Emperor Augustus had already determined his successor for a several time. But his favourite candidate, his own son Drusus, should not be allowed to step up his succession, because he died in Germania. Because the new emperor had to come out of his family, there was no other way for Augustus to chose Tiberius, his older son, though he seemed him not as suitable as Drusus. But Augustus hadn't any other choice because all the other candidates were even less suitable or simply too young.
Tiberius was 57 years old when he was put in as new 'princeps'. He'd never been kind, his curt and arrogant manners pushed most people off. Besides, Augustus had given rise to receive his wife Livia in his family of the 'Iulier' and to lend her the title Augusta. So with her tyrannical nature, the old mother stood now next to her son, who, however, managed well to keep the power out of her reach. Before his death, Augustus took up a last condition for Tiberius: he would have to adopt Drusus' son and chose him as his successor for the Roman throne.
Inactivity and no motion were the characters of Tiberius' government. So it wasn't a wonder that he let his successor Germanicus, who fought near the Rhine, wander around until he died. Tiberius self died in the year 37 AC after a bad disease.
Caligula
The last legitimate successor, Germanicus' son, had been elected
for the new emperor's duty. His name was Gaius Iulius Caesar; but
he was also called Caligula. The nickname Caligula was a pet name,
which once his father's soldiers in Cologne had given to him, when
he played in uniform and soldier's boots - caligulae - with
them.
Caligula early became orphan and he was pulled around
all the time. His youth he spent joy- and friendless and so he
learnt early to hide his hate from enemies and next members. Now,
he was emperor and during his time, he wanted mildness and humanity
to reign. He was really celebrated from the people, which was glad
to be rescued from the tyrannical government of Tiberius. The nice
dream of Califula's government lasted for one summer, but then in
the autumn of 37 AC he became badly ill. He survived, the people
was happy like on the beginning, but everything had changed.
Calilgula had a delusions of grandeur and he became shameless, what
changed his way of reigning. His madness had made him to a devilish
'Til Eulenspiegel'.
Military excursions that contributed absolutely nothing
were the consequences of this madness. He deprived his governors of
their power and controlled so all the legions. There were already
conspirators that wanted to overthrow Caligula, but this one
remarked them early and he got them killed. His exceptional
addiction of wastefulness leaded to the fact that in 38 AC already
he run out of money. Any method could fill his cash again, he was
too sybaritic.
Though he was still popular with the people, it
couldn't go on like that. So Gaius Iulius Caesar, also called
Caligula, has been murdered on the 24th of January in 41 AC. His
murderer was Cassius Chaerea, a colonel of 'Prätorianer',
which Caligula always mocked because of his high-sounding voice.
Caligula wasn't mourned by anyone, only his German bodyguard and
the Roman Mob, that had had a very nice and light-hearted life with
Caligula, weren't so happy.
Claudius
The conspirators weren't able to agree with only one successor for
the throne an. The praetorians found Tiberius Claudius Nero,
Germanicus' brother and last surviving member of the dynasty.
Sueton handed letters down for us in which Augustus expresses his
opinion about this member of his family. The judgement is really
hard. The stuttering and awkward young man wasn't allowed to
exercise an official duty during the era of Augustus and Tiberius.
He was a weak character and so he was the toy for everyone around
him. All else his wives, mistresses and those he set free
influenced him a lot. It was rather a reign of his 'favourites'
than of him-self. They had almost all the power, so armed forces
and all the financial instruments. If they would not loose their
influence in Rome, they got to pay attention that Claudius wouldn't
have to leave his duty. To make Claudius a good reputation and
respect, they started several military attacks. The Roman legions
were sent to Britain, Thrakien and the today's region of Israel to
annex those regions there.
After this steps it was really important to keep health
the state inside. The huge extension of the Roman Empire was
accelerated by the generous distribution of the Roman civil right.
With that, the new regions should be better included than in the
old empire. Another change they did also was to give a new military
structure to their government. At last there was now all clear
about there promotion-proportions.
Besides these important changes for the Empire in the
future, the bloody and foolish massacres in Claudius' palace lost
of importance. His greedy and tyrannical wife Messalina made a few
rich Romans be killed. To prevent the scandal, Messalina was
murdered by the praetorian guards. But Claudius had not become
wiser through this damage and so he got married again. And the new
Augusta, too, wanted to control. But not only during the
government-time of her husband and so he adopted Nero. Other
friends warned Claudius, but during a hearing, Claudius had been
murdered by the personal physician of his wife. His assistants had
fallen too out to prevent or to take revenge of his assassination.
This remained reserved of others.
Nero
On October, 13th, Nero managed to take over the Roman throne
without any problems. His mother, Agrippina, the wife of the
previous emperor, achieved the target of her dreams: her son
reigned with two men, which his mother had chosen, beside him.
Burrus and Seneca. The first few years of his rule went off
satisfactorily and without any incidents. Nero obeyed well the
advises of Burrus and Seneca.
But actually, Nero's preferences were not politics at
all. He had a artistic disposition, had a nice voice and he was
fond of drawing and sculpturing. Also he wasn't reluctant to the
art of poetry. Soon he left his wife in favour for another. Seneca
and Burrus paid attention that the whole affair couldn't lead to a
big scandal. Agrippina was furious that she wasn't allowed to say
the last word and so she wanted Nero's younger brother to be the
lawful new emperor. Without further ado, Nero made somebody kill
his brother, which extended the rift between him and his mother
again.
Soon later, Nero fell in love with another woman again:
Poppaea Sabina. But she wasn't satisfied with her status of a
mistress and so Nero had to break his marriage again. Soon it was
clear, that the last days of his mother's life were counted - she
had been convicted to death in a shady trial.
Besides his women, Nero continued to indulge in his
artistic desires. He decided to devote more time on his artistic
abilities than on the fate of the empire. Which made Nero also more
popular was the fire of Rome, that took place during his
emperor-period. Therefore it's clear that the Romans that had lost
all their possessions search a scapegoat. So if Nero didn't want to
be their scapegoat, he had to look for some other - even it was a
fact that he hadn't set the fire to Rome. So he found this
scapegoat: the Christians, which he made responsible for this
tragedy. This is the first Christian-persecution we know about.
66 AC Nero set off for a long journey to Greece, where
he wanted to display his artistic abilities. In the Roman Empire,
there was prosperity but at the frontiers, all else in the east
against the Parther, the Romans had to defend them-selves.
Certainly, there were also military successes. So Vespasian
submitted Galilaea and Judaea with a clever methodical action.
Nero, who was back of his voyage in Greece now, had to hear with
frighten that some of his governors had expressed their opinions
against him. Some of those were: the governor of Gallia, C. Iulius
Vindex, the Spanish gevernor, Salvus Otho, and in Africa the
commandant and his legions. Then Nero's enemies played a bad game
by handing over wrong messages about their provinces to Nero. So
that he became thoroughly diffident and killed himself in his house
in the north of Rome - he made to servants putting him a dagger
through his throat.
The 'princeps' was dead, but the problems weren't
solved by this violent departure of the protagonist.