Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Year of The Five Emperors

Episode Date: January 24, 2021

Every so often, the series Dr. Who would have a special episode where multiple versions of the time-traveling Doctor would appear on the same episode. I think they probably ripped the idea off from the Roman empire, where they had several years with multiple emperors. So, fresh off talking about the year of four emperors, we might as well go straight into the year it was even worse. Learn more about the year 193, the Year of the Five Emperors on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every so often, the TV series Doctor would have a special program where multiple versions of the time-traveling doctor would appear on the same episode. I think they probably ripped off the idea from the Roman Empire, where they had several years with multiple emperors. So, fresh off talking about the year of the four emperors, we might as well go straight into the year got even worse. Learn more about the year 193, the year of the five emperors, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by Audible.com. My audiobook recommendation today is 10 Caesars. Roman emperors from Augustus to Constantine by Barry Strauss Barry Strauss's 10 Caesars is the story of the Roman Empire, from Rise to Reinvention, from Augustus who founded the Empire to Constantine, who made a Christian, and moved the capital east to Constantinople. During these centuries, Rome gained in splendor and territory, then lost both.

The empire reached from modern-day Britain to Iraq, and gradually emperors came not from the old families of the first century, but from men born in the provinces, some of whom had never even seen Rome. By the 4th century at the time of Constantine, the Roman Empire had changed so dramatically in geography, ethnicity, religion, and culture, that it would have been virtually unrecognizable to Augustus.

You can get a free one-month trial to Audible and two free audiobooks by going to audibletrial.com slash everything everywhere or by clicking on the link in the show notes. As we last left our empire, the year 69 saw off people and the transition from the Giulio-Claudean dynasty to the Flavis. dynasty, starting with Emperor Vespasian. When the Flavian dynasty collapsed in the year 96, there wasn't the chaos we saw back in 69. When Domitian died, the Senate appointed a career public servant named Nerva to the job. Nerva was old and more of a transition emperor,

lasting only 15 months of the job before passing away. However, he adopted a young general named Trajan, who replaced him. This was the start of probably the greatest period in the history of the Roman Empire. It was known to historians as the five good emperor. and for 84 years, the empire knew peace and reasonably good rulers. These emperors were collectively known as the Nerva Antonine dynasty, and what they have in common is that all of the successor emperors were adopted by the emperor before them. Imperial rule wasn't passed along by bloodlines,

but rather by worthiness for the job. Of course, this couldn't last forever. The last of the five good emperors was Marcus Aurelius, who passed the throne to his natural son, Cometus. Needles to say, Comedus was not one of the five good emperors. Comedus was the emperor depicted in the movie Gladiator. While the movie wasn't even close to being accurate, it did convey the gist of what you need to know. Comedus was a horrible emperor.

Just as the year of the four emperors started the year before with a bad emperor, Nero, so too did the year of the five emperor start the year before with a bad one, Comedus. Comedus was crazy and paranoid, and like so many emperors, was eventually a good emperor. assassinated. In fact, he was assassinated on December 31st, 192, only a few hours away from making the title of this episode, the Year of the Six Emperors. Comedus's assassination was part of a liquidation of many robin nobles on New Year's Eve. As Comedus himself was killed, there weren't a whole lot of people left who could assume the position of emperor. The Senate gave the job to one Publius Helwius-Pertnax. He had worked his way up the ranks and was one of the few remaining nobles left

standing after the cleansing by Commodus. He made the fatal mistake that so many emperors had made. He didn't pay off the Petroian Guard, who were the troops who were the personal guard of the Emperor. Not only that, but he took away many of the perks which were given to them by Comedus. Shocking, absolutely no one. On March 28, Pertnax was assassinated by the Pretorian Guard. What the Pretorian Guard did next, however, was totally unprecedented.

They auctioned off the Imperial Throne. They literally sold it to the highest bidder. And the winner of the auction was won Marcus Didius Giulianus, Emperor No. 2. Didius Giulianus had been a consul and pro-consul of Africa, but as it turns out, buying a rule via an auction isn't the best way to secure power. People hated him, and insulted him, and pelted him with objects wherever he went in Rome. Absolutely no one respected him, and no one really took his claim to being Emperor seriously. Moreover, after the death of Pertnax, three different generals from different provinces claim the imperial throne. And here's where we get emperors number three, four, and five.

Peskinius Niger was the governor of Syria. Clodius albinus was the governor of Britain. And Septimius Severus was the governor of Penonia Superior, which today consists of parts of Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. If you look at a list of Roman emperors, all three of those men are not listed. They were all claimants at the same time, so it wasn't like the year of the four emperors where they were emperors sequentially. As you can guess from this arrangement, with three generals scattered across the empire, all with armies, a civil war was inevitable. Septimius Severus was close to Pertnax, and when he was assassinated, most people assumed that the throne would go to Severus. Severus, also being the closest of the three generals to Rome, headed there immediately.

Didius Giulianus knew that Severus was coming. Unfortunately, the only troops he had under his control were the Praetorian Guard. They were powerful in Rome, but had no experience fighting in the field. He tried to get them to train outside the city, but in the end, it didn't matter. Didius Giulianus was assassinated only 66 days after buying his way to power, and Septimius Severus waltzed into Rome with almost no opposition. He dismissed the Praetorian Guard and killed the men responsible for the assassination of pertinacs. The Senate proclaimed Severus as emperor and declared Didius Giuliani,

Demnatio Memori, where all mention of him was to be destroyed. Please refer to my previous episode on that subject. Severos controlled the Italian peninsula, but he had enemies to the east and enemies to the west. What do you do? These events started in the year 193, but it actually took several years to resolve them. As I mentioned in the previous episode about the year of the four emperors, the wealth in the Roman Empire lied in the east. This is where the money and grain was, so this, is where he turned his attention first.

However, to do that, he had to pacify the West, and that meant pacifying Clodius albinus. He gave Clodius the title of Caesar. The two of them shared the consulship in the year 194, and that was enough to keep Clodius happy in the West. Now, Severus could focus on Piscinius Niger. Even though the East was rich, Piscinius Niger's military strength wasn't close to Severus's.

Severus had 16 legions, Niger had only six, and those six were spread throughout the Middle East. Over a series of three battles culminating in the Battle of Isis, the same place where Alexander the Great won his biggest battle, Severus defeated Niger. He tried to flee, but was captured and beheaded. Three emperors down, only two remaining.

Having secured the East and the wealth and the legions and the grain that went with it, he could now focus on the West. Clodius assumed that when he was given the title of Caesar, that meant that he was to be next in line to the throne. and this was not to be. Severus named his sons to be next in line, which caused Clodius to declare himself emperor in the year 197. The two met at the Battle of Lugdonum, and Claudius Albinas was soundly defeated, leaving Septimius Severus as the sole ruler of Rome. He began the Severan dynasty, which, to be honest, gave Rome some of the absolute worst emperors in history. His son,

Caracalla, was horrible, and Elagabalus, his grandson-in-law is considered by many to be the worst Roman emperor of them all. The Roman Empire eventually became more unstable with even more turnover in emperors and a whole lot more assassinations. Believe it or not, only 45 years after the year of five emperors, Rome had a year of six emperors. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Macalach. The associate producer is Thor Thompson.

Remember to leave a five-star review to get your review read on the show. They can be left at Apple Podcasts, Podcasts, Republic, or wherever you listen to the show. Also, you can help support the show over at patreon.com. Patrons can get merchandise like t-shirts and hoodies, as well as having direct access to provide suggestions for future episodes.