I'm looking into the eyes of one of the most famous leaders in the history of the world - Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor. We have his bronze head here in the Roman galleries in the ...

The first answer is simple: hereditary rule. For most of this period, emperors were not chosen on the basis of their ability or honesty, but simply because they were born in the right family.

The Satires, as they became known, attacked cruelty, foolishness and the corruption of Roman society. The most famous of these ... he tells how the Emperor Domitian summoned his top advisers ...