The Emperor

Abstract

Between 30 B.C. and 284 A.D. the imperial dignity was held by some thirty persons.¹ If all the numerous unsuccessful contenders for the imperial office were included who controlled parts of the empire for some time, the figure would be considerably higher. The average imperial reign, thus, did not last more than 8,4 years. Quite a number of imperial personages held the office for much shorter terms.² However, while the good fortune of Augustus’ rule of almost half a century (30 B.C. to 14 A.D.) subsequently was never duplicated, a number of emperors could enjoy ruling terms of considerable length (for example, Trajan (198 to 217), 19 years; Hadrian (117 to 138), 21 years; Antoninus Pius (138 to 161), 23 years; Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180), 19 years; Septimius Severus (193 to 211), 18 years). Practically all of them are among the great rulers of the antiquity who would have graced any political system, most of all Hadrian who, together with Caesar and Augustus, is considered the greatest of all Roman hommes politiques. It should be noted that the first four of the emperors mentioned obtained the imperial dignity through the technique of adoption by the incumbent rather than on the basis of a dynastic claim to the succession, in each case the choice being formally confirmed by the Senate in its own and the Roman people’s name. The heaviest turnover, marking the rapid decline of the Principate, occurred in the third century. Within little more than seventy years, from Caracalla (212 to 217) to 284, no fewer than twenty emperors, none lasting more than five years, succeeded one another.