Words for Board: Tiberius, Sejanus, Gaius Caligula, Claudius, Nero

Augustus had been the emperor for 40 years. People were used to one-man rule. Nobody remembered the old republic. But there's a weakness to one-man rule -- who do you get to succeed that's just as good? And the army is a potential danger. The Romans were running the world with not many good people.

Tiberius was the next emperor from 14-27 AD. He was 55 when he took over. He'd had a tough life. He'd been a soldier and had a government job. He was a capable subordinate who could carry out orders well but couldn't give them as well. He was tight with money, skeptical and cynical. He noticed during the mess with Julia that his number of friends depended on his status. He was efficient and honest. His policy on taxes was: "A good shepherd shears his sheep, not skins them." He had problems with his family. In despair he left Rome in his old age and went to the island of Capri, a warm island to help his rheumatism. Who will take over in his absence? His only good friend was Sejanus, the head of the Praetorian Guard. Tiberius was running the state through Sejanus. Sejanus found a "plot" against Tiberius by the upper class and started purging them and confiscating their property. In 30 AD, he wanted the powers of a Consul and Tribune and he wanted to marry Tiberius' son's widow which would give him a blood tie to the emperor. The only plot against Tiberius was by Sejanus, and Tiberius found out. In 30 AD, he returned to Rome and had Sejanus and his followers destroyed. He got the reputation of being bloodthirsty. Actually, Tiberius wasn't that bad. He got bad history written about him. Augustus was a hard act to follow.

Tiberius' grandson succeeded him -- Gaius Caligula. He was 25 when he took over and reigned from 37-41 AD. Caligula was his nickname and it meant "little boots". His father had been a general and when Caligula was 4, his father had dressed him in full Roman soldier outfit to review the troops. He got that nickname and it stuck. He was friendly but had no experience. When he took over, he freed political prisoners and was getting along really well. But he caught a serious illness with a high fever and lay dying for a long time. Unfortunately, he got better. The fever screwed up his head. He declared himself a god. He accused the Senate of treason. He was crazy. He made his horse a consul. He had his wife strip for a banquet to show his good taste. He had a favorite race horse that he had lunch with and talked to it. He thought the horse gave him advise. He was an insomniac and one night he summoned some Senators to the palace. They were very worried but he only wanted them to watch his new dance and he sent them home. He decided to conquer Britain. He marched the army up to the edge of Gaul and then forgot what he came for so he had them fan out and collect sea shells. He was always asking people if they saw visions he claimed to see. They didn't always know what to answer cuz sometimes he saw things and sometimes he was trying to trick them. One day he almost got his top advisor. He asked the advisor if he saw the moon goddess at the end of the hall. The advisor said no which was the wrong answer, cuz Caligula thought he saw her. Caligula asked why not? And the Advisor thought fast enough to answer that only the gods could see each other. Caligula went off screaming down the hall, "Of course -- that's why nobody sees the same things I do!!" Whew! Caligula killed off all his relatives except his uncle Claudius. Uncle Claudius had had polio as a child. One leg was shorter than the other, he had weak neck muscles and his head kept flopping over and he drooled. Caligula kept him around to have somebody around to make fun of. In 45 AD, the Praetorian Guard lead a coup to get rid of Caligula and put Uncle Claudius on the throne as emperor.

Claudius was on the throne from 41-54 AD. He did a good job. He respected the Senate. He built lots of buildings. He was interested in the judicial system and spent lots of time judging trials. He started the conquest of Britain which was a mistake. The Romans didn't need any more territory. It was actually better for the English than the Romans. His generals conquered it for him and called him at the last minute to come and make it official.

His last wife had a son by someone else named Nero and she wanted him to get the throne next. Claudius died after eating some specially prepared mushrooms (done by his loving wife). Nero was on the throne from 54-68 AD. His mom ran it for him for several years. He had good people around him. He was strange, though. He ran with a street gang to beat people up for grins. He eventually killed his mother, but that was a delicate task. He didn't want people to think bad of him and it's always kind of tricky to kill a parent. He hired somebody to do it for him. They had a special boat built with a crashing ceiling but she lived through it. Then there was a quick sinking boat which she swam away from. Finally, he hired an assassin to kill her outright. Enough messing around. He divided his time between music, poetry and mistresses. He composed opera which was something only lower class slaves did. He sang in his operas -- but he sang the female lead. He was a transvestite and bisexual too. (Nothing like being happy wherever you go!!)

In 64 AD, there was a large fire in the streets of Rome. It raged for 9 days. His enemies said he started the fire but he probably didn't. However, he did call in his architects to start the plans for the new buildings before the fire was out which looked bad. Have you heard the expression, "Nero fiddled while Rome burned"? Actually, he played the lyre cuz fiddles weren't invented yet. He needed somebody (besides himself) to put the blame for the fire. There were some religious cultists (fanatics) in Rome called the Christians that he put the blame on for the fire. Nero rounded up the Christians and condemned them to death by being eaten by wild animals. It has to be a deterrent to further crime, especially since it was a bad way to die. He ran the games night and day. To get a night light, he dipped Christians in oil and burned them. Nobody thought the Christians set the fire and he got the bad reputation back. (Anybody that used people for lights, probably set the fire was their thinking.)

In 65 AD, there was a conspiracy against Nero that failed. He got lots of the Senate killed off. In 66, the Jews revolted down in Syria against the Roman empire. Apparently, they hadn't looked at their maps and seen the size of the Roman empire they were up against. Actually, they were fanatics filled with religious fervor and they were sure that God was on their side. And they hadn't been run very well in that area so it was easy to get people to follow them. There weren't very many troops down there so they did really well at first. Nero sent his best general Vespasian down to Judea to stop them. It took Vespasian time to get there cuz he'd been up in Britain. In 66-67, Nero went on vacation to Greece. The Greeks knew he was coming and held their Olympic Games which they invited Nero to enter. Oddly enough, Nero won every game he tried. In 68, the armies of Spain and Germany revolted. Nero did a quick check to see where his friends and power lay. He had fumbled his power away and nobody supported him. He committed suicide with his last words being: "What an artist the world has lost!"

By the way, your exam is coming soon !!!