Roman Emperors (Short Video Summaries)

Suetonius wrote of the first Twelve Caesars, but Adrian Murdoch has done a wonderful thing by skipping uncle Julius and beginning with Augustus - who was, of course, the first "Emperor". 

Chronologically, Adrian has already video-posted about: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, & Vespasian.  Those first nine, plus uncle Julius, are most likely the Ten Caesars represented in more than one part of Revelation.  But let's not get into that kind of thing just at the moment!

These are phenomenal videos for historical research.  Go enjoy!  Or read on, for a bit more detail:

Newbies should bear in mind these are Murdoch's own reconstructions, and other scholars naturally disagree on some points.  Also, be warned Adrian's YouTube page could use a bit of organization, but of course it's going to be under construction for a while.  Adrian's still got about 400 years of Emperors left to go, at the rate of one per week.  Here's how he set out his goal, early this year:

The idea is to cover every Roman emperor from Augustus to Romulus Augustulus in under two minutes. A new episode will be published on a Monday morning. By the end of the year we should be in the middle of the third century.

He then included this hysterical thought:

I originally wanted to call the series "Who the hell was Nerva?" on the basis that while most of us have a fair idea of what big name emperors like Augustus, Hadrian and Constantine were up to, many - myself included - have only the haziest idea of the reign of emperors like Nerva.

Nothing against Nerva, but I've basically no idea who the heckfire he was, either.  ;-)

At any rate, these videos really are a tremendous public service. Here's hoping Adrian Murdoch inspires other professional scholars to post comprehensive collections of summaries like this one.  We could all stand to benefit.  Besides, a good summary can be just the incentive someone needs to start digging into things a bit more deeply.

And yes, some of you can take that as a warning.  If you like.  ;-)