The first answer is simple: hereditary rule. For most of this period, emperors were not chosen on the basis of their ability or honesty, but simply because they were born in the right family.

Historians record that the unified Roman Empire was ruled by 69 emperors between the first emperor Augustus (who reigned from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14) and Theodosius (ruled from A.D. 379 to 395), but ...

At this point history took a sharp turn. Shortly before Nerva died, Roman generals had debated who should be the next emperor. They chose Trajan, a former army commander, senator and governor of ...

What was Roman Egypt like? In what ways did it differ from when the Greeks had ruled it during the Ptolemaic period?

as he reigned just two years from 392 to 394 A.D. Eugenius was emperor of the Western Roman Empire but was installed by a military officer following the mysterious hanging of his predecessor ...

Around 2,500 years ago, the city of Rome was at the centre of a huge empire that stretched from Scotland to Syria. The Roman Empire was based upon enslaved people and citizens. Enslaved people ...

Archaeologists have struck actual gold in the village of Holztem in Parc Hosingen, Luxembourg—unearthing a trove of 141 ancient Roman coins worth more than €300,000 ($310,000). The four-year ...

An rare discovery in northern Luxembourg has given historians a fresh glimpse into the final years of the Western Roman ...