The Best Roman Emperor

[hahaha3hahaha]

-deleted-

[suggs]

i voted for CLAVDIVS because he opposed the war in Gaul and refused to join the NeoCons that crossed the Rubicon.

That was Clodus, I think. Anyway, not Claudius as wasnt born at that point!

[suggs]

You didn't include Nero, what a shame.

Nero was a horrible tyrannical maniac!

Only in the last few years of his life. He did rule for 20 odd years remember. Caligula only ruled for four, because he really was insane.

[jiminski]

Biggus Dikus

[Dancing Mustard]

I've always had a penchant for Maximus Gluteus myself.

[suggs]

Maybe I have this wrong, but i thought the "Principate" was just Augustus' reign? (re: the comment about Constantine not being in the Principate time period).

Assuming I'm right, which I'm prob not, I'd go for Diocletian, who prevented the Empire from collapsing at the end of the 3rd century, after 60 odd years of fighting since that great writer, but terrible emperor, Aurelius left the place in such a mess.

Though one could argue that, by splitting the Empire in two, Diocletian sowed the seeds for the later fall of the empire in the West.
Still, I like reformers, and he was a man of great administrative ideas, as well as being a good soldier.
So YAY DIOCLETIAN!

[suggs]

Sorry, on the list.
It has to be Trajan. Prob the greatest soldier since Caesar/Agrippa/Germanicus.
Extended the Empire to its greatest extent, and ruled over a peaceful empire for a bloody long time (30 years?) and actually left a stable empire on his death, which was rare.
The bloke who was their at the Empires zenith has to be given some of the credit. Plus, Trajan is a cool name

[Dancing Mustard]

i thought the "Principate" was just Augustus' reign?

No no, it's when you get really hot and water starts coming out of your skin.

[suggs]

i thought the "Principate" was just Augustus' reign?

No no, it's when you get really hot and water starts coming out of your skin.

You and your flashy Latin sources

[jiminski]

Are we including the Holy Roman Empire?
Charlemagne was fairly impressive.

[Snorri1234]

Caesar wasn't an emperor, he was a dictator... sheesh.

And that's something completely different.

[suggs]

Are we including the Holy Roman Empire?
Charlemagne was fairly impressive.

*gets on high horse* "AAH, but WAS he....*canbt be arses, falls of high horse into french pile of shit.

yeah he was a beast.

[muy_thaiguy]

Caesar wasn't an emperor, he was a dictator... sheesh.

He wasn't a dictator, he was a man who ruled in absolute power! Honestly, I thought you people knew this.

[suggs]

Caesar wasn't an emperor, he was a dictator... sheesh.

He wasn't a dictator, he was a man who ruled in absolute power! Honestly, I thought you people knew this.

NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway).
But we get our word "dictator" from the Roman word which referred to a specific (and very rarely) used Republican office.

Someone put me straight, but i believe Sulla took the office of Dictator a hundred odd years before Caesar. It gave the holder supreme and SINGLE power. -thus replacing the normal division of power between the two Consuls. As it turned out, this was a big mistake from Caesar, s the Romans, who hated Monarchy with a passion, thought this was far too close to KIngship. Which is why Augustus always proclaimed himself "Princeps", meaning the Prinipal (or First) citizen. Load of old guff, of course. Augustus was effectively a dictator. But Augustus had a superb undersatnding of public relations, and didnt want to ram that down the Senates throat.

Hence, the 20th century penchant for dictators was a roman revival.

[hahaha3hahaha]

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[hahaha3hahaha]

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[muy_thaiguy]

Caesar wasn't an emperor, he was a dictator... sheesh.

He wasn't a dictator, he was a man who ruled in absolute power! Honestly, I thought you people knew this.

NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway).
But we get our word "dictator" from the Roman word which referred to a specific (and very rarely) used Republican office.

Someone put me straight, but i believe Sulla took the office of Dictator a hundred odd years before Caesar. It gave the holder supreme and SINGLE power. -thus replacing the normal division of power between the two Consuls. As it turned out, this was a big mistake from Caesar, s the Romans, who hated Monarchy with a passion, thought this was far too close to KIngship. Which is why Augustus always proclaimed himself "Princeps", meaning the Prinipal (or First) citizen. Load of old guff, of course. Augustus was effectively a dictator. But Augustus had a superb undersatnding of public relations, and didnt want to ram that down the Senates throat.

Hence, the 20th century penchant for dictators was a roman revival.

All I have to say is, woosh! Right over your head.

[Frigidus]

Caesar wasn't an emperor, he was a dictator... sheesh.

He wasn't a dictator, he was a man who ruled in absolute power! Honestly, I thought you people knew this.

NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway).
But we get our word "dictator" from the Roman word which referred to a specific (and very rarely) used Republican office.

Someone put me straight, but i believe Sulla took the office of Dictator a hundred odd years before Caesar. It gave the holder supreme and SINGLE power. -thus replacing the normal division of power between the two Consuls. As it turned out, this was a big mistake from Caesar, s the Romans, who hated Monarchy with a passion, thought this was far too close to KIngship. Which is why Augustus always proclaimed himself "Princeps", meaning the Prinipal (or First) citizen. Load of old guff, of course. Augustus was effectively a dictator. But Augustus had a superb undersatnding of public relations, and didnt want to ram that down the Senates throat.

Hence, the 20th century penchant for dictators was a roman revival.

All I have to say is, woosh! Right over your head.

Are you referring to the fact that Romans had a special, legal office of "dictator"? Because in modern terms Caesar was a dictator, Suggs is basically correct terms aside.

[muy_thaiguy]

Read what I wrote after I said that Caesar wasn't a Dictator, honestly. I was making a joke that you people seemed to miss.

Dictator-a person exercising absolute power, esp. a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Dictator

[Dancing Mustard]

So we all agree that Maximus Gluteus was the best emperor by a country mile?

Good stuff.

[suggs]

Agreed. Tho Minimus Mammy Muffus was quite strong.

[jonesthecurl]

"NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway)."


According to my Latin dictionary, the latin for dictator is "dictator".

[InkL0sed]

"NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway)."


According to my Latin dictionary, the latin for dictator is "dictator".

I'm fairly certain the word they used was actually "imperator." Dictator sounds more like speaker in Latin to me... let me go check my own dictionary.

OK -- my dictionary says the same thing. However, it also adds: "In Rome, an extraordinary magistrate, elected in times of emergency for six months, and granted absolute power." So that's referring more to the Cincinnatus-model of dictator, not the kind Caesar became (which is more similar to what we would call a dictator nowadays).

PS. Anyone else getting the feeling Marcus Aurelius is winning 'cause people liked his character in Gladiator?

[suggs]

re: Marcus Aurelius -yup.
But he was hopeless - left the empire in a state of virtual civil war. Philosophers dont make good kings,whatever Plato might have thought.

[suggs]

"NO. Caesar was a dictator. I forget the Latin word (lets face it, I never knew it anyway)."


According to my Latin dictionary, the latin for dictator is "dictator".

I'm only a bit embarrassed