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List of Roman Emperors

Every Roman emperor in order of accession, from Augustus in 27 BC to the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in AD 476, including co-emperors, the Gallic emperors and the Eastern emperors down to 476. More of them were murdered than died in their beds.

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Julio-Claudian

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Augustus	27 BC – AD 14	Natural death	Great-nephew and adopted heir of Julius Caesar who defeated Antony and Cleopatra and became the first Roman emperor.
Tiberius	AD 14–37	Natural death	Second Roman emperor, Livia's son and a distinguished general, who spent his last decade in seclusion on Capri.
Caligula	AD 37–41	Assassinated	Third Roman emperor, son of Germanicus, known by a childhood nickname meaning 'little boot' and notorious for cruelty and extravagance.
Claudius	AD 41–54	Assassinated	Proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard after being found hiding behind a curtain; began the conquest of Britain in AD 43.
Nero	AD 54–68	Suicide	Last Julio-Claudian emperor, a would-be artist who had his mother killed, reigned during the Great Fire of AD 64 and built the Golden House.

Year of the Four Emperors

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Galba	AD 68–69	Assassinated	Elderly governor of Hispania Tarraconensis who replaced Nero in 68 and was the first ruler of the Year of the Four Emperors.
Otho	AD 69	Suicide	Former companion of Nero and governor of Lusitania who overthrew Galba and ruled for three months in AD 69.
Vitellius	AD 69	Executed	Commander of the legions of Lower Germany, proclaimed emperor at Cologne in January 69 and remembered for gluttony; third ruler of that year.

Flavian

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Vespasian	AD 69–79	Natural death	Victor of the Year of the Four Emperors, a plain-spoken general from an equestrian family who was commanding in Judaea when proclaimed and who began the Colosseum.
Titus	AD 79–81	Natural death	Conqueror of Jerusalem in AD 70 whose brief, popular reign saw the eruption of Vesuvius and the inauguration of the Colosseum.
Domitian	AD 81–96	Assassinated	Last Flavian emperor, Vespasian's younger son, an autocrat who styled himself 'lord and god' and suffered damnatio memoriae.

Nerva-Antonine

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Nerva	AD 96–98	Natural death	Elderly senator chosen emperor on Domitian's murder, first of the 'Five Good Emperors', who secured the succession by adopting the governor of Upper Germany.
Trajan	AD 98–117	Natural death	Spanish-born soldier-emperor titled Optimus Princeps, who conquered Dacia and brought the empire to its greatest territorial extent.
Hadrian	AD 117–138	Natural death	Philhellene, bearded, much-travelled emperor who gave up Trajan's eastern conquests, fortified the frontier of northern Britain and rebuilt the Pantheon.
Antoninus Pius	AD 138–161	Natural death	Fourth of the 'Five Good Emperors', whose long, peaceful reign was spent entirely in Italy and who pushed the British frontier north to the Forth-Clyde line.
Marcus Aurelius	AD 161–180	Natural death	Stoic philosopher-emperor, last of the 'Five Good Emperors', who wrote the Meditations while fighting Germanic tribes on the Danube.
Lucius Verus	AD 161–169	Natural death	Adoptive brother and co-emperor of Marcus Aurelius from 161, nominal commander of the Parthian War of 161–166.
Commodus	AD 180–192	Assassinated	Son of Marcus Aurelius who fought as a gladiator in the arena, posed as Hercules and tried to rename Rome after himself.

Year of the Five Emperors

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Pertinax	AD 193	Assassinated	Freedman's son and former schoolteacher who rose to be urban prefect and was made emperor on 1 January 193, only to be murdered by the Praetorians within three months.
Didius Julianus	AD 193	Executed	Wealthy senator who won the throne in March 193 by outbidding a rival in an auction held by the Praetorian Guard, and lasted 66 days.
Pescennius Niger	AD 193–194	Executed	Governor of Syria proclaimed emperor by the eastern legions in 193, beaten by Severus's generals at Cyzicus, Nicaea and Issus.
Clodius Albinus	AD 193–197	Suicide	Governor of Britain in 193 whom Severus bought off with the title of Caesar; later proclaimed Augustus and destroyed at Lugdunum in 197.

Severan

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Septimius Severus	AD 193–211	Natural death	African-born governor of Upper Pannonia who won the civil wars of 193–197, founded a new dynasty with his wife Julia Domna and died at York.
Caracalla	AD 211–217	Assassinated	Emperor nicknamed after a Gallic hooded cloak, who murdered his brother and co-ruler in 211 and extended citizenship to nearly all free inhabitants of the empire.
Geta	AD 211	Assassinated	Younger son of Septimius Severus, joint emperor for ten months in 211 until his brother had him killed and his name and image erased.
Macrinus	AD 217–218	Executed	Praetorian prefect from Mauretania who engineered Caracalla's murder and became the first emperor of equestrian rank, never visiting Rome during his reign.
Diadumenian	AD 218	Executed	Nine-year-old son of Macrinus, named Caesar in 217 and raised to Augustus for a few weeks in 218.
Elagabalus	AD 218–222	Assassinated	Teenage hereditary priest of the sun god of Emesa, made emperor in 218 by his grandmother Julia Maesa, who brought a sacred black stone to Rome.
Severus Alexander	AD 222–235	Assassinated	Cousin and adopted heir of Elagabalus who acceded at 13, ruled under the guidance of his mother Julia Mamaea, and whose murder at Mainz opened the third-century crisis.

Crisis of the Third Century

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Maximinus Thrax	AD 235–238	Assassinated	First soldier-emperor to rise from the ranks, a reputedly gigantic Balkan peasant whose accession after the murder of Severus Alexander in 235 opened the third-century crisis; he never visited Rome as emperor.
Gordian I	AD 238	Suicide	Elderly proconsul of Africa, about eighty years old, proclaimed emperor by rebellious landowners at Thysdrus in 238 and recognised by the Senate; he ruled for only about three weeks with his son.
Gordian II	AD 238	Killed in battle	Co-emperor with his aged father, the proconsul of Africa, for about three weeks in 238; he fell outside Carthage fighting the governor of Numidia, Capelianus.
Pupienus	AD 238	Assassinated	One of two elderly senators elected joint emperors by the Senate in 238; he was the one who took the field against Maximinus Thrax, basing himself at Ravenna, while his colleague stayed in Rome.
Balbinus	AD 238	Assassinated	One of two elderly senators elected joint emperors by the Senate in 238; he was the one who remained in Rome to handle civil government while his colleague marched north to Ravenna.
Gordian III	AD 238–244	Unknown	Boy emperor raised to sole rule at thirteen by the Praetorians at the end of the Year of the Six Emperors; guided by his father-in-law, the prefect Timesitheus, he died on campaign against Shapur I in 244.
Philip the Arab	AD 244–249	Killed in battle	Praetorian prefect from the province of Arabia who succeeded Gordian III in 244, bought peace from Shapur I, and presided over Rome's thousandth-anniversary games in 248.
Philip II	AD 247–249	Assassinated	Boy co-emperor, son of the ruler who celebrated Rome's millennium: Caesar from 244 and Augustus from 247, he was killed aged about twelve after his father fell to Decius.
Decius	AD 249–251	Killed in battle	First Roman emperor to die in battle against a foreign enemy, falling to the Goths at Abritus in 251; his edict of 250 ordering universal sacrifice produced the first empire-wide persecution of Christians.
Herennius Etruscus	AD 251	Killed in battle	Elder son of the emperor who ordered universal sacrifice in 250; raised to co-Augustus in 251, he was struck down by a Gothic arrow at Abritus just before his father died in the same battle.
Trebonianus Gallus	AD 251–253	Assassinated	Governor of Moesia proclaimed by the army after the disaster at Abritus in 251; he let the Goths leave with their booty and captives and promised them an annual subsidy, while plague ravaged the empire.
Hostilian	AD 251	Natural death	Younger son of the emperor killed at Abritus, accepted as co-Augustus by his father's successor in 251 but dead within months in Rome's great epidemic.
Volusianus	AD 251–253	Assassinated	Son of the emperor who bought off the Goths after Abritus; made Caesar in 251 and promoted to co-Augustus when Hostilian died, he was killed beside his father near Interamna in 253.
Aemilian	AD 253	Assassinated	African-born governor of Moesia hailed emperor by his troops in 253 after beating the Goths; he overthrew his predecessor but lasted only about three months before his men killed him near Spoletium.
Valerian	AD 253–260	Captured	The only Roman emperor taken prisoner by a foreign enemy, seized by Shapur I near Edessa in 260; he had divided the empire with his son, taking the East himself.
Gallienus	AD 253–268	Assassinated	Son and co-ruler of the emperor captured by the Persians; sole ruler from 260 while Gaul and the East slipped from central control, he created a mobile cavalry reserve, barred senators from army commands and halted his father's persecution of Christians.
Saloninus	AD 260	Executed	Teenage younger son of Gallienus, left as Caesar on the Rhine under the guardian Silvanus; hailed Augustus while besieged in Cologne in 260, he was handed over and killed weeks later.
Claudius Gothicus	AD 268–270	Natural death	First of the Illyrian soldier-emperors, who succeeded the murdered Gallienus in 268, crushed a huge Germanic invasion at Naissus, and died of plague at Sirmium after less than two years.
Quintillus	AD 270	Unknown	Brother of the victor of Naissus, recognised by the Senate on his sibling's death from plague in 270 but abandoned within weeks when the Danube army chose the cavalry commander at Sirmium instead; he died at Aquileia.
Aurelian	AD 270–275	Assassinated	Illyrian soldier-emperor hailed as 'Restorer of the World' for reuniting the empire in five years, defeating Zenobia of Palmyra and the Gallic state; he gave Rome a new circuit of defensive walls and abandoned Dacia.
Tacitus	AD 275–276	Unknown	Elderly senator, about seventy-five, chosen as emperor after a brief interregnum following Aurelian's murder in 275; he shared his name with a famous historian, from whom he claimed descent, and died at Tyana after some six months.
Florian	AD 276	Assassinated	Praetorian prefect, reputedly a half-brother of his elderly predecessor, who seized power in 276 without consulting the Senate and was killed by his own men at Tarsus within three months as the eastern army's candidate closed in.
Probus	AD 276–282	Assassinated	Illyrian emperor of 276–282 who cleared Franks and Alamanni from Gaul, settled barbarians on Roman soil, and set his soldiers to planting vineyards and draining marshes, labour for which they killed him at his native Sirmium.
Carus	AD 282–283	Unknown	Praetorian prefect who replaced Probus in 282, invaded Persia and captured Ctesiphon, then died suddenly near the Tigris, reportedly struck by lightning, leaving the empire to his two sons.
Carinus	AD 283–285	Assassinated	Elder son of the emperor said to have been struck by lightning in Persia; left to govern the West, he crushed the usurper Julianus near Verona and was murdered by one of his own officers at the river Margus in 285.
Numerian	AD 283–284	Assassinated	Younger son of the conqueror of Ctesiphon, who led the army home from Persia in 283–284 travelling in a closed litter because of an eye complaint; the smell of his corpse revealed his death near Nicomedia.

Gallic Empire

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Postumus	AD 260–269	Assassinated	Rhine commander who in 260 killed the young son of Gallienus at Cologne and founded a breakaway state of Gaul, Britain and Spain with its own consuls and senate, ruling it for nearly a decade.
Marcus Aurelius Marius	AD 269	Assassinated	Former blacksmith who ruled the breakaway Gallic state for a few weeks or months in 269, between the murder of its founder and the accession of Victorinus.
Victorinus	AD 269–271	Assassinated	Third ruler of the breakaway Gallic state (269–271), under whom Hispania returned to the central empire and rebellious Autun was sacked after a seven-month siege; his mother Victoria arranged the succession after his murder.
Tetricus I	AD 271–274	Deposed	Last ruler of the breakaway Gallic state, a governor of Aquitania elevated at Bordeaux in 271 through the influence of Victoria; he surrendered to Aurelian in 274 and ended his days as an official in southern Italy.

Tetrarchy

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Diocletian	AD 284–305	Abdicated	Dalmatian soldier of humble birth who ended the third-century crisis, created the four-emperor college of two Augusti and two Caesars, launched the Great Persecution, and retired voluntarily in 305 to a palace at Split.
Maximian	AD 286–305	Abdicated	Pannonian comrade-in-arms chosen as co-Augustus for the West in 286 with the epithet Herculius; forced to retire alongside his senior colleague in 305, he kept returning to power and died by compelled suicide at Marseille in 310.
Carausius	AD 286–293	Assassinated	Menapian commander of the Channel fleet who, accused of pocketing pirate loot and condemned to death by Maximian, declared himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul in 286; his coins quote Virgil and call the legitimate emperors his 'brothers'.
Allectus	AD 293–296	Killed in battle	Finance minister who murdered the rebel emperor of Britain in 293 and ruled the island for three years, until a two-pronged Tetrarchic invasion in 296 killed him and restored London to the empire.
Constantius I	AD 305–306	Natural death	Western Caesar of the First Tetrarchy, who recovered Britain from Allectus in 296, became Augustus in 305, and died at York the next year; father of Constantine the Great by Helena.
Galerius	AD 305–311	Natural death	Eastern Caesar of the First Tetrarchy and son-in-law of its founder, a former herdsman who routed the Persian king Narseh in 298, pressed for the Great Persecution, and then called it off with an edict of toleration on his deathbed in 311.
Severus II	AD 306–307	Executed	Illyrian officer and drinking companion of Galerius, made Caesar in the West in 305 and Augustus in 306; his army melted away when he marched on Rome against Maxentius.
Maxentius	AD 306–312	Killed in battle	Son of Maximian, passed over in 305 and proclaimed emperor at Rome in 306; he held Italy and Africa for six years, built a huge basilica on the Velia, and drowned in the Tiber in 312.
Licinius	AD 308–324	Deposed	Comrade of Galerius appointed Augustus at the Conference of Carnuntum in 308; he married Constantine's half-sister, co-issued the so-called Edict of Milan, and lost the East at Chrysopolis in 324.
Maximinus Daza	AD 310–313	Natural death	Nephew of Galerius, made Caesar of the East in 305 and Augustus in 310; the last vigorous persecutor of the Christians, he ruled Syria and Egypt until beaten by Licinius in 313.

Constantinian

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Constantine I	AD 306–337	Natural death	First Christian emperor: proclaimed by the army at York in 306, victor at the Milvian Bridge in 312, sole ruler from 324 and founder of a new capital on the Bosporus in 330.
Constantine II	AD 337–340	Killed in battle	Eldest surviving son of the first Christian emperor, given Gaul, Britain and Spain in 337; he was killed near Aquileia in 340 while invading his youngest brother's territory.
Constans	AD 337–350	Assassinated	Youngest son of the first Christian emperor, who received Italy, Africa and Illyricum in 337, took over the whole West in 340, and was hunted down near the Pyrenees in 350.
Constantius II	AD 337–361	Natural death	Middle son of the first Christian emperor, who took the East in 337, fought Shapur II for two decades, crushed Magnentius to become sole ruler in 353, and favoured Arian Christianity.
Magnentius	AD 350–353	Suicide	Army officer of barbarian descent who was proclaimed emperor at Autun in January 350, overthrew Constans, and lost the West to Constantius II after the carnage of Mursa Major.
Vetranio	AD 350	Abdicated	Elderly commander of the Illyrian army who took the purple in March 350 to keep the Danube legions from Magnentius, then peacefully resigned it to Constantius II at Naissus ten months later.
Julian	AD 361–363	Killed in battle	Last pagan emperor: a philosopher and nephew of Constantine I who won fame against the Alamanni in Gaul, tried to restore the old cults, and died of a spear wound on campaign in Persia in 363.
Jovian	AD 363–364	Natural death	Christian guards officer chosen by the army in Mesopotamia in June 363; he bought the army's safe retreat by ceding Nisibis and the lands beyond the Tigris to Persia, and died after eight months without reaching Constantinople.

Valentinianic

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Valentinian I	AD 364–375	Natural death	Pannonian officer elected emperor at Nicaea in 364, who kept the West for himself and gave the East to his brother; a tireless fortifier of the Rhine and Danube, he died of a stroke while raging at barbarian envoys.
Valens	AD 364–378	Killed in battle	Eastern emperor and Arian Christian who allowed the Goths to cross the Danube in 376 and perished with two-thirds of his army at Adrianople two years later.
Gratian	AD 367–383	Assassinated	Elder son of Valentinian I, made Augustus at the age of eight in 367; he appointed Theodosius to the East after Adrianople, removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate House, and was murdered at Lyon in 383.
Valentinian II	AD 375–392	Unknown	Proclaimed Augustus at the age of four by the Danube army at Aquincum in 375; driven from Italy by Magnus Maximus, restored by Theodosius, and found hanged at Vienne in 392.
Magnus Maximus	AD 383–388	Executed	Spanish general proclaimed emperor by the army in Britain in 383; he overthrew Gratian, ruled Britain, Gaul and Spain from Trier, invaded Italy in 387, and is remembered in Welsh legend.
Eugenius	AD 392–394	Executed	Former teacher of rhetoric and palace official set up as western emperor by Arbogast in 392; though a Christian, he allowed a last pagan revival at Rome before his defeat at the Frigidus.

Theodosian

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Theodosius I	AD 379–395	Natural death	Spanish-born general raised to the purple by Gratian after Adrianople; he made Nicene Christianity the state religion in 380, banned pagan sacrifice, and was the last emperor to rule both East and West.
Arcadius	AD 395–408	Natural death	Elder son of Theodosius I, who inherited the eastern half of the empire at the division of 395 and reigned from Constantinople under the sway of his ministers and his wife Eudoxia.
Honorius	AD 395–423	Natural death	Younger son of Theodosius I, who inherited the West as a ten-year-old in 395 under Stilicho's guardianship; during his reign Rome was sacked for the first time in eight centuries.
Constantine III	AD 407–411	Executed	Common soldier proclaimed emperor by the army in Britain in 407, who took its field troops to Gaul, was briefly recognised by Honorius in 409, and was captured at Arles in 411.
Theodosius II	AD 408–450	Natural death	Eastern emperor for over four decades from the age of seven; under him the great land walls of Constantinople were built, Attila was bought off with gold, and a law code bearing his name was issued in 438.
Constantius III	AD 421	Natural death	Honorius's leading general after Stilicho, who crushed the usurper at Arles in 411, settled the Visigoths in Aquitania, married Galla Placidia, and was co-emperor for just seven months in 421.
Joannes	AD 423–425	Executed	Chief of the imperial notaries raised to the western throne at Rome after Honorius died in 423; the eastern court refused to recognise him and sent an army that installed the child Valentinian III instead.
Valentinian III	AD 425–455	Assassinated	Son of Galla Placidia and Constantius III, western emperor for thirty years during which Africa fell to the Vandals and Attila invaded Gaul and Italy; murdered on the Campus Martius.
Marcian	AD 450–457	Natural death	Officer and former aide of Aspar who became eastern emperor in 450 through a nominal marriage to the sister of Theodosius II; he ended the gold subsidies to the Huns.

Last Western Emperors

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Petronius Maximus	AD 455	Assassinated	Wealthy senator, twice consul, who seized the western throne after Valentinian III's murder in March 455, forced the widowed empress to marry him, and was lynched eleven weeks later as the Vandals neared Rome.
Avitus	AD 455–456	Deposed	Gallo-Roman aristocrat from the Auvergne, proclaimed emperor in 455 with the backing of the Visigothic king Theodoric II; overthrown at Placentia the next year and made a bishop.
Majorian	AD 457–461	Executed	The last western emperor to campaign energetically for the lost provinces: he restored control in Gaul and Spain, but his invasion fleet against the Vandals was destroyed off the Spanish coast in 460 and he was beheaded near Dertona the next year.
Libius Severus	AD 461–465	Natural death	Obscure Lucanian senator set up as western emperor at Ravenna by Ricimer in November 461 after Majorian's execution; never recognised by the eastern court, he died at Rome in 465.
Anthemius	AD 467–472	Executed	Eastern general and son-in-law of Marcian, sent to Italy by the emperor in Constantinople in 467 to rule the West; he married his daughter to Ricimer, who nevertheless besieged him in Rome and had him killed in 472.
Olybrius	AD 472	Natural death	Senator of the Anician family, husband of Valentinian III's daughter Placidia and long the Vandal king Gaiseric's preferred candidate; Ricimer made him emperor during the siege of Rome in 472 and he died of dropsy within months.
Glycerius	AD 473–474	Deposed	Commander of the household troops (comes domesticorum) raised to the western throne at Ravenna in March 473 by the Burgundian Gundobad; ousted the next year by the eastern nominee and made bishop of Salona.
Julius Nepos	AD 474–475	Deposed	Governor of Dalmatia sent by the eastern court to unseat Glycerius in 474; driven from Ravenna by his own magister militum the following year, he kept the imperial title in exile until his murder in 480.
Romulus Augustulus	AD 475–476	Deposed	Boy emperor installed at Ravenna by his father Orestes in October 475; his deposition the following September traditionally marks the end of the Roman Empire in the West.

Leonid

Emperor	Reign	End of reign	Known for
Leo I	AD 457–474	Natural death	Thracian officer placed on the eastern throne by Aspar in 457, who later had his patron murdered, relied instead on Isaurian troops, and launched the ruinous naval expedition of 468 against the Vandals.
Leo II	AD 474	Natural death	Child emperor of the East, son of Zeno and Ariadne, who succeeded his maternal grandfather in January 474, crowned his own father co-emperor weeks later, and died before the year was out.
Zeno	AD 474–491	Natural death	Isaurian chieftain who married Leo I's daughter Ariadne and took a Greek name; he was the eastern emperor to whom Odoacer sent the western imperial regalia in 476.
Basiliscus	AD 475–476	Deposed	Brother of the empress Verina who lost the great armada of 468 to Vandal fireships, then usurped the eastern throne for twenty months in 475–476 while Zeno hid in Isauria.

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