The Five Good Emperors of the Roman Empire — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00did you know that the term five good
2. 0:02Emperors is from the modern era
3. 0:04[Music]
4. 0:12hello and welcome to world history
5. 0:14encyclopedia my name is Kelly and
6. 0:16today's video is all about the five
7. 0:18Emperors of the Roman Empire that are
8. 0:20collectively known as the good emperors
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18. 0:42below
19. 0:45the five good Emperors of the Roman
20. 0:48Empire were nerva trajan Hadrian
21. 0:50antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius
22. 0:53the term five good Emperors was never
23. 0:56applied to these men by ancient Roman
24. 0:58historians but was coined by the Italian
25. 1:01philosopher Diplomat and writer Nicolo
26. 1:04Machiavelli who is most famous for his
27. 1:06work titled the prince
28. 1:08his naming of the five good Emperors can
29. 1:11be found from his 1531 books discourses
30. 1:14on Livy in book 1 chapter 10 where he
31. 1:17differentiates between effective and
32. 1:19ineffective rulers
33. 1:21let any Prince now Place himself in the
34. 1:24times from nerva to Marcus Aurelius and
35. 1:27let him compare them with those that
36. 1:29preceded and followed that period and
37. 1:32let him choose in which of the two he
38. 1:34would like to have been born and in
39. 1:36which he would like to have reigned
40. 1:38in the period under the good Emperors he
41. 1:41will see the prince of cure amidst his
42. 1:44people who are also living in security
43. 1:46he will see peace and Justice Prevail in
44. 1:49the world
45. 1:51Machiavelli's depiction of the five good
46. 1:54Emperors is idealized but still
47. 1:56considered sound because during the
48. 1:58reign of these five especially Hadrian
49. 2:00the Roman Empire reached its height the
50. 2:04five good Emperors were highlighted by
51. 2:06Machiavelli because of how they reigned
52. 2:08and the policy of succession begun by
53. 2:10nerva which until Aurelius resulted in
54. 2:14the best man for the position not one's
55. 2:16nearest relative
56. 2:19Machiavelli's conclusions were
57. 2:20popularized by the 18th century English
58. 2:23historian Edward Gibbon in his famous
59. 2:25work the history of the decline and fall
60. 2:27of the Roman Empire
61. 2:30Gibbon following Machiavelli claims that
62. 2:32this period in Rome's history was the
63. 2:35greatest owing to the system of adoption
64. 2:37by the Emperors who chose a successor
65. 2:40during their reign instead of having the
66. 2:43throne inherited by an heir of one's
67. 2:45bloodline and this ensured a seamless
68. 2:48succession of rulers which only ended
69. 2:51when Aurelius chose his son Commodus as
70. 2:54Heir instead of someone better suited to
71. 2:57the responsibilities of political power
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78. 3:16the first of the five nerva ranged from
79. 3:2096 to 98 CE taking the throne after the
80. 3:23mission of the flavian dynasty had been
81. 3:25assassinated the mission had been a
82. 3:28heavy-handed Emperor a nervous first
83. 3:31order of business was to repeal his
84. 3:33policies and restore civil liberties to
85. 3:35the people nerva came to power late in
86. 3:38life he was around 66 years old and
87. 3:41unlike the mission was not popular with
88. 3:43the military he became even less popular
89. 3:46when he refused to have domissions
90. 3:48assassins prosecuted and initiated
91. 3:52lenient policies in punishing others his
92. 3:55easy-going nature which many objected to
93. 3:57as compared with the mission finally
94. 4:00encouraged Revolt when the praetorian
95. 4:02guard took Nova hostage and demanded
96. 4:05changes which he agreed to he had no
97. 4:08direct air and understood he needed to
98. 4:11name a successor in order to prevent
99. 4:13civil unrest at his death and so chose
100. 4:16the popular General trajan who was also
101. 4:18an Adept politician and came from a
102. 4:21respectable family
103. 4:22as many historians have noted nervous
104. 4:25choices were limited but he still chose
105. 4:28the man he thought best suited to the
106. 4:30job and so established the policy of
107. 4:33adoption and succession that
108. 4:36characterizes the five good emperors
109. 4:39foreign
110. 4:42from 98 to 117 and was regarded as a
111. 4:46great emperor early on he had risen to
112. 4:48the rank of General under domitian and
113. 4:51had field experience in successful
114. 4:53military campaigns connections at court
115. 4:56came from an upper class family and so
116. 4:59was highly regarded by the upper class
117. 5:01politicians the military and the lower
118. 5:04classes who admired him not only for his
119. 5:06expansionist policies but his building
120. 5:09programs
121. 5:10during his Reign trajan enriched Rome
122. 5:13through military campaigns notably
123. 5:15taking the wealthy Kingdom of nabatea
124. 5:17and erecting some of the most famous
125. 5:20structures in the history of the Empire
126. 5:22including trajan's bridge at the iron
127. 5:25gates of the Danube River so well built
128. 5:28that the bases of the pylons still
129. 5:30existed in the 20th century and some
130. 5:33still do today the building complex
131. 5:35known as trajan's Forum was the largest
132. 5:38of its kind encompassed trajan's market
133. 5:40and was ornamented by trajan's column
134. 5:43celebrating his victory in the dacian
135. 5:46wars
136. 5:47he chose his cousin Hadrian who was
137. 5:50supported by the military as he had been
138. 5:52as a successor though according to
139. 5:55historian Cassius Dayo it was trajan's
140. 5:58wife platina who ensured Hadrian's
141. 6:00succession as she had always favored him
142. 6:04[Music]
143. 6:06it's possible platina maneuvered Hadrian
144. 6:09to power as it seems trajan and Hadrian
145. 6:12had a falling out at some point but
146. 6:14however his adoption came about Hadrian
147. 6:17became an even more popular Emperor than
148. 6:19trajan he ended the widespread
149. 6:22expansionist policies of trajan and
150. 6:25concentrated on building projects and
151. 6:27monuments improving roads establishing
152. 6:30cities securing the borders of the
153. 6:32Empire and strengthening Rome's
154. 6:34infrastructure
155. 6:35he spent 12 of his 21 years as Emperor
156. 6:39traveling outside of Rome but still
157. 6:41remained popular with the people who had
158. 6:44condemned early Emperors for much
159. 6:46briefer absences
160. 6:48he is probably best known today for
161. 6:50Hadrian's Wall built in 122 in Britain
162. 6:53as much as a symbol of rooms might as a
163. 6:56fortification protecting Roman Britain
164. 6:58from Invasion by the northern picts
165. 7:01his Reign is considered the absolute
166. 7:04height of the Roman Empire and he
167. 7:06ensured a peaceful succession by
168. 7:08adopting antoninus Pius
169. 7:12foreign
170. 7:14ERS Pious who range from 138 to 161
171. 7:18found favor with Hadrian early and was
172. 7:20married to his niece faustina the Elder
173. 7:22to whom he was famously devoted his
174. 7:25Reign was one of the most peaceful in
175. 7:27Rome's history though contrary to Legend
176. 7:30there were military campaigns launched
177. 7:32and civil unrest in the provinces
178. 7:36disturbances in Roman Britain resulted
179. 7:38in the construction of the antonine wall
180. 7:40in 142. to just give one example
181. 7:44antoninus Pius was an able administrator
182. 7:46and effective political leader who may
183. 7:49have established diplomatic relations
184. 7:51with China and was the first emperor to
185. 7:54issue decrees regarding religious
186. 7:56tolerance and the protection of civil
187. 7:58liberties for Christians considered a
188. 8:01new and Troublesome sect at the time he
189. 8:05chose Marcus Aurelius his wife's nephew
190. 8:07and Lucius Varys son of Lucius Alias
191. 8:10Hadrian's adopted son who died before
192. 8:12Hadrian as his successors
193. 8:18Marcus Aurelius ranged from 161 to 180
194. 8:21and Lucius Varys between 161 and 169 and
195. 8:25the two were almost complete opposites
196. 8:27in character Aurelius was a very serious
197. 8:30student of stoic philosophy and
198. 8:32maintained a rigid personal discipline
199. 8:34while virus was more extravagant loved
200. 8:37luxury and was famous for throwing
201. 8:39expensive parties
202. 8:42Varys died of the plague on campaign in
203. 8:44169 and Aurelius reigned alone
204. 8:47afterwards until 177 when he named his
205. 8:50son Commodus as co-empra
206. 8:52aside from his depiction in the popular
207. 8:54film Gladiator he is best known today
208. 8:57for his journal published under the
209. 8:59title meditations on proper behavior
210. 9:02according to stoic principles
211. 9:04during his Reign he continued antoninus
212. 9:07pius's edicts protecting Christians and
213. 9:10encouraging religious tolerance and
214. 9:12concentrated on improving the lives of
215. 9:14his people but at the same time had to
216. 9:17contend with an outbreak of plague
217. 9:19floods famine and wars with the
218. 9:22parthians and Germanic tribes along the
219. 9:25Danube unlike his predecessors Aurelius
220. 9:29chose his son Commodus his co-ruler as
221. 9:31Heir but Commodus proved to be a
222. 9:34disappointment ending the period of the
223. 9:36five good Emperors of Rome
224. 9:39According to some historians Commodus
225. 9:41Reign marks the beginning of the decline
226. 9:44of the Roman Empire as well as it was
227. 9:47followed by the chaotic time of the year
228. 9:49of the five Emperors and shortly after
229. 9:52the crisis of the third Century do you
230. 9:55agree that these were the five good
231. 9:57Emperors of Rome or would you choose
232. 9:59others let us know what you think in the
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