Five Good Emperors

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The "Five Good Emperors" (sometimes erroneously called the Nervan-Antonian Dynasty, which is actually a conflation of the Nervo-Trajanic and Antonine dynasties, including Commodus) were a series of five emperors of the Roman Empire who ruled from 96 to 180. They were known for their moderate policies, in contrast to their more tyrannical and oppressive successors.

These emperors were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Among the Roman emperors, the period of the five good emperors was particularly notable for the peaceful method of succession. Each emperor chose his successor by adopting an heir, thus preventing the political turmoil associated with the succession both before and after this period. The naming by Marcus Aurelius of his son Commodus as heir proved to be an unfortunate choice, and the end of the Pax Romana.

This opinion of well-being is best expressed by the historian Edward Gibbon:

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. The vast extent of the Roman Empire was governed by absolute power, under the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The armies were restrained by the firm but gentle hand of four successive emperors, whose characters and authority commanded respect. The forms of the civil administration were carefully preserved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were pleased with considering themselves as the accountable ministers of the laws. Such princes deserved the honour of restoring the republic had the Romans of their days been capable of enjoying a rational freedom. — The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

However, more recent historians, while agreeing with many of the details of this analysis, would not entirely agree with Gibbon's praise of this period. There were more people under the rule of these emperors than the few affluent individuals whose lives are mentioned or recorded in the historical record. A large fraction of the rest were farmers or their dependents, who lived their lives always at the whim of avaricious government officials, or unrestrained bandits, no less during the reign of these "Good Emperors" than before or after. The extent to which these people suffered or were happy continues to be a subject of historical debate.

See also

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