Golden Age of Rome - Five Good Emperors - Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius
Five Good Emperors
Domitian
Nerva
They chose Nerva, who was an old man with no sons who might want
to inherit the throne. Nerva didn't have time to do much as emperor,
because he died in 98
AD, after only two
years in power, but he did start a new system for choosing the next
emperor which worked better: he chose somebody who seemed like he would
do a good job, and he adopted him as his son.
Trajan
The man Nerva adopted was Trajan. And Trajan did become emperor
when Nerva died, and he did do a good job. Trajan took the Roman army
to
Dacia (modern Rumania), and he
conquered it. Dacia had a lot of gold mines, and so Rome became rich
from all the
gold. Trajan
also seems to have
made
Christianity illegal. Then Trajan took the army to
West
Asia, and he conquered a lot of land from the
Parthians
- all the way to Babylon, where
Alexander
had died! Trajan also had no sons, and he seems to have adopted his
nephew as HIS son. The nephew's name was Hadrian.
Hadrian
When Trajan died, Hadrian became emperor. Hadrian was not as popular
as Trajan, because as soon as Trajan died Hadrian decided that the Roman
Empire couldn't really keep all that land Trajan had conquered in West
Asia, and he gave most of it back to the
Parthians.
He thought it would be too expensive to try to keep it, because it was
so far away from Rome. Of course the army didn't like giving up all
this land they had fought for. And Hadrian didn't try to conquer anyplace
new either. The army got bored. Still, Hadrian did keep peace in the
Roman Empire. Like Nerva and Trajan, Hadrian had no children, and he
adopted a grown man instead.
This is Hadrian's wife, Sabina.
Antoninus Pius
When Hadrian died in 134
AD, his adopted
son Antoninus became emperor. Antoninus is often called Antoninus Pius
because he was so interested in religion and in doing everything right.
Like Hadrian, he didn't fight any wars. But the Roman Empire stayed
peaceful and everyone was doing pretty well. Again Antoninus Pius adopted
a grown man to follow him, and that was Marcus Aurelius.
This is Antoninus Pius' wife, Fausta, and his family
To find out more about the five good emperors, check out these books
from Amazon.com or from your library:
Classical
Rome, by John Clare (1993). For kids, the whole political history
from beginning to end.
The
Romans: From Village to Empire, by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola,
and Richard Talbert (2004). Okay, it's a little dry, but it is up to
date and has all the facts you could want.
The
Roman Empire, by Colin Wells (1984). More readable. Alternates chapters
on political and social history. Unfortunately, he stops at the third
century crisis.
The
Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99 and the Reign of Nerva, by John
Grainger (2002).
Trajan:
Optimus Princeps, by Julian Bennett (2001).
Memoirs
of Hadrian, by Marguerite Yourcenar (1963). A famous historical
novel, written through the eyes of Hadrian.
