Which Roman Emperor am I? Part I Quiz

Answer: Trajan

A risky move of Trajan, who came to power in 98 AD, to hand this power to his prefect of the Praetorian Guard, Suburanus. But the sword was never used against him, and Trajan is remembered as one of the greatest Roman emperors.

Under Trajan's rule, the Roman empire was at its peak size.

Answer: Claudius

Pliny The Elder tells us the story of a killer whale trapped in the harbour, and Claudius facing it head-on with spears.

Claudius' rule from 41 AD until 54 AD provided a breather between the rules of his predecessor Caligula and his successor Nero; he proved to be an able administrator despite his limp and slight deafness.

Answer: Commodus

Commodus had only a few interests, and ruling the empire wasn't amongst them. Much like in the movie "Gladiator" (2000), he loved being a gladiator and performer, and was actually rather good at that.

Too bad he doomed the Roman Empire, and left his empire in shambles by handing the actual rule of the empire to people like Perennis and Cleander, who were more interested in enriching themselves than helping the empire.

Answer: Valentinian

For some reason, the historian writing about it, Ammianus Marcellinus, thought it was important to stress that these were "man-eating bears". Valentinian made sure these bears kept their savageness. Prisoners were fed to the bears, and when Innocence in particular proved to be a skilled man-killer, it was rewarded by being released back into the wild. We have no idea what happened to Goldflake.

Valentinian, who ruled from 364 AD until 375 AD, is often seen as the last great emperor of the western half of the Roman empire. He brought stability in the west, for the last time, until the rise of the Franks centuries later. He died because he suffered a stroke while being angry at envoys from the Quadi, a tribe with which the Roman Empire was at war.

Answer: Valerian

This story comes from very anti-Persian sources. It's widely accepted that he was treated well as a hostage, and his army was made to build a bridge, the Band-e Kaisar, or "Caesar's dam" in Shushtar, Iran.

Valerian, who ruled from 253 AD until 260 AD, led an initial successful campaign in Persia, but found himself outsmarted by the Persian King of Kings, Shapur. His army was turned into a work force building a bridge, and Valerian died in captivity, though the circumstances are unclear.

Answer: Augustus

This may be a bit disrespectful to his predecessor, Julius Caesar, who was known for starting massive building projects. But Julius Caesar was never emperor, and didn't have over 40 years to change Rome like Augustus had.

Augustus had a prospering economy, thanks to the end of the civil wars of the 1st century BC and the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). According to a recent study by UCLA, only a small portion of Rome was turned from brick to marble during Augustus' reign, so in all likeliness, Suetonius' quote was more figurative speech. Augustus reorganized a chaotic republic (the brick), and left a firm foundation for an empire (the marble).

Answer: Caracalla

It is difficult not to see Caracalla as evil incarnated. He killed his brother Geta in front of their mother in order to rule alone. Caracalla inherited the empire with his brother, Geta, from their father, Severus. They hated each other, and even decided on separating the palace in two, until Caracalla got rid of his brother.

When Alexandria performed a play mentioning his brother, Geta, who seemed to have a lot of support in the city, Caracalla had the leaders of the city executed and sent his soldiers on a massive looting and plundering of the city. He got his nickname Caracalla from the Gallic hooded cape he often wore.

Answer: Diocletian

According to John Malalas, a historian from the 6th century, Diocletian wanted Alexandria slaughtered after resisting his siege. He ordered his soldiers to kill everyone until his horse waded knee deep in blood. Then his horse stumbled over a dead body, and the horse's knees got bloody. Diocletian, therefore, stopped the killing.

Diocletian reformed the Roman empire into a tetrarchy, a rule of two Augusti and two Caesars. There's debate about how successful this was, but the least that can be said is that it turned out to be a time of much civil unrest and usurpation.

Answer: Constantine

Constantine The Great won a battle by having his soldiers paint the sign of Christ on their shields. He made Christianity legal in the Roman empire by issuing the Edict of Milan in 313.

Constantine killed his firstborn, Crispus, and his second wife Fausta, in circumstances which are still quite unclear. One historian, Zosimus, proposes this happened because Crispus was having an affair with his stepmother, Fausta. Though Constantine The Great killed his oldest son and wife, his younger son Constantius II went even further, by killing two uncles and six cousins. If they had Christmas dinners like ours, it must have been awkward.

Answer: Justinian II

Justinian II is better known as Justinian Rhinotmetos, "the slit-nosed". After ten years of surviving assassination attempts while in exile, he succeeded in gathering a Bulgar and Slav army behind him, and took back the throne in 705 AD, wearing a golden nose.

He eventually was killed, because cutting his nose off and exiling him didn't make the point clear enough that he wasn't wanted as ruler.