Die Adoptivkaiser

The six Roman emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marc Aurel and Lucius Verus are called adoptive emperors, as they each adopted their successor. The aim of the adoption was to ensure that the next emperor was chosen solely on the basis of his abilities. Only the best should be destined to become emperor. The time of the adoptive empire (98-192 AD) was marked by important events of the Roman Empire, both in domestic and foreign policy. The Dacian and Marcomanni Wars, for example, were fought to ward off the Germanic onslaught on the imperial borders, and under Trajan the empire reached its greatest expansion. Architecture also experienced a new heyday, as the development of important monuments shows: for example the new construction of the Pantheon or the Trajansforum in Rome. Oliver Schipp gives a short Ü in this compact volume.