Roman emperor
Toga-wearing supreme ruler
A Roman emperor was the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire, holding near-absolute military, political, and religious authority from 27 BCE until the fall of the Western Empire in 476 CE (and continuing in the East until 1453).
The title suggests autocratic power and imperial grandeur: He ran the company like a Roman emperor.
The office was not strictly hereditary—emperors rose through adoption, military coup, or Senate appointment as often as birth.
Rome's inaugural emperor
- TiberiusSecond Roman emperor
- CaligulaDepraved third Roman emperor
- ClaudiusFourth Roman emperor
- NeroTyrannical first-century ruler
Trajan · Hadrian · Marcus Aurelius · Constantine · Titus · Julian · Justinian
Power to enforce obedience
- dominionAuthority to rule
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- imperiumAbsolute ruling power
- reignSovereign's time in power
rule · supremacy · hegemony · command · control · absolutism · tyranny · ascendancy
Holder of supreme authority
- autocratSole wielder of power
- dictatorRuler with total control
- sovereignSupreme in power
- despotRuler with absolute power
tyrant · consul · praetorian · edict · decree · succession · dynasty · usurper
Augustus
Rome's inaugural emperor
Nero · Trajan · Hadrian · Marcus Aurelius · Constantine · Titus · Julian · Justinian
authority
Power to enforce obedience
- dominionAuthority to rule
- sovereigntySupreme independent authority
- imperiumAbsolute ruling power
reign · rule · supremacy · hegemony · command · control · absolutism · tyranny · ascendancy · legitimacy
imperator
Holder of supreme authority
despot · tyrant · consul · praetorian · edict · decree · succession · dynasty · usurper · regent
legion
Great number, or soldiers
- praetorian guardElite bodyguard corps
- triumphResounding, celebrated victory
- conquestDefeating and seizing control
campaign · centurion · general · commander · victorious · war · frontier · limes · expansion · subjugation
senate
Legislative governing body
- forumGathering place for discourse
- palaceMonarch's official residence
- capitolState legislative building
province · prefect · governor · patrician · court · administration · bureaucracy · taxation · census · public works
- God-Kingsgod-king, pharaoh, divine ruler, living god, priest-king
- StoicismStoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, prohairesis, ataraxia
- coin portraitsportrait, profile, bust, effigy, coin face
Roman emperorplebeian
Ordinary, unrefined person
Roman citizen · consul · Roman senator · freedman · commoner
Roman emperorHannibal
Carthaginian military commander
Attila the Hun · Alaric · Spartacus · Boudicca · tribal leader
empire, emperor, empress, imperial, Rome, empires, Roman, imperialism, Romans