After Caligula's death, Claudius became the new Roman Emperor. Nero's mother married Claudius in AD 49, becoming his fourth wife. By February AD 49, his mother had persuaded Claudius to adopt her son Nero. After Nero's adoption by the emperor, "Claudius" became part of his name: Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus.
After Caligula became emperor in 37 he ordered their divorce and married his sister to his friend, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. During an illness in 37, Caligula changed his will to name Drusilla his heir, making her the first woman to be named heir in a Roman imperial will.
At the beginning of 66, Nero married Statilia Messalina. Later that year or in 67, he married Sporus, who was said to bear a remarkable resemblance to Poppaea. Nero had Sporus castrated, and during their marriage, Nero had Sporus appear in public as his wife wearing the regalia that was customary for Roman empresses.
Because Nero was only 16 when he succeeded Claudius, Agrippina at first attempted to play the role of regent. Her power gradually weakened, however, as Nero came to take charge of the government. As a result of her opposition to Nero's affair with Poppaea Sabina, the Emperor decided to murder his mother.
In Roman society, a marriage between close relatives was unthinkable. Nevertheless, Agrippina was determined to become empress. She convinced Claudius to change laws regarding incest and was married with great pomp in 49 CE. Claudius also adopted her son, giving him the name Nero and making him his official heir.
Reports of his incest were greatly exaggerated.
It was Suetonius who first published claims that Caligula committed incest with his three sisters. (The Roman historian added that these trysts even occurred during banquets, as guests and Caligula's wife gathered around.)
Witnessing brutal massacres and resenting personal slights, Praetorian Prefect Macrinus acted on his own well-founded paranoia before he too could become another victim of the emperor. And so, in a campaign in Media in 217 AD, Caracalla was assassinated whilst urinating on the side of a road at just 29 years old.
Perhaps deliberately following the tradition of his predecessor Claudius, Emperor Vespasian kept his wit about him as he lay dying, from diarrhea, as Julius Cicatrix explains in Imperial Exits.
According to one of our most salacious stories about him, Emperor Nero was close to his mother Agrippina, perhaps too close — the young emperor and his mother engaged in incest. Unsurprisingly, the depraved relationship scandalized Rome, causing uproar among the elites and gossiping among the populace.
1. Emperor Akbar (reigned 1556-1605) Akbar, arguably the most renowned Mughal emperor, is believed to have had approximately 300 wives, though the exact number remains uncertain.
Although romantic love between husbands and wives is attested to in letters, inscriptions, and epitaphs, a great deal of what is known of love in ancient Rome comes from the poets in praise of women or boys they were involved with sexually, usually an extramarital affair on the part of one or both.
Antinous and Hadrian are the most famous homosexual couple in Roman history. This is part of the Queer relationships collection. Although Hadrian was married, ancient sources reveal that he also had several homosexual relationships. Homosexual relationships were not considered unusual in ancient Rome.
Julia, (born 39 bc—died ad 14, Rhegium [present-day Reggio di Calabria, Italy]), the Roman emperor Augustus' only child, whose scandalous behaviour eventually caused him to exile her.
Emperor Constantine (ca A.D. 280– 337) reigned over a major transition in the Roman Empire—and much more. His acceptance of Christianity and his establishment of an eastern capital city, which would later bear his name, mark his rule as a significant pivot point between ancient history and the Middle Ages.
As well as piety, Antoninus is well known as a Roman emperor for his peaceful approach to imperial management. Whether or not it was a cause or a consequence of his decision never to leave Italy, the period of his reign – from AD 138 to 161 – was the most peaceful in all of Rome's imperial history.
Tiberius Caesar has gone down in history as one of the most notorious of Rome's early emperors. The stories that surround him are both scandalous and salacious, as shocking to our modern sensibilities as they were to his contemporaries. But what made his private life so perverted?
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula, (12 CE to 41 CE) was the third Roman emperor and ruled only four years.
During his reign (527–565 A.D.), Justinian I was known as the“Emperor who never sleeps.” It's easy to see why.
A not-so-festive case of fratricide: on 19 December 221 CE, Caracalla killed his brother Geta in order to gain full command of the Roman Empire. The sons of Septimius Severus, the brothers had co-ruled with their father since 209.
Roman tradition is unanimous in stating that Claudius was poisoned by Agrippina on October 13, 54 ce, though the details differ. A version of poisoning by mushrooms prevailed.
That was until Claudius's notoriously promiscuous wife Messalina was executed in AD 48 after being caught in a bizarre bigamous marriage. Then Agrippina burst into public life in a manner that shocked and horrified Rome: she married Claudius, her own uncle.
By her husband Germanicus, she had nine children: Nero Julius Caesar, Drusus Julius Caesar, Tiberius Julius Caesar, a child of unknown name (normally referenced as Ignotus), Gaius the Elder, the Emperor Caligula (Gaius the Younger), the Empress Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla.
Of her nine children by Germanicus, one son and three daughters survived her, the son becoming Tiberius's successor as the emperor Gaius Caligula (37–41). The most famous of her daughters was Julia Agrippina, the mother of the emperor Nero.