The Top 10 Greatest Roman Emperors Of All Time.

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[Maiorianus_Sebastian]

Enter the code "Maiorianus" to get a 10% discount on every purchase. The ideal present for any fan of Rome 😉!

[TheSphee]

Good to see heraclius on the list. Heraclius deserves some credit for single handingly saving the Empire with his daring expedition to the sassanian heartland.

[hewhoshallnotbenamed]

Putting Augustus, the man whose reforms birthed the Roman Empire and gave it its longevity, at #4 is pretty ballsy. My boy Aurelian made it to #2 though so I can't complain too much, lol.
Also, I think Claudius I should have gotten an honorable mention as he was by far the best emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty behind Augustus.

[Baamtheth]

Vespasian deserved to be at least in the Honorable mentions

[nathank]

I feel bad for Pertinax. He rolled back the taxes that Commodus had implemented to fund his lavishness, after running down the Treasury to practically nothing. He lived very frugally. He tried to restore discipline to the praetorian guard. And so they killed him for it. Darn shame

[Fhjull]

My top:
1. Augustus (ended civil wars and created a system that lasted 3 hundred years. one of the greatest politicians in history)
2. Constantine (end of the crisis of the 3rd century, unification of the empire, monetary reform, beginning of Christianization, founding of Constantinople). He is also one of the best generals in Roman history.
3. Aurelian (without him the empire would probably have collapsed completely in the 3rd century)
4. Trajan (there is no need to explain here. Not such an epoch-making reign as the three above, but good in literally everything)
5. Hadrian (near the best administrator in the history of the empire)
6. Tiberius (stabilization of the empire after the death of Augustus, cessation of conquests, good manager, excellent commander)
6. Constantius 2 (successfully held the empire during a rather long period of crisis, a person with a developed sense of duty).
7. Valentinian 1 (basically the same as in the previous paragraph)
8. Gallienus (conducted reforms that laid the foundations for overcoming the crisis of the 3rd century)
9. Probus (continued the work of Aurelian, strengthened the army, assembled a military elite, which would then rule Rome for another 30 years).
10. Domitian (a good administrator, which was previously said about Hadrian and Tiberius, but unlike them he also had serious failures).

[Hannibalian]

we cannot forget that marcus aurelius actually asked his son-in-law pompeianus to succeed him, however he declined, meaning the pax romana could've lasted even longer under pompeianus and then through his son lucius

[TaeSunWoo]

You’re based for remembering that the “Byzantines” are Roman. Love this vid and hope to see more medieval Roman or AI stuff. It goes quite hard

[Eazy-ERyder]

My Top 10:
10. Claudius (41-54 AD)
9. Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos (1449-1453 AD)
8. Basill the Bulgar slayer - II (976-1025)
7. Hadrian (117-138 AD)
6. Justinian THE GREAT (527-565)
5. AURELIAN el RestitutorOrbis (270-275)
4. Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD)
3. Constantine THE GREAT (306-337 AD)
2. Augustus (14 BC - 27 AD)
1. Trajan (98-117 AD)
Very honorable mentions: Vespasian, Gallienus, Diocletian, Valentinian I, Theodosius THE Great, Majorian, Anastasius I Dicoeus, Maurice, Heraclius and several more...

[thomsbooth]

1. Augustus 2. Trajan 3, Hadrian 4. Aurelran 6. Constantine

[SpectreEelman]

Very good listing, I didn't agree with all of it - but you presented solid reasons for your picks. Thanks for adding Constantine XI to the list. He had everything stacked against him, but he remained positive about doing all he could to stop the inevitable - He willingly sacrificed himself to try & save his people.

[Onezy]

Heraclius - the man who lived too long

[TimZandbergen]

I dont agree placing Justinian above Basil II. In one important aspect they were opposites: where Justinian expanded the empire and left it exhausted, Basil II consolidated the empire and left it strong. Basil II's empire was stronger than Justinian's.

[gordonsh]

Great ranking, not so controversial. I like you mentioned Emperor Julian, but I am a bit disappointed that you missed one of my favourites: Vespasian. I guess there are too many of them to fulfil everybody's preferences :)

[DmTha]

Basil II should have been higher honestly..

[MagaldiMateus]

You can always just say Augustus ten times.

[heinzlilio]

My personal favorite is Domitian. Solely because of his sheer hate for the Senate and the Roman Upper Class

[colbystearns]

I think I would rank these emperors (in chronological order):
1. Augustus (obviously)
2. Trajan (also obviously)
3. Hadrian (consolidated most of Trajan's achievements and had a good succession plan)
4. Aurelian (saved Rome during its darkest hour)
5. Diocletian (took a sad wreck of an empire and made it functional again)
6. Constantine (Constantinople alone justifies his place here)
7. Anastasius (reformed the economy and left a massive surplus that would eventually be used by Justinian)
8. Justinian (had ambitious plans to reconquer the West that backfired in the long run but the Hagia Sophia and Corpus Juris Civilis are a great legacy)
9. Basil II (was basically the Byzantine Trajan and the climax of the Macedonian Dynasty)
10. Alexios I Komnenos (took an empire collapsing after Manzikert and made it strong again)

Honorable Mentions:
-Claudius (cleaned up Caligula's mess, expanded the empire to Britannia and built a lot of infrastructure like new aqueducts)
-Vespasian (restored order after the Year of the 4 Emperors and built the Colosseum)
-Marcus Aurelius (crushed the Marcomanni so hard there wouldn't be any invasions from the Danube for 70 years, also wrote some timeless philosophy)
-Gallienus (held on to a collapsing empire as best he could, introduced the mobile cavalry and the Illyrian generals like Aurelian who succeeded him)
-Majorian (gave it his best shot in trying to restore the Western Empire even though he was betrayed and executed).
-Heraclius (crushed the Persians, only to get crushed by the Arabs, he at least reorganized the armies which helped the Romans adapt in the long run)
-Leo III (bravely defended Constantinople during the Arab siege and ended the Twenty Years' Anarchy, though Iconoclasm was a pointless culture war)
-Basil I (kicked off the Macedonian dynasty with its long line of capable emperors who made the empire the strongest it's been in centuries)
-John III Doukas Vatazes (laid the groundwork for Nicaea's recapture of Constantinople, though there wouldn't be much of an empire left to retake)
-Constantine XI (went out swinging despite all of the odds stacked against him and the city's capture being inevitable, you gotta respect that)

[milesy]

I really feel like Vespasian deserves a spot on that list, he did so much and I'm really surprised you didn't add him!

[kriskris]

I agree only with Trajan to be number one. For the rest of the list, everyone has his own opinion. Thanks for another great video!