Ranking Every Roman Emperor from Worst to Best

00:00 Intro, please leave a like, comment and sub
00:49 77 to 31
10:01 30 to 1
19:53 Please like, comment and subscribe!

After deliberating a lot, I've ranked every Roman Emperor from worst to best ranging from Augustus all the way to Theodosius I. It took me, well... a really long time.

There were so many lousy Emperors, good God. So many of them were just straight-up forgettable.

Am I going to do a sequel to this, and make a Ranking Every Western and Eastern Roman Emperor? Yeah, probably. Eventually, that is...

[TheGhostInThePhoto]

Had to look up why Valentinian’s death was so funny. Turns out, he got so angry at some envoys that he had a stroke and died while yelling at them.

[MidwestArtMan]

“This guy was emperor for 17 days.”
still better than a dozen emperors

[athingwhichexists]

The Roman Empire is collapsing
Aurelian: steps in
"You're wrong"
* Refuses to elaborate further *
* dies *

[Abdullah_the_slave_of_Allah]

RIP to all those Emperors that ranked lower than the guy who ruled 17 days 💀

[shadowxxe]

"Who are you?"
"I was the emperor that got killed by the praetorian guard for being shit"
"That doesn't narrow it down"

[asriver]

Honorable mention and mad props to my boy Julius Caesar. While he technically wasn't an emperor, he was simultaneously the worst thing that happened to the Roman Republic and the best thing that happened to the Roman Empire.

[extralyfe]

imagine living as one of the mighty Roman Emperors over a 1500 year period, having that life, ruling over millions of people - and then, some dude throws you on a goddamned tier list like a thousand years later.

shit makes me laugh.

[flywheel]

Marcus Aurealius understood the Empire was doomed, but he continued to provide good leadership and statesmanship, even though twilight was coming to Rome. Possibly the most unselfserving of all of the Emperors. He seemed to be a Roman of the "Old School".

[jidner]

Fun fact: nero’s last words were: “what a great poet the world is losing in me.” Was he a great poet? No not really.

[dallasjonpaulgrove]

17 out of 71 Roman Emporers actually knew how to govern a nation. Oof.

[scarletbard]

I love how a lot of the good emperors are just fixing the mistakes of all the bad ones.

[ProbablyNotAChicken]

Fun Fact: Of the 503 years that the Roman Empire existed until the fall of the western part in 476, 301 of those years were spent under the rule of the 17 "good" emperors on this list. Roughly 59% of classical Imperial Roman history was led by competent emperors, despite competent emperors only making up about 22% of the 77 total. It should also be noted that the best and longest reigning emperor was also the first.

[TheGreatMoonFrog]

Emperor Claudius is one of my favorites. Basically put in as a puppet emperor by his powerful family who thought he was a dimwit that would be easy to control. Claudius had always had a stutter, something his family made fun of him for, he was sent off to live as a simple scribe/scholar. When the last emperor died the power was thrust onto to Claudius. Far from being an easily controlled dimwit though he was actually a smart and effective emperor that saw the British isle successfully invaded (something Caesar failed doing multiple times), apparently he gave great speeches to, his stutter would disappear for them so the vast majority of Romans had no idea about the stutter.

[lukedaduke]

I think it’s unbelievable that we have the faces of all these guys preserved for thousands of years

[KratosAurion]

Let's face it, if aurelian lasted 20 years the whole world would be speaking Latin.

[AeonAir]

Not giving Pupienus enough credit considering he has the funniest name in the history of human kind

[bigsealfan]

I kept hearing "gods" when you said "Goths", so "famous for defeating the gods" and "killed by the gods" as a couple examples. Picturing it in my mind was pretty funny xD

[legojoshua]

Timestamps of Each:
77 - 0:56 - Elagabalus
76 - 1:14 - Caligula
75 - 1:37 - Commodus
74 - 1:49 - Constantine II
73 - 2:10 - Caracalla
72 - 2:24 - Geta
71 - 2:36 - Trebonius Gallus
70 - 2:56 - Didius Julianus
69 - 3:12 - Valentinian II
68 - 3:19 - Gratian
67 - 3:26 - Volusianus
66 - 3:37 - Quintillus
65 - 3:43 - Aemilian
64 - 3:50 - Pupienus
63 - 3:50 - Balbinus
62- 4:03 - Diadumenian
61 - 4:13 - Martinian
60 - 4:19 - Valerius Valens
59 - 4:24 - Eugenius
58 - 4:30 - Victor
57 - 4:40 - Gordian III
56 - 4:49 - Philip II
55 - 4:54 - Carinus
54 - 5:06 - Floranius
53 - 5:12 - Vitellius
52 - 5:20 - Macrinus
51 - 5:30 - Salonius
50 - 5:35 - Jovian
49 - 5:48 - Magnus Maximus
48 - 5:59 - Nero
47 - 6:13 - Otho
46 - 6:29 - Serverus
45 - 6:39 - Pertinax
44 - 6:51 - Gordian I
43 - 6:58 - Gordian II
42 - 7:07 - Maximian
41 - 7:24 - Herennius Etruscus
40 - 7:31 - Maximinus
39 - 7:44 - Numerian
38 - 7:51 - Maximinus Thrax
37 - 8:05 - Hostilian
36 - 8:17 - Decius
35 - 8:22 - Vetranio
34 - 8:39 - Lucius Verus
33 - 8:58 - Valerian
32 - 9:07 - Philip the Arab
31 - 9:23 - Galerius
30 - 9:39 - Galba
29 - 9:53 - Maxentius
28 - 10:15 - Tacitus
27 - 10:22 - Constans
26 - 10:31 - Valens
25 - 11:03 - Julian
24 - 11:38 - Licinius
23 - 11:51 - Alexander Severus
22 - 12:06 - Probus
21 - 12:17 - Nerva
20 - 12:37 - Claudius Gothicus
19 - 12:50 - Carus
18 - 13:05 - Septimius Severus
17 - 13:32 - Constantius I
16 - 13:41 - Constantius II
15 - 14:17 - Gallienus
14 - 14:51 - Titus
13 - 15:01 - Theodosius I
12 - 15:17 - Antonius Pius
11 - 15:30 - Valentinian I
10 - 15:52 - Tiberius
9 - 16:17 - Claudius
8 - 16:27 - Diocletian
7 - 16:52 - Aurelian
6 - 17:25 - Marcus Aurelius
5 - 17:43 - Domitian
4 - 18:16 - Hadrian
3 - 18:36 - Constantine I
2 - 18:55 - Trajan
1 - 19:14 - Augustus

[aconcernedcommissar]

For one funny story about Caligula
Supposedly he was told he was as likely to become emperor as he was to ride across a bay without getting his horse shoes wet
When he became emperor had built a bridge of boats just so he could ride across the bay while his horses feet stayed dry

[jischw]

if u want to watch it in chronological order:


- 19:14 Augustus
- 15:52 Tiberius
- 1:14 Caligula
- 16:17 Claudius
- 5:59 Nero
- 9:39 Galba
- 6:13 Otho
- 5:12 Vitellius
Vespasian
- 14:51 Titus
- 17:43 Domitian
- 12:17 Nerva
- 18:55 Trajan
- 18:16 Hadrian
- 15:17 Antonius Pius
- 17:25 Marcus Aurelius
- 8:39 Lucius Verus
- 1:37 Commodus
- 6:39 Pertinax
- 2:56 Didius Julianus
- 13:05 Septimius Severus
- 2:10 Caracalla
- 2:24 Geta
- 5:20 Macrinus
- 4:03 Diadumenian
- 0:56 Elagabalus
- 11:51 Alexander Severus
- 7:51 Maximinus Thrax
- 6:51 Gordian I
- 6:58 Gordian II
- 3:50 Pupienus
- 3:50 Balbinus
- 4:40 Gordian III
- 9:07 Philip the Arab
- 4:49 Philip II
- 8:17 Decius
- 7:24 Herennius Etruscus
- 2:36 Trebonius Gallus
- 8:05 Hostilian
- 3:26 Volusianus
- 3:43 Aemilian
- 8:58 Valerian
- 14:17 Gallienus
- 5:30 Salonius
- 12:37 Claudius Gothicus
- 3:37 Quintillius
- 16:52 Aurelian
- 10:15 Tacitus
- 5:06 Florianus
- 12:06 Probus
- 12:50 Carus
- 4:54 Carinus
- 7:44 Numerian
- 16:27 Diocletian
- 7:07 Maximian
- 13:32 Constantius I
- 9:23 Galerius
- 6:29 Serverus
- 9:53 Maxentius
- 11:38 Licinius
- 7:31 Maximinus
- 4:19 Valerius Valens
- 4:13 Martinian
- 18:36 Constantine I
- 1:49 Constantine II
- 10:22 Constans
- 13:41 Constantius II
Magnentius
Nepotianus
- 8:22 Vetranio
- 11:03 Julian
- 5:35 Jovian
- 15:30 Valentinian I
- 10:31 Valens
Procopius
- 3:19 Gratian
- 5:48 Magnus Maximus
- 4:30 Victor
- 3:12 Valentinian II
- 4:24 Eugenius
- 15:01 Theodosius I