Depending on how you define it, there were somewhere between 70 to 100 Roman

emperors between the ascension of Augustus to the fall of the Western Empire in

476, a period of about 500 years. Some of them managed to be just incompetent rulers who ruled

for extended periods of peace and prosperity. Others were not. Learn more

about the worst Roman emperors who ran the gamut from insane to incompetent

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Book your ticket to happiness with Sun Express Airlines. When Augustus became the first Roman Emperor, there was no formal position with that title.

As he served for over 40 years, he was known as the Princeps, which just means the first citizen.

The position of Emperor was a series of personal powers and titles

that Augustus was granted when he then passed them along to his successors.

After a while all these powers basically gave the Emperor total unchecked control over the empire.

Some emperors used this power wisely.

Augustus, despite being the wealthiest man in the world at the time, and I mean he literally

personally owned Egypt, always made sure to appear to live

modestly.

Some emperors were pragmatic about not overextending the empire by setting its borders and

issuing further conquest. They didn't base their currency and issuing further conquest.

They didn't base their currency and they were responsible for the 200-year

Pax Romana.

However, in the words of Lord Acton, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. A Roman emperor had absolute power. And not surprisingly,

many Roman emperors were absolutely corrupt. The emperor was not an elected position. The position was usually

inherited or taken by physical force. As a result, some of the people who became

emperors were totally unfit for the job. In fact, I would go so far as to say they were totally unfit for the job. In fact I would go so far as to say they were totally

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