Worst Roman Emperors

Gundamor,

Don't forget that these "stories" that you speak of were written by those who were against or enemies of the particular Emperor involved. So don't be too Gullible. Especially in Nero's case. People often forget that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius killed and persecuted more Christians than Nero ever did, but Aurelius is considered as one of the Good Emperors and Nero Bad. Nero in fact was probably one of the most Popular Roman Emperors Ever, but not with the Patricians of course.

Read about Nero in Suetonious or the section about the Madnes of Nero in the Annals of Imperial rome. Frankly, he seemed to be a foul man. Some of the stories are frankly disgusting. Caligula was plauged by a brain disease, so his behavior was not all his fault.

What are good books to read about (apart from Gibbon) for learning about these later Emperors? I have only really read about the 12 Caesars

The first Year of the Four Emperors was filled with stupid men until Vespasian came. Not THE worst but bad they were.

Tiberius was a terrible emperor, but he seems to  me to have been sly and cunning. Like Stalin, he wanted dead anyone who got in his way and it is suspected that he organized (or at least played at part in) The death of Germanicus

I have not read much about the later dynasties of the Roman emperors. I have read Suetonius and Tacitus in relation to the emperors. What are some other good historians to read about the later dynasties?

Hello,

One happened to glance the Poll at the top of this thread and to my amazement discovered that 10 people have voted for Nero as the Worst Roman Emperor! This is particularly shocking to me because the Poll also includes the notorious Emperors Caligula and Commodus who have recieved considerably less votes! Now..... I fully respect the right of a person to vote for whoever they want to vote for..... but..... One is really very Curious to know how an intelligent person can come to the Conclusion that Nero was a Worse Emperor than both Caligula and Commodus!!!!!

Maybe I am just making the mistake of Assuming that the people who voted for Nero have some kind of Knowledge about or have done Research concerning this topic of the Roman Emperors! I am simply at a loss to understand it.

So..... if I may..... can I ask those who voted for Nero to explain to me the reasons, in their opinion, why Nero was a worse Emperor than both Caligula and Commodus????? Please... unburden my Curiosity.

   

The worst Roman? That is a pretty big title for one to have to wear. There were certainly many who were bad.  Caracalla, Commodus and Elagabalus number amongst the more popular choices. How influential either one of these or others were in actually leading to the fall of them Empire, well, I think it is too hard for me to say.

Valentinian III would definately be a good canidate for worst emperor, especially because of the fact that he murdered Flavius Aetius after all of his years of service to the empire. I always thought of Val. III as a weak man in general, very sneaky like a vermin.

 

Aetius was a real military dictator, it was him who actually ruled the Western Roman empire under Valentinian. His tension with Roman general Bonifacius caused loss of Africa, by the way he finally killed Bonifacius.