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Roman Emperors facts

While investigating facts about Roman Emperors In Order and Roman Emperors Timeline, I found out little known, but curios details like:

In 1452 a Hungarian engineer, known as Orban, offered to sell an extremely powerful cannon to the Roman Emperor. He refused, so Orban instead sold the cannon to the Ottoman emperor, who used it to breach the walls of Constantinople in 1453, which brought the end to the Roman Empire

how roman emperors were chosen?

14-year-old Roman Emperor Elagabalus was a cross-dressing, sex-obsessed torture fiend who may have invented the whoopee cushion. He loosed venomous snakes into gladiatorial crowds and released his pet lions and leopards into banquet halls or the bed chambers of his guests.

What roman emperors looked like?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what roman emperors really looked like. Here are 50 of the best facts about Roman Emperors List In Order and Roman Emperors Family Tree I managed to collect.

where is the red roman shed at emperors palace?

  1. Roman Emperor Caligula was told that he had "no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae". He then built a two-mile temporary floating bridge and walked his horse across.

  2. Roman emperor Diocletian retired in 305 AD to grow cabbages and tend to his vegetable gardens.

  3. Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (86 CE – 161 CE) had the most peaceful reign of any ruler in antiquity. There is no record of any major events or conflicts during his 23 year reign. He was a skilled administrator and was praised by his contemporaries for his effective style of governance.

  4. Roman Emperor Augustus witnessed a man attempt to feed a slave to lamprey eels as a punishment for breaking a cup. Augustus freed the slave and had the rest of the man's cups broken.

  5. Roman Emperor Pertinax who was murdered by his imperial bodyguard so that they could auction off the empire to the highest bidder

  6. Claudius, a roman from a noble family, had severe disabilities and survived the assassination of his family because nobody thought he was a threat. Claudius became the Emperor after the death of Caligula, began the conquest of Britain, and is widely regarded as a great ruler of Ancient Rome

  7. As the Roman Emperor Vespasian was dying with severe diarrhea, he remarked "Dear me, I think I'm becoming a god" before succumbing to his illness.

  8. In 67 AD, the Roman Emperor Nero participated in the Olympics, bribing the organizers to postpone the games for a year. Nero won every contest, even one which he left the race after being thrown off his chariot. He was removed from the list of winners after his death.

  9. Ancient Romans would dye their hair black, because blonde hair was associated with prostitutes or French and German slaves. This trend began declining when Augustus Caesar, who was blonde, became Rome's first emperor.

  10. Legionaries in the Roman Empire enjoyed considerable disposable income, enhanced by cash bonuses on special occasions such as the accession of a new Emperor. On completion of their term of service (25 years) they were given farmland and a discharge bonus equal to 13 years salary.

roman emperors facts
What roman emperors were assassinated?

Roman Emperors data charts

For your convenience take a look at Roman Emperors figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

roman emperors fact data chart about Roman Emperors (and Empresses) and causes of leaving office
Roman Emperors (and Empresses) and causes of leaving office

roman emperors fact data chart about Reigns and deaths of the Roman Emperors
Reigns and deaths of the Roman Emperors

Why were roman emperors assassinated?

You can easily fact check why were so many roman emperors assassinated by examining the linked well-known sources.

Two thousand and ten years ago, Roman Emperor Augustus banished Ovid to the island of Tomis, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Rome's city council formally revoked his banishment in December 2017

A Roman merchant who sold fake jewels was sentenced to face a lion in the arena. When the gate finally opened, a chicken walked out. Emperor Gallienus proclaimed “He practiced deceit and then had it practiced on him.” - source

A 15 year old Roman Emperor named Heliogabalus, was a notorious prankster. He would get his party guests black out drunk and then dump them into a bedroom full of toothless leopards, lions and bears. He also created the 1st known ‘whoopee cushions’ using inflated animal bladders. - source

Roman Emperor Domitian staged a banquet so spooky the guests were sure they were going to die by execution sometime during the night.

The Roman Emperor Caracalla slaughtered 20,000 Egyptians because they made a play mocking him - source

Roman emperors and when they ruled?

Claudius was the only one of the first 15 Roman emperors not to take a male lover. Others considered him strange for only being attracted to women

How roman emperors died?

Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) tried to discover a "natural language" of humans by having children raised without exposure to language. Allegedly, he never learned the answer because they all died.

Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Roman Emperor. 563 years ago today, as Ottoman cannons breached the once-mighty Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, he donned the appearance of a common soldier and led his remaining men to one last valiant charge in the name of Rome and their home.

Fausta (2nd wife of Roman Emperor Constantine) fell in love with the Emperor's son. He refused her advances. She accused him of making advances. Emperor had his son murdered. Fausta was later rumoured to have had an affair with a slave. Emperor realised his mistake and had her boiled alive.

When Roman Emperor Nero's wife died, he found a boy looking like her, removed his testicles and had Him appear in public as his wife.

The Roman Emperor Commodus would fight in the arena as a gladiator. His opponents consisted of giraffes, citizens missing limbs and wounded roman soldiers. For every appearance in the arena he charged the city of Rome 1 million coins.

Roman emperors infographics

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roman emperors fact infographic about Causes of death of Roman emperors, from 14 AD to 395 AD.

Causes of death of Roman emperors, from 14 AD to 395 AD.


roman emperors fact infographic about Wife let you live a long life before they kill you. Roman Em

Wife let you live a long life before they kill you. Roman Emperors dataset visualization - DataViz Battle of June


Interesting facts about roman emperors

That, unlike most bronze sculptures of Roman emperors, the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was not melted down during the Middle Ages because Europeans of that time thought it was a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome.

The Roman emperor Nero kicked his pregnant wife to death and then felt so bad about it that he found a young boy that looked uncannily like her, had him castrated and married him.

The Roman Empire was once sold at auction by the Praetorian Guard, who had just killed the previous emperor

The Roman Emperor Nero did not play the fiddle as he watched the Great Fire burn Rome. When the fire broke out he was at his villa in Antium, 35 miles away. When he received news of the fire he immediately rushed back to Rome to begin relief efforts.

The Roman Emperor Valentinian got so mad at Quadi envoys who blamed the Romans for a recent war between the two that he burst a blood vessel in his skull and died while yelling at them.

Creating christ how roman emperors invented christianity?

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was one of the first people to propose creating a Panama Canal

A Roman goldsmith may have discovered aluminum metal 1800 years before modern chemists did, but Emperor Tiberius had the discoverer killed in order to ensure the metal would not diminish the value of his own gold and silver assets

Roman Emperor Commodus was known to fight exotic animals in the arena, often to the horror of the Roman people. He once killed 100 lions in a single day. For each appearance in the arena, he charged a million sesterces, straining the Roman economy.

Claudius was the first of 15 Roman Emperors to not have any male lovers. People thought it was strange that he was only attracted to women.

Roman emperor Nero paid for a young boy, married him, castrated him and dressed him like a girl at public events.

When the retired Roman Emperor Diocletian was asked to take up the role again, he refused, saying that he would rather continue planting his cabbages

Christopher Lee (91), who played Saruman, Count Dooku, etc. is a descendant of the First Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. He is a heavy metal singer and recorded a full solo album (2010). He killed Nazis in the British special forces, and even witnessed the last guillotine execution in France

Roman Emperor Caligula once appointed his favorite horse, Incitatus, to the senate. Many think that this was because of Caligula's very known insanity, but there are suggestions that it was an elaborate prank to mock the senate and say that even a horse could easily perform their duties.

When an informer told the Roman emperor Julian that a man possessed a purple robe (which was treason and punishable by death, purple being the royal color), Julian dealt with the offender by sending him a pair of purple slippers to complete the outfit.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the man who ruled the Roman Empire at its apex and considered the best Roman Emperor ever lived for this reason, didn't want to rule, he had a "fear" of imperial power and was reluctant when the senate offered him the position of Emperor.

During the Third Crusade 84% of the crusader army went home because the Holy Roman Emperor drowned in a river.

The Roman emperor Nero took a liking to a young boy named Sporus, who he had castrated and married because he bore a resemblance to the emperor's former wife, who Nero had allegedly murdered. After Nero's death, Sporus took his own life out of humiliation.

Roman Emperor Caligula once ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the audience into an arena during the intermission to be eaten by the wild beasts because there were no prisoners to be used and he was bored.

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