This Week: A Good One for Emperors

Posted by Robin Fowler Sep 17, 2006

September 18, A.D. 96 - Tyrranical Emperor Domitian is stabbed to death in a plot conjured by the Roman Senate.

September 18, A.D. 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Emperorof Rome upon the assassination of Domitian. Nerva is known for naming his successor, Trajan, and thus starting the line of the "Five Good Emperors". He died of a fever in A.D. 98.

September 18, A.D. 53 - Future Roman Emperor Trajan is born on this date.

September 19, A.D. 86 - Future Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius is born on this date.

September 21, 19 B.C. - Renowned Roman poet Virgil died on this date. He is best known as the author of the epic poem The Aeneid, which was considered the Roman Empire's national epic.

September 22, A.D. 66 - Roman Emperor Nero forms the Legio I Italica, or the "Italian Legion", whose emblem was a boar.

September 23, 480 B.C. - Greek playwright Euripides is born on this date. He is known for his great Greek tragedies, including Alcestis, Orestes, Medea, and The Bacchae.

September 23, 63 B.C. - Augustus Caesar, also known as Octavian, is born on this date. He was the first Roman Emperor, and is widely kown for ushering in an era of peace and prosperity known as the Pax Romana.