Roman Emperors in the 1st and 2nd Century AD Quiz

Answer:

No less than 21 men were officially emperor of the Romans during the first two centuries AD. Julius Caesar was not one of them. Although his 'cognomen' (Caesar) was used by emperors as an honorary title (later translated as 'Kaiser' in German and 'Czar' in Russian), he was never an emperor himself. And he died in 44 BC, so he does not qualify for the correct answers.

The first five emperors belonged to the Julian-Claudian dynasty. They were (chronologically) Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. After the death of Nero generals took over as emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian. Vespasian was also the first emperor of a new dynasty, the Flavians: after him came his sons Titus and Domitian. After the tirannical Domitian the five good emperors followed: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. It's sad that these men are often forgotten, while the colorful tirants get all the attention. I guess you all knew Caligula and Nero. Another tirant was Commodus (aka Joaquin Phoenix in 'Gladiator'). But who remembers the kind emperor Verus, co-emperor of Marcus Aurelius?

The year 69 AD was 'the year of 4 emperors', but 193 AD beat the record, with 5 emperors: Pertinax (who started his career as a teacher!), Didius Julian, Pescennius Niger ('with the dark neck'), Clodius Albinus ('with the pale skin') and Septimius Severus (no relative of Severus Snape, but equally 'severe' in character). Pescennius and Clodius are not officially recognized as emperors by everybody, so I avoided their names in the question.

Constantine the Great and Theodosius were emperors of the 4th century. Romulus Augustulus was the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) and Justinian was the last emperor (6th century) to more or less reunite the Eastern and Western Roman Empire.