring senators a better chance to fill that position, while at the same time Augustus could exercise wider patronage within the senatorial class -Although Augustus had resigned as consul, he desired to retain his consular imperium not just in his provinces but throughout the empire -This desire, along with the Marcus Primus Affair, led to a second compromise between him and the Senate known as the Second Settlement -Augustus was also granted the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas) for life, though not the official title of tribune -For some years Augustus had been awarded tribunicia sacrosanctitas, or the immunity from physical attack given to a Tribune of the Plebeians -Now he decided to assume the full powers of the magistracy in perpetuity. Legally it was closed to patricians, a status that Augustus had acquired years ago when adopted by Julius Caesar -This power allowed him to convene the Senate and people at will and lay business before it, veto the actions of either the Assembly or the Senate, preside over elections, and the right to speak first at any meeting -Also included in Augustus' tribunician authority were powers usually reserved for the Roman censor; these included the right to supervise public morals and scrutinize laws to ensure they were in the public interest, as well as the ability to hold a census and determine the membership of the Senate -With the powers of a censor, Augustus appealed to virtues of Roman patriotism by banning all other attire besides the classic toga while entering the Forum -There was no precedent within the Roman system for combining the powers of the tribune and the censor into a single position, nor was Augustus ever elected to the office of censor -In addition to his being granted proconsular imperium maius and tribunician authority for life, Augustus was granted sole imperium within the city of Rome itself -Traditionally, proconsuls, or Roman province governors, lost their proconsular "imperium" when they crossed the Pomerium - the sacred boundary of Rome - and entered the city -In these situations, Augustus would have power as part of his tribunician authority but his constitutional imperium within the Pomerium would be less than that of a serving consul -That would mean that when he was in the city he may not be the constitutional magistrate with the most authority -Thanks to his prestige, or auctoritas, his wishes would usually be obeyed, but there may be some awkwardness -In 19 BC, the Senate granted Augustus a form of 'general consular imperium', which was probably 'imperium consulare maius', like the proconsular powers he received in 23 BC -Like his tribune authority, the granting of consular powers to him was another instance of holding power of offices he did not actually hold -In addition, Augustus was allowed to wear the consul's insignia in public and before the Senate, as well as sit in the symbolic chair between the two consuls and hold the fasces, an emblem of consular authority -This seems to have assuaged the populace; regardless of whether or not Augustus was a consul, the importance was that he not only appeared as one before the people but could exercise consular power if necessary -On 6 March 12 BC, after the death of Lepidus, he additionally took up the position of pontifex maximus, the high priest of the collegium of the Pontifices, the most important position in Roman religion -On 5 February 2 BC, Augustus was also given the title pater patriae, or "father of the country" -Augustus' powers were now complete. In fact, he dated is 'reign' from the completion of the Second Settlement, July 1, 23 BC -Almost as importantly, the Principate now had constitutional stability -The illness of Augustus in 23 BC brought the problem of succession to the forefront of political issues and the public -To ensure stability, he needed to designate an heir to his unique position in Roman society and government -This was to be achieved in small, undramatic, and incremental ways that did not stir senatorial fears of monarchy -If someone was to succeed his unofficial position of power, they were going to have to earn it through their own publicly proven merits -After the death of Marcellus in 23 BC, Augustus married his daughter to Agrippa. This union produced five children, three sons and two daughters: Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Julia, Agrippina the Elder, and Postumus Agrippa, so named because he was born after Marcus Agrippa died -Shortly after the Second Settlement, Agrippa was granted a five-year term of administering the eastern half of the Empire with the imperium of a proconsul and the same tribunicia potestas granted to Augustus (although not trumping Augustus' authority), his seat of governance stationed at Samos in the eastern Aegean -Although this granting of power would have shown Augustus' favor for Agrippa, it was also a measure to please members of his Caesarian party by allowing one of their members to share a considerable amount of power with him -On 19 August AD 14, Augustus died while visiting the place of his birth father's death at Nola -Both Tacitus and Cassius Dio wrote that Livia had been rumored to have brought about Augustus' death by poisoning fresh figs, and although this element features in many modern works of historical fiction pertaining to Augustus' life, some historians view it as likely to have been a salacious fabrication made by those who had favoured Postumus as heir, or other of Tiberius' political enemies; Livia had long been the target of similar rumors of poisoning on the behalf of her son, most or all of which are unlikely to have been true -Alternatively, it is possible that Livia did supply a poisoned fig (she did cultivate a variety of fig named for her that Augustus is said to have enjoyed), but did so as a means of assisted suicide rather than murder -"Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit" -"Behold, I found Rome of clay, and leave her to you of marble"

Publius Aelius Hadrianus (Hadrian)

-Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. He is also known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. Hadrian was regarded by some as a humanist and was philhellene in most of his tastes. He is regarded as one of the Five Good Emperors. -Hadrian was involved in the wars against the Dacians (as legate of the V Macedonica) and reputedly won awards from Trajan for his successes. Hadrian's military skill is not well-attested due to a lack of military action during his reign; however, his keen interest in and knowledge of the army and his demonstrated skill of leadership show possible strategic talent. Hadrian joined Trajan's expedition against Parthia as a legate on Trajan's staff. Neither during the first victorious phase, nor during the second phase of the war when rebellion swept Mesopotamia did Hadrian do anything of note. However, when the governor of Syria had to be sent to sort out renewed troubles in Dacia, Hadrian was appointed as a replacement, giving him an independent command. -Trajan, seriously ill by that time, decided to return to Rome while Hadrian remained in Syria to guard the Roman rear. Trajan only got as far as Selinus before he became too ill to go further. While Hadrian may have been the obvious choice as successor, he had never been adopted as Trajan's heir. As Trajan lay dying, nursed by his wife, Plotina (a supporter of Hadrian), he at last adopted Hadrian as heir. Since the document was signed by Plotina, it has been suggested that Trajan may have already been dead. -Hadrian quickly secured the support of the legions — one potential opponent, Lusius Quietus, was promptly dismissed. The Senate's endorsement followed when possibly falsified papers of adoption from Trajan were presented (although he had been the ward of Trajan). The rumour of a falsified document of adoption carried little weight — Hadrian's legitimacy arose from the endorsement of the Senate and the Syrian armies. Statue of Hadrian unearthed at Tel Shalem commemorating Roman military victory over Bar Kochba, displayed at the Israel Museum. Hadrian did not at first go to Rome — he was busy sorting out the East and suppressing the Jewish revolt that had broken out under Trajan, then moving on to sort out the Danube frontier. Instead, Attianus, Hadrian's former guardian, was put in charge in Rome. There he "discovered" a conspiracy involving four leading Senators including Lusius Quietus and demanded of the Senate their deaths. -Despite his own great reputation as a military administrator, Hadrian's reign was marked by a general lack of major military conflicts, apart from the Second Roman-Jewish War. He surrendered Trajan's conquests in Mesopotamia, considering them to be indefensible. There was almost a war with Parthia around 121, but the threat was averted when Hadrian succeeded in negotiating a peace. -Hadrian had a close relationship with a Bithynian Greek youth, Antinous, which was most likely sexual. Antinous drowned in 130. Deeply saddened, Hadrian founded the Egyptian city of Antinopolis in his memory, and had Antinous deified - an unprecedented honour for one not of the ruling family. The cult of Antinous became very popular in the Greek-speaking world. It has been suggested that Hadrian created the cult as a political move to reconcile the Greek-speaking East to Roman rule. -Hadrian spent the final years of his life at Rome. In 134, he took an Imperial salutation for the end of the Second Jewish War (which was not actually concluded until the following year). In 136, he dedicated a new Temple of Venus and Roma on the former site of Nero's Golden House. -About this time, suffering from poor health, he turned to the problem of the succession. In 136 he adopted one of the ordinary consuls of that year, Lucius Ceionius Commodus, who took the name Lucius Aelius Caesar. He was the son-in-law of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, one of the "four consulars" executed in 118, but was himself in delicate health. Granted tribunician power and the governorship of Pannonia, Aelius Caesar held a further consulship in 137, but died on 1 January 138. -Following the death of Aelius Caesar, Hadrian next adopted Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus (the future emperor Antoninus Pius), who had served as one of the five imperial legates of Italy (a post created by Hadrian) and as proconsul of Asia. On 25 February 138 Antoninus received tribunician power and imperium. Moreover, to ensure the future of the dynasty, Hadrian required Antoninus to adopt both Lucius Ceionius Commodus (son of the deceased Aelius Caesar) and Marcus Annius Verus (who was the grandson of an influential senator of the same name who had been Hadrian's close friend; Annius was already betrothed to Aelius Caesar's daughter Ceionia Fabia). Hadrian's precise intentions in this arrangement are debatable. -The ancient sources present Hadrian's last few years as marked by conflict and unhappiness. The adoption of Aelius Caesar proved unpopular, not least with Hadrian's brother-in-law Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus and Servianus' grandson Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator. Servianus, though now far too old, had stood in line of succession at the beginning of the reign; Fuscus is said to have had designs on the imperial power for himself, and in 137 he may have attempted a coup in which his grandfather was implicated. Whatever the truth, Hadrian ordered that both be put to death. Servianus is reported to have prayed before his execution that Hadrian would "long for death but be unable to die". The prayer was fulfilled; as Hadrian suffered from his final, protracted illness, he had to be prevented from suicide on several occasions. -Hadrian died in the year 138 on the 10th of July, in his villa at Baiae at the age of 62. The cause of death is believed to have been heart failure. Dio Cassius and the Historia Augusta record details of his failing health.

Vespasian

-His family was relatively undistinguished and lacking in pedigree -He followed in his brother's footsteps when driven to it by his mother's taunting -During this period he married Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of Flavius Liberalis from Ferentium and formerly the mistress of Statilius Capella -They had two sons, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (born 41) and Titus Flavius Domitianus (born 51), and a daughter, Domitilla (born 39) -His wife Domitilla and his daughter Domitilla both died before Vespasian became Emperor in 69 -After the death of his wife, Vespasian's longstanding mistress, Antonia Caenis, became his wife in all but formal status, a relationship that survived until she died in 75 -In preparation for a praetorship, Vespasian needed two periods of service in the minor magistracies, one military and the other public -Next he needed to gain a praetorship, carrying the Imperium, but non-patricians and the less well-connected had to serve in at least one intermediary post as an aedile or tribune -Vespasian failed at his first attempt to gain an aedileship but was successful in his second attempt, becoming an aedile in 38 -His success as the legate of a legion earned him a consulship in 51, after which he retired from public life, having incurred the enmity of Claudius' wife, Agrippina -In 66 AD, Vespasian was appointed to suppress the Jewish revolt underway in Judea -While Vespasian himself was in Egypt securing its grain supply, his troops entered Italy from the northeast under the leadership of M. Antonius Primus. -They defeated Vitellius's army at Bedriacum, sacked Cremona and advanced on Rome -Vespasian was declared emperor by the Senate while he was in Egypt in December of 69 (the Egyptians had declared him emperor in June 69) -In mid-70, Vespasian first came to Rome -Vespasian immediately embarked on a series of efforts to stay in power and prevent future revolts. -He offered gifts to many in the military and much of the public - Soldiers loyal to Vitellius were dismissed or punished -In his ninth consulship Vespasian had a slight illness in Campania and, returning at once to Rome, he left for Aquae Cutiliae and the country around Reate, where he spent every summer -"An emperor ought to die standing upright." -In endeavouring to rise, he died in the hands of those who were helping him up, upon the eighth of the calends of July, being sixty-nine years, one month, and seven days old -Vespasian was known for his wit and his amiable manner alongside his commanding personality and military prowess

Constantine I

-In July 285 AD, Diocletian declared Maximian, another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor -Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant -Constantine had returned to Nicomedia from the eastern front by the spring of 303 AD, in time to witness the beginnings of Diocletian's "Great Persecution" -After his promotion to emperor, Constantine remained in Britain, driving back the tribes of the Picts and secured his control in the northwestern dioceses -He completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father's rule, and ordered the repair of the region's roadways -In 310 AD, a dispossessed Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks -Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul -He announced that Constantine was dead, and took up the imperial purple -The death of Maximian required a shift in Constantine's public image -He could no longer rely on his connection to the elder emperor Maximian, and needed a new source of legitimacy -Constantine entered Rome on 29 October -In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy -In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia -During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan, officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the Empire -In the year 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began to oppress Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian office-holders -Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the Eastern Roman Empire -Constantine was the first emperor to stop Christian persecutions and to legalise Christianity along with all other religions and cults in the Roman Empire -In February 313, Constantine met with Licinius in Milan, where they developed the Edict of Milan -The edict stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith without oppression -This removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many had been martyred previously, and returned confiscated Church property -The edict protected from religious persecution not only Christians but all religions, allowing anyone to worship whichever deity they chose -On some date between 15 May and 17 June 326, Constantine had his eldest son Crispus, by Minervina, seized and put to death by "cold poison" at Pola -In July, Constantine had his wife, the Empress Fausta, killed at the behest of his mother, Helena -Fausta was left to die in an over-heated bath -At the time of the executions, it was commonly believed that the Empress Fausta was either in an illicit relationship with Crispus, or was spreading rumors to that effect -Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly following Pascha (or Easter), on 22 May 337

Nero

-Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the future Nero, was born on 15 December 37 in Antium, near Rome. He was the only son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, sister of Emperor Caligula. -Nero's father, Gnaeus, was the son of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 16 BC) and Antonia Major. Gnaeus was thus the grandson of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 32 BC) and probably Aemilia Lepida on his father's side, and the grandson of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor on his mother's side. Thus, Nero had as his paternal grandmother Antonia Maior, and also claimed more remote descent from Antonia Minor as a great-grandson—later grandson after Claudius adopted him. -Nero's mother was Agrippina the Younger, a great-granddaughter of Caesar Augustus and his wife Scribonia through their daughter Julia the Elder and her husband Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Agrippina's father, Germanicus, was a grandson of Augustus's wife, Livia, on one side and to Mark Antony and Octavia on the other. Germanicus' mother Antonia Minor, was a daughter of Octavia Minor and Mark Antony. Octavia was Augustus' elder sister. Germanicus was also the adopted son of Tiberius. Agrippina poisoned her second husband Passienus Crispus, so many ancient historians also accuse her of murdering her third husband, the emperor Claudius. -Claudius died in 54 and Nero, taking the name Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, was established as Emperor. Though accounts vary, many ancient historians state Agrippina poisoned Claudius. According to Pliny the Elder, she used poison mushrooms. It is not known how much Nero knew or if he was even involved in the death of Claudius. -Nero became Emperor at 17 when the news of Claudius' death was made known, the youngest emperor until that time. Ancient historians describe Nero's early reign as being strongly influenced by his mother, Agrippina, his tutor Lucius Annaeus Seneca, and the Praetorian Prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, especially in the first year. Other tutors were less often mentioned, such as Alexander of Aegae. Very early in Nero's rule, problems arose from competition for influence between Agrippina and Nero's two main advisers, Seneca and Burrus. -In 54, Agrippina tried to sit down next to Nero while he met with an Armenian envoy, but Seneca stopped her and prevented a scandalous scene (as it was unimaginable at that time for a woman to be in the same room as men doing official business). Nero's friends also mistrusted Agrippina and told Nero to beware of his mother. Nero was reportedly unsatisfied with his marriage to Octavia and entered into an affair with Claudia Acte, a former slave. In 55, Agrippina attempted to intervene in favor of Octavia and demanded that her son dismiss Acte. Nero, with the support of Seneca, resisted the intervention of his mother in his personal affairs. -With Agrippina's influence over her son severed, she reportedly began pushing for Britannicus, Nero's stepbrother, to become emperor.[38] Nearly fourteen-year-old Britannicus, heir-designate prior to Nero's adoption, was still legally a minor, but was approaching legal adulthood. According to Tacitus, Agrippina hoped that with her support, Britannicus, being the blood son of Claudius, would be seen as the true heir to the throne by the state over Nero. However, the youth died suddenly and suspiciously on 12 February 55, the very day before his proclamation as an adult had been set. -Nero claimed that Britannicus died from an epileptic seizure, but ancient historians all claim Britannicus' death came from Nero's poisoning him. Supposedly, he enlisted the services of Locusta, a woman who specialized in the manufacture of poisons. She devised a mixture to kill Britannicus, but after testing it unsuccessfully on a slave, Nero angrily threatened to have her put to death if she did not come up with something usable. Locusta then devised a new concoction that she promised would "kill swifter than a viper." -Over time, Nero became progressively more powerful, freeing himself of his advisers and eliminating rivals to the throne. In 55, he removed Marcus Antonius Pallas, an ally of Agrippina, from his position in the treasury. Pallas, along with Burrus, was accused of conspiring against the Emperor to bring Faustus Sulla to the throne. Seneca was accused of having relations with Agrippina and embezzlement. Seneca succeeded in having himself, Pallas and Burrus acquitted. According to Cassius Dio, at this time, Seneca and Burrus reduced their role in governing from careful management to mere moderation of Nero. -In 58, Nero became romantically involved with Poppaea Sabina, the wife of his friend and future emperor Otho. Reportedly because a marriage to Poppaea and a divorce from Octavia did not seem politically feasible with Agrippina alive, Nero ordered the murder of his mother in 59. In 62, Nero's adviser, Burrus, died. Additionally, Seneca was again faced with embezzlement charges. Seneca asked Nero for permission to retire from public affairs. Nero divorced and banished Octavia on grounds of infertility, leaving him free to marry the pregnant Poppaea. After public protests, Nero was forced to allow Octavia to return from exile, but she was executed shortly after her return. Nero also was reported to have kicked Poppaea to death in 65 before she could have his second child. However, modern historians, noting Suetonius, Tacitus and Cassius Dio's possible bias against Nero and the likelihood that they did not have eyewitness accounts of private events, postulate that Poppaea may have died because of complications of miscarriage or childbirth. -Accusations of treason being plotted against Nero and the Senate first appeared in 62. The Senate ruled that Antistius, a praetor, should be put to death for speaking ill of Nero at a party. Later, Nero ordered the exile of Fabricius Veiento who slandered the Senate in a book. Tacitus writes that the roots of the conspiracy led by Gaius Calpurnius Piso began in this year. To consolidate power, Nero executed a number of people in 62 and 63 including his rivals Pallas, Rubellius Plautus and Faustus Sulla. According to Suetonius, Nero "showed neither discrimination nor moderation in putting to death whomsoever he pleased" during this period. -In the beginning of 66, he married Statilia Messalina. She was already married when she became Nero's mistress in 65 AD, with Statilia's husband being driven to suicide in 66, so Nero could marry Statilia. She was one of the few of Nero's courtiers who survived the fall of his reign. In 67, Nero ordered a young freedman, Sporus, to be castrated and then married him. According to Dion Cassius, Sporus bore an uncanny resemblance to Sabina, and Nero even called him by his dead wife's name. -The Great Fire of Rome erupted on the night of 18 July to 19 July 64. The fire started at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus in shops selling flammable goods. It is uncertain who or what actually caused the fire—whether accident or arson. Suetonius and Cassius Dio favor Nero as the arsonist, so he could build a palatial complex. Tacitus mentions that Christians confessed to the crime, but it is not known whether these confessions were induced by torture. To deflect blame, Nero targeted Christians. He ordered Christians to be thrown to dogs, while others were crucified and burned. -Nero enjoyed driving a one-horse chariot, singing to the lyre and poetry. He even composed songs that were performed by other entertainers throughout the empire. At first, Nero only performed for a private audience. -Nero was persuaded to participate in the Olympic Games of 67 in order to improve relations with Greece and display Roman dominance. As a competitor, Nero raced a ten-horse chariot and nearly died after being thrown from it. He also performed as an actor and a singer. Though Nero faltered in his racing (in one case, dropping out entirely before the end) and acting competitions, he won these crowns nevertheless and paraded them when he returned to Rome. The victories are attributed to Nero bribing the judges and his status as emperor. -In March 68, Gaius Julius Vindex, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, rebelled against Nero's tax policies. Lucius Verginius Rufus, the governor of Germania Superior, was ordered to put down Vindex's rebellion. In an attempt to gain support from outside his own province, Vindex called upon Servius Sulpicius Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, to join the rebellion and further, to declare himself emperor in opposition to Nero. -In response, Nero fled Rome with the intention of going to the port of Ostia and, from there, to take a fleet to one of the still-loyal eastern provinces. According to Suetonius, Nero abandoned the idea when some army officers openly refused to obey his commands, responding with a line from Vergil's Aeneid: "Is it so dreadful a thing then to die?" Nero then toyed with the idea of fleeing to Parthia, throwing himself upon the mercy of Galba, or to appeal to the people and beg them to pardon him for his past offences "and if he could not soften their hearts, to entreat them at least to allow him the prefecture of Egypt". Suetonius reports that the text of this speech was later found in Nero's writing desk, but that he dared not give it from fear of being torn to pieces before he could reach the Forum. -Nero returned to Rome and spent the evening in the palace. After sleeping, he awoke at about midnight to find the palace guard had left. Dispatching messages to his friends' palace chambers for them to come, he received no answers. Upon going to their chambers personally, he found them all abandoned. When he called for a gladiator or anyone else adept with a sword to kill him, no one appeared. He cried, "Have I neither friend nor foe?" and ran out as if to throw himself into the Tiber. Returning, Nero sought for some place where he could hide and collect his thoughts. An imperial freedman, Phaon, offered his villa, located 4 miles outside the city. Travelling in disguise, Nero and four loyal freedman, Epaphroditos, Phaon, Neophytus, and Sporus, reached the villa, where Nero ordered them to dig a grave for him. -At this time, a courier arrived with a report that the Senate had declared Nero a public enemy and that it was their intention to execute him by beating him to death and that armed men had been sent to apprehend him for the act to take place in the Forum. The Senate actually was still reluctant and deliberating on the right course of action as Nero was the last member of the Julio-Claudian Family. Indeed, most of the senators had served the imperial family all their lives and felt a sense of loyalty to the deified bloodline, if not to Nero himself. The men actually had the goal of returning Nero back to the Senate, where the Senate hoped to work out a compromise with the rebelling governors that would preserve Nero's life, so that at least a future heir to the dynasty could be produced. -Nero, however, did not know this, and at the news brought by the courier, he prepared himself for suicide, pacing up and down muttering "Qualis artifex pereo" which translates to English as "What an artist dies in me." Losing his nerve, he first begged for one of his companions to set an example by first killing himself. At last, the sound of approaching horsemen drove Nero to face the end. However, he still could not bring himself to take his own life but instead he forced his private secretary, Epaphroditos, to perform the task. -When one of the horsemen entered, upon his seeing Nero all but dead he attempted to stop the bleeding in vain. Nero's final words were "Too late! This is fidelity!" He died on 9 June 68, the anniversary of the death of Octavia, and was buried in the Mausoleum of the Domitii Ahenobarbi.

Trajan

-Marcus Ulpius Traianus was born on 18 September 53 in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, a province that was thoroughly Romanized and called southern Hispania, in the city of Italica, where the Italian families were paramount. Of Italian stock himself, Trajan is frequently but misleadingly designated the first provincial emperor. Trajan was the son of Marcia and Marcus Ulpius Traianus, a prominent senator and general from the gens Ulpia. Marcus Ulpius Traianus the elder served Vespasian in the first Jewish war, commanding the X Fretensis legion. Trajan himself was just one of many well-known Ulpii in a line that continued long after his own death. His elder sister was Ulpia Marciana and his niece was Salonina Matidia. The patria of the Ulpii was Italica, in Spanish Baetica, where their ancestors had settled late in the 3rd century BC. During his tenure in Pannonia, he fought against the Suebic tribes in Germania. Under Nerva's rule, Trajan was one of the most gifted generals. -When Nerva died on 27 January 98, Trajan succeeded without any outward incident. However, the fact that he chose not to hasten towards Rome, but instead to make a lengthy tour of inspection on the Rhine and Danube frontiers hints to the possible fact that his power position in Rome was unsure and that he had to assure himself first of the loyalty of the armies at the front. It is noteworthy that Trajan ordered Prefect Aelianus to attend him in Germany, where he was apparently executed ("put out of the way"), with his post being taken by Attius Suburanus.Trajan's accession, therefore, would qualify more as a successful coup than an orderly succession. -Trajan was a "good" emperor in that, by himself, he approved or blamed the same things the Senate would have approved or blamed. If actually Trajan was an autocrat, nevertheless his deferential behavior towards his peers qualified him to the role of virtuous monarch.[35] The whole idea was that Trajan wielded autocratic power through moderatio instead of contumacia- moderation instead of insolence. Eventually, Trajan's popularity among his peers was such that the Roman Senate eventually bestowed upon him the honorific of optimus, meaning "the best", which appears on coins since 105. This title had to do mostly with Trajan's role as benefactor, as in the case of his returning confiscated property. -It was as a military commander that Trajan is best known to history, particularly for his conquests in the Near East, but initially for the two wars against Dacia — the reduction to client kingdom (101-102), followed by actual incorporation into the Empire of the trans-Danube border group of Dacia — an area that had troubled Roman thought for over a decade with the unfavourable (and to some, shameful) peace negotiated by Domitian's ministers with the powerful Dacian king Decebalus. According to the provisions of this treaty, Decebalus was acknowledged as rex amicus, that is, client king; nevertheless, in exchange for accepting client status, he received a generous stipend from Rome, as well as being supplied with technical experts. The fact that the Dacian kingdom - unlike the Germanic tribes - was an organized state, that could develop a network of alliances of its own therefore, made strategical considerations one of the motives for Trajan's decision for making war on it. -At about the same time Rabbel II Soter, one of Rome's client kings, died. This event might have prompted the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom, although the manner and the formal reasons for the annexation are unclear. Some epigraphic evidence suggests a military operation, with forces from Syria and Egypt. What is known is that by 107, Roman legions were stationed in the area around Petra and Bostra, as is shown by a papyrus found in Egypt. The furthest south the Romans occupied (or better garrisoned, adopting a policy of having garrisons at key points in the desert) was Hegra, over 300 km south-west of Petra. The empire gained what became the province of Arabia Petraea. As Nabataea was the last client kingdom in Asia West of the Euphrates, the annexation meant that the entire Roman East had been provincialized, completing a trend towards direct rule that had begun under the Flavians. -Early in 117, Trajan grew ill and set out to sail back to Italy. His health declined throughout the spring and summer of 117, something publicly acknowledged by the fact that a bronze bust displayed at the time in the public baths of Ancyra showed him clearly aged and emaciated. By the time he had reached Selinus in Cilicia which was afterwards called Trajanopolis, he suddenly died from edema on 8 August. Some say that he had adopted Hadrian as his successor, but others that it was his wife Pompeia Plotina who assured the succession to Hadrian by keeping his death secret and afterwards hiring someone to impersonate Trajan by speaking with a tired voice behind a curtain, well after Trajan had died. -As an emperor, Trajan's reputation has endured — he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived nineteen centuries. Every new emperor after him was honored by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, melior Traiano ("[be] luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan").

Maxentius

-Maxentius managed to be recognized as emperor in central and southern Italy, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and Sicily, and the African provinces -Northern Italy remained under the control of the western Augustus Severus, who resided in Mediolanum -Maxentius refrained from using the titles Augustus or Caesar at first and styled himself princeps invictus ("undefeated prince"), in the hope of obtaining recognition of his reign by the senior emperor Galerius -However, the latter refused to do so. Apart from his alleged antipathy towards Maxentius, Galerius probably wanted to deter others from following the examples of Constantine and Maxentius and declaring themselves emperors -Constantine firmly controlled his father's army and territories, and Galerius could pretend that his accession was part of the regular succession in the tetrarchy, but neither was the case with Maxentius: he would be the fifth emperor, and he had only few troops at his command -Galerius reckoned that it would be not too difficult to quell the usurpation, and early in 307, the Augustus Severus marched on Rome with a large army -The joint rule of Maxentius and Maximian in Rome was tested further when Galerius himself marched to Italy in the summer of 307 with an even larger army -While negotiating with the invader, Maxentius could repeat what he did to Severus: by the promise of large sums of money, and the authority of Maximian, many soldiers of Galerius defected to him -Galerius was forced to withdraw, plundering Italy on his way -Some time during the invasion, Severus was put to death by Maxentius, probably at Tres Tabernae near Rome (the exact circumstances of his death are not certain) -After the failed campaign of Galerius, Maxentius' reign over Italy and Africa was firmly established -Maxentius expected an attack along his eastern flank from Licinius, and stationed an army in Verona -Constantine had smaller forces than his opponent: with his forces withdrawn from Africa, with the praetorian and Imperial Horse Guard, and with the troops he had taken from Severus, Maxentius had an army equal to approximately 100,000 soldiers to use against his opponents in the north -The armies of Maxentius and Constantine met north of the city, some distance outside the walls, beyond the Tiber river on the Via Flaminia -Constantine's forces defeated Maxentius's troops, who retreated to the Tiber, and in the chaos of the fleeing army trying to cross the river, Maxentius fell into the water and drowned

Tiberius

-Tiberius was born in Rome on 16 November 42 BC to Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. In 39 BC his mother divorced his biological father and remarried Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus shortly thereafter, while still pregnant with Tiberius Nero's son. In 38 BC his brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, was born. -In 23 BC Emperor Augustus became gravely ill and his possible death threatened to plunge the Roman world into chaos again. Historians generally agree that it is during this time that the question of Augustus' heir became most acute, and while Augustus had seemed to indicate that Agrippa and Marcellus would carry on his position in the event of his death, the ambiguity of succession became Augustus' chief problem. -After returning from the East in 19 BC, Tiberius was married to Vipsania Agrippina, the daughter of Augustus's close friend and greatest general, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. He was appointed to the position of praetor, and sent with his legions to assist his brother Drusus in campaigns in the west. While Drusus focused his forces in Gallia Narbonensis and along the German frontier, Tiberius combated the tribes in the Alps and within Transalpine Gaul, conquering Raetia. In 15 BC he discovered the sources of the Danube, and soon afterwards the bend of the middle course. Returning to Rome in 13 BC, Tiberius was appointed as consul, and around this same time his son, Drusus Julius Caesar, was born. -Agrippa's death in 12 BC elevated Tiberius and Drusus with respect to the succession. At Augustus' request in 11 BC, Tiberius divorced Vipsania and married Julia the Elder, Augustus' daughter and Agrippa's widow. This event seems to have been the breaking point for Tiberius; his new marriage with Julia was never a happy one, and produced only a single child who died in infancy. -Reportedly, Tiberius once ran into Vipsania again, and proceeded to follow her home crying and begging forgiveness; soon afterwards, Tiberius met with Augustus, and steps were taken to ensure that Tiberius and Vipsania would never meet again. Tiberius continued to be elevated by Augustus, and after Agrippa's death and his brother Drusus' death in 9 BC, seemed the clear candidate for succession. As such, in 12 BC he received military commissions in Pannonia and Germania; both areas highly volatile and of key importance to Augustan policy. -He returned to Rome and was consul for a second time in 7 BC, and in 6 BC was granted tribunician power (tribunicia potestas) and control in the East, all of which mirrored positions that Agrippa had previously held. However, despite these successes and despite his advancement, Tiberius was not happy. -In 6 BC, on the verge of accepting command in the East and becoming the second most powerful man in Rome, Tiberius suddenly announced his withdrawal from politics and retired to Rhodes. The precise motives for Tiberius's withdrawal are unclear. Historians have speculated a connection with the fact that Augustus had adopted Julia's sons by Agrippa Gaius and Lucius, and seemed to be moving them along the same political path that both Tiberius and Drusus had trodden. -Tiberius's move thus seemed to be an interim solution: he would hold power only until his stepsons would come of age, and then be swept aside. The promiscuous, and very public, behavior of his unhappily married wife, Julia, may have also played a part. Indeed, Tacitus calls it Tiberius' intima causa, his innermost reason for departing for Rhodes, and seems to ascribe the entire move to a hatred of Julia and a longing for Vipsania. Tiberius had found himself married to a woman he loathed, who publicly humiliated him with nighttime escapades in the Forum, and forbidden to see the woman he had loved. -The death of Gaius in AD 4 initiated a flurry of activity in the household of Augustus. Tiberius was adopted as full son and heir and in turn, he was required to adopt his nephew, Germanicus, the son of his brother Drusus and Augustus' niece Antonia Minor. Along with his adoption, Tiberius received tribunician power as well as a share of Augustus's maius imperium, something that even Marcus Agrippa may never have had -The Senate convened on 18 September, to validate Tiberius's position as Princeps and, as it had done with Augustus before, extend the powers of the position to him. These proceedings are fully accounted by Tacitus. Tiberius already had the administrative and political powers of the Princeps, all he lacked were the titles—Augustus, Pater Patriae, and the Civic Crown (a crown made from laurel and oak, in honor of Augustus having saved the lives of Roman citizens). -This meeting seems to have set the tone for Tiberius's entire rule. He seems to have wished for the Senate and the state to simply act without him and his direct orders were rather vague, inspiring debate more on what he actually meant than on passing his legislation. In his first few years, Tiberius seemed to have wanted the Senate to act on its own, rather than as a servant to his will as it had been under Augustus. According to Tacitus, Tiberius derided the Senate as "men fit to be slaves." -Problems arose quickly for the new Princeps. The Roman legions posted in Pannonia and in Germania had not been paid the bonuses promised them by Augustus, and after a short period of time mutinied when it was clear that a response from Tiberius was not forthcoming. Germanicus and Tiberius's son, Drusus Julius Caesar, were dispatched with a small force to quell the uprising and bring the legions back in line. -Rather than simply quell the mutiny however, Germanicus rallied the mutineers and led them on a short campaign across the Rhine into Germanic territory, stating that whatever treasure they could grab would count as their bonus. Germanicus's forces crossed the Rhine and quickly occupied all of the territory between the Rhine and the Elbe. Additionally, Tacitus records the capture of the Teutoburg forest and the reclaiming of Roman standards lost years before by Publius Quinctilius Varus, when three Roman legions and its auxiliary cohorts had been ambushed by Germanic tribes. -After being recalled from Germania, Germanicus celebrated a triumph in Rome in AD 17, the first full triumph that the city had seen since Augustus's own in 29 BC. As a result, in AD 18 Germanicus was granted control over the eastern part of the empire, just as both Agrippa and Tiberius had received before, and was clearly the successor to Tiberius. Germanicus survived a little over a year before dying, accusing Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, the governor of Syria, of poisoning him. -Tiberius seems to have tired of politics at this point. In AD 22, he shared his tribunician authority with his son Drusus, and began making yearly excursions to Campania that reportedly became longer and longer every year. In AD 23, Drusus mysteriously died, and Tiberius seems to have made no effort to elevate a replacement. Finally, in AD 26, Tiberius retired from Rome altogether to the island of Capri. -Lucius Aelius Sejanus had served the imperial family for almost twenty years when he became Praetorian Prefect in AD 15. As Tiberius became more embittered with the position of Princeps, he began to depend more and more upon the limited secretariat left to him by Augustus, and specifically upon Sejanus and the Praetorians. In AD 17 or 18, Tiberius had trimmed the ranks of the Praetorian Guard responsible for the defense of the city, and had moved it from encampments outside of the city walls into the city itself, giving Sejanus access to somewhere between 6000 and 9000 troops. -Sejanus began a series of purge trials of Senators and wealthy equestrians in the city of Rome, removing those capable of opposing his power as well as extending the imperial (and his own) treasury. Germanicus's widow Agrippina the Elder and two of her sons, Nero Caesar and Drusus Caesar were arrested and exiled in AD 30 and later all died in suspicious circumstances. In Sejanus's purge of Agrippina the Elder and her family, Caligula, Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla were the only survivors -In 31, Sejanus held the consulship with Tiberius in absentia, and began his play for power in earnest. Precisely what happened is difficult to determine, but Sejanus seems to have covertly attempted to court those families who were tied to the Julians, and attempted to ingratiate himself with the Julian family line with an eye towards placing himself, as an adopted Julian, in the position of Princeps, or as a possible regent. Livilla was later implicated in this plot, and was revealed to have been Sejanus's lover for a number of years. -The plot seems to have involved the two of them overthrowing Tiberius, with the support of the Julians, and either assuming the Principate themselves, or serving as regent to the young Tiberius Gemellus or possibly even Gaius Caligula. Those who stood in his way were tried for treason and swiftly dealt with. -While Tiberius was in Capri, rumours abounded as to what exactly he was doing there. Suetonius records the rumours of lurid tales of sexual perversity, including graphic depictions of child molestation, and cruelty, and most of all his paranoia. While heavily sensationalized, Suetonius' stories at least paint a picture of how Tiberius was perceived by the Roman people, and what his impact on the Principate was during his 23 years of rule. -The affair with Sejanus and the final years of treason trials permanently damaged Tiberius' image and reputation. After Sejanus's fall, Tiberius' withdrawal from Rome was complete; the empire continued to run under the inertia of the bureaucracy established by Augustus, rather than through the leadership of the Princeps. Suetonius records that he became paranoid, and spent a great deal of time brooding over the death of his son. Meanwhile, during this period a short invasion by Parthia, incursions by tribes from Dacia and from across the Rhine by several Germanic tribes occurred. -Little was done to either secure or indicate how his succession was to take place; the Julians and their supporters had fallen to the wrath of Sejanus, and his own sons and immediate family were dead. Two of the candidates were either Caligula, the sole surviving son of Germanicus, or his own grandson, Tiberius Gemellus. However, only a half-hearted attempt at the end of Tiberius' life was made to make Caligula a quaestor, and thus give him some credibility as a possible successor, while Gemellus himself was still only a teenager and thus completely unsuitable for some years to come. -Tiberius died in Misenum on 16 March AD 37,[citation needed] at the age of 78. Tacitus records that upon the news of his death the crowd rejoiced, only to become suddenly silent upon hearing that he had recovered, and rejoiced again at the news that Caligula and Macro had smothered him. This is not recorded by other ancient historians and is most likely apocryphal, but some historians consider it indicative of how the senatorial class felt towards the Emperor at the time of his death. After his death, the Senate refused to vote him divine honors, and mobs filled the streets yelling "To the Tiber with Tiberius!"—in reference to a method of disposal reserved for the corpses of criminals. -In his will, Tiberius had left his powers jointly to Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus. Caligula's first act on becoming Princeps was to void Tiberius' will and have Gemellus executed.