The five Roman emperors of "Nerva, Trayanus, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Antoninus Aurelius" are called the Five Good Emperors, and the Roman Empire reached its peak during this period. In a sense, world history choosers have to remember that, but I wonder if few people know what they did.
So, from this time on, I would like to write an article about the Five Good Emperors.
First of all, from "Nerva" who is one of the first five wise emperors.
By the way, "Nerva" is correct because Latin does not pronounce Babibbebo including the goddess of victory Menerwa, but since I learned it in Nerva when I was an examinee, I would like to unify it in Nerva in this article, so please understand in advance!
What is Nerva the emperor?
Probably no student can answer this question. That should be the case, and Nerva's reign is only one year and four months, and no flashy policies are being implemented. Still, it's a big deal because the name appears in world history textbooks.
Nerva became emperor after 60, and he was on the throne the day his predecessor Domitian was assassinated.
From this, rumors that Nerva might have assassinated Emperor Domitian have spread throughout Rome, and it has been the subject of historical debate.
However, considering the character of Nerva, I don't think he would have resorted to assassination.
In history, I think there are two types of people who become kings and emperors instead of bloodlines.
One is a person who holds that position with ambition and desire for power. In Chinese history, Xiang Yu and Cao Cao correspond to this, and there are many humans of this type in the Roman emperors including Domitian.
The other is a person who is inferred from the surroundings and has no desire for power. It can be said that Numa, the second king of Rome, and Nerva, the main character of this time, are also of this type.
It was the Senate that made Nerva the emperor.
In the history of imperial Rome, tyrants appear → the Senate repeatedly assassinates, and assassinations by the Senate have occurred frequently since the time of Caesar before the beginning of the imperial government.
The Senate seems to have tremendous power, but in reality it does not have administrative rights, and it is its duty to give advice to the position that governs the administration, like a cabinet distrust resolution in modern Japan. There is no such system.
Therefore, when the emperor's power, which is the administrative power, goes out of control, there is no choice but to assassinate.
It seems that the assassination of Emperor Domitian by the Senate was fairly planned, and that day he was sent to Nerva, and the next day he was approved by the Senate. strong> Record erasure (Damnatio memoriae) I have decided to deal with it.
Many people may have heard of this memory erasure sentence because it appeared in the movie Thermae Romae. It's a punishment that literally removes all that description from the official Roman records, and of course I think it's terrible.
Nerva, who became emperor in this situation, first announced a "vow not to kill" and announced a policy not to kill the Senator during his own reign.
As mentioned earlier, in imperial Rome, the Senate and the emperor were rebelling against each other, and the Senate side used the assassination of the emperor and the emperor side used national treason to eliminate each other. It is said that Tiberius was terribly evaluated in later years because he used this national treason a lot.
It is said that the era of the Five Good Emperors was called "Pax Romana (Peace in Rome)" because the five emperors kept this unkillable vow, and Nerva first expressed it. ..
When Nerva confiscated the assets of Emperor Domitian, he gave it to Roman citizens, while also working on financial soundness such as stopping chariot racing and gladiators, and mainly implemented policies focusing on domestic affairs.
Perhaps he was not very confident in the military aspect, he gave Trajan the same military power as himself during his reign, and his reign was short, so there is no particular achievement. However, it may be said that Nerva's greatest achievement was to appoint Trajan, who built the heyday of the Roman Empire, as his successor.
About Nerva's life
Nerva was born in the city of Narnia in central Italy. His ancestry is that of the Senate, which has continued for generations, and his grandfather was one of the intellectuals who accompanied Tiberius when he withdrew to Capri, and seems to have been a fairly knowledgeable person. His maternal grandfather is also said to have experience as a consul.
Nerva first appeared on the front stage of history during the time of Emperor Nero, when he was appointed Praetor (legal officer) and became deeply involved in the world of politics.
Around this time, he secured his position in the Senate by his work in preventing the assassination of Emperor Nero (Piso's plot), and his bust was erected in Rome.
Around this time, he became acquainted with the later emperor Vespasian and was entrusted with the education of his son Domitian. There is no one to know or show how Nerva felt when the self-educated Domitian was assassinated. The memory erasure sentence is scary!
Emperor Domitian seems to have deep confidence in Nerva and has appointed him a consul.
The character of the consul, called the consul, was different from that of the republic in the imperial era, and in the imperial era, if the emperor recommended it, it was decided to be that person.
Roman citizens and the Senate favored Nerva, who became emperor after the assassination of Domitian, but did not receive the support of the military, including the guards.
Kasperius, the captain of the guards, is once outraged to confine Nerva. Nerva accepted Casperius's request almost entirely, was given a speech praising the act of imprisonment of the emperor, and was forced to execute the perpetrator of the assassination of the emperor.
Furthermore, it is required to make Trajan with strong military support in the issue of his successor.
There is a section in which Nerva, who has no children, initially tried to make Syrian Governor Nigrinus a successor, but there is also a story that Trajan was made a successor in this case. Or I'm not sure about this because there is a story that Trajan was considered as his successor before that.
Trajan is known as the first emperor from a province, but the emperors up to Nerva were from the first province, including Rome, and broke that practice.
The debate around here has yet to be settled, but it can be said that Trajan's inauguration as emperor was a success for Rome anyway. As I will talk about Trajan in another article, it is certain that Nerva was destroyed in later years, and he suffered a stroke in just one year and four months from the coronation, probably because of his hard work.
Personal evaluation of Nerva
Nerva's reputation is now shaking.
There is an opinion that there may be a difference between the conventional image of the Five Good Emperors and the actual reign. In fact, Nerva hasn't done much. It is often criticized that in the end he obeyed the military's demands and decided on the next emperor according to those demands.
The Roman emperors have placed great importance on the military, but Nerva is more of a civilian, and from the perspective of modern civilian control, it may have been downgraded by the fact that he succumbed to the military.
However, it is a fact that Nerva laid the foundation for the excellent emperor and his reign. It is worth noting that he expressed his vow not to kill, although it is hard to say that he was completely protected, and tried to reconcile the Senate and the emperor's power.
5 About the era of the Five Good Emperors Gibbon, a historian of the heyday of the British Empire, stated as follows.
"If humanity was the most surrendered and reflected in world history? If you were asked to answer that question, I wouldn't hesitate to start after Domitian's death and become the throne of Commodus. It would be said that this period of time was reached. The entire territory of the vast Roman Empire was ruled by the permission of absolute power guided by wisdom when it was unraveled. "
Among the many random Roman emperors, Nerva is a fairly decent emperor, and I think it can be said that he is a first-class person who rebuilt Rome, which was confused by the Claudius and Fratius dynasties.
There are few documents about Domitian's record being erased or Nerva, and it is difficult to see what kind of person he was.
Or you can see the face of a cunning politician, or the face of an old man who is struggling with the conflict between the citizens, the Senate, and the military.
At one time he was evaluated as a wise emperor, and at another time he was accused of being an assassin of the late emperor. At one point he would be seen as an enemy of democracy, and at another point he would be seen as a merciless old man who gave in to the military.
In a sense, Nerva's evaluation may be like a mirror of that era.
History is, in a sense, a mirror that reflects modern history.