Curated playlist
Deified Roman emperors
- Constantius ChlorusThe Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus never heard the name Chlorus. Byzantine-era historians coined it after he died.
- Gordian IGordian I ruled Rome for exactly 22 days. A mob made the roughly 80-year-old proconsul emperor.
- Theodosius ITheodosius I was the last Roman emperor to rule the whole empire alone.
- Constantine the GreatConstantine, the first Christian Roman emperor, was baptized only on his deathbed.
- CaracallaRoman emperor Caracalla was stabbed by a soldier while stopping to urinate on a road. He had turned 29 that very day.
- GallienusRoman emperor Gallienus was stabbed outside Milan after a false report of an enemy breakout.
- VespasianEmperor Vespasian taxed urine, then held a coin under his son's nose and asked if it smelled.
- Septimius SeverusIn 193, soldiers at Carnuntum acclaimed Septimius Severus emperor after Rome's guard killed Pertinax.
- AugustusAt nineteen, Augustus accepted a dead man's will and took Julius Caesar's name.
- ClaudiusA soldier found Claudius hiding behind a curtain and declared him emperor.
- Marcus AureliusMarcus Aurelius wrote a private journal that sold 100,000 copies in 2019.
- Claudius GothicusAn ancient legend says Emperor Claudius Gothicus once knocked out a horse's teeth with one punch.
- Gordian IIGordian II was Roman emperor for about 22 days in 238 AD. No recorded reign was shorter.
- Lucius VerusRome had its first two equal emperors in 161. Marcus Aurelius refused to rule unless Lucius Verus got equal powers.
- DiocletianRetired emperor Diocletian answered a plea to return in 308 by talking about his cabbages.
- HadrianWhen Antinous drowned in the Nile, Emperor Hadrian wept, and then founded a city in his honor.
- GaleriusGalerius, a cattle-herder's son, became a Roman emperor. In 311 he ended the persecution of Christians he had pushed.
- MaximianRoman emperor Maximian retired when ordered to, then came back twice. His last try in 310 began with a false claim.
- TitusEmperor Titus reportedly died saying, "I have made but one mistake." No one agrees what it was.
- TrajanTrajan, born in a small Spanish town without baths or a theater, became Rome's emperor.
- Antoninus PiusEmperor Antoninus Pius ruled Rome for 23 years and likely never came within 500 miles of a legion.
- CommodusRoman emperor Commodus was strangled in his bath by his own wrestling partner. He was thirty-one years old.
- Roman imperial cultIn 42 BC, Octavian had the Senate make his adoptive father Julius Caesar a Roman god.
- NervaIn October 97, Roman soldiers besieged Emperor Nerva's palace and took him hostage.
- AurelianA forged list of officials marked for execution got Roman emperor Aurelian killed by his own officers.
- Valerian (emperor)Emperor Valerian became the first Roman emperor captured alive in battle. Persia's Shapur I took him at Edessa in 260.
- Gordian IIIGordian III became Roman emperor at just thirteen years old.
- Severus AlexanderSeverus Alexander was ruling the Roman Empire alone by age thirteen.
- ValensRoman emperor Valens died in 378 and his body was never found.