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Curated category

Deified Roman emperors

  • Constantius ChlorusFlavius Valerius Constantius entered the world on the 31st of March, though historians cannot name his birth year. His career and the age of his eldest son…
  • Gordian IMarcus Antonius Gordianus lived from 158 to April 238. His name suggests paternal ancestors received Roman citizenship under Mark Antony during the late…
  • Theodosius IThe year 347 marked the birth of a boy in Hispania who would one day command the Roman legions. His father, Theodosius the Elder, served as a high-ranking…
  • Constantine the GreatOn the 27th of February 272, a boy named Constantine was born inside the city of Naissus. This settlement sat within Dardania, part of the province Moesia…
  • CaracallaLucius Septimius Bassianus entered the world on the 4th of April 188 in the city of Lugdunum, Gaul. This location is now known as Lyon, France.
  • GallienusPublius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus entered the world around 218 AD, born into a wealthy senatorial family in Falerii, an ancient city in Etruria.
  • VespasianTitus Flavius Vespasianus entered the world on the 17th of November AD 9 in a small village north-east of Rome called Falacrinae.
  • Septimius SeverusOn the 11th of April in 145, Lucius Septimius Severus drew his first breath within the walls of Leptis Magna. This city sat in the Roman province of Africa…
  • AugustusOn the 23rd of September in 63 BC, a boy named Gaius Octavius drew his first breath inside a family estate on Rome's Palatine Hill.
  • ClaudiusOn the 1st of August 10 BC, a boy named Tiberius Claudius D. f. Ti. n. Drusus was born in Lugdunum, modern-day Lyon, France.
  • Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius was born in Rome on the 26th of April 121. His birth name is sometimes given as Marcus Annius Verus, but sources assign this name to him upon…
  • Claudius GothicusMarcus Aurelius Claudius was born on the 10th of May in 214. Some researchers suggest a later date of 219 or 220, yet most historians adhere to the first…
  • Gordian IIMarcus Antonius Gordianus was born in 192 to a family with deep roots in the Roman Republic. His praenomen and nomen suggest his ancestors received…
  • Lucius VerusLucius Ceionius Commodus entered the world on the 15th of December 130 in Rome. He was the first-born son of Avidia and Lucius Aelius Caesar, who served as…
  • DiocletianIn the year 284, an army gathered on a hill outside Nicomedia to choose their new leader. The soldiers had just discovered that Emperor Numerian was dead…
  • HadrianPublius Aelius Hadrianus drew his first breath on the 24th of January in the year 76. He emerged into a world centered in Italica, a Roman town founded by…
  • GaleriusGalerius Valerius Maximianus arrived in the world between 258 and 260 within the Danube provinces. Ancient texts place his birth either near Serdica or at a…
  • MaximianMaximian was born around the year 250 near Sirmium in the province of Pannonia. His family owned a shop, and he grew up along the war-torn Danube frontier.
  • TitusTitus Flavius Vespasianus entered the world on the 30th of December 39 AD in Rome. His family name was Flavia, a gens that rose from obscurity to imperial…
  • TrajanMarcus Ulpius Traianus arrived in the world on the 18th of September AD53 within the Roman province of Hispania Baetica.
  • Antoninus PiusTitus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus entered the world on the 19th of September 86 near Lanuvium in Italy. His father held the consulship of 89 and…
  • CommodusOn the 31st of August AD 161, Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus drew his first breath in Lanuvium, a town nestled near Rome.
  • Roman imperial cultIn 77 BC, loyalist Romans in Further Spain burned incense to the proconsul Metellus Pius as if he were a god. They organized a lavish banquet with imported…
  • AurelianAurelian entered the Roman army in 235, a year that marked the beginning of his ascent from modest circumstances. Most historians agree he was born on the…
  • Valerian (emperor)Valerian entered the Senate before AD 238 as a Suffectus consul. He later served as Ordinarius consul in that same year, marking his early ascent within…
  • Gordian IIIThe 20th of January in the year 225 marked the birth of Marcus Antonius Gordianus. Historical records regarding his early years remain frustratingly sparse…
  • Severus AlexanderOn the 13th of March 222, the Roman army hailed a thirteen-year-old boy as emperor. This young man was Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, grandson of Julia…
  • ValensOn the 28th of March 364, soldiers gathered before the Constantinian Walls at a place called Hebdomon to acclaim Valens as co-emperor.