Top 10 Worst Roman Emperors

Roman civilization had numerous great leaders and emperors. However, not all of them were favored by their people.

The emperors like Commodus, Domitian, Nero, and Honorius were the worst in ancient Roman civilization.

The reason for considering these emperors as the worst was primarily their behavior towards people and the empire.

These leaders, instead of doing good things for their people they did awful and atrocious deeds. They acted inhumanly. 

These leaders were responsible for killing numerous people, including every member of the church, their advisors, their benefactors,  and bringing the Crisis of the Third Century.

They changed the history of the Roman Empire with their cruelty and infamous deeds.

The worst 10 Roman Emperors are listed below with their atrocious deeds.

10. Maximinus Thrax

Born	173 AD
Worst Act	Reduced subsidies on the grain given to the public
Ruled	235 - 238 AD
Died	10th of May, 238 AD

Maximinus Thrax, born in 173 AD, ruled from 235 AD to 238 AD.  He was one of the worst emperors of the Roman Empire.

Like every other cruel emperor, Maximinus executed many advisors and benefactors. He invaded places that were never against Rome.

He continued torturing the people of Rome by reducing the subsidies on the grain that was given to the city. He also forced people to be his followers and worship him.

Even the soldiers could not escape his inhuman acts, and they too were tortured in their camps. However, his cruelty could not last long as he was killed by his soldier in his camp during the Siege.

They also killed his son and his ministers. Their heads were beheaded and hanged on the poles and were carried to Rome.

9. Domitian

Born	24th of October, 51 AD
Worst Act	Executed politicians, ex-consuls, and his cousin
Ruled	81 - 96 AD
Died	96 AD

Domitian, the son of Vespasian and brother of Titus, was born on the 24th of October, 51 AD. He ruled for a few decades, from 81 AD to 96 AD.

Primarily he was a gentleman with kind nature. However, he turned out to be a different person with time.

He was of nature who wanted everyone to follow his Pagan religion and also worship the Roman gods just the way he did.

Besides his autocratic nature, he was responsible for the large-scale Jewish and Christian persecution. Also, for the deaths of advisors and the close ones.

In addition to his, he executed numerous politicians, 12 ex-consuls, his cousin Flavius Clemens, and wealthy people. He also buried the chief virgin in a specially designed tomb.

Apart from his cruelty and vicious nature, he spent the money that belonged to the empire for his personal use. He used the money for rebuilding his palace, adding a theater, music place, and gymnastics for his entertainment.

Every citizen was facing problems due to Domitian’s behavior, and he was killed in 96 AD by Stephanus. His wife Domitia had helped Stephanus in killing Domitian.

8. Septimius Severus

Born	11th of April, 145 AD
Worst Act	Tortured and Executed people for not following Roman Religion
Ruled	193 - 211 AD
Died	211 AD

Septimius Severus, born on the 11th of April 145 AD, ruled Rome from 193 AD. He overpowered the position by killing the then emperor Julianus and his supporters.

Despite being the ruler and the immediate guardian of the people of Rome, he enjoyed torturing and punishing them. 

As Severus was a follower of the Roman religion, he would torture or execute people who did not follow the Roman Religion. 

A new law was also enforced to compel everyone to follow his religion. No one was allowed to follow Christianity, Judaism, or any other religion.

Apart from the religious issues, he also had issues with relations with senates or the public.

He had blamed many senators for corruption and also for conspiring against him. The senators were executed for the same reason.

7. Tiberius

Born	16th of November, 42 BC
Worst Act	Abused young children
Ruled	14 - 37 AD
Died	37 AD

Tiberius, the second Roman emperor, was born on the 16th of November, 42 BC. He ruled the Roman Empire from the 18th of September, 14 AD, till 37 AD. 

Though he was born to noble people like Livia and Tiberius Claudius Nero, he became one of the worst emperors in Roman History.

Tiberius was a person with poor judgemental skills, lacked political ability, and was greedy and jealous of nature.

It was the result of his personality that led to terror and repression. His want of autocracy made Rome face the dark age where terror, murders, and political purges were during his reign. 

He enjoyed living a lavish life and also wanted every citizen to worship him. He had a special statue of him made and asked citizens to worship that statue. The people who went against his will were punished.

Apart from this, he ordered his main rival, Postumus, and abused young children.

He, however, was killed by his guard named Naevius Sutorius Macro with the support of Emperor Caligula. 

6. Gaius – Caligula

Born	31st of August, 21 AD
Worst Act	Increased tax
Ruled	37 - 41 AD
Died	41 AD

Gaius – Caligula, the third Roman ruler, ruled from 37 AD to 41 AD. He was primarily a wise, kind, and generous ruler.

After ruling for a few months or so, he turned out to be a very different person. He started spreading violence, bloodlust and also wasting resources unnecessarily.

Not just that, he enjoyed torturing people and had inappropriate relations with his sisters as well as the wives of his friends.

His cruelty did not stop here, and he went on executing humans just to feed the animals who would entertain him in public arenas. Even his relatives and the close ones were not left alone.

In addition to this, he responded with zero-interest credit during the financial crisis of 38 AD,  which made the situation worse. 

Although he talked about public help and public work, he only added a burden to the public by increasing taxation and debt.

His cruelty and inhuman nature could not last as he was killed in 41 AD by a group of guardsmen. They stabbed him 30 times, and his body was dumped into a shallow grave. His daughter and wife were also murdered along with him.

5. Caracalla

Born	4th of April, 188 AD
Worst Act	Executed Aristotelian philosophers
Ruled	211 - 217 AD
Died	217 AD

Caracalla, the son of Septimius Severus, was born on the 4th of April, 188 AD. He ruled for 6 years alongside his brother, Geta, from 211 AD to 217 AD.

He was a cruel and tyrant leader who killed his own brother, Geta, in front of his mother. After killing his brother, Caracalla killed everyone who was in Geta’s support.

As an emperor, he had the responsibility of all the citizens of that empire, but he only cared for the military. His deeds made him famous as a soldier rather than an emperor.

He idolized Alexander the Great and followed every step of his. Almost 1,60,000 soldiers were trained in Macedonian Phalanxes.

The news of the poisoning of his idol by Aristotle filled him with anger. He then went to Aristotle’s school and executed all the Aristotelian philosophers.

He also executed the citizens as they came to greet him for no reason. This led Rome into the civil war. 

Caracalla was executed by his soldier named Justin Martials while he stopped urinating. The soldier took revenge for his brother’s death which was ordered by Caracalla.

4. Diocletian

Born	244 AD
Worst Act	Violated human rights
Ruled	286 - 305 AD
Died	311 AD

Diocletian, also known as Doacles, was born in 244 AD. He ruled from 284 AD to 305 AD.

He was a generous ruler during his initial ruling period. However, he turned into a ruthless ruler when people did not behave the way he wanted them to.

Being a follower of the Pagan Religion, he wished that every citizen of his empire follow the same religion. The Christians were against his wish and did not agree to convert their religion.

He then started torturing Christians out of rage. He began to vandalize churches, burn the scriptures, imprison the Christians, and executed them.

Human Rights were merely violated during his reign. People were not free to choose their religion and way of living.

Those who did not accept his wish were brought to the Circus Maximus and thrown directly to the hungry lions. His brutality kept on increasing. However, the Christians stayed rigid to their religion.

As Diocletian hurt everyone, including the court officials, he was assassinated on the 3rd of December, 311 AD, by their conspiracy.

3. Elagabalus

Born	204 AD
Worst Act	Dragged himself into numerous sex scandals
Ruled	218 - 222 AD
Died	222 AD

Elagabalus, primarily named Varius Avitus Bassianus, belonged to the Severan dynasty. He ruled at a very young age of 14 for four years, from 218 AD to 222 AD.

Roman Empire had some traditions and taboos during that period that were intentionally defied by him. Despite him being very young, he was into numerous sex scandals that made the environment chaotic.

He was involved in prostitution and would ask his followers to bring him lovers from all around.

He would also invite people to bathe in the tub, placed in a public place, and make others watch them bathing.

Besides this, he also had many children whom he tortured and abandoned. He also went against Roman rule and insisted on marrying a Vestal Virgin named Aquilia Severa.

The Romans were not happy with how he was going against the culture, tradition, and rules. So, he was killed by a guard at the age of 18.

2. Nero

Born	15th of December, 37 AD
Worst Act	Executed people out of distrust
Ruled	54 - 68 AD
Died	68 AD

Nero, the son of  Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, was born on the 15th of December, 37 AD. He was one of the cruelest emperors in Roman History.

The cruel emperor had a trust issue who never trusted anyone, including his mother and his wife. He had many people executed as a result of distrusting them.

He would hire someone to work for and eventually execute that person out of distrust. Besides the execution, he is responsible for the Great Fire, which was caused in 64 AD. He started the fire to clear the land and to build the garden of his dreams.

The garden was named Domus Aurea. His nuisance did not stop here. He then put all the blames on the Christians and executed them one by one. Not just that, he also made the citizens pay the tax for this personal garden.

However, his cruelty could not last long as the citizens came together and started revolting against him. He then took his own life out of fear on the 9th of June, 68 AD.

1. Commodus

Born	161 AD
Worst Act	Made cripples and hunchbacks fight against each other in the arena
Ruled	180 - 192 AD
Died	192 AD

Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius, was born in 161 AD. He started ruling along with his father from 177 AD to 180 AD, until his father’s demise.

He then ruled on his own from 180 AD till 192 AD. Though he was an emperor, he fought as a gladiator to fulfill his interest.

The act of him fighting in an arena offended the Senate and the entire Empire as he was fighting alongside slaves and criminals.

During his fights in the arena, he started bringing in the cripples or hunchbacks and asked them to fight against each other with meat cleavers.

Character-wise he was self-obsessed, arrogant, and loved hunting rather than paying attention to Rome’s politics or military aspect.

Besides this, he renamed himself Hercules and was a self-proclaimed living god. He was also responsible for the outbreak of the Civil War.

Commodus died at the age of  31 on the 31st of December, 192 AD.  He was strangled by a wrestler named Narcissus.

Conclusion

People expect their rulers to be kind, thoughtful, and generous. The rulers or the emperors mentioned above are quite the opposite of what people would want.

The above list includes the rulers who were violent, ruthless, and cruel. They were in the position to help and understand their citizens. However, everything was going in the opposite direction.

The autocracy and megalomaniacal-ness that was going on during that period hugely impacted peoples’ lives, art, theatre, and language.