Curated playlist
Julio-Claudian dynasty
- TiberiusMobs shouted "To the Tiber with Tiberius" when Rome's second emperor died.
- 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.
- Rise of AugustusAt nineteen, Octavian marched eight legions into Rome and became its youngest consul.
- AeneidVirgil asked his friends to burn the Aeneid when he died. Augustus refused and ordered it published.
- Julio-Claudian dynastyRome's first five emperors were never the blood son of the man they replaced. Adoption filled the gap.
- CaligulaEmperor Caligula once rode a horse across a floating bridge more than two miles long.
- Reign of AugustusThe reign of Augustus, Rome's first emperor, is said to have closed with a line borrowed from the theatre. His famous last words were, "Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit." In Latin that is Acta est fabula, plaudite. The…
- GermanicusRomans began mourning Germanicus before the Senate ordered it. He died in Antioch in AD 19, aged thirty-three.
- Nero Claudius DrususAncient sources say a ghostly woman warned Drusus back from the Elbe in 9 BC. He died within weeks.
- Lusus TroiaeJulius Caesar revived the Troy Game, a horse show for Roman noble boys. Nero rode in it at age nine in 47 AD.
- Marcus Vipsanius AgrippaAgrippa's name is still on the Pantheon in Rome, though Hadrian built it. The emperor kept the original inscription.