Roman Emperor

"Roman Emperor" is the title historians use to refer to rulers of the Roman Empire, after the epoch conventionally named the Roman Republic. In ancient Rome there was no actual title of "Roman Emperor", and there was never a single office corresponding to it. Rather, the title "Roman Emperor" is a convenient shorthand for a complicated collection of offices and powers.

The lineages and epochs

In the listings of Roman Emperors below, the common name is given first, followed by the more formal name adopted upon accession to the purple, the name given at birth, and the years of his reign. So-called victory titles and other titles not forming an integral part of the name (Pontifex Maximus, Princeps Senatus, Pater Patriae, &c.) are not listed. Co-Emperors are listed in inferior text, along with notes identifying senior Emperors who had hitherto served as co-Emperors. Following abbreviations are used:

Related Topics:
Victory titles - Pater Patriae

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• A. - Aulus
• Aug. - Augustus (as a title)
• C. - Gaius
• Germ. - Germanicus
• Imp. - Imperator
• L. - Lucius
• M. - Marcus
• Max. - Maximus
• Nob. - Nobilissimus
• P. - Publius
• P.F. - Pius Felix
• Princ. Iuv. - Princeps Iuventutis
• Q. - Quintus
• Ser. - Servius
• T. - Titus
• Ti. - Tiberius

The Principate

:Main article: Roman Emperor (Principate)

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The nature of the Imperial office and the Principate was established under Julius Caesar's heir and posthumously adopted son, Caesar Augustus, and his own heirs, the descendants of his wife Livia from her first marriage to a scion of the distinguished Claudian clan. This Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end when the emperor Nero—a great-great-grandson of Augustus through his daughter and of Livia through her son—was deposed in AD 68.

Related Topics:
Principate - Julius Caesar - Posthumous - Caesar Augustus - Livia - Claudian - Julio-Claudian dynasty - Nero - 68

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Nero was followed by a succession of usurpers throughout 69, commonly called the "Year of the Four Emperors". The last of these, Vespasian, established his own Flavian dynasty. Nerva, who replaced the last Flavian emperor, Vespasian's son Domitian, in 96, was elderly and childless, and chose therefore to adopt an heir, Trajan, from outside his family. When Trajan acceded to the purple he chose to follow his predecessor's example, adopting Hadrian as his own heir, and the practise then became the customary manner of imperial succession for the next century, producing the "Five Good Emperors" and the Empire's period of greatest stability.

Related Topics:
Usurper - 69 - Year of the Four Emperors - Vespasian - Flavian dynasty - Nerva - Domitian - 96 - Adopt - Trajan - Hadrian - Five Good Emperors

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The last of the Good Emperors, Marcus Aurelius, chose his natural son Commodus as his successor rather than adopting an heir. Commodus's misrule led to his murder on 31 December 192, following which a brief period of instability quickly gave way to Septimius Severus, who established the Severan dynasty which, except for an interruption in 217-218, held the purple until 235.

Related Topics:
Marcus Aurelius - Commodus - 31 December - 192 - Septimius Severus - Severan dynasty - 217 - 218 - 235

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The Crisis of the Third Century

:Main article: Roman Emperor (Crisis of the Third Century)

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The accession of Maximinus Thrax marks both the close and the opening of an era. It was one of the last attempts by the increasingly impotent Roman Senate to influence the succession. Yet it was the first time that a man had achieved the purple while owing his advancement purely to his military career; both Vespasian and Septimius Severus had come from noble or middle class families, while Thrax was a born commoner. He never visited the city of Rome during his reign, which marks the beginning of a series of "Barracks Emperors" who came from the army. Between 232 and 285 over a dozen emperors achieved the purple, but only Valerian and Carus managed to secure their own sons' succession to the throne; both dynasties died out within two generations.

Related Topics:
Maximinus Thrax - Roman Senate - Military - Vespasian - Septimius Severus - Rome - Reign - Barracks Emperors - 232 - 285 - Valerian - Carus

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The Dominate

:Main article: Roman Emperor (Dominate)

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The accession to the purple on November 20, 284, of Diocletian, the lower-class, Greek-speaking Dalmatian commander of Carus's and Numerian's household cavalry (protectores domestici), marked a major departure from traditional Roman constitutional theory regarding the Emperor, who was nominally first among equals; Diocletian introduced Oriental despotism into the Imperial dignity. Whereas before Emperors had worn only a purple toga (toga purpura) and been greeted with deference, Diocletian wore jewelled robes and shoes, and required those who greeted him to kneel and kiss the hem of his robe (adoratio). In many ways, Diocletianus was the first monarchical Emperor, and this is symbolised by the fact that the word dominus ("Lord") rapidly replaced princeps as the favoured word for referring to the Emperor. Significantly, neither Diocletian nor his co-Emperor Maximian spent much time in Rome after 286, establishing their Imperial capitals at Nicomedia and Mediolanum (modern Milan), respectively.

Related Topics:
November 20 - 284 - Diocletian - Dalmatia - Maximian - 286 - Nicomedia - Mediolanum

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Diocletian established the Tetrarchy, a system by which the Roman Empire was divided into East and West, with each having an Augustus to rule over it and a Caesar to assist him. The Tetrarchy ultimately degenerated into civil war, but the eventual victor, Constantine the Great, restored Domitian's system of dividing the Empire into East and West. He kept the East for himself and founded his city of Constantinople as its new capital.

Related Topics:
Tetrarchy - Roman Empire - Augustus - Caesar - Constantine the Great - Constantinople

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The dynasty Constantine established also was soon swallowed up in civil war and court intrigue until it was replaced, briefly, by Julian the Apostate's general Jovian and then, more permanently, by Valentinian I and the dynasty he founded in 364. Though he was a soldier from a low middle class background, Valentinian was not a Barracks Emperor; he was elevated to the purple by a conclave of senior generals and civil officials.

Related Topics:
Dynasty - Julian the Apostate - Jovian - Valentinian I - 364 - Barracks Emperor

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The Late Empire

:Main article: Roman Emperor (Late Empire)

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Theodosius I acceded to the purple in the East in 379 and in the West in 394. He outlawed paganism and made Christianity the Empire's official religion. He was the last Emperor to rule over a united empire; the distribution of the East to his son Arcadius and the West to his son Honorius after his death in 395 represented a permanent division.

Related Topics:
Theodosius I - 379 - 394 - Paganism - Christianity - Arcadius - Honorius - 395

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In the West, the office of Emperor soon degenerated into being little more than a puppet of a succession of Germanic tribal kings, until finally the Heruli Odoacer simply overthrew Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, shipped the imperial regalia to the Emperor Zeno in Constantinople and assumed the title "King of Italy". Though during his own lifetime Odoacer maintained the legal fiction that he was actually ruling Italy as the viceroy of Zeno, historians mark 476 as the traditional date of the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. In the East, the Empire continued as the Byzantine Empire until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Related Topics:
Germanic - King - Heruli - Odoacer - Romulus Augustulus - 476 - Zeno - Viceroy - Fall of the Roman Empire - Byzantine Empire - Constantinople - Ottoman - 1453

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:For rulers of Italy after Romulus "Augustulus" and Julius Nepos, see list of barbarian kings.

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:For Roman Emperors in the West after Romulus "Augustulus" and Julius Nepos, see list of "Holy Roman Emperors".

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:See also list of "Byzantine Emperors".

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