Roman Empire Identifications

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DOMITIAN

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Domitian, was the eleventh Roman Emperor, who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death.Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty, the house which ruled the Roman Empire between 69 and 96.As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the border defenses of the Empire, and initiated a massive building program to restore the damaged city of Rome.At any rate, after waiting an extra day, Domitian received imperium, the title Augustus, and tribunician power.

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NERVA

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Marcus Cocceius Nerva (8 November 30 – 25 January 98) was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 96 until his death in 98.Under Nero, he was a member of the imperial entourage and played a vital part in exposing the Pisonian conspiracy of 65. Later, as a loyalist to the Flavians, he attained consulships in 71 and 90 during the reigns of Vespasian and Domitian respectively. Even though the assassination of Domitian did not leave things good between the praetorians and Nerva, Nerva was considered a emperor who brought equality, liberty, safety and justice. Not only did he coin those qualities, he also took an oath to in the senate not to execute any senator.Nerva was considered a wise and moderate emperor who was later part of the Five Good Emperors.

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PANTHEON

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is a building in Rome, commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD.

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ANTONINUS PIUS

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Antoninus, adopted by Hadrian, was born on 19 September AD 86 at Lanuvium Pius was the fifteenth Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors and a member of the Aurelii.Aurelia was a plebeian family at Rome. Despite his consulship, he had no military knowledge whatsoever,it was clearly his impressive person - honourable, sound and clearheaded - which won him the respect of the senate and the emperor.He established new laws, protecting slaves from cruelty and abuse.e earned the name "Pius" because he compelled the Senate to deify his adoptive father Hadrian; the Historia Augusta, however, suggests that he may have earned the name by saving senators sentenced to death by Hadrian in his later years.

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GALEN

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was a prominent Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin,[1] and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period. As the son of a wealthy architect with scholarly interests, Galen received a comprehensive and quality education that set him up for a successful career as a physician and philosopher. He traveled extensively, exposing himself to a wide variety of medical theories and discoveries, before settling in Rome, where he worked for elite clients and eventually was given the position of personal physician to several emperors. His theories dominated and influenced Western medical science for well over a millennium and continue to impact modern medicine.He contributed to the understanding of numerous fields.Galen's reputation as both physician and philosopher was legendary,[36] the Emperor Marcus Aurelius describing him as "Primum sane medicorum esse, philosophorum autem solum" (first among doctors and unique among philosophers.

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ISIS

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was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshiped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers.[1] Isis is the Goddess of motherhood, magic and fertilityDuring the formative centuries of Christianity. the religion of Isis drew converts from every corner of the Roman.In Rome, temples were built and obelisks erected in her honour.Empire

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DURA EUROPOS

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Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border city built on an escarpment ninety meters above the right bank of the Euphrates river. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in today's Syria.Its location on the edge of empires meant for a co-mingling of cultural traditions, much of which was preserved under the city's ruins. Some remarkable finds have been brought to light, including numerous temples, wall decorations, inscriptions, military equipment, tombs, and even dramatic evidence of the Sassanian siege during the Imperial Roman period which led to the site's abandonment.Dura-Europos was built as a military outpost by the Seleucids about 300 BC. About 100 BC it was captured by the Parthians, and then in AD 165, it was annexed by Rome. It was destroyed by the Sassanids in 256 AD.AD 164

Romans under Lucius Verus again control Dura

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MARCUS AURELIUS

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Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus[notes 1] (26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Lucius' death in 169. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.he Emperor Antoninus Pius, who succeeded Hadrian, adopted Marcus Aurelius as his son in 138.Marcus Aurelius has symbolized for many generations in the West the Golden Age of the Roman Empire. Marcus took great care in the theory and practice of legislation. Professional jurists called him "an emperor most skilled in the law".Marcus decided to send his colleague Lucius Verus, whose imperial prestige would underscore the seriousness of the empire's response. Verus lacked military experience and was sorely lacking in the attributes of leadership and command; further, he was notorious for being chiefly interested in amusements and luxury. But Marcus surrounded him with several of the best generals at th

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Faustina the Younger

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was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.She was married to Marcus Aurelius in A. D. 145 before he became a Roman emperor. We do not have a great deal of primary source material on her life, but the evidence we do have suggests that the couple was very close. They were blessed with an abundance of children, amongst whom were the future emperor Commodus.. Faustina accompanied her emperor husband during his numerous campaigns in the field, attempting to make a home out of an army camp. She was loved and revered by the Roman soldiers, who called her Matri Castrorum, or, "Mother of the Camp". The years spent on military campaigns at the side of her husband began to take their toll

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Lucius Verus

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Lucius Verus, was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius (121–180), from 161 until his death. While Marcus Aurelius was ruling Rome, Verus was commanding the East against the Parthians from 162 to 166.Through adoption by the same father, Marcus and Lucius were brothers.Due to bad health Marcus Aurelius needed to share the government of the empire with his adopted brother, Lucius Verus, who was strong and healthy but was, however, addicted to all forms of licentious pleasures.

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COMMODUS

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was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 180 to 192 (also with his father, Marcus Aurelius, from 177 until 180).His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded his father since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79.Commodus was born as Lucius Aurelius Commodus in Lanuvium, near Rome, the son of the reigning emperor, Marcus Aurelius .Commodus was in fact the only son of the royal couple to survive childhood. But rather than just failing to be a brilliant emperor, Commodus was in fact a terrible one. Cruelty, vanity, power and fear formed into a terrifyingly dangerous mix of bloodlust, suspicion and megalomania. Commodus should be remembered as a monster, a tyrant who renamed months in his own honour, and who slaughtered his way through the circuses in ludicrous displays of 'manliness'.Commodus's death marked the end of the Nervan-Antonian dynasty.
[editWhilst the emperor was playing gladiator in Rome, the empire itself was facing hard times. The army was viewed with suspicion by a population which knew mo

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Septimius Serverus

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was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 April 193 until his death in 211. Severus was the first emperor of the troubled Severan dynasty.Lucius Septimius Severus restored stability to the Roman empire after the tumultuous reign of the emperor Commodus and the civil wars that erupted in the wake of Commodus' murder.Severus brought many changes to the Roman military. Soldiers' pay was increased by half, they were allowed to be married while in service, and greater opportunities were provided for promotion into officer ranks and the civil service. By creating a larger and more expensive army and increasing the influence of lawyers in administration, Severus planted the seeds that would develop into the highly militaristic and bureaucratic government of the later empire.Severus was at heart a soldier, and sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful war against the Parthian Empire.Throughout his reign Severus was one of the outstanding imperial builders. He restored a very large

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Didius Julianis

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was briefly Roman Emperor from 28 March 193 to 1 June 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax.This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197. Julianus was ousted and sentenced to death by his successor, Septimius Severus.Julianus declared Severus a public enemy because he was the nearest and therefore most dangerous foe. by which he became emperor, by winning the bidding at what has been called the "Auction of the Empire."

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Julia Domna

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was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire. Empress and wife of Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Geta and Caracalla, Julia was among the most important women ever to exercise power behind the throne in the Roman Empire.When Severus became emperor in 193 he had a civil war waiting for him, against rivals such as Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. Julia accompanied him in his campaigns in the East, an uncommon event in a time when women were expected to wait in Rome for their husbands.e continued to accompany with Severus during his military campaigns. When he was killed at York [England] in 208 BCE, her two sons were became co-emperors as Severus had wanted.ulia now had complete power and ruled behind the Roman Empire. Many early Romans disliked the fact of her ruling over the throne when Septimius Severus was at war.
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PLAUTIANUS

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(ca 150 - 22 January 205) was a member of the Roman gens Fulvius, a family of the patrician status which had been active in politics since the Roman Republic. He was a maternal cousin and long time friend of Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus.Plautianus was appointed Prefect Commander of the Praetorian Guard in 197. Due to their friendship, Severus rewarded Plautianus with various honors including a consular insigina, a seat in the Roman Senate and the Consulship of 203.He assisted Severus in administering the empire and became very wealthy and powerful. Severus made him his second in command. EMPRESS DOMNA WAS CONCERNED.Caracalla loathed both her and her father, threatening to kill them after becoming sole emperor. When Plautianus discovered this, he began to plot to overthrow Severus' family.
When Plautianus' treachery was discovered, the imperial family summoned him to the palace and ordered his death on 22 January 205. MOst powerful roman officials ever.

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Constitutio Antoniniana

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also called Edict of Caracalla) was an edict issued in 212, by the Roman Emperor Caracalla. The law declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free women in Empire were given the same rights as Roman women were.According to Cassius Dio, the only Roman historian to talk about this edict, and with only one sentence, the reasons Caracalla passed this law were mainly to increase the number of people available to tax.Another goal may have been to increase the number of men able to serve in the legions, as only full citizens could serve as legionaries in the Roman Army.was the eldest son of Septimius Severus and Roman Emperor from 211 to 217.[1] He was one of the most nefarious of Roman emperors.[

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Elagabalus

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was a Roman Emperor of the Severan dynasty who reigned from 218 to 222. Born Varius Avitus Bassianus, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus, and in his early youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown,.Caracalla was assassinated and replaced by his Praetorian prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. Caracalla's maternal aunt, Julia Maesa, successfully instigated a revolt among the Third Legion to have her eldest grandson, Elagabalus, declared as emperor in his place. Macrinus was defeated on June 8, 218, at the Battle of Antioch, upon which Elagabalus, barely fourteen years old, ascended to the imperial power and began a reign that was marred by infamous controversies.During his rule, Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with a lesser god, Deus Sol Invictus.

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Valerian

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was a Roman Emperor, reigning from 253 to 260 CE. He was the only Emperor to be taken captive alive; tradition holds that he was kept as a slave by Shapur I, and used by him as a human mounting block.Valerian was of a noble and traditional senatorial family.alerian's first act as emperor on 22 October 253 was to make his son Gallienus his Caesar and colleague. In the beginning of his reign the affairs in Europe went from bad to worse and the whole West fell into disorder butBy 257, Valerian had already recovered Antioch and returned the province of Syria to Roman control but in the following year, the Goths ravaged Asia Minor.eginning of 260, Valerian was decisively defeated in the Battle of Edessa and he arranged a meeting with Shapur to negotiate a peace settlement. The truce was betrayed by Shapur who seized him and held him prisoner for the remainder of his life. Valerian's capture was a humiliating defeat for the Romans.[2]

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Zenobia

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(240–after 274) was a 3rd century Syrian queen of the Palmyrene Empire, who led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. Zenobia became queen of the Palmyrene empire following Odaenathus' death in 267. By 269, Zenobia had expanded the empire, conquering Egypt and expelling the Roman prefect, Tenagino Probus, who was beheaded after he led an attempt to recapture the territory. She ruled over Egypt until 274, when she was defeated and taken as a hostage to Rome by Emperor Aurelianso impressed by Zenobia that he freed her, granting her an elegant villa in Tibur and became philosopher

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Aurelian

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Roman Emperor (270–275), was the second of several highly successful "soldier-emperors" who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth.By reuniting the empire, which had virtually disintegrated under the pressure of invasions and internal revolts, he earned his self-adopted title restitutor orbis (“restorer of the world”).His successes started the end of the empire's Crisis of the Third Century.He also restored many public buildings, re-organized the management of the food reserves, set fixed prices for the most important goods, and prosecuted misconduct by the public officers.

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Sol Invictus

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as a Roman god identified in the later Roman empire[ambiguous] with Sol, accompanied with the epithet invictus meaning unconquered that was commonly given to Sol from the second century AD onwards. There is much confusion about Sol Invictus because modern scholarship long maintained that he was actually a distinct sun god introduced from Syria by the emperor Aurelian in 274 AD.

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tetrarchy

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describes any system of government where power is divided among four individuals, but usually refers to the tetrarchy instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293, marking the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and the recovery of the Roman Empire. This Tetrarchy lasted until c.313, when internecine conflict eliminated most of the claimants to power, leaving Constantine in the East and Licinius in the West.was Roman Emperor from 20 November 284 to 1 May 305. The Tetrarchs proed effective in tackling the widespread threats facing the empire. Maximian and dotchiry co emperors..The first phase, sometimes referred to as the Diarchy ('the rule of two'), involved the designation of the general Maximian as co-emperor - firstly as Caesar (junior emperor) in 285, followed by his promotion to Augustus in 286. Diocletian took care of matters in the Eastern regions of the Empire while Maximian similarly took charge of the Western regions. In 293, feeling more focus was needed on both civic and military problems, Di

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Price Edict

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Edict on Maximum prices was issued in 301 by Roman Emperor Diocletian, although it quickly proved unenforceable. It could not stabilize values throughout the empire while freezing prices and in th end it forced goods to disapear from the market. It failure may have increased the states preference for demanding tax payments in the forms of goods nd produce rather than coins, and using those items to meet army pay and other things. . . it was known from several fragmentary inscriptions.

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Battle of Milvian Bridge.

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The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312.Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battleConstantine (pronounced /ˈkɒnstəntaɪn/ or /ˈkɒnstəntiːn/), was Roman emperor from 306, and the sole holder of that office from 324 until his death in 337. Best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor.he battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianity.Maxentius (c. 278 – 28 October 312) was Western Roman Emperor from 306 to 312

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Edict of Milan

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he Edict of Milan (Edictum Mediolanense) was a letter signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman EmpireReligious toleration is the condition of accepting or permitting others' religious beliefs and practices which disagree with one's own.he letter was issued in AD 313, shortly after the conclusion of the Diocletianic Persecution. Soon, Liciius ignored this when tension between the two was worse and continued the the persecution of christinans in whuch constantine was one. Constatine defeated him in 313 and was officilally sole ruler.

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Constantinople

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was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire,founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I on the site of an already existing city, Byzantium.Constantinople was the largest and richest urban center in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the late Eastern Roman Empire.The city provided a defence for the eastern provinces of the old Roman Empire against the barbarian invasions of the 5th century. conecrated on 330.