Tutor: Ruth Poultney

Caesar. Caligula. Nero. Marcus Aurelias. Hadrian. The names of the Roman emperors echo down the ages, for good reasons and bad. From philosophers to warlords and sexual deviants to moralising purists, to the emperor who turned his boyfriend into a god and the one who made a horse a senator. It’s a wild four centuries of debauchery, domination and danger – over 70% of the emperors died a violent death, most by assassination, making the job more dangerous than being a gladiator in the arena – though, of course, Commodus did that as well. Join us for an introductory overview of the ruling Roman emperors, starting with Julius Caesar and ending with Constantine the Great. Untangle fact from fiction and decide for yourself who was good, bad or just plain crazy.