5 Popular Roman Emperors And Their Influences

The Roman Empire was huge at its height and its influence is felt to this day in our military and state. Ruled by emperors for some time, the empire had periods of greatness and periods of decline. Here are some of the most important Roman Emperors:

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Caligula

He was the third Roman emperor and succeeded his predecessor Tiberius, who had adopted him. Alongside Nero and Commodus, he is known as one of the craziest emperors. After a short term of four years, he was killed in an assassination attempt. In his short time as ruler, Caligula developed extensive construction, including 2 aqueducts and a circus in Rome, expansion of a notorious Roman prison and the construction of the two oversized Nemi ships. Gladiator fights, chariot races and animal baiting, unsurpassed in their costliness and cruelty, delighted the audience in Rome. Only the occupation of smaller areas in Germania, Britain and North Africa are recorded, but these were celebrated in Rome triumphal , since the conquest of distant areas was indispensable for the prestige of a Roman emperor.

Roman Emperors

Constatin The Great

Constantine the Great was Roman Emperor from 306 – 337 AD. From the year 324 even as sole ruler after he had defeated and killed the Eastern Emperor Licinius. Constantine was the first emperor to profess Christianity.

Emperor Nero

Nero went down in history as one of the most famous and important Roman emperors, but also in a negative sense: as a crazy emperor. Nero himself never led his soldiers as a field army, but his commanders achieved success in 58, Roman legions defeated the Parthians in the southeast of the empire, in the province of Britain his troops suppressed the uprisings. After the great fire of Rome, which broke out on the summer night of July 19, Nero had the city rebuilt splendidly with wide boulevards. A centerpiece of the reconstruction was his Domus Aureus, a huge palace in the heart of Rome, the ruins of which can still be visited today.

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Emperor Trajan

Trajan took over the scepter in January 98 and ruled the Roman Empire as emperor for almost 20 years. He enlarged the empire by conquering large areas in the east and in what is now the Balkans, yet he was considered modest in terms of executions and torture. He refrained from executing senators without a trial.

The First Roman Emperor: Augustus

After 100 years of civil war of the Roman Republic, the time was ripe for an authoritarian ruler. Julius Caesar’s adoptive son Augustus fared better: After years of bloody civil wars following Caesar’s death, the Senate almost forced power on the victorious Augustus and he was able to maintain himself as sole ruler for almost 40 years until his peaceful death on August 14th to further increase his power.

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