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Most of the later emperors are listed there as "killed". Why be an emperor if you have an 80% chance of being murdered?
by TwoBit 6y ago
Most of the later emperors are listed there as "killed". Why be an emperor if you have an 80% chance of being murdered?
- vermilingua 6y agoBecause for a time, you get to be emperor of Rome. We still know their names, and their faces, thousands of years past. 80% seems decent odds for that kind of immortal fame.
- regularfry 6y agoWhat they knew at the time is that they would be gods. They also knew that they would become almost unimaginably rich.
- usrusr 6y agoAnd compared to their successors in the title/office of pontifex maximus in certain later centuries, their annualized mortality rate wasn't even that bad.
- PeterisP 6y agoThing is, if you're the type that has the chance to become an emperor, you're "in the game anyway". I you don't become the emperor, you're still likely to be killed by the emperor or the potential emperor to remove a potential threat, just without the benefits of being the emperor and without the resources to try and protect yourself that being an emperor gives you.
- hn_throwaway_99 6y agoYeah, I find it amusing/unsettling given the number of emperors who have their death notice something like "Killed by his own troops in favor of Next Emperor", then you go to the next emperor and it says "Killed by his own troops in favor of Next Next Emperor".