Roman Emperors Flashcards
Near the end of his reign, he invaded the Parthian Empire, sacking its capital of Ctesiphon and annexing Armenia and Mesopotamia
Trajan
He earned his name, “little boot,” from his father’s soldiers
Caligula
He also commissioned a wall to mark the border of Roman Britain and crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judea.
Hadrian
He ordered his mother’s death in 58 CE, and ordered the deaths of Seneca the Younger and several others after the Pisonian Conspiracy.
Nero
Beloved companion of Hadrian who drowned and whom Hadrian tried to have made a god
Antinous
The last of Rome’s “Five Good Emperors.” With Lucius Verus, he inherited the throne from his uncle Antoninus Pius
Marcus Aurelius
He wrote the Meditations, a journal and major text of Stoic philosophy.
Marcus Aurelius
In 305, he became the first emperor to voluntarily step down, retiring to his palace in Split, Croatia.
Diocletian
Prefect of the Praetorian Guard (and later consul) and a friend and confidante of Tiberius. who left him to manage the state before later arresting and executing him for treason
Lucius Sejanus
Emperor at the time of the supposed crucifixion of Jesus in 33 CE
Tiberius
The first Roman emperor (ruling as princeps, or first citizen) 27 BCE - 14 CE
Augustus
He proposed the Edict of Milan giving tolerance to Christians and oversaw the Christian Council of Nicea
Constantine
In AD 49, he married his niece Agrippina the Younger, who then poisoned both his son Britannicus and the Emperor himself.
Claudius
While visiting Egypt, his beloved companion Antinous drowned in the Nile.
Hadrian
The son of one of the junior members of Diocletian’s Tetrarchy, proclaimed emperor by his father’s men,
Constantine
He secured a decisive victory over the Parthian Empire but then spent much of his reign dealing with the Antonine Plague and fighting the Marcomannic Wars.
Marcus Aurelius
Unhappy as emperor, he mostly resided in his villa on the island of Capri and left Lucius Sejanus to manage the state (however, when Sejanus attempted to seize power in 31 CE, he had Sejanus arrested and executed)
Tiberius
He unsuccessfully attempted to curb inflation with his Edict on Maximum Prices
Diocletian
Though initially moderate, he became increasingly tyrannical, supposedly trying to build a palace on Lake Nemi and to make his horse, Incitatus, a consul
Caligula
He halted the empire’s expansion into Germania after a crushing defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest
Augustus
He led the last and largest persecution of Christians
Diocletian
Barbarian king of Italy who deposed Romulus Augustulus in 476, marking the end of the West Roman Empire
Odoacer
He led Rome to its greatest territorial extent
Trajan
With the help of Marcus Agrippa, he defeated Marc Antony at the Battle of Actium to seize the empire
Augustus
Marcus Aurelius’s co-emperor
Lucius Verus
Location of Diocletian’s palace
Split, Croatia
System of imperial rule, created by Diocletian, with two senior emperors and two junior emperors
Tetrarchy
Caligula’s uncle, who ruled after Caligula’s assassination
Claudius
He triumphed in the Year of the Five Emperors and founded the Severan dynasty. He was the first emperor to be born in Africa.
Septimius Severus
Edict of Constantine that gave tolerance to Christians
Edict of Milan
Marcus Aurelius’s son and successor who chose not to follow the advice of his senior generals and signed a peace treaty with the Marcomanni and the Quadi. His reign is commonly considered to mark the end of the golden period in the history of the Roman Empire known as the Pax Romana.
Commodus
Major Iranian Empire with whom Rome spent many centuries battling for territory
Parthian Empire
or Arsacid Empire
Tiberius’s popular nephew, a noted general, and the father of Caligula
Germanicus
He reconquered the territory lost during the Crisis of the Third Century by defeating Zenobia of the Palmyrene Empire and retaking Gaul and Britain.
Aurelian
While traveling in Greece, he joined the Eleusinian Mysteries (initiation rites for the cult of Demeter and Persephone)
Hadrian
Niece and wife of Claudius, who poisoned Claudius and his son Britannicus so that her son Nero could be emperor (Nero then had her murdered)
Agrippina the Younger
In AD 41, Cassius Chaerea led a conspiracy of senators and Praetorian guards that killed him and his immediate family.
Caligula
He was the last man to rule both the eastern and western halves of the empire
Theodosius
He is traditionally regarded as the last Roman emperor. He was deposed in 476 by Odoacer, marking the end of the Western Roman Empire.
Romulus Augustulus
He stabilized the empire after the Crisis of the Third Century. He took power by defeating Carinus at the Battle of the Margus before creating the Tetrarchy
Diocletian
Close friend and son-in-law of Augustus, not only the architect responsible for the construction of some of the most notable buildings in Rome but also the general who defeated Marc Antony’s forces at the Battle of Actium
Marcus Agrippa
The son of the general Germanicus, Tiberius’s popular nephew
Caligula
The name Colosseum is believed to be derived from a colossal statue of this emperor that once stood nearby. (This statue was later remodeled by his successors into the likeness of Helios/Sol or Apollo.)
Nero
Emperor who oversaw the conquest of Britain and centralized power through a bureaucracy featuring talented freedmen like Tiberius Narcissus
Claudius
He created the Praetorian Guard (the elite unit of the Imperial Roman army whose members served as personal bodyguards and intelligence for the Roman emperors)
Augustus
After Julius Caesar was assassinated, he formed the Second Triumvirate with Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus to defeat Caesar’s assassins
Augustus (known then as Octavian)
After succeeding Nerva, he defeated Decebalus to conquer the rich Kingdom of Dacia (modern-day Romania). He employed Apollodorus of Damascus to build a triumphal column and a bridge across the Danube
Trajan
He supposedly “fiddled” during the Great Fire of Rome and persecuted Christians after it (he may have instigated the fire himself to clear land for his Domus Aurea, or Golden Palace).
Nero
He defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge to seize Italy and then defeated his brother-in-law Licinius to win the east
Constantine
The Five Good Emperors
Nerva (reigned 96–98 CE), Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138), Antoninus Pius (138–161), and Marcus Aurelius (161–180) (each only distantly related to his predecessor if at all)
In 68 CE, he was deposed by the Senate and committed suicide
Nero
Battle which halted Augustus’s expansion of the empire into Germania
Battle of Teutoburg Forest
He converted the city of Byzantium into the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and re-named it after himself
Constantine
A noted scholar, this emperor was the last person able to read ancient Etruscan.
Claudius
Born Gaius Octavius, he was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar
Augustus
Augustus’s stepson (the son of his wife Livia) who led the conquests of Pannonia and Raetia during his stepfather’s rule
Tiberius
With whom did Octavian (later Augustus) form the Second Triumvirate?
Marc Antony and Marcus Lepidus
He emerged from the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 CE to found the Flavian Dynasty, and later commissioned the Colosseum.
Vespasian
Trajan’s younger cousin who succeeded him as emperor. At the start of his reign, he withdrew from Trajan’s conquests in the east.
Hadrian
He provoked scandal by performing as an actor, musician, and charioteer
Nero
