Vote for the Best Roman Emperors out of these 16
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  Vote for the Best Roman Emperors out of these 16
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Poll
Question: ?
#1
Augustus
 
#2
Claudius
 
#3
Vespasian
 
#4
Trajan
 
#5
Hadrian
 
#6
Antonius pius
 
#7
Marcus Aurelius
 
#8
Aurelian
 
#9
Diocletian
 
#10
Constantine the Great
 
#11
Valentinian I
 
#12
Majorian
 
#13
Justinian the Great
 
#14
Heraclius
 
#15
Basil II
 
#16
Alexios Komnenos
 
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Author Topic: Vote for the Best Roman Emperors out of these 16  (Read 980 times)
lfromnj
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« on: May 28, 2021, 10:02:48 PM »

Chose these 16. Pick 4. Will do a runoff round later.
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Chunk Yogurt for President!
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« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2021, 10:41:43 PM »

Augustus, Trajan, Constantine, Justinian
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Lechasseur
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« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2021, 06:38:42 AM »

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Cassius
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« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2021, 08:49:13 AM »

Augustus, Vespasian, Trajan, Constantine.

Sad to have to leave the cabbage farmer off the list :’(
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Lumine
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« Reply #4 on: June 01, 2021, 11:24:11 AM »

Augustus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and Aurelian.

Constantine is supremely overrated, Justinian was ruinous (in spite of admittedly romantic goals and early success), and I feel disappointed at the lack of support for the Restitutor Orbis.
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Lechasseur
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« Reply #5 on: June 01, 2021, 12:03:49 PM »

Augustus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and Aurelian.

Constantine is supremely overrated, Justinian was ruinous (in spite of admittedly romantic goals and early success), and I feel disappointed at the lack of support for the Restitutor Orbis.

Eh, Constantine is definitely top 4 for me

I was seriously hesitating between Justinian and Aurelian, but with second thought I'd probably go with Aurelian.

Not sure if we can change our vote here.

But anyway, Augustus, Trajan, Aurelian and Constantine
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Buffalo Mayor Young Kim
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« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2021, 12:45:50 PM »

Ok the obvious three are Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian. Solid emperoring all around there.
For number 4, I went with an odd ball choice of Diocletian. Not a nice guy by any means, but rebuilding a dying imperial administrative system counts for allot.

Constantine gets sentimental points, but when I took away religious favoritism, meh.

Marcus Aurelius gets my vote for  most overrated emperor. His actual reign was mostly an endless military quagmire in the Marcomannic wars interspersed with plague. But he wrote some c level philosophy and gets used by classical historians as the last of the good emperors people act like he was Trajan.
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« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2021, 01:27:25 PM »
« Edited: June 04, 2021, 10:48:40 AM by c r a b c a k e »

Augustus, Trajan, Aurelian, Basil II

Most people interested in the classics are nerds, so tend to overrate "wow this bookworm turned into a badass and showed up the jocks" Emperors (Claudius, Marcus Aurelius, Julian the Apostate). Of course, Augustus also follows this model, literally coming to power by defeating Chad and Stacey, but he does deserve credit for creating a Principate so powerful it could survive the rest of his dynasty. (Note: I do like Claudius because I too am a nerd, but he's outmatched by the Great Men of History)

Flavians are all OK (even Domitian) but far too short lived. Nerva-Antonines are all a bit overrated (why is nerva even counted?) but Trajan is best in terms of just military gains, even if it was ephemeral. Perhaps I should have voted Hadrian, who made more of a lasting impact than his predecessor, but had the unfortunate matter of his, um, issues with Judea. Antoninus Pius is more the absence of anything bad than a great emperor.

Then the Severans (note: Severus Alexander is kind of an underrated B-Tier emperor) and the crisis years which brings up Aurelian, who of course is a legend despite only lasting a few years. I excluded Diocletian because he did a lot of bad and counterproductive things, and a lot of his bright ideas did not last (tetrarchy), but he does deserve credit for his root and branch reform of the Emperor. Constantine ranks a little higher for me, even though he strikes me as a very devious person, and also crapped the bed irt succession.

I do not remotely care for the Valentinians or Theodosians (why is Theodosius I not on the list btw?): who largely define managed decline. Majorian is more a very sad final hint of an Aurelian that was snuffed out via treachery.

As for the Byzantine Emperors, Basil II is the only one who made substantial gains without poison pills. A lot of the time, good Emperors often just leave their successors with a hundred time bombs (e.g. Justinian): Basil left an expanded and healthy Empire that had to be actively wrecked by his mediocre successors. Heraclius is basically a very sad shaggy dog story. I would also nominate Anastasius, Maurice and Constantine IV  as good Emperors of the East.
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lfromnj
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« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2021, 10:42:09 AM »

Ok the obvious three are Augustus, Trajan, and Hadrian. Solid emperoring all around there.
For number 4, I went with an odd ball choice of Diocletian. Not a nice guy by any means, but rebuilding a dying imperial administrative system counts for allot.

Constantine gets sentimental points, but when I took away religious favoritism, meh.

Marcus Aurelius gets my vote for  most overrated emperor. His actual reign was mostly an endless military quagmire in the Marcomannic wars interspersed with plague. But he wrote some c level philosophy and gets used by classical historians as the last of the good emperors people act like he was Trajan.
I mean to Aurelius, neither of his crises was his fault and he generally dealt with both of them adequately.  Maybe not one of the greatest, but he was a good one nonetheless.
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Statilius the Epicurean
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« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2021, 07:00:44 PM »

Augustus for ending the civil wars, Hadrian for retrenching the borders and his cultural programme, Antoninus Pius for following on Hadrian and ruling peacefully, Aurelian for rescuing the Empire from collapse.
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The Mikado
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« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2021, 11:07:20 PM »

I'm not entirely sure if we're putting a very late Western Emperor who represents a missed opportunity to reverse Western Rome's military fortunes, we're going with Majorian over Anthemius. By all accounts, Anthemius' invasion of North Africa to destroy the Vandal Kingdom in 468 was sound and its failure more a result of bad luck and Vandal skill, but it was a bet worth taking. Western Rome reasserting control of (and tax revenue from) Tunisia and Algeria and wiping the Vandals, the most hostile to recognizing official Roman rule, might well have helped Western Rome limp on nominally for another few decades. The Visigoths only really stopped recognizing nominal Roman overlordship once it became clear that, yeah, the Empire had absolutely no steam left. A successful union of North Africa with Italy under Western Roman rule by Anthemius would've probably led to the Visigoths at least nominally going "Yes, of course Gaul and Hispania are still Roman provinces" while doing their own thing in reality, but that's a lot better than then just...stopping to even pretend to be Roman.
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RINO Tom
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« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2021, 02:51:01 PM »

Augustus, Trajan, Diocletian, Justinian.
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lfromnj
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« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2021, 02:39:26 PM »

By the way of the people who voted, who even knows Aurelian?
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Lechasseur
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« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2021, 04:34:05 PM »

By the way of the people who voted, who even knows Aurelian?

I do, he was one of the best emperors
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