1. Roman Emperors
Part II

2. The Year of 4 Emperors (68 A.D.)
4 Emperors fight for Rome
You don’t need to know them but just FYI (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian)
Vespasian Wins
Builds Coliseum
Titus
Inaugurates Coliseum
Vesuvius Erupts

3. 5 Good Emperors Why good? 1) Improved ability to govern
2) Succession without Civil War
3) All decent men (no Caligula’s or Nero’s)

4. Nerva (96 A.D. – 98 A.D.)
What you need to know about Nerva

5. Trajan (98 A.D. – 117 A.D.) Expands Empire to greatest extent
Wipes out
all Dacia
(Romania)
Trajan’s Column

6. Hadrian (117 A.D. – 138 A.D.)
First Emperor to have a beard (facial hair becomes fashion)
Strengthens Rome’s holdings
Hadrian’s Wall (across Scotland and England – it’s still there)

7. Antoninus Pius (138 A.D. – 161 A.D.)
A big fat lot of nothing

8. Marcus Aurelius (161 A.D. – 180 A.D.)
Philosopher-King
Plague sweeps empire (20-40% of empire dies)
Population problems
Barbarian invasions
Has son named…

9. Commodus
Real Commodus
Not Real Commodus
NOT one of the good emperors (Marcus Aurelius is the last of the good emperors)
Gladiator (story is false)
Commodus did not murder his father
Rome begins decline

10. Other notables and not so much…
Pertinax (193 A.D.)
Praetorian Guard names him Emperor
Doesn’t pay them so they kill him and auction off the Empire
Bought by…

11. Didius Iulianus Emperor until the end of the year when…
Septimius Severus rules
1st Emperor from Africa (Rome becoming less Roman)
Severus Alexander (225 A.D. – 235 A.D.)
Began giving citizenship away – didn’t have to work to get it
Rome becomes less important, no loyalty
Finally, the coolest name of all…

12. Pupienus
He didn’t do anything