Ranking Every Roman Emperor from Worst to Best 

For those asking about Vespasian: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2DaCcKF9D00.html

“This guy was emperor for 17 days.” still better than a dozen emperors

Honorable mention and mad props to my boy Julius Caesar. While he technically wasn't an emperor, he was simultaneously the worst thing that happened to the Roman Republic and the best thing that happened to the Roman Empire.

RIP to all those Emperors that ranked lower than the guy who ruled 17 days 💀

Marcus Aurealius understood the Empire was doomed, but he continued to provide good leadership and statesmanship, even though twilight was coming to Rome. Possibly the most unselfserving of all of the Emperors. He seemed to be a Roman of the "Old School".

The Roman Empire is collapsing Aurelian: steps in "You're wrong" * Refuses to elaborate further * * dies *

"Who are you?" "I was the emperor that got killed by the praetorian guard for being shit" "That doesn't narrow it down"

if u want to watch it in chronological order: - 19:14 Augustus - 15:52 Tiberius - 1:14 Caligula - 16:17 Claudius - 5:59 Nero - 9:39 Galba - 6:13 Otho - 5:12 Vitellius Vespasian - 14:51 Titus - 17:43 Domitian - 12:17 Nerva - 18:55 Trajan - 18:16 Hadrian - 15:17 Antonius Pius - 17:25 Marcus Aurelius - 8:39 Lucius Verus - 1:37 Commodus - 6:39 Pertinax - 2:56 Didius Julianus - 13:05 Septimius Severus - 2:10 Caracalla - 2:24 Geta - 5:20 Macrinus - 4:03 Diadumenian - 0:56 Elagabalus - 11:51 Alexander Severus - 7:51 Maximinus Thrax - 6:51 Gordian I - 6:58 Gordian II - 3:50 Pupienus - 3:50 Balbinus - 4:40 Gordian III - 9:07 Philip the Arab - 4:49 Philip II - 8:17 Decius - 7:24 Herennius Etruscus - 2:36 Trebonius Gallus - 8:05 Hostilian - 3:26 Volusianus - 3:43 Aemilian - 8:58 Valerian - 14:17 Gallienus - 5:30 Salonius - 12:37 Claudius Gothicus - 3:37 Quintillius - 16:52 Aurelian - 10:15 Tacitus - 5:06 Florianus - 12:06 Probus - 12:50 Carus - 4:54 Carinus - 7:44 Numerian - 16:27 Diocletian - 7:07 Maximian - 13:32 Constantius I - 9:23 Galerius - 6:29 Serverus - 9:53 Maxentius - 11:38 Licinius - 7:31 Maximinus - 4:19 Valerius Valens - 4:13 Martinian - 18:36 Constantine I - 1:49 Constantine II - 10:22 Constans - 13:41 Constantius II Magnentius Nepotianus - 8:22 Vetranio - 11:03 Julian - 5:35 Jovian - 15:30 Valentinian I - 10:31 Valens Procopius - 3:19 Gratian - 5:48 Magnus Maximus - 4:30 Victor - 3:12 Valentinian II - 4:24 Eugenius - 15:01 Theodosius I

Fun Fact: Of the 503 years that the Roman Empire existed until the fall of the western part in 476, 301 of those years were spent under the rule of the 17 "good" emperors on this list. Roughly 59% of classical Imperial Roman history was led by competent emperors, despite competent emperors only making up about 22% of the 77 total. It should also be noted that the best and longest reigning emperor was also the first.

imagine living as one of the mighty Roman Emperors over a 1500 year period, having that life, ruling over millions of people - and then, some dude throws you on a goddamned tier list like a thousand years later. shit makes me laugh.

17 out of 71 Roman Emporers actually knew how to govern a nation. Oof.

Not giving Pupienus enough credit considering he has the funniest name in the history of human kind

Glad to see Uncle Claudius get due credit. His rating is about right, but I encourage everyone to read his full story. Claudius is, without a doubt, Rome's most unlikely great emperor.

Had to look up why Valentinian’s death was so funny. Turns out, he got so angry at some envoys that he had a stroke and died while yelling at them.

I love how a lot of the good emperors are just fixing the mistakes of all the bad ones.

You missed Vespasian; 69-79 AD, the best emperor and altogether awesome dude. The guy ended the troubled year of four emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and him), fixed Rome's finances after Nero bankrupted the empire, turned Nero's land over to the public so that the coliseum could be built, and he even had a decent personality, allowing writers to critique and jibe him without going full Vesuvius.

One thing I feel is often overlooked and should be mentioned about Julian is that he basically one step away from winning the entire war had he survived a little longer. The Persians were in an extremely tight spot to the extent that Rome would've likely returned with a huge victory and one less adversary. This being led by a guy who had to essentially teach himself how to do so on the fly, all so his emperor cousin could be rid of him. Instead, the Persians walked away with a surprising upset. There are so many alternate history questions I like to think about, "What if Pius didn't live for a bloody eternity and Marcus Aeurelius reigned earlier?", "What if Julian lived long enough to support his administrative changes and secure his succession?", "How would Rome fare if the West emerged victorious at Frigidus", "What if Majorian avoided assassination?", the list goes on.

Fun fact: nero’s last words were: “what a great poet the world is losing in me.” Was he a great poet? No not really.

Let's face it, if aurelian lasted 20 years the whole world would be speaking Latin.

Thank you so much i always wanted to see which all were the best. Thank you for so painstakingly compiling this. I've downloaded this video for my refence as well. You saved me and atleast a thousand others so much work. Thank you

Thank you! Your hard and arduous work is so appreciated!

I think it’s unbelievable that we have the faces of all these guys preserved for thousands of years

Emperor Claudius is one of my favorites. Basically put in as a puppet emperor by his powerful family who thought he was a dimwit that would be easy to control. Claudius had always had a stutter, something his family made fun of him for, he was sent off to live as a simple scribe/scholar. When the last emperor died the power was thrust onto to Claudius. Far from being an easily controlled dimwit though he was actually a smart and effective emperor that saw the British isle successfully invaded (something Caesar failed doing multiple times), apparently he gave great speeches to, his stutter would disappear for them so the vast majority of Romans had no idea about the stutter.

I personally think Gordian III should be ranked higher, he lasted for six years on the throne which is quite impressive for a crisis of the third-century emperor.

This has been extremely entertaining thank you

I kept hearing "gods" when you said "Goths", so "famous for defeating the gods" and "killed by the gods" as a couple examples. Picturing it in my mind was pretty funny xD

“The only reason he’s seen as terrible is because the Christians hated him.” Being rounded up for execution by someone will definitely affect your opinion of that person.

Awesome video Spectrum! Great to have such a fine summary of all the interesting tales of those emperors and a judgement of their deeds without me needing to scroll to very long Wikipedia pages =) If I may give a tip: it would be great if you showed the years in which the emperors ruled, this gives great context. To me, it feels like it is way more difficult to be a good emperor in the 3rd and 4th century than in the 1st and 2nd. Also it would be nice to conclude with a timeline with the emperors portraits and ranks, so you can clearly see what the golden age was and for how long the empire was run by bad emperors without collapsing.

Excellent video, perfect cliff notes to Mary Beard. Subscribed!

Timestamps of Each: 77 - 0:56 - Elagabalus 76 - 1:14 - Caligula 75 - 1:37 - Commodus 74 - 1:49 - Constantine II 73 - 2:10 - Caracalla 72 - 2:24 - Geta 71 - 2:36 - Trebonius Gallus 70 - 2:56 - Didius Julianus 69 - 3:12 - Valentinian II 68 - 3:19 - Gratian 67 - 3:26 - Volusianus 66 - 3:37 - Quintillus 65 - 3:43 - Aemilian 64 - 3:50 - Pupienus 63 - 3:50 - Balbinus 62- 4:03 - Diadumenian 61 - 4:13 - Martinian 60 - 4:19 - Valerius Valens 59 - 4:24 - Eugenius 58 - 4:30 - Victor 57 - 4:40 - Gordian III 56 - 4:49 - Philip II 55 - 4:54 - Carinus 54 - 5:06 - Floranius 53 - 5:12 - Vitellius 52 - 5:20 - Macrinus 51 - 5:30 - Salonius 50 - 5:35 - Jovian 49 - 5:48 - Magnus Maximus 48 - 5:59 - Nero 47 - 6:13 - Otho 46 - 6:29 - Serverus 45 - 6:39 - Pertinax 44 - 6:51 - Gordian I 43 - 6:58 - Gordian II 42 - 7:07 - Maximian 41 - 7:24 - Herennius Etruscus 40 - 7:31 - Maximinus 39 - 7:44 - Numerian 38 - 7:51 - Maximinus Thrax 37 - 8:05 - Hostilian 36 - 8:17 - Decius 35 - 8:22 - Vetranio 34 - 8:39 - Lucius Verus 33 - 8:58 - Valerian 32 - 9:07 - Philip the Arab 31 - 9:23 - Galerius 30 - 9:39 - Galba 29 - 9:53 - Maxentius 28 - 10:15 - Tacitus 27 - 10:22 - Constans 26 - 10:31 - Valens 25 - 11:03 - Julian 24 - 11:38 - Licinius 23 - 11:51 - Alexander Severus 22 - 12:06 - Probus 21 - 12:17 - Nerva 20 - 12:37 - Claudius Gothicus 19 - 12:50 - Carus 18 - 13:05 - Septimius Severus 17 - 13:32 - Constantius I 16 - 13:41 - Constantius II 15 - 14:17 - Gallienus 14 - 14:51 - Titus 13 - 15:01 - Theodosius I 12 - 15:17 - Antonius Pius 11 - 15:30 - Valentinian I 10 - 15:52 - Tiberius 9 - 16:17 - Claudius 8 - 16:27 - Diocletian 7 - 16:52 - Aurelian 6 - 17:25 - Marcus Aurelius 5 - 17:43 - Domitian 4 - 18:16 - Hadrian 3 - 18:36 - Constantine I 2 - 18:55 - Trajan 1 - 19:14 - Augustus

This just made me realize most emperor's are absolutely horrible

Aurelian is my favourite Emperor; would love to see a timeline where he isn't assassinated by a bogus letter written by Eros. Yes, I do agree, he was too OP but that's what made him great!

While the language was a little rough for me, I enjoyed seeing how you would do these and the little snippets of info on some of those emperors I know next to nothing about lol. Thank you for the video! God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

For those who want the timestamps of each Roman emperor in chronological order Augustus 19:14 Tiberius 15:52 Caligula 1:14 Claudius 16:17 Nero 5:59 Galba 9:39 Otho 6:13 Vitellius 5:12 Vespasian Not Shown Titus 14:51 Domitian 17:43 Nerva 12:17 Trajan 18:55 Hadrian 18:16 Antoninus Pius 15:17 Lucius Verus 8:39 Marcus Aurelius 17:25 Commodus 1:37 Pertinax 6:39 Didius Julianus 2:56 Septimus Severus 13:05 Caracalla 2:10 Geta 2:24 Macrinus 5:20 Diadumienan 4:03 Elagabalus 0:56 Severus Alexander 11:51 Maximinus Thrax 7:51 Gordian I 6:51 Gordian II 6:58 Pupienus 3:50 Balbinus 3:50 Gordian III 4:40 Philip the Arab 9:07 Philip II 4:49 Decius 8:16 Hostilian 8:05 Trebonianus Gallus 2:36 Volusianus 3:26 Aemelian 3:43 Valerian 8:58 Gallienus 14:17 Saloninus 5:30 Claudius Gothicus 12:37 Quintillus 3:37 Aurelian 16:52 Tacitus 10:15 Florianus 5:06 Probus 12:06 Carus 12:50 Carinus 4:54 Numerian 7:44 Diocletian 16:27 Maximian 7:07 Constantius 13:32 Galerius 9:23 Constantine 18:36 Constantius II 13:41 Constantine II 1:49 Constans 10:22 Vetranio 8:22 Julian 11:03 Jovian 5:35 Valens 10:31 Valentinian 15:30 Gratian 3:19 Valentinian II 3:12 Theodosius I 15:01 Magnus Maximus 5:48 Victor 4:30 Eugenius 4:24 And, that’s it! Not going to timeline the Western or Eastern Roman emperors. Given the choice between time lining Roman emperors and having a life, I choose having a life.

For one funny story about Caligula Supposedly he was told he was as likely to become emperor as he was to ride across a bay without getting his horse shoes wet When he became emperor had built a bridge of boats just so he could ride across the bay while his horses feet stayed dry

*Interestingly the "plebs" actually loved Caligula (a nick name meaning "Little Boots"), and was very popular among them. When Caligula, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, (his real name), was assassinated the people of Rome rioted. It was only with the nobles and the aristocracy in the Senate that Caligula vented his wrath with. Maybe he saw them as snobs and elites which would explain why he antagonized them and also explain why the ordinary people liked him so much. I mean , who wouldn't like to see the ruling political class taken down a peg or three...even today?*

very interesting video, you put some hard work in it!

I would have put Gordian III higher on the list, for a child emperor, he was okay, lasted five years, was well-liked by the people, didn't really do anything to tick anyone off.

It’s nice seeing someone who doesn’t just throw Tiberius to the absolute bottom of the Emperor Trash Pile.

Thank you so much for uploading this video. It is helping me get through the pandemic!

Love this, will definitely revisit this video as I become more familiar with the emperors- I’m up to crisis of 3rd century atm and missing the days of Hadrian and Macus Aurelius with some weird sense of nostalgia haha. On a side note, you’re Portuguese aren’t you?

For anyone wondering (correct me if I'm wrong), Valentinian died while negotiating with the Quadi tribe, when they complained that Rome had attacked them and that it was the reason they were raiding roman territory he got so furious with outrage he had a seizure and died.

Nero: *kicks his pregnant wife to death* This guy: he wasn’t great but yeah lol

I watch this video every couple months and understand a little bit more each time. Hillarious.

Thank you for this... Lots of fun and interesting

You are correct in stating that it's a wonder the Roman Empire lasted as long as it did despite many terrible Emperors. Some of those guys like Nero, Caligula were at least in power when the Empire was very powerful, so the Empire made it despite them. The real wonder is how long the Empire lasted when it was past the glory days, and with lots of civil wars and clowns in control. And yes, Aurelian could have been so much more. His accomplishments were great considering the Empire wasn't exactly in its best days anymore.

Me: "Finally, an emperor tier list" Spectrum: "All the way up to Theodosius" Me: "Fuck, this is worse than even stopping at Romulus Augustulus."

This is the kind of content I wake up for. ❤

For some reason whenever I was learning about Rome I always like Domition. After reading up on him when I got older I found he was actually one of the most underrated emperors only cuz of how much the Senate hated him.

“77- Elagabalus” Are you sure you didn’t accidentally order them best to worst?

Aurelian cant be 7, he did more in five years than most emperors in their lifetimes.

That was great entertaining and funny thanks

I to-tal-ly dig this, mate! I attended 'high school' Gymnasium here, where they teach classcial languages (Latin and Ancient Greek) but seldomnly I've actually had a good laugh. This video I had many a lot!

Pretty much everyone knew Augustus and Trajan would be number 1 and 2 ("Felicior Augusto, melior Traiano") but I expected Aurelian to come in third place. Hes kind of like the Mozart of Roman Emperors, died way too early. One can only imagine what would have happened if he had reigned for 2 decades or more.

>Aurelian is number 7 Where my Aurelian‐bros at? He should be top 5

Awesome video. Love it. Thanks.

"Go read Marcus Aurelius' " is a very good advice, his Meditations is life changing

Really a testiment to how Awsome the Roman Empire was that only the top 20% you listed reached the rank of “good”

Domitian's economic reforms were completely necessary for the Antonine dynasty to do what they did, glad to see him get his deserved respect.

credit to you for going back in time and getting the data, this man deserves more credit

It was incredible. Appreciated. Never learned any of this in school.

You did Aurelian dirty, leaving out the social and religious reforms he put in place, somewhat successfully breaking up corruption in the capital, and as much as he abandoned Dacia, he reconquered Frace, Spain, Egypt and the Levant meaning technically he had the most expansion, it was just of previously conquered territory that had been lost.

I admit, I cringed when seeing that Vespasian (one of my top favourites) was missing, but at least you gave him his own follow-up video. Also, mad props for actually being objective about Domitian. Universally loathed, almost at the bottom of any list of emperors, and yet when researching for my current series (which takes place during his reign) I kept scratching my head while thinking, "Okay, why exactly was he so 'bad'?"

Victor (died August 388 AD) was a Western Roman emperor from 387 to August 388. He was the son of the magister militum Magnus Maximus, who later became a usurper of the Western Roman Empire, in opposition to Gratian.

Great commentary!!

Massive thumbs up for being one of the few people who realize Domitian did a fantastic job on stabilizing a potentially disastrous path for roman coinage!

Domitian is also the only emperor who can claim to have been loved by the Praetorians to the extent that they avenged him a couple of years later under Nerva.

Bravo and well done! ❤

Forgot my manners below, thanks for your time and effort, really interesting ! Hit the bell, liked, subscribed. Pat

I couldn’t agree more with the high ranking of Domitian. He was actually the one who went away from the Princeps system. A dude who could see that the senate had no use other than gobbling up money, he made the emperor the point of power, whereas Rome was in the past. A true autocrat, but loved by the people and hated by the old, rich senators.

Poor Vespasian...

Julian: “Go away.” Christians: “No” Julian *whining*: “But I want it!” Nero: “Have you ever heard of murder?”

@spectrum I appreciate you put Tacitus higher than the middle. For a man who by all accounts was a senior citizen, he died leading his troops against a barbarian incursion. He did nothing to dishonor the office, and liked to collect glass items.

Pertinax is one of my favorites, when the angry soldiers wanted to kill him, he tried to talk to them, got killed anyway. He has my respect for this move though

Honorable shoutout to Majorian (AKA, Aurelian 2.0) for doing his best to keep the empire together when literally everyone else was trying to break it apart.

This had to be the biggest undertaking, and on top of it, you made it fun and very enjoyable. So, I dub thee The Phenom.

That was awesome, dude.

You didn't mention Hadrian's Roman-jewish war, where he literally Deleted the Judean's from the game

Commodus: Acts slow so he doesn't become Emporer. Protarian Guard: Appoints him Emporer because they think he is slow. Commodus: "Really?!"

Thank you because I been looking for and easy way to count the years of 77 man

One video we had the stay with till the end. Nice work. Victor?

"the only reason Nero is hated cuz the Christians hated him" and the Jews... and the Plebs, and the Popularies, and the Senatorial class, and the Roman army and that teenage boy whom he had kidnapped, castrated and forced to live as his female sex slave because he resembled his wife whom he had previously beaten to death in a fit of rage... And anyone who was forced to attend his concerts. Although the story that he danced and played the fiddle as Rome burnt was definitely not true, because the fiddle hadn't been invented.

For those of you who want to know how Valentenian I died, he got so angry yelling at envoys that he suffered a stroke and dropped dead

i laughed my ass out with this video. well done!!!

Great video.👍👍

My man Aurelian is at number 7! Good to see him not sidelined like he is in many roman history courses.

I think you’re too forgiving with Nero. His first five years were good but that was because he had very good advisors in Burrus and Seneca early on. When their Burrus died and Seneca’s influence waned he showed himself to be crazy. Not as bad as Caligula but the same thing that happened with commodus and he got no mercy

I’m glad you did it! Trajan is my #1, even though Augustus is reality #1 great vid. If you haven’t been to Italy, for gods sake go. But go in November. Less crowded….

You tease us with the most hilarious death of all roman emperors but then don’t actually say what happened 😭

Good call, placing Aurelian in the top ten. This in and of itself indicates you have something on the ball. Many positions can be argued round or flat but I agree that Augustus should be a consensus number one and I can’t think of anyone seriously challenging Trajan for the second spot. All in all really good work.

My favorite Emperors are Augustus, Aurelian and Constantine. Great video overall.

This video was very good, it would be interesting if you could do a list on the roman kings aswell but there is probs not enuff information about them

The first time I've ever seen a video made by a channel with less that a thousand, scratch that, less that 10 thousand subs get into my recommended. For you getting blessed by the algorithm and for your dedication to the roman empire, you have earned a sub from me.

I think Antoninus Pius is underrated. Hear me out. He listened to the senate, as he had been a senator himself, and although it started with Hadrian, which picked Antoninus exactly with the purpose of making the senate and Princess co-exist again, Antoninus managed it to keep it going. The Senate was so happy with Antoninus that they awarded him the title Pius. Furthermore, he was probably in the top 3 for emperors effect on the economy. He somehow left Marcus Aurelius 2 billion sestertii, without which Marcus Aurelius reign would have probably not been so good (pandemic and wars). He was the only emperor that increased the goverment expenditure on the province of Italy, without decreasing those of the provinces. The opposite of what Hadrian did. He set up on an enourmous building project throughout Italy. He expanded the grain doll to over 200k, bringing it back to republican time size. He also expanded the border north in Britannia. Although not for long and finally he put down two large revolts in Egypt and Dacia. All of this without ever actually leaving the Province of Italia. He extended governorship to good governors, sometimes for a decade. Most important of all. He was the only emperor not to participate any war whatsoever, and respected Hadrian’s wishes to make Marcus Aurelius emperor, having him educated and participate in politics to ready him for it, had Antoninus not cared, Marcus Aurelius would not have been as well remembered as he is. I actually believe he might have been probably one of the best 5 emperors. Better then his successor. Other emperors overshadow him because of their foreign success. However few emperors were as successful in demoestic politics, peraphs only Augustus truly competing.

You have a like and another subscriber! 👍

You have an extremely underrated channel

To everyone praising Aurelian - yes, was a great general and when Rome was at it's lowest (at the time), he managed to "restore the world". But he also had a reputation for being very strict and undiplomatic. My guess is that as soon as the waters calmed and he became a politician, rather than a general, he would soon meet the fate of the strict emperors, like Galba. Or he could become another Diocletian and hold things together by his iron will. But even that doesn't last...

I agree with you with your high rating of Gallienus. Edward Gibbon had a poor opinion of him, but I always felt Gibbon was unfair. Gallienus really had his work cut out for him, including multiple usurpers and his father being captured by the Persians, and he did reasonably well considering the circumstances.

The best of the best it was awesome I had tine to listen to your forecast...

Good job I'm learning now about the emperors I know 4 of them but learning the others good video thanks