Roman Emperors – An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families

Early Life Titus was born on 30 December A.D. 39 in Rome, one of three children of Vespasian, Roman emperor (A.D. 69-79), and Domitilla I, daughter of a treasury clerk. .[[1]] The family’s circumstances were modest, but began to improve during the emperorship of Claudius (A.D. 41-54), under whom Vespasian advanced rapidly. His ascent likely played a role in securing the […]

Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, the son of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife-cousin Faustina, was born in Lanuvium in 161 AD. Commodus was named Caesar at the age of 5, and co-Augustus at the age of 17, spending most of his early life accompanying his father on his campaigns against the Quadi and the Marcomanni along […]

Sources If we except the chroniclers, there are hardly any sources for Theodora that are written without parti pris. The most important, Procopius of Caesarea, who is our only source for the lurid details of Theodora’s early life, presented a different Theodora in each of his three works, the History of the Wars of Justinian in seven books to […]

Introduction The greater part of the life of Andronicus Comnenus, son of the sebastokrator Isaac (brother of John II), was spent in competition with his more fortunate cousin Manuel I, but what was no more than athletic rivalry in their youth became treasonable conspiracy. This rivalry weakened the “Comnenian system” in the later years of the dynasty. The date […]

Introduction Although short, the reign of Marcus Cocceius Nerva (A.D. 96-98) is pivotal. The first of Edward Gibbon’s so-called “Five Good Emperors,” Nerva is credited with beginning the practice of adopting his heir rather than selecting a blood relative. Claimed as an ancestor by all the emperors down to Severus Alexander, he has traditionally been regarded with […]

Early Career Domitian was born in Rome on 24 October A.D. 51, the youngest son of Vespasian, Roman emperor (A.D. 69-79) and Domitilla I, a treasury clerk’s daughter.[[1]] Despite a literary tradition that associated Domitian with Flavian poverty, the family’s status remained high throughout his early years: Vespasian was appointed to the prestigious proconsulship of North Africa in A.D. […]

Introduction Ti. Claudius Nero Germanicus (b. 10 BC, d. 54 A.D.; emperor, 41-54 A.D.) was the third emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. His reign represents a turning point in the history of the Principate for a number of reasons, not the least for the manner of his accession and the implications it carried for the […]

AURELIAN AND REBELLIONS DURING HIS REIGN (A.D. 270-275) 1. AURELIAN (A.D. 270-275) 1.1. Sources The main sources for the reign of Aurelian were written about one hundred years afterwards, in the second half of the 4th century: Aurelius Victor (whose description is partly lost [[1]]), Eutropius and the Historia Augusta, a collection of imperial biographies which combines […]

“During a happy period of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this and of the two succeeding chapters to describe the prosperous condition of their empire, and afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, […]

Introduction and Sources “During a happy period of more than fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this and of the two succeeding chapters to describe the prosperous condition of their empire, and afterwards, from the death […]