Emperors of Rome (Part I) Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pharsalus

Although many people do not regard Caesar as a true emperor, these tend to be later sources; Suetonius (c. 79-122 AD) includes Caesar in his volume "Lives of the Twelve Caesars". Indeed, it's very telling that the word for emperor was Caesar, which can still be seen today in the German "Kaiser" and the Russian "tsar".

Although Caesar and Pompey had joined together in the First Triumvirate (with Crassus), their bond began to weaken with Crassus's death, and was fully broken by the death of Julia, Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife. Caesar caused a rift with the senate as he demanded the privilege to run for the consulship while remaining in Gaul; by Roman law, to run for consulship, one must be in Rome, and also by law, army commanders must surrender their legions before entering the city. Thus Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his troops in an invasion of Italy. Pompey, along with many of the senate, fled to Greece, and was followed by Caesar and his army. At the Battle of Pharsalus, although Pompey had much of the upper hand - more troops, more provisions, and Greece was loyal to him - he suffered a massive defeat at the hands of Caesar, and fled to Egypt, where Ptolemy XIII's men murdered him.

Answer: Augustus

Octavian, Antony and Lepidus (Caesar's former deputy) formed the Second Triumvirate, in spite of their differences. However, the bonds between Octavian and Antony were always uneasy, and this was only intensified when Octavian banished Lepidus without consulting Antony. With Antony behaving lewdly while Octavian made progress throughout Italy, many Italian towns pledged allegiance to the latter, and Octavian assumed power and declared war against Antony. In 31 BC, Antony's and Cleopatra's armies surrendered in battle and fled, and the two later committed suicide.

Now reigning as Augustus, Octavian gave up the dictatorial rights that he had been granted in the war against Antony, and much power was given to two friends, Agrippa and Maecenas. This structure was a halfway point between the republican government of previous and the monarchical rule of emperorship, which was beneficial because the people feared a return to dictatorships such as Sulla's, whose bloody reign of terror put fear into the Roman people in the years before Caesar's rise to power.

Answer: Germanicus

Germanicus was the people's choice to succeed or usurp Tiberius, and his army staged a mutiny in Germany, in which they murdered Roman centurions and urged Germanicus to seize the throne from Tiberius. However, he refused, and reportedly he threatened suicide to force his men's loyalty to the emperor, which showed his soldiers that he was perhaps not suited as a commander - apparently, one man offered his own sword for the deed, proclaiming it was sharper than Germanicus's own! Germanicus died suddenly in Syria, and it was suspected that the governor, Piso, had poisoned him on instruction from Tiberius; Piso himself was then found dead, having "committed suicide" following a visit by Sejanus, the commander of the Praetorian Guard.

Germanicus's death devastated the people, for Tiberius severely lacked the desired qualities when it came to interpersonal political relations. He deemed the Senate "men fit to be slaves" (according to historian Tacitus) and invoked the "lex maiestatis", which was a law against treason, for which the guilty were beheaded. Tellingly, whoever accused someone found guilty would gain a share of his estate, and the law was much abused in Tiberius's reign. Tiberius spent his final years as a recluse, having become very paranoid. He died of natural causes, amid rumors that Sejanus's successor had suffocated him.

Answer: Caligula

Born to Germanicus, Caligula was the great-nephew of Tiberius, who had consulted astrologers and studied the stars not long before his death and doubted Caligula's fitness to rule. Unfortunately he was right. Called a "monster" by the historian Suetonius, Caligula initially won acclaim from the people as a desirable replacement for Tiberius, and for abolishing treason trials. However, soon the people began to realize that all was not well with him, and in response to these doubts, which included speculation about incest between him and his sisters, his propagandists launched a smear campaign painting Tiberius as a pedophile in his old age. This did not disguise the shortcomings of Caligula, who showed his megalomania by suggesting he was a god and unrelentingly indulging himself in luxuries and whims, including taking sexual advantage of female guests in his household. He demonstrated unashamed glee in seeing people tortured.

The conspiracy to assassinate him arose in the aftermath of an abortive invasion of Britain; Caligula's troops brought back seashells to Rome to demonstrate that the emperor had triumphed over Neptune, the god of the sea ... In spite of their duty to protect the emperor, the Praetorian Guard had no qualms about betraying Caligula, the monster.

Answer: His fourth wife

Claudius was the uncle of Caligula, and according to legend was declared the new emperor when he was found hiding behind a curtain by the Praetorian Guard. He is thought to have suffered from cerebral palsy and a club foot, and was humiliated by his nephew after they had shared the consulship. He lacked political experience, and frequently surrounded himself with freedmen rather than senators.

About a decade into his thirteen year reign, Rome was scandalized by the sexual misconduct of his third wife, Valeria Messalina, who was executed for her actions. The emperor then took a fourth wife, his niece Agrippina, having changed the law to allow this incestuous marriage. Agrippina's son Nero was a few years older than Claudius's son Britannicus. Britannicus would only succeed his father if he were over 14 years of age and so Agrippina arranged for her husband to be poisoned by mushrooms while at a banquet to allow Nero to succeed to the post of emperor before Britannicus was of age. Nero was 16 at the time. Several months later, Britannicus was also murdered by poisoning. Again, because Claudius had so relied on freedmen, both the senate and the people rejoiced when Nero came to power.

Answer: Iceni

King Prasutagus of the Iceni tribe had made Nero a co-beneficiary of his will, along with his daughters. However, following his death, Rome intervened to say they did not recognize inheritance by women, and so the land belonged only to Nero. Boudicca, Prasutagus's wife, was beaten publicly, and their daughters were raped. These events led to the revolt, and Boudicca led an army against various cities to remove all traces of Roman rule. She was defeated in the Midlands, and is said to have committed suicide.

As mentioned in the question, Nero's manipulative takeover of Iceni land was but one of many terrible actions. After her constant interference, he arranged for his mother's boat to be sunk during a voyage across the Bay of Naples; however, Agrippina survived, and her merciless son Nero seems to have inherited the callousness that she showed in murdering her husband Claudius. He sent guards to have her killed. Nero has been famously implicated in the great fire of Rome by many, and the blame he laid upon the Christians led to their widespread and horrific torture. Not long after the fire, he kicked his second wife, Poppaea Sabina, who was pregnant at the time, to death, and a conspiracy arose against him. Fourteen years into his reign, he was deposed by the senate, and fled to the house of Phaon, a freedman who had, unknown to the emperor, already betrayed him. Nero committed suicide by stabbing, and supposedly uttered his last words: "How great an artist dies with me!"

Answer: Galba

Galba was unsure of becoming emperor when Julius Vindex, who led a major revolt against Nero, proclaimed him as such. In the same month, the Praetorian Guard declared for him, and only then did Galba march upon Rome. His reign was very brief, lasting barely three months, and Galba was 71 years old when elected. Apparently the armies and senate thought that as an old man with no children, he would soon die without successors. Although the armies had been principal in his succession, he refused to give equal pay to the marine legions, who served in the Bay of Naples, which was something promised by Nero. This was his first big mistake, alienating the armies, and it was not long before he also estranged the army of Germania Superior by removing Verginius Rufus as their commander. Verginius had defeated the revolt against Nero raised by Vindex, and the armies had then declared him emperor, a post he refused and offered instead to Galba, who showed ingratitude by his dismissal of Verginius.

He then made an enemy of Otho, the ex-husband of Nero's wife Poppaea Sabina, with whom Otho had fallen in love. This caused Nero to force the couple to divorce, and thus Otho held a grudge against him, and supported Galba, thinking he would be named as successor. However, Galba was renowned for his snobbery, and instead named Piso as his heir as he was of nobler birth than Otho. Soon the Praetorian Guard lent their support to Otho, and Galba was cut down in the Forum during a confrontation with the armies, and Piso was also murdered.

Answer: Battle of Bedriacum

The legions in the German provinces had declared Vitellius emperor even before Otho received the post. After Otho's defeat of Galba, Vitellius was marching to Rome, while Otho combined his available forces, including gladiators and men of the Praetorian Guard, hoping to add reinforcements from Illyricum.

However, Vitellius's army arrived before the reinforcements, and defeated Otho's. When he heard that his army was defeated, Otho committed suicide.

Answer: Astrologers

The writer Suetonius's father had fought against Vitellius at the Battle of Bedriacum, so perhaps he cannot be regarded as a very objective source; however, Vitellius was also painted negatively by writers such as Cassius Dio and Tacitus, and was described as lazy and gluttonous, reportedly attending banquets four times a day and sending out the navy to acquire rare delicacies for him.

Vespasian was a soldier of non-noble birth who gained support among the armies for his opposition to Vitellius, and was declared emperor in July AD 69 by the armies of Rome, Judea and Syria. As an army-man himself, he dated his imperial reign from this date rather from the date he was elected by the Roman people. When yet more armies declared for Vespasian, Vitellius tried to resign; however, the Praetorian Guard refused to allow him this resignation and he retreated to his palace. Vespasian's brother was killed by the armies of Vitellius during the former's battle for Rome, and his armies stabbed Vitellius and dumped his body in the River Tiber, according to Suetonius; Cassius Dio writes that his severed head was paraded through the city.

Answer: Flavian

Although Vespasian's reign had a bad start, with revolts and rebellions breaking out across the empire, and rumors abounding that Nero still lived, his decade of rule was largely a successful one. Vespasian based his practice on the Julio-Claudian emperors, for example frequently promoting people of all backgrounds, of high or low birth.

The Colosseum was then known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, and was built on the site of Nero's Golden House, which the emperor had torn down. It was built to commemorate victory over the Great Jewish Revolt, in which Vespasian and his eldest son played major parts; unfortunately the emperor died a short time before the building was completed.