The Most Hated Roman Emperors
You may have reviewed our list of the 10 Best Roman Emperors, but every coin has two sides,
so the time has come to look at those ne'er-do-wells of history: the most hated Roman Emperors.
Number Five
Caracalla
For the first 13 years of his reign, Caracalla ruled as a co-emperor alongside first his
father, Septimius Severus, and then his brother, Geta.
He then had his brother assassinated by the loyal members of his Praetorian Guard.
Not satisfied, Caracalla went a step further to slaughter most of his brother’s supporters
as well.
In a further act of insult, Caracalla removed Geta’s image from paintings, coins, and
statues, struck him from record, and made it an actual crime to utter his name.
On top of being generally regarded as a tyrannical and cruel emperor, Caracalla wasn’t all
that effective in other aspects of his rule.
He put into effect an edict which declared all free inhabitants of the Empire to be official
citizens only so he could collect taxes from a wider base of people.
He depleted much of the Empire’s funds trying to keep his army happy and often engaged in
ruthless and unnecessary military campaigns.
Caracalla’s obsession with Alexander the Great also led him to misdeeds.
In a fit of erratic behavior he persecuted philosophers of the Aristotelian school based
solely off the legend that Aristotle had poisoned Alexander.
Caracalla’s behavior only got worse when, after discovering a play mocking him in the
city of Alexandria, he dispatched his troops to massacre, loot, and plunder the city.
Caracalla met his end when he was stabbed to death by a defected soldier—an ironic
end, considering his overbearing love of the army.
Number Four
Commodus
Some say of Commodus was that he was not evil, but just so dimwitted that he allowed wicked
friends to take control of his reign.
Commodus was famously portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in Ridley Scott’s 2000 film, Gladiator.
The young emperor was indeed a passionate follower of gladiatorial combat, and himself
fought in the arena, sometimes dressed as Hercules, for which he awarded himself divine
honours, declaring that he was a Roman Hercules.
Commodus was the son of the philosopher emperor Marcus Aurelius but he was the very opposite
of all that his father had stood for.
Vain and pleasure-seeking, Commodus virtually bankrupted the Roman treasury and he sought
to fill it up again by having wealthy citizens executed for treason so he could confiscate
their property.
Soon the list of those plotting against Commodus grew, even including his own sister.
The plots were foiled, however, and Commodus set about executing still more people, either
because they were conspiring against him or because he thought they might do so in the
future.
Eventually the Praetorian prefect and the emperor’s own court chamberlain hired a
professional athlete to strangle Commodus in the bath.
Number Three
Maximinus Thrax
The accounts of Herodian, speak of Maximinus as a man of significantly greater size than
his contemporaries and he has been depicted in ancient imagery as a man with a prominent
brow, nose, and jaw which could point to him having acromegaly.
His thumb was said to be so large that he wore his wife's bracelet as a ring for it.
Despite his large size, Maximinus has a reputation as one of the most despicable Roman emperors.
He is often considered to be the ruler who caused the Crisis of the Third Century.
Moreover, he brought Rome to near ruin with his exhaustive military campaigns, dispatching
his soldiers to multiple fronts at once.
Maximinus’ distrust and distaste for anyone apart from his army did him no favors and
caused more social instability.
He even had members of his own family put to death.
He was a man who preferred to rule by conquest rather than favor and became known for wrecking
public property and setting fires to any village he passed through.
His short three-year rule ended when he tried to siege Rome - the capital he had never set
foot in.
Starving soldiers of his camp assassinated him, his son, and his chief ministers.
Their heads were cut off, placed on poles, and carried to Rome by cavalrymen.
Number Two
Caligula
Caligula was the sole survivor after his entire family perished either in imprisonment or
directly at the hands of Emperor Tiberius.
He was then taken in by the emperor and indulged in all of his worst whims, until Tiberius
passed and Caligula took to the throne at 25 years old.
In the first six months of his rule, things actually went pretty well.
He cut unfair taxes, recalled those sentenced to exile, and granted military bonuses to
soldiers.
However, after a strange illness overtook him, his recovery was shrouded in a madness
that gave way to sadistic and perverse tendencies.
He became known for uttering the phrase, “Remember that I have the right to do anything to anybody.”
Any mockery from his subjects, perceived or real, was met with the punishment of death.
In fact, in his infinite paranoia, Caligula began sending those closest to him off to
exile or death—including his adopted son.
His cruelty led to him gaining a sense of satisfaction out of making parents watch as
their children were killed.
His arrogance rose to new heights as he declared that he was an actual living god.
Caligula even had the heads of statues of gods and goddesses replaced with his own.
Further accounts of his insanity include throwing an entire section of a gladiatorial audience
into the arena to be eaten by beasts for his own amusement, planning to appoint his horse
as a consul, and turning the palace into a veritable brothel.
Caligula was assassinated by the Praetorian Guard after only four years as emperor.
The man was so hated by the Senate that they even rallied to have him erased from the record
of Roman history.
Thanks to this campaign, it remains unclear to this day what is fact and what is fiction
in the Caligulan reign.
Number One
Nero
Let’s face it, Nero is the Roman Emperor we all love to hate, and for plenty of reasons..
Although Nero was actually a competent administrator, and had some very capable men at his side,
including his tutor – the writer Seneca, he was also unquestionably a cold-blooded
murderer.
Contrary to myth, Nero did not start the great fire of Rome, nor did he ‘fiddle’ (nor
even play the lyre), while the city burned – in fact, he organized relief work for
its victims and planned the rebuilding.
But his reputation as a despicable Emperor made the myth easy to believe.
Nero was much hated for building his huge, tasteless ‘golden house’ complex,the Domus
Aurea, a large landscaped portico villa, in the ruins of what had been the public area
of central Rome.
He also ruthlessly persecuted Christians in large numbers, and his childish insistence
on winning the laurels at the Olympic Games in Greece – whether or not he actually won,
or indeed finished the race – brought the whole Roman empire into disrepute.
His murderous reputation began with his step-brother Britannicus, with whom he had been supposed
to share power.
Nero progressed to his wife Octavia, whom he had executed on a trumped-up charge of
adultery.
Nero also had his own mother, Agrippina the Younger, murdered.
The initial attempt, using a collapsible boat, went wrong, and she had to be beaten to death
instead.
Famously when Nero’s soldiers arrived to do the deed, she is said to have asked them
to strike her first in the womb, since she had given birth to such a monster.
To Poppaea, the lover he abandoned Octavia for, he was no less unkind.
He kicked her to death in a fit of anger while she was pregnant with his child.
Nero then married Sporus, a young boy who is said to have greatly resembled Poppaea.
Nero had Sporos castrated, tried to make a woman out of him.
At the end, multiple governors rebelled against Nero, leading to the year of the four emperors
Nero’s own death exemplified his contemptuous callousness as he could not bring himself
to commit suicide, and had to have one of his private secretary kill him.
According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, the people of Rome celebrated the death of Nero,
and it is not hard to see why.
What did you think of our list?
Are there any emperors you really hate that we have missed?
Let us know in the comments.
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