Is this a meme or did the madman actually do shit like this ?
>>1399893
If it was written by Tacitus it's probably fake
No. When it comes to people like Nero and Caligula most of their accounts of being cartoonishly evil were written by butthurt detractors. It's literally "Hitler was a small dicked pedophile satanist scat fetishisht" tier.
>Best Roman emperor
I am placing my votes on this guy.
If you say anything but Marcus Aurelius you're a pleb.
>>1400164
>>1399967
this
>>1399893
Read pic related. It was translated into a gazillion languages.
>>1399893
>le dictator steal virgin daughters meme
It's literally what they told themselves justifies killing a king.
>>1400174
>Implying
I actually like Charlie but let's be honest here, his claim to Rome wasn't legitimate
>>1399893
He actually did do shit like this. Despite the memes about how the classical writers fabricated a shit ton of stories about the emperors, on occasion they were more likely than not correct. At one point Caligula ordered an entire stand of spectators at the games to be executed en masse because he was bored with the gladiators.
>>1400512
This. There's a lot of memes, but Caligula and Nero were at least a bit mad.
>>1400190
Seconded.
>>1400578
Thirded
>>1400205
How about this guy then?
>>1400512
>Despite the memes about how the classical writers fabricated a shit ton of stories about the emperors, on occasion they were more likely than not correct
Yeah and how do you know that when every little bit of information stems from (contradictory) senatorial historiography?
As for Caligula: Flavius Josephus had no reason to lie about the dude to make him a cool guy. Yet in his account there is absolutely nothing fitting the description of the butthurt senators.
>>1400512
>At one point Caligula ordered an entire stand of spectators at the games to be executed en masse because he was bored with the gladiators.
source me
>>1400174
Funny joke, anon
>>1400707
>SPIEGEL history
>>1400707
Funny thing is Karl didn't even live in a real house, yet alone a castle.
>>1400679
It's in Suetonius and it's almost surely made up senatorial propaganda. Just read>>1400195 We surely need some more source criticism in this bitch. I mean actually sit down and read Suetonius. It's quite obviously made up bullshit and tabloid level (which might have been the reason it survived the Middle Ages, those monks were craving sex and crime).
>>1400761
those senators were edgy as fuck
>>1400766
They were mad as fuck cause they had a ceremonial/societal role but no "real" power (Winterling uses Luhmanns idea of pre-modern stratification to describe this). It's Augustus legacy: He claimed he saved the res publica and restored the senate when it was pretty much clear the senate was the princeps bitch. Yet he relied on them when looking for generals and it was the senate (and back then only the senate) that could legitimize imperial rule. Mommsen even claimed this was a form of diarchy. Anyway everyone fucking with this fragile balance (like young Caligula) pretty much got fucked. Caligula sought to strengthen the senate and so he was perceived as a weak ruler. A conspiracy to murder him was the result. He then stepped up his game and ruled more directly while bypassing the senate. Senators got mad and wrote shit about him.
I admit this is all pretty much what I learned from Winterling but it's the narrative that fits the sources best atm. Just read the book I posted above. It's great and still and "easy" read.
The emperors literally didn't do anything wrong. It was just the butmad senators.
>>1400174
Augustus.
Founded the Principate.
Expanded and consolidated the Empire.
Pax Romana.
>all these fucking replies and no one has mentioned Trajan
>optimus princeps
>empire at peak when he ruled
>smart soldier-emperor
>economic golden age
All save Augustus pale in comparison. If I were still alive, the Roman Empire would still be around.
>>1400864
augustus op
>sets the standard for the emperor
>fuckin op
>wasnt mad
>beat mark anthony
I'm convinced you're right, anon
>>1400864
Based
>>1400864
Anyone know some really good books centred on Augustus and Rome?!
>>1400621
>Real men would pick Hadrian
Real men would pick Trajan.
I swear one of these days I'm going to make a tier list from Augustus to Constantine XII
>>1401285
It's a shame none of them compare to Shapur.
The truth is we have no fucking clue what happened in the ancient world because it was all written down by Greeks and Romans who thought being a historian means writing fapfiction.
>>1401302
Post Shapurs.
Plunder the thread, capture the anons and build a new better thread in Persia with them.
Julian and Markus Aurelius. It's the philosophy, stupid.
>>1401316
For the glory of Ohrmazd, doostam
See this is what happens when the historians are also the senators, and the senators never got along with a bunch of emperors.
>be the caesar of rome
>become a footstool
>>1400205
He was bestowed that title by the successor of the Western Roman Empire, so that makes him as legit as the Eastern Roman Emperors, plus the Eastern Emperors can't back up their claim to the West anyways.
>not this old badass
>>1401456
privyet comrade
>>1401323
>Best Emperor
>Dies just over a year into his reign because of a dumb military expedition
If you want an emperor who jerks it to philosophy at least pick Hadrian over Julian.
