A Brief History
This article contains a table of textual and video biographies of various Roman emperors and usurpers covered in De vita Caesarum (English: About the Life of the Caesars), commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, as well as notable works inspired by this ancient text, including the Historia Augusta (English: Augustan History) and Vita Karoli Magni (English: Life of Charlemagne).
Digging Deeper
Question for students (and subscribers): Who is your favorite Roman emperor or usurper? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
Please also read the following articles in the order indicated below and answer the questions posed within those articles in their respective comments sections:
- “Do You Share Roman Emperor Severus Alexander’s Opinions About Jewelry?”
- “What If Odaenathus Was Not Assassinated?”
- “What Is It That Makes Emperors Evil?”
- “What If Probus Lived Longer?”
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please read the following books in the order listed below:
Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. Penguin Classics, 2007.
Lives of the Later Caesars: The First Part of the Augustan History, with Newly Compiled Lives of Nerva & Trajan. Trans. by Anthony Birley. Penguin Classics, 1976.
Einhard and Notker the Stammerer. Two Lives of Charlemagne. Ed. and trans. by David Ganz. Penguin Classics, 2008.
The featured image in this article, a collage by Shakko of Roman emperors on coins using PD-photos of coins from Wikimedia Commons, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
You can also watch a playlist of the video biographies of the emperors in chronological order below:
