2024 the best roman emperors review
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The importance of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (or as he was known from birth, Gaius Octavius “Octavian” Thurinus) to the course of Western history is hard to overstate. His life, his rise to power, his political, and his social and military achievements all laid the foundations for the creation of an empire which would endure for almost five centuries, and whose traditions, laws, architecture and art continue to influence much of Europe and the world today. Octavian was the first true Roman Emperor, and the first man since the Etruscan Tarquins five centuries earlier to establish a successful hereditary ruling dynasty in what had been a proud Republic for over half a millennium. He was a canny strategist, an excellent orator, a fine writer, a generous patron of the arts and enthusiastic promoter of public works, but above all he was a master politician. Octavian’s great-uncle (and adoptive father) Julius Caesar was a great general, and his rival Mark Antony was a great soldier, but as a politician Octavian outmatched them all.
What makes Claudius such a surprisingly effective emperor, aside from his strange route to power, was that he was considered physically and mentally incompetent for political life. At the same time, Claudius managed to take the throne against the will of the Senate thanks to the support of the Praetorian Guard, and despite his efforts to work with the Senate, the relationship would always be troublesome. Under Claudius, the Senate lost power, which is partially why some of the most important sources on Claudius’s life and reign are openly hostile toward him. The Apocolocyntosis divi Claudii, written by Seneca (who had been exiled at the beginning of Claudius’s reign), ridicules the emperor’s physical difficulties and judicial decisions. Later writers, such as Tacitus, Cassius Dio, and Suetonius, echo what Seneca wrote, claiming that Claudius was controlled by his wives and the freedmen he'd made a part of his government. The facts of Claudius’s reign paint a different picture, however, leaving a complex legacy and far more nuance than contemporaries were willing to give him.
“The Five Good Emperors,” a reference to the five emperors who ruled the Roman Empire between 96 and 180 CE (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), was a term first coined by Machiavelli and later adopted and popularized by historian Edward Gibbon, who said that under these men, the Roman Empire “was governed by absolute power under the guidance of wisdom and virtue.” This period of 84 years is generally regarded as the high point of the Roman Empire, at least after Augustus.
Even though he is best remembered for his religious reforms and what his (mostly Christian) admirers described as his spiritual enlightenment, Constantine was also an able and effective ruler in his own right. Rising to power in a period of decline and confusion for the Roman Empire, he gave it a new and unexpected lease on life by repelling the repeated invasions of the Germanic tribes on the Northern and Eastern borders of the Roman domains.
However, it can be argued that despite his military successes – the most notable of which occurred fighting for supremacy against other Romans – Constantine may well have set the stage for the ultimate collapse of the Roman Empire as it had existed up until that point. By moving the political, administrative and military capital of the Empire from Rome to the East, as well as the Imperial court with all its attendant followers, Constantine laid the groundwork for the eventual schism which saw the two parts of the Roman Empire become two entirely separate entities, go their own way, and eventually collapse piecemeal under repeated waves of invasion.
ASIN : B0BQKY1K1P
Publisher : Charles River Editors (December 18, 2022)
Publication date : December 18, 2022
Language : English
File size : 44902 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 226 pages
Reviewer: William Hildebrand
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Rome Eternal
Review: Was very interesting, however the author dwelt to much on the period of chaos during the 3rd century which had nothing to do with the subject of the book.
Reviewer: Andrew Maile
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Deceptive title
Review: The title implies a focus on a specific set of emperors but the text incorporates numerous other emperors who were far from 'good' or just plain mediocre. But, those few sections devoted to the 'best' emperors provide a reasonably sound and concise summary of their reigns.