The first answer is simple: hereditary rule. For most of this period, emperors were not chosen on the basis of their ability or honesty, but simply because they were born in the right family.

10 Worst Roman Emperors Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the ten most widely reviled and criticized Roman Emperors. It’s said that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. This probably ...

What was life like in ancient Rome? Find out how Rome began, learn about different Roman emperors and discover what people in Rome did for fun. How the Romans conquered Britain Find out how ...

At this point history took a sharp turn. Shortly before Nerva died, Roman generals had debated who should be the next emperor. They chose Trajan, a former army commander, senator and governor of ...

Archaeologists in Luxembourg have unearthed a stash of Roman gold coins dating back some 1,600 years. The coins are marked ...

Around 2,500 years ago, the city of Rome was at the centre of a huge empire that stretched from Scotland to Syria. The Roman Empire was based upon enslaved people and citizens. Enslaved people ...

The emperor Hadrian was well known for building monuments across the Roman Empire ... the site through a series of service tunnels, in order to distribute food or access the ovens that heated ...