The Five Good Emperors

The Five ‘Good’ Emperors

* Nerva

* Trajan * Dacian Wars Forum of Trajan (Basilica Ulpia) * Trajan’s column Trajan’s markets Trajan’s baths

* Hadrian * ‘Graeculus’ * Antinoos Hadrian’s Wall * Pantheon Hadrian’s Villa * Mausoleum

* Antoninus Pius * Column of Antoninus Pius (apotheosis of Antoninus and Faustina)

* Marcus Aurelius * Column of Marcus Aurelius

* Lucius Verus

SOURCES READ IN CLASS

(Domitian / Nerva) ‘Because of the hatred felt for Domitian, his images, many of which were of silver and many of gold, were melted down; and from this source large amounts of money were obtained. The arches, too, of which a very great number were being erected to this one man, were torn down. Nerva also released all who were on trial for treason and restored the exiles.’ [Cassius Dio, 68, from: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/68*]

(Trajan) ‘Trajan was most conspicuous for his justice, for his bravery, and for the simplicity of his habits. He was strong in body, being in his forty-second year when he began to rule, and his mental powers were at their highest, so that he had neither the recklessness of youth nor the sluggishness of old age. … He spent vast sums on wars and vast sums on works of peace. He was loved by all and dreaded by none save the enemy. There was no quality which he did not possess in a high degree. …. I know, of course, that he was devoted to boys and to wine; however, he drank all the wine he wanted, yet remained sober, and in his relation with boys he harmed no one.’ [Cassius Dio, 68, from: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/68*]

(Hadrian) ‘He was tall and elegant and very strongly built; his hair was curled on a comb, and he wore a full beard to cover up the natural blemishes on his face. He rode and walked a great deal and always kept himself in training by the use of arms and the javelin. He also hunted, and he often used often to kill a lion with his own hand, but once in a hunt he broke his collar-bone and a rib. At his banquets he always provided tragedies, comedies, farces, players on the sambuca, readers, or poets. His villa at Tibur was marvellously constructed, and he gave to parts of it the names of provinces and places of the greatest renown, calling them, for instance, Lyceum, Academia, Prytaneum, Canopus, Poecile and Tempe. And in order not to omit anything, he even made a Hades. ….In poetry and in letters Hadrian was greatly interested. In arithmetic, geometry, and painting he was very expert. Of his knowledge of flute-playing and singing he even boasted openly. He ran to excess in the gratification of his desires, and wrote much verse about the subjects of his passion. He composed love-poems too. He was also a connoisseur of arms, had a thorough knowledge of warfare, and knew how to use gladiatorial weapons. He was, in the same person, austere and genial, dignified and playful, dilatory and quick to act, niggardly and generous, deceitful and straightforward, cruel and merciful, and always in all things changeable.’ [Historia Augusta, The Life of Hadrian, from: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Hadrian/2*]

‘Antinous was from Bithynia; he had been a favourite of the emperor and had died in Egypt, either by falling into the Nile, as Hadrian writes, or, as the truth is, by being offered in sacrifice. ..Accordingly, he honoured Antinous, either because of his love for him or because the youth had voluntarily undertaken to die, by building a city on the spot where he had suffered this fate and naming it after him {Antinoopolis}; and he also set up statues, or rather sacred images, of him, practically all over the world.’ [Dio Cassius 69, from: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/69*]

(Antoninus Pius) ‘In personal appearance he was strikingly handsome, in natural talent brilliant, in temperament kindly; he was aristocratic in countenance and calm in nature, a singularly gifted speaker and an elegant scholar, conspicuously thrifty, a conscientious land-holder, gentle, generous, and mindful of others' rights. ….Being a tall man, when he was bent by old age he had himself wrapped with splints of linden-wood bound on his chest in order that he might walk erect. When the senate declared that the months of September and October should be called respectively Antoninus and Faustinus, Antoninus refused. ….The following misfortunes and prodigies occurred in his reign: a famine, the collapse of the Circus, an earthquake that destroyed towns of Rhodes and Asia— all of which the Emperor restored in splendid fashion — and a fire at Rome which consumed three hundred and forty tenements and dwellings. In addition, the Tiber flooded its banks, a comet was seen, a two-headed child was born, and a woman gave birth to quintuplets. Moreover, there was seen in Arabia a crested serpent larger than the usual size, which ate itself from the tail to the middle; and also in Arabia there was a plague, while in Moesia barley sprouted from the tops of trees. And besides all this, in Arabia four lions grew tame and of their own accord yielded themselves to capture.’ [Historia Augusta, The Life of Antoninus Pius, from: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Antoninus_Pius*]

(Lucius Verus) ‘Verus was well-proportioned in person, with a genial expression. His beard was allowed to grow long, almost in the style of the barbarians. He was tall, and stately in appearance, for his forehead projected somewhat over his eyebrows. He took such pride in his yellow hair, it is said, that he used to sift gold-dust on his head in order that his hair might seem even yellower. ….He was a reckless gambler, lived extravagantly, and in many respects, save only that he was not cruel or given to acting, a second Nero. He is not to be classed with either the good or the bad emperors. He is said to have been a better orator than poet, or, to be strictly truthful, a worse poet than orator.’ [Historia Augusta, The Life of Lucius Verus, from: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Lucius_Verus*]