Curated playlist
Roman quaestors
- CiceroCicero's name comes from the Latin word for chickpea. He refused advice to drop it when he entered politics.
- TiberiusMobs shouted "To the Tiber with Tiberius" when Rome's second emperor died.
- VespasianEmperor Vespasian taxed urine, then held a coin under his son's nose and asked if it smelled.
- Marcus Junius BrutusBrutus fell on his own sword on a hillside near Philippi in 42 BC. Two years earlier, he helped kill Julius Caesar.
- Lucius VerusRome had its first two equal emperors in 161. Marcus Aurelius refused to rule unless Lucius Verus got equal powers.
- HadrianWhen Antinous drowned in the Nile, Emperor Hadrian wept, and then founded a city in his honor.
- CaligulaEmperor Caligula once rode a horse across a floating bridge more than two miles long.
- Gaius Cassius LonginusCassius died believing he had lost a battle his side had actually won. Brutus had beaten Octavian's camp at Philippi.
- TitusEmperor Titus reportedly died saying, "I have made but one mistake." No one agrees what it was.
- Antoninus PiusEmperor Antoninus Pius ruled Rome for 23 years and likely never came within 500 miles of a legion.