Roman rulers

Premium

Portrait head of Roman Emperor Nero circa AD 59-64. (Photo by Alamy)

Nero: Rome’s Antichrist? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Marble bust of Nero

Emperor Nero: the tyrant of Rome

Engraving of emperor Commodus's death

Cheese, angry gods and shoddy surgeons: the unlikely deaths of Roman emperors

Once he gained control of the entire Roman Empire, Constantine set about an ambitious programme of reform. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Constantine the Great: the emperor who created Europe

Marble bust of Emperor Caligula. (DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The 8 bloodiest Roman emperors in history

Emperor Nero and the fire in Rome

Q&A Did Emperor Nero really play the fiddle while Rome burned?

Bust of young Caligula. Did he really make his horse a lawmaker of Rome? (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Q&A Did Caligula really make his horse a senator?

Early 20th century image showing a tribune in the Roman Republic. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Elections in the late Roman Republic: how did they work?

Premium

My history hero Nick Knowles chooses Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 1985 production of 'Julius Caesar'. For all their despotism, Romans thanked their first three emperors for delivering them from the curse of civil war. (Photo by Jean-Jacques BERNIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The glorious Caesars

romulus-augustuslus-ec1a89e

Life of the Week: Romulus Augustus

Photo of Roman coins

Q&A Did Roman Britain have its own emperor?

Bust of Emperor Alexander Severus

The Library Ancient Rome in crisis

Gaius Caligula

5 facts about Caligula

A detail of a fresco of Hannibal riding his elephant. It is estimated he took as many as 40 elephants when he marched an army across the Alps and into northern Italy. (Photo by Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)

Q&A How many elephants did Hannibal take over the Alps?