The Roman Empire lasted from 27 BC. to 476 and was the period when Rome dominated much of Europe, North Africa and also regions of the Middle East.
The time of the Emperors begins after the Crisis of the Republic that ends with the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Emperors of various patrician families succeed each other facing internal rebellions, the invasion of the Nordic peoples, and the rise of Christianity.
Below is a list of the main emperors who ruled Rome in this period:
Octavian Augusto
Octavian Augustus, Roman Emperor.
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian Augustus was emperor from 27 BC to 14 AD
Octavian Augustus (or Octavius Augustus) was the first Roman emperor and belonged to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He was born in the city of Rome on September 23, 63 BC and was the great-nephew of Julius Caesar who taught him the ways of Roman politics.
He organized military expeditions in Raetia, Pannonia, Hispania, Germania, Arabia and Africa. He also pacified the regions of the Alps and Hispania and annexed the regions of Gaul and Judea.
In the economy he stimulated agriculture and cleaned up the finances of Rome and the Italian peninsula. He also divided the imperial capital into 14 provinces to facilitate the collection of taxes and the military census. Equally, he covered the Roman buildings with marble in order to increase the capital's splendor.
Octavian was the first Emperor to be proclaimed "Augustus" by the Roman Senate, that is, a god. Emperor worship began in life and was continued by the family of the deceased after death. Octavian identified himself with this title so much that many think it is a second name. The month of August is also named after him.
Octavian Augustus died on August 19, 14 AD, in the Italian commune of Nola.
Claudio
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was emperor from 41 to 54 AD.
He was born in the province of Lugduno in Gaul on August 1, 10 BC and was the first Roman emperor not born in Italy. He had a difficult childhood due to the physical problems he had like stuttering and this kept him away from a possible imperial succession.
Claudius ascended the imperial throne in 41 AD, after the Praetorian Guard murdered his nephew Caligula.
Despite suffering from physical problems, Claudius ruled the Roman Empire competently. He built canals, aqueducts, paved roads in order to improve communications with the farthest provinces of the Empire. He also erected the port of Ostia.
As for military conquests, during his reign the provinces of Thrace, Judea, Lycia, Noricum and Pamphylia and Mauritania were annexed. However, the most important conquest was Britannia (present-day Great Britain).
Despite his cruelty to senators and equestrians (the lowest Roman aristocracy), he organized the state's finances and managed to keep the peace in Rome.
In 54, Claudius was poisoned by Agrippina, his wife and mother of the future Emperor Nero. After his death he was deified by the Roman Senate.
Nero
Nero Claudius Augustus Germanicus was emperor from 54 to 68.
He was born in the city of Anzio (in present-day Italy) on December 15, 37. Nero became ruler at a time of great splendor of the Roman Empire, but he remains a controversial figure.
In the first five years of his rule, Nero canceled all edicts published by Emperor Claudius, as he considered him an incompetent administrator. Like his predecessors, he used violence to quell the uprisings taking place in the imperial provinces.
As for expansion wars, unlike his predecessors, Nero was not a great conqueror and only undertook a few military incursions into the region of present-day Armenia. In turn, he took the opportunity to improve, through diplomacy, relations with Greece.
Some historians debate the competence of this emperor to administer the Empire. After all, many of his resolutions were influenced by his mother, Agrippina, and her tutor, Lucius Seneca.
An episode that marked Nero's trajectory was the fire that destroyed part of the city of Rome, in the year 64. However, according to some historians, Nero's responsibility for the incident is not certain, as the emperor was in Anzio at that time. and returned to Rome upon learning that the city was burning.
Those who point to Nero as the culprit are based on the accounts of the politician and historian Tacitus. This one claims that the Emperor would have been singing and playing the lyre while the city burned.
While the author of the attack is uncertain, the fact is that Nero blamed and ordered persecution of Christians, accused by him of being responsible for the fire. Many were captured, crucified and thrown into the Colosseum to be devoured by wild beasts. Subsequently, Christian historians only increased the legend of a cruel and ruthless emperor with Christians.
In addition to this, other episodes contributed to the reputation of a violent and unbalanced emperor. In the year 55, Nero killed the son of the ex-emperor Claudius and in 59, he ordered the murder of his mother Agrippina.
Nero committed suicide in Rome on June 6, 68, putting an end to the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
See more about Nero.
Tito
Tito Flavius Vespasian was Emperor from 79 to 81 A.D.
He was born in Rome on December 30, 39. Despite his short reign he would be known for having been responsible for the destruction of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world.
Three natural disasters occurred during his reign:a fire in Rome, a terrible plague and the eruption of Vesuvius that engulfed Pompeii. However, even these facts did not diminish the good reputation he obtained with the population during his reign.
Tito, nicknamed "the new Nero", for his cruel and intolerant reputation, ended up being called "The delights of the human race" because of the benefits done to the people. One of them was the completion of the Coliseum in Rome which guaranteed entertainment, albeit bloody, for the poorest strata of the population.
To placate the revolts in Palestine, he ordered the destruction of King Solomon's Temple, a symbol of the unity of the people of Israel. This led to the beginning of the Jewish diaspora and the end of the Jewish state until the creation of the State of Israel.
When he died, on September 13, 1981, he would have said an enigmatic sentence:“I made only one mistake in my life”. Several scholars speculate what error the emperor was referring to. Would it have been not to kill his brother Diocletian, his biggest rival? We'll never know.
After his death, the Roman Senate declared him god and his cult spread throughout Rome.
Trajan
Marco Ulpio Nerva Trajano he was emperor from 98 to 117.
He was born in the year 53, in Italica (current Santiponce, in Spain) being the first Roman emperor to be born in this province.
He was considered an excellent general, a detail-oriented and disciplined administrator and claimed that all emperors should be “simple citizens”.
His reign was marked by the expansion of the empire's borders to the east, with the conquest of Dacia (present-day Romania), Arabia, Armenia and Mesopotamia.
In this way, the Roman Empire reached its maximum expansion as you can see in the map below:
The Roman Empire under the power of Emperor Trajan.
Despite spending much of his government commanding the warring troops, Trajan still had time to implement a vast program of public works in Rome aimed at improving hygiene and health conditions. He had the Forum of Trajan and the Column of Trajan built in Rome. Likewise, he promoted the third persecution against Christians.
He died in 117 being succeeded by Hadrian, his nephew and protege.
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Hadrian
Statue of Emperor Hadrian in military uniform
Publius Élio Trajano Adriano rule the Roman Empire from 117 to 138.
He was born in Italica, present-day Spain, in the year 76. He was considered a talented administrator and his most famous work is Hadrian's Wall, in present-day Great Britain, where vestiges can still be seen today.
He reformed the imperial administration through the Perpetual Edict, published in 131. This judicial compilation ruled the empire until the time of Justinian in the 6th century.
In the military field he abandoned Trajan's campaigns in Mesopotamia and preferred to adopt a defensive policy.
In present-day Britain, he had Hadrian's Wall built in 112 AD. With 120 km in length, this work was completed in the year 126 by the soldiers themselves, who built and fought simultaneously. The wall marked for centuries the border between England and Scotland in order to guarantee the defense of the Romans against the attacks of the peoples of the north.
Hadrian died in 138 in Rome.
Diocletian
Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocles Diocletian was emperor from 284 to 305.
Diocletian does not have a certain date of birth and the years 243, 244 or 245 are usually attributed as a probable year. Also the place of birth is uncertain, but studies indicate Salona, in present-day Croatia, as the most correct place.
Diocletian was responsible for the great administrative change of the Roman Empire. He instituted diarchy and tetrarchy, as he considered that the talents of one man were insufficient to defend the Empire. So it was government alone from 284 to 286 and being part of the Diarchy from 286 to 305. Then it would include two more auxiliaries, to govern the Empire.
He divided the Roman Empire into two parts, western and eastern, each of which was ruled by an "Augustus". He then handed over two large territories into the hands of two "Caesáres" who would assist the "Augustos".
The Occidental would have Rome as its capital, however Maximian settled in Aquileia or Milan. As for the Eastern part, it would be ruled by Diocletian in Nicomedia. Galerius Maximian would reign from the city of Sirmium (in the present-day Balkans) and Constantius Chlorus would rule from Treveros (a territory located today between France and Germany).
Political decisions had to be taken by common accord by the Augusti and by legislation common to the entire empire. The fact is that the Roman Empire reached great dimensions and the rebellions of provincial governors and even generals multiplied.
One of them was the revolt of the Roman officer Carausius who had proclaimed himself emperor in Britannia. Likewise, rebellions take place in Persia and Egypt. In order to unify the Roman people around a common enemy, he promotes the Diocletian Persecution or the Great Persecution of Christians.
Already old and sick, he gathers officers and soldiers and abdicates the throne. Some sources mention that he was being pressured by Caesar Galerius to relinquish power. In any case, Diocletian retires from public life and dies in the year 311 or 312.
Constantine
Flávio Valério Aurélio Constantino was emperor between the years 306 to 337.
Also known as Constantine the Great, he was born in the city of Naissus (in present-day Serbia) on February 26, 272. He is considered the first Christian Roman Emperor in history, despite having been baptized on his deathbed, and favoring paganism and Christianity. likewise during his reign.
On his father's death in 306, he was acclaimed Roman Emperor. He spent much of his reign militarily fighting the Germanic peoples who intended to cross the borders of the Roman empire.
Through the Edict of Milan, in 313, he ended the Roman persecution of Christians. Constantine sympathized with Christianity, but he did not make the religion official in his domain. He took advantage of the growth of the Christian religion, in almost all regions of the Empire, to increase his political strength, while at the same time stimulating the worship of the Sun god.
On March 7, 321, the Edict of Constantine was promulgated, legislation that advocated rest on Sundays in honor of the Sun-god (Sol Invictus). In this way, it pleased Christians and pagans alike.
Emperor Constantine is venerated as a saint by the Orthodox Church
To resolve the first theological differences among Christians, he convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325, in which about 300 bishops participated. Under Constantine's influence, the council defined the divine nature of Jesus, fixed the date of Passover (it became different from the Jewish Passover), and promulgated canon law. It was also defined that Sunday would be the day of rest for Christians.
He enlarged the city of Byzantium from 326 to 330, moving the capital of the Roman Empire to the East, naming it Nova Roma. After Constantine's death, it would be called Constantinople and in 1453, when it was conquered by the Turks, it received its current name:Istanbul.
He died on May 22, 337 in the city of Nicomedia (present-day Izmit, Turkey).
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