In addition, as time went on, Roman citizens including soldiers and their families living outside of Italy, identified with Rome less and less compared to their Italian counterparts. Emperor Honorius banned gladiatorial games at the start of the 5th century Honorius as a young emperor. The western part of the Roman Empire continued for about 500 years, and the eastern part, including and , continued for about a thousand years more. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace that was known as Pax Romana or the Roman Peace. Thereafter, were tolerated at best—but often tortured or killed—until the reign of 312—337. One was to do things to improve the life of Romans in peacetime. For every great leader, such as , there was a tyrant like.
But despite his reputation as an efficient military administrator, his reign was marked by a general lack of major conflicts, apart from the Second Roman-Jewish war, which he handled rather cunningly. The loss of Spain meant Rome lost revenue along with the territory and administrative control, a perfect example of the interconnected causes leading to Rome's fall. Tiberius more or less retired to Capri for the rest of his long life, only returning to Rome a few times. Every now and then there would be a between claimants to the throne. During his reign the empire began the conquest of Britain.
Other lesser economic issues included the wholesale hoarding of bullion by Roman citizens, the widespread looting of the Roman treasury by barbarians, and a massive trade deficit with the eastern regions of the empire. The Five Good Emperors were so named by the political philosopher, Niccolo Machiavelli who gave them this name in 1503 due to their good government and the respect given to them by the people of Rome. Nevermind the selfishness of the myriad of Emperors and their enemies, starting and waging civil wars that cost hundreds, thousands of lives just because they wanted to be the top dog. The names of the usurpers or pretenders are as follows: Cyriades, Postumus, Postumus the Younger, Lollianus, Victorinus, Victorinus the Younger, Marius, Ingenuus, Regalianus, Aureolus, Macrianus, Macrianus the Younger, Quietus, Odaenathus, Herodes, Maeonius, Ballista, Valens, Valens the Elder, Piso, Aemilianus, Saturninus, Tetricus the Elder, Tetricus the Younger, Trebellianus, Herennianus, Timolaus, Celsus, Zenobia, Victoria, Titus, Censorinus. The Crossword Solver finds answers to American-style crosswords, British-style crosswords, general knowledge crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles.
Throughout this period, a number of emperors ruled and their reigns were divided into a number of dynasties. Christians had long been regarded by most Romans with a mixture of distaste and a rather amused tolerance, but Diocletian set about the total eradication of the religion. It was a job for life, so if an emperor was mad, bad or dangerous, the only solution was to cut that life short. The Romans possessed a powerful army and were gifted in the applied arts of law, government, , and statecraft, but they also acknowledged and adopted contributions of other ancient peoples—most notably, those of the , much of whose was thereby preserved. All these innovative steps paid off as Rome became a stronger, more consolidated empire.
Where to next: The Social Order in Ancient Rome — Religion in Ancient Rome — Related Links: - - - - - - - - - - © 2006 Devillier Donegan Enterprises. The Senate despised him for this, and told the criticized him to the Roman populace, until he no longer trusted his safety in Rome and left for the island of Capri. What he started by famously taking the state and Senate in hand led to a chain of events that led to the foundation of the Roman Empire. Finally the emperor Aurelian sought to reunite all the empire and marched against the Gallic empire. He was to be the last emperor of the unified empire.
They developed the best army in the world at that time, and ruled by force. He was the first Roman emperor who was not from Italy. Many of the lands that Trajan gained in the east were quickly ceded by his successor, Hadrian, however, after he realised that the empire was overstretched. He is remembered as the travelling emperor. His nickname came from his role as priest of the cult of the Syrian god Elah-Gabal, which he tried to introduce into Rome to universal consternation, even having himself circumcised to show his devotion to the cult. He did not otherwise physically harm them in any way, but even in his late seventies, sex with young children was one of his favorite pastimes. Caligula is known for his tyrannical rule.
Only at the end of the period did Rome take the succession into its own hands and select somebody who was reasonably sane, smart and honest. In fact, during the period of imperial decline, the empire actually expanded. Elagabalus overthrew Macrinus and promptly embarked on an increasingly eccentric reign. Christians who refused to give up their faith were tortured and executed. Imperial incompetence and chance could be added to the list. A down-to-earth man himself, and a competent general who had proved his mettle on the , Vespasian was handed the task of bringing balance to Rome.
He turned against philosophers, sending many of them into exile, and he arranged the judicial murder of the chief vestal virgin, having her buried alive in a specially constructed tomb. List of Roman Emperors - Illyrian Emperors 268 - 285 The Illyrian Emperors 268 - 285. The pressure of these raids prompted the army to assume power in 235. Elagabalus deliberately offended Roman moral and religious principles, setting up a conical black stone fetish — a symbol of the sun god Sol Invictus Elagabalus — on the Palatine Hill and marrying the chief vestal, for which, under normal circumstances, she should have been put to death. Claudius was a positive mishmash of conflicting characteristics: absent-minded, hesitant, muddled, determined, cruel, intuitive, wise, and he was dominated by his wife and his personal staff of freedmen. Some of these things can still be seen today. In principle, emperors had absolute control, and could do as they pleased.
Several imperial dynasties ruled it till its eventual demise. The Roman Empire began with the reign of Emperor Augustus. However, he was also unquestionably a murderer, starting with his step-brother Britannicus, with whom he had been supposed to share power, and progressing through his wife Octavia, whom he deserted for his lover, Poppeaea, and then had executed on a trumped-up charge of adultery. These guys were civilized but very brutal, which was normal considering the standards of the epoch. Also if you were going to include Eastern Roman emperors, i. Diocletian: The Roman empire had grown too big to manage effectively so , the Eastern Roman Empire which included the city of Rome and the Western Roman Empire. The first answer is simple: hereditary rule.
But he was remembered as a dark, reclusive, and somber ruler who never really wanted to be emperor, having the responsibility thrust upon him. Roman historians Suetonius and Tacitus give us a picture of Tiberius living on Capri as a depraved sexual predator, which may owe more to colourful imagination than to fact, though he certainly made use of a sheer drop into the sea to dispose of anyone he took issue with. He revamped and consolidated what would become the Byzantine empire which then lasted another 800 years. Governing the Empire In order to control their large empire, the Romans developed important ideas about and. The period between Augustus and Diocletian is called High Empire, while the Low Empire is the era between Diocletian and the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. He was Julius Caesar's adopted son. Advertisement In fact, as historians point out to anyone who will listen , many of the emperors on the list below were competent — even gifted — administrators, and the sources for some of the more lurid stories about them are not always above suspicion of exaggeration or invention.