Roman Emperors

Who was the best Roman Emperor?

My vote goes to Titus; had he ruled for more than just 2 years, that is.

>Picking a guy with an (((Eastern))) girlfriend.

A lot with things in history and in life it is true when it comes to common sense.
The best Roman Emperors were the ones who WERE NOT assassinated lol.

He both gassed and cucked the jews, and when the Roman people didn't approve of his jewish cumslut, he dumped her whore ass. What isn't to like about him?

Marcus spent too much time with philosophy and not enough time governing. There is a reason why he was the last of the Good Emperors.

Ronaldus Regnus

It's hard to pick a definitive best, but here are my top picks:
-Augustus
-Hadrian
-Marcus Aurelius
-Aurelian
-Constantine
-Valentinian
-Theodosius
-Anastasius
-Justinian
-Heraclius
-Leo III
-Basil I
-Basil II
-Alexios I
-John II
-John III
-Michael VIII

>no Trajan at top 5

Augustus was unironically the wisest ruler of all time, not just of the Romans, but like in all of history over every other ruler of any other nation or empire or tribe

I have a soft spot for rulers like Aurelian and Majorian, who took over in a time of crisis and did their best to fight it and then died to treachery

>Titus was apparently bent on ending Judaism as a religion. He sought to slaughter their animals, kill their men, rape their women, enslave their children, and kill their God. When he finally did breach the walls, his soldiers set upon everyone – man, woman, child, those who stayed loyal to Rome, and those who did not. The city went up in flames. The roar of the inferno mixed with screams of agony as the Romans swept through the upper and lower city, literally clambering over dead bodies in pursuit of the rebels, until they reached the Second Temple, set it aflame, and reduced it to dust. When the fires subsided, Titus gave the order to destroy the remainder of the city, seeking that no one would remember the name Jerusalem. The Temple was demolished, after which Titus' soldiers proclaimed him imperator in honor of the victory.

the ultimate tragic figures of history. Aurelian especially was fucking based.

Augustus was unironically probably one of the smartest and wisest rulers in all of history. he saved Rome from total disaster (part of which was honestly his fault), elevated himself to literal god-tier levels in just a few years (or at least set himself up to be elevated to god status posthumously), annihilated all of his political enemies basically effortlessly, knew how to use propaganda to his advantage, built the foundations for literally the greatest empire to ever exist. the dude was incredible even if you view him as some kleptomaniacal tyrant (and you'd be a retard to do that)

the Five Goodbois are clearly also worth mentioning

Vespasian and Titus were both pretty cool

Valentinian I is underrated

Claudius gets shit on a lot for no reason, and even though he was a physical retard, he used his looks to deceive his political foes. he was pretty fucking smart and a decent commander to boot. too bad his great nephew was a fucking retard

Nero was just a young guy who wanted to enjoy his life instead of taking responsibilities of an emperor. He was only 17 when he came to the throne, and was more interested in singing, racing, art and sex.

begone Nero apologist

>Titus reportedly refused to accept a wreath of victory, as he claimed that he had not won the victory on his own, but had been the vehicle through which their God had manifested his wrath against his people.

It really gives a lot of legitimacy to Christian Supersessionism.

Too bad he wasn't smart enough to not be a, literal, fucking cuckold.

And Caligula was literally raped and tortured for years after losing his father and being locked up in an island before people remembered he still existed.

Cruel as they were, i really pity those two. No other emperors had suffered so much for the suffering they themselves inflicted, except maybe Dominitian.

Vespasian.

Caligula was going to be a good guy before his brain disease.

Julian is also pretty underrated. I feel as though he'd be a lot better remembered if he hadn't fucking died when going to fight the Sassanids, but it's also important to remember that he died in the middle of battle, while fighting, wearing no armor. Probably one of the braver emperors out there.

>Just keep on bobling, what could go wrong?

Trajan

>it worked for Trajan so it should for me too

>Emperor
>best anything

So which was better Republic or Empire?

Empire had lot of incompetent and batshit insane emperors. Republic had corrupt senators who didn't care about the poor,

[spoiler] The monarchy [/spoiler]

Aesthetically either late Empire or Republic

The empire, for all its succession bullshit, was the more stable entity. The Republic existed and expanded by cannibalizing its own citizenship.

Republic up to the Punic Wars.

I like Valentinian just because he died the way I want to, screaming in a German's face

>-Constantine
>-Valentinian
>-Theodosius
>-Anastasius
->Justinian
>-Heraclius
>-Leo III
>-Basil I
>-Basil II
>-Alexios I
>-John II
>-John III
>-Michael VIII
Literally who?

>Theodosius
>Justinian

Anastasius I.

Yeah I know they're both overrated, especially Justinian. But they both had significant accomplishments that shouldn't be forgotten.

Trajan literally did nothing except conquer indefensible Dacian land and indefensible Parthian land.

In order:
>1. Augustus
>2. Diocletian
>3. Aurelian
>4. Trajan
>5. JUSTinian

He showed those fuckers, though.

Basil “Bulgar-Slayer” was better at showing unwashed barbarians what’s what
And Bulgar slaying aside, he was a pretty good emperor

I feel like Suetonius purposely made Titus look good because of his gripe with Domitian

People that say Justinian are retarded. He overstretched the empire to the point where it was too much to handle once again which lead to it's downfall as well as letting his wife hold his balls. He's closer to the worst than the best

Justinian's failures are largely due to factors out of his control. How the fuck was he supposed to know the coldest decade in over 2 millennia (due to a cold snap, and the eruption of 2 volcanoes whose ash blocked out the sun) would occur right during his invasions, and how would he know of the plague (which was as deadly as what would happen in the 13th Century Black Death). We probably would have seen Roman Empire 2.0 come back in full force had his forces not been so utterly rekt by disease and famine due to the environmental catastrophes.

His works were the pinnacle of Late Antique architecture and art, and his law code became the standard for over 1000 years in most of Europe.

Theodora was a legitimately brilliant advisor, and anyone who disagrees needs to stop sucking off Procopius. I dislike his treatment of Belisarius though.

Do you have the source for that quote, it seems a bit off.

You're a fucking idiot. He contended with some of the worst revolts in Roman history and instituted a swath of public services and building programs which created some of Rome's most enduring and impressive artifacts. Scholars throughout history near-universally recognize him to be one of the best emperors.

>Bulgarians in the middle ages
>unwashed barbarians

Is everyone here on crack

He was? Explain

He was the last good emperor because his son wasn't interested in being one

>no Trajan

>I dislike his treatment of Belisarius though.
Even that's mostly because Belisarius disobeyed his orders on a number of key points and actually accepted the title of emperor from the Goths. Even if it was a ruse, he should have known Justinian would get his panties in a twist over it.

>muh territorial expansions

He is also responsible for a code of laws that became the basis for 99% of western legal culture, Justinian's Digest specifically became the cornerstone for European law until Napoleon, and even the Napoleonic Code was heavily influenced by the Code of Justinian.

Contrary to most Roman Emperors whose works died along with Rome, we still feel Justinian's legacy even today, the man is on a level similar to Augustus.

What the point having customary law in the legend if it doesn't appear anywhere on the map?

Pretty sure that's for Andorra but it's too small to see it.

Dominitian was the Helga to Titus' Olga

Constantine the Great

it's a fake quote people attribute to him

Also, Justinian's impact is still very important today due to his legal reforms being the basis for most continental European law.

Marcus Aurelius is best girl.

Aurelian ruled five short years and single-handedly saved the Empire from collapse, giving it a lease of 200 years more of existence.

Most underrated Emperor desu

I do wonder what the three Romes would have been like if they had lasted for a century more.

Would Gallic Rome hache hold out against the huns? Would have the main empire split further? Would have Palmyra eventually conquered the sassanids for good?

they probably would have autistically screeched at each other until all 3 of them collapsed

This is possibly the most likely though in a strange way.

The Palmyra Empire did make claims on its legitimacy from the Seleucid Empire, so it's possible that as time went on they would have become "less Roman" to further their own populace's "native pride".

>Bulgars in any age
>not unwashed barbarians.
Pick 1

>caring what the plebs think of your waifu
>dumping her because of public opinion
Weak

Domitian is underrated. Stronk emperor who don't need no senate.

i've got no doubt they would have developed their own culture, but if the influx of foreign culture to mainland Rome and italy from those borders would have stopped it would have been interesting to see how that would have looked.

also i wonder if there would have been even more beak ups, Iberia and Hellas turning into the Spanish empire and the Greek empire. It would have been weird to reach the middle ages with more or less modern country borders.

>My vote goes to Titus; had he ruled for more than just 2 years


Nobody gives a shit about your vote. Explain WHY you think that, then we can converse about it.

>And Caligula was literally raped and tortured for years

Citation on that one, please.

It's a fake quote, his beliefs were actually the complete opposite of that, believing that men should entirely entrust themselves to the Gods because they would never knowingly lead you into evil

>spoon feeding
Why not read about Titus yourself? Then, we can converse about it.

...and Marcus was too much of a cuck (literally) to actually select a worthy heir. It is his fault, not his son's fault, for not ensuring a stable succession.

>Majorian
Makes me sad every time

>emperors
>good

t. Marcus "REEEEEE BRUTUS SAVE ME" Cicero

infinitely underrated post

Why was there an Empire based on garlic?
Did it grow there alot or its just a nickname

Domitian would have been an amazing emperor had he reigned two centuries later.

Justinian

>This thread again