Roman emperors?

Question

who was the first roman emperor?

Answer 1

That depends a lot on what, exactly, you mean by that.

If you mean "who was the first person in charge of a non-republic ancient Roman state", then the answer is probably Julius Caesar. He planned a power grab with Pompey and Crassus to take over the senate and run things like... well, like emperors. The result was that Caesar was made the first dictator for life. A life which (unfortunately for him) would be very short.

If you mean "who was the first person with the title of Emperor of Rome" then the answer, interestingly enough, is almost nobody. The office simply didn't exist until the 9th century (and was first held by Michael I Rhangabes).

Some people like to liken the Roman title 'Imperator', but that doesn't match up either - they simply meant 'commander', so there were actually numerous imperators running around at any time at first. Now, the title 'Imperator' DID end up becoming more exclusive after Caesar's time, but even then some emperors took it and some not, and some gave it to family members. So it's more of an honorarium than an office.

If you mean, "who was the first monarch of Rome", then according to legend the answer is Romulus, who killed his brother for the privilege. Though the Roman Empire was undoubtedly a monarchy too, it is predated by a Roman Republic and a Roman Monachy, the latter of which is so old and small that it's hard to be sure of much of anything about it.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The first emperor of Rome was not Julius Caesar. Caesar had been declared Dictator, a title which had a somewhat different connotation to ancient Romans than it does to us, and he probably would have ended up as the first emperor, but his political ambitions were cut short by his assassination. It was Caesar's grand-nephew, Octavian, who, along with Marc Antony, tracked down and eliminated the assassins, who became the first emperor, ruling under the name Augustus.

By the way, the title Caesar began as simply the family name of the first dynasty of Roman emperors, the Julio-Claudians. Thereafter it was adopted as the title for the emperor, regardless of his family. That name continued even into modern times in the title of the German emperors (Kaiser), and the Russian emperors (Czar, or Tsar).

Answer 3

Constatine XI Palailogos was the last Roman Emperor dying in 1453. There is no current Roman Emperor.

Answer 4

They are too many to mention but the first was Augustus.


31-14 Augustus
14-37 Tiberius
37-41 Gaius (Caligula)
41-54 Claudius
54-68 Nero

Answer 5

Augustus was the first to be called emperor, Julius Ceasar was called a dictator

Answer 6

Augustus

Answer 7

Julius Caesar. He was also the first (and one of the only ones) to be voted leader by the senate.

Answer 8

Well, I think it was Julius Ceasar and after that they all named themselves Ceasar

Answer 9

Julius Caesar, and he got stabbed for that.