The Five Good Emperors, also known as the Five Good Kings, were the five emperors who ruled the Roman Empire from 96 to 180 A.D.
They are: Nerva (96-98), Trajan (98-117), Hadrian (117-138, "Yong Di") Antoninus Pius (138-161) and Marcus Aurelius (161-180)

Five people have successively made the Roman Empire achieve peace and stability for nearly one hundred years, political clarity, economic development, social prosperity, and people's prosperity, which is in great contrast to the bloody past hundred years.
These five emperors were generous and modest, and implemented "benevolent policies", which were deeply loved by their subjects. This period was also the strongest period of the Roman Empire since Augustus. This period is known as the "Golden Age" of the Roman Empire, also known as the Five Sages Period.
There is no direct blood relationship between the emperors. Most of them are relatives. The method of power alternation in the era of the five wise emperors was very peaceful. Among the emperors of Rome, these five people were famous for their peaceful succession. The emperors chose their heirs, and then accepted them as adopted sons and established them as reserve monarchs, thus avoiding the political turmoil and crisis before and after the change of power. Therefore, the throne can change smoothly, ensuring political stability.
Before the Five Sages, the Flavian Dynasty of the Roman Empire was ruled by Vespasian and his two sons Titus and Domitian.
After the tyrant Tumishan was killed, the elder Nelva succeeded to the throne in 1996 and founded the Antoni dynasty. The infrastructure of the Roman Empire, such as the law, road traffic, weights and measures, and monetary system, were unified in this era and passed through the country.
When Turajin was in power, he expanded his territory and reached the maximum limit of the empire at the time of his death. It extends to Mesopotamia in the east, to the Sahara Desert in North Africa in the south, to Britain in the west, to the Carpathian Mountains and the northern shore of the Black Sea in the north, and the Mediterranean Sea becomes the inner sea of the empire.
Hadrian perfected the imperial bureaucracy and built the Hadrian Great Wall in northern Britannia to prevent the invasion of the northern Kurut.
When Antoni ascended the throne, the Roman Empire reached its zenith.
Praise and doubt editor broadcast
The cultural, political and military achievements of the Five Sages were also rare in other periods of the Roman Empire. Therefore, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), the 18th century British historian, praised this age as "the happiest age of mankind" in his book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. His praise of the five sages is as follows:
(Old translation) "In the past dynasties of the world, when was the first place to be based on the prosperity and happiness of the people? The hearer said to him," From the good Hongs of Tumi to the establishment of Comodus, it can be used. At that time, Rome had four seas, and although the state affairs were fixed on one, it was guided by virtue and wisdom. The four emperors, in succession, ruled all the divisions, and were quite capable of combining hardness and softness. The five emperors, Nirva, Tulazen, Hadrian, Antonenas Pius, and Marco Aurelius, respected their majestic and moral deeds. The way to govern the country was from the beginning In the end, treat the people with leniency, and governance is based on the law. Everyone praises it, and the emperor also comforts himself. When it is, if Rome values rational freedom, then the republic can be restored, and all the achievements belong to the wise monarch. "
(New translation) "If a person could tell what era in the world's history mankind lived the happiest and most prosperous life, he would not hesitate to say that it was the period from the death of Tumishan to the succession of Commodus. At that time, the vast Roman Empire was completely under the rule of autocratic power in accordance with the principles of benevolence and wisdom. Four successive generations of Roman emperors who were naturally universally respected in terms of human behavior and authority were firmly and gently controlled With all the troops. Nirva, Turajin, Hadrian and two Antonies all love the scene of free life and are willing to regard themselves as responsible law enforcers, thus maintaining the form of civil government. If the Romans of their time could enjoy a rational and free life, these kings could enjoy the honor of restoring the republic. "
However, modern historians only acknowledge many details of the above analysis, and fail to fully agree with its overall praise. They pointed out that under the rule of these emperors, only a few people lived well and could be recorded in history, while more people were unknown, most of them were farmers or people who lived by farming. The officials are greedy and the thieves are rampant. These people suffer from it. No matter whether the "wise gentleman" is in office or not, their hardships are the same. What is the life of the people under the rule of the Five Sages? Historians are still debating.
In the late period of the reign of Marco Aurelius, the Parthian Empire rose and repeatedly invaded the frontier of the Empire. The northern barbarian Germanic people also took advantage of the situation. The strength of the empire began to decline. In the year of 180 AD, Marco Aurelius died, and his son Commodus succeeded him. His brutal rule ended the beautiful era of the five wise emperors, and the Roman Empire also fell into the "crisis of the third century" era, from the peak to the decline.

nerva
Marcus Cocceius Nerva (November 8, 35-January 27, 1998). He was the first monarch in the era of the five wise emperors of the ancient Roman Empire (reigning from 96 to 98 years), and the last non-Roman citizen born in the Italian peninsula.
He was born in the noble class of the old senators and was a highly respected elder. After the assassination of Tumishan, he was elected and appointed as the head of the Roman Empire by the Senate. Some people think that Nirva is the backstage candidate of the assassin who was Tumishan as the emperor. The reason why he was elected was that he was quite old and had no children under his knee.
In view of Tumishan's tyranny, Nirva decided to use lenient policies.
Shortly after his accession to the throne, Nirva restored the status and power of the senate, and vowed to consult with the senate on all matters of state, and promised not to kill the senate at will.
In addition, he made necessary reforms to some Roman systems. He pardoned those exiled by Tumishan, restored their property, and eased their hostility; A system for relieving poor farmers and children has been established, and land worth 60 million setis has been allocated to the poor; At the same time, he also exempted many taxes, reduced the estate tax, and lifted the contributions imposed by Vespasian on Jews. He retrenched to make up for the loss of the national treasury.
However, his rule and excessive thrift led to the dissatisfaction of the army, and his lack of prestige in the army finally led to the rebellion of the guards: in 98 AD, the guards surrounded the imperial palace under the leadership of Casperius Elianus, asked the emperor to release the assassin who assassinated Tumishan, and killed several of his advisers. Nirva was forced to make concessions under the threat of the guards.
This incident taught him a great lesson, and made him fully realize that a head of state without military support could not rule the empire. So he followed the example of Augustus and recognized Marcus Dolpius Turazzen, one of his military generals and the governor of Upper Germania, as his stepson, and granted him the name of Caesar and the power of a civil servant. In this way, Turajin became not only the successor of Nirva, but also his co-ruler. Tula is really a commander in chief with rich administrative experience, and behind him there is a strong upper Germanic army. In fact, the difficult task of consolidating the new rule with military factors was solved by adopting Turajin as his son.
It can be said that the measure of Nirva was very wise and appropriate. Later historical facts proved that it not only chose the right successor - Turajin, but also created a good system - adopted son inheritance.

trajan
Trajan, Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus (September 18, 53 - August 9, 1997), Emperor of the Roman Empire (98-117), one of the five wise emperors of the Roman Empire. At the beginning of AD 98, Nirva died of illness, and Tulazhen, who was guarding Cologne, was called to succeed. Turajin was born in Spain. He was the first person to climb to the head of state from the nobility of other provinces.
Tula is really an excellent commander in chief, and also a consul with considerable administrative talent. In view of the loss of the previous dynasty, he took more effective measures to ease the contradictions in all aspects. He respected the political status of the senate, paid attention to absorbing the large slave owners and nobles from all eastern provinces to participate in the senate, and expanded the foundation of the senate; He reformed local administration; Appoint some loyal cronies to be governors in the provinces to improve the relationship between the central government and the provinces; He understood that the importance of cultivating people's power was to lighten the burden of the people and help small farmers to maintain their livelihoods by means of government loans. In addition, he also followed the method created by Nirva, that is, the government set up funds in various places with a part of taxes to raise poor orphans without notice. He was awarded the title of "Optimus princeps" by the Senate.
In terms of foreign policy, Turajin broke away from the tradition of the early empire established by Augustus, but revived the aggressive tendency of the Republic. In 101-106 A.D., Turajin once launched a second attack on the Dacians at the lower reaches of the Danube River, overthrew the rule of Dachian king Dakephalus, turned his kingdom into a Roman province, and transplanted a large number of Roman soldiers and poor people there for reclamation. Today's Romania was developed from these Roman colonies. Later, Turajin pointed his aggression at Asia and fought with Parthia. Since the middle of the first century BC, Parthia has always been a powerful enemy of the Roman Empire. There have been constant wars between the two countries, and the boundaries have changed from time to time. In 105-106 AD, the Roman legion stationed in Syria occupied most of the area between Palestine and the Arabian desert and the Sinai Peninsula according to the order of Turajin, and established a new Roman province, the Arab province. Then in 114 AD, Turajin attacked Parthia on the pretext of the sovereignty of the Armenian kingdom. He led the army to occupy Armenia, and then sent his troops southward to occupy the two river basins, and captured the capital of Parthia, Texiphon, and reached the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Turajen has established three provinces on this land, that is, to change the Kingdom of Armenia into the province of Armenia; Set up the province of Assyria on the former site of Assyria; Establish Mesopotamia Province in the two river basins. After a series of expansion, the territory of the Roman Empire expanded to the largest extent. It starts from the two river basins in the east, reaches most of Britain in the west, covers Egypt and North Africa in the south, and reaches the Rhine River and Darcia in the north of the Danube River in the north.
However, these victories achieved by Turajin in southwestern Asia did not last long. In the midst of the battle between Turajin and Parthia, a Jewish uprising broke out in its rear. Turajin had to return from the two river basins because of the situation. However, he fell ill on the way and died in Cilicia in southern Asia Minor. As soon as Turajin died, his measures in the two river basins were immediately put to naught.
Tula is really a kind and simple monarch with a strong character. More than 250 years after his death, the Senate, in the proclamation announcing the succession of Emperor Valens (364-378) in accordance with the convention, also expressed the hope that he would surpass Augustus in terms of benefiting the people, and exceed Turajin in terms of kindness.

Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian (Publicus Aelius Traianus Hadrianus, January 24, 76 - July 10, 138, nicknamed Emperor Yong, one of the five wise emperors of the Roman Empire, reigned in 117-138) Turajun adopted Hadrian as an adopted son on his deathbed. Hadrian is also a Spaniard and was originally the cousin of Turajin. From his early years, he followed Turajin to various places, and was deeply appreciated by the emperor, and was entrusted with important tasks from time to time. Shortly after the death of Turajin, he was promoted as the head of the Syrian army, and this action was approved by the senate.
The first important thing Hadrian did after his accession to the throne was to stop the Eastern War and conclude a peace treaty with the Parthian king. He abandoned the province of Assyria and Mesopotamia set up by Turajin, and made Armenia become a small kingdom only attached to Rome again, shrinking the eastern border of the Roman Empire back to the Euphrates River. Hadrian clearly realized that only at the price of the extreme tension of all the forces of the empire, the Eastern conquest of Turajin could continue. At that time, the border forces of the north and the west were very empty, and the residents of Mesopotamia were clearly hostile to Rome. Under such circumstances, it would be an extremely difficult task to stick to the new border far beyond the right bank of the Euphrates. On other borders, Hadrian also abandoned the policy of large-scale attack and only focused on defense. In order to resist the Germanic invasion to the south, he built a great wall in the south of Germany today, connecting the upper Rhine and the upper Danube. In addition, he built a "Hadrian Wall" across the east and west in the north of British Island to prevent the invasion of "barbarians" living in Scotland today.
Hadrian's era was an important stage of the development of the bureaucracy of the Roman state system. The bureaucratic management system of the empire has laid a foundation in the era of Julius Claudius. But at that time, the released slaves played an important role in the central bureaucracy, because there was no difference between the central institution and the head's private property management institution, and the members of the latter mainly came from the head's released slaves and slaves. This situation is not in line with the interests of the entire slave-owner class, especially the interests of the middle slave-owner class. Therefore, changes must be made. By the time Flavi was in power, the number of freed slaves in the imperial administrative agencies had decreased significantly, and the knighthood had gradually become the main complement to the imperial bureaucracy. By the time of Hadrian, the knights had squeezed out almost all the freed slaves and became the real official class. At the same time, Hadrian also turned the Head of State Advisory Council created by Augustus into a bureaucratic organization. The members of the Advisory Council, like ordinary officials, can receive salaries from the national treasury at regular intervals. Therefore, the Advisory Council itself lost its last trace of independent service and became a tool to honor the emperor's wishes.
Hadrian was a learned and versatile emperor with profound attainments in literature, art, mathematics and astronomy. Many of the buildings in his reign have also been preserved, including Hadrian's Great Wall and villas. Emperor Hadrian loved traveling and left his footprints in all provinces of the empire during his reign, Gibbon wrote in the History of the Decline of the Roman Empire: "Hadrian's life is almost always in an endless journey. Because of his talents in many aspects, including military, statesman and scholar, he can fully satisfy his curiosity by completing his duties. Completely disregarding the changes of seasons and climate, he always marched barefoot on the snowy land of Caledonia and the scorching plains of Upper Egypt. During his reign, all provinces of the empire did not There is one place that has never been visited by the autocratic emperor. ". Hadrian's strong curiosity and vanity led him to "become a great emperor, a ridiculous debater, and a jealous tyrant. Of course, the general trend of his behavior is justice and moderation.". Hadrian maintained a homosexual relationship with his adopted son and successor Antony. Before that, he had a homosexual relationship with his entourage, the beautiful young Antinous, but the latter was drowned in the Nile in time when he went to Egypt with the emperor himself, and was later worshipped by the grieving emperor.

Antony Pius
Antoninus Pius (from September 19, 1986 to March 7, 161, and from 138 to 161) was the fourth of the "five wise emperors" of the Roman Empire, which reached its peak during his reign. Therefore, the reign of the Five Xiandi was also known as the "Antonian Dynasty" because of his name.
In 138 AD, Hadrian died of illness, and his adopted son Antoni ascended the throne. Antoni is the niece and nephew of Hadrian's wife, and the first head of state born in Gaul. During the 23 years of Antoni's rule, he inherited Hadrian's policy. Pay attention to adjusting the relationship of all aspects internally. After his accession to the throne, he first exempted the people from tax arrears, donated a large amount of private property to the national treasury, and fully borne the festival expenses. At the same time, they also bought wine, oil, rice and wheat and distributed them to civilians for free. He was good at managing money and managing the country with diligence and thrift, so after his death, the national treasury was profitable, with a balance of 2.7 billion setis. He is diligent in court affairs and "cares about others as much as he cares about himself". He continued to implement Hadrian's policy of legal freedom, restricted the use of torture tools against slaves, and severely punished the master for killing slaves without cause. He rewarded education, provided poor children with schooling, and expanded the privileges of teachers and philosophers. Externally, he advocated a defensive policy. But in order to defend the frontier, he also held some military activities. In Britain, the Romans repelled the harassment of Scottish tribes and pushed the border 100 kilometers north. In the north of the Black Sea, the Alani people advancing from the North Caucasus attacked the Greek city on the north bank of Bendu, and then invaded Olivia; The Roman army came to the rescue from the West and the United States, and repelled the invasion of the Alani at one stroke, thus avoiding the large-scale devastation of the area by the Alani.
Antoni was a gentle, kind, kind and amiable monarch, and was awarded the title of "asylum" by the Senate. Unlike his adoptive father Hadrian, during his twenty-three years of rule, his peaceful life was spent in Rome; The kind-hearted emperor's longest journey was from his palace in Rome to his retired La Rufin villa.
At the beginning, Hadrian adopted him on the condition that he also adopted Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as adopted sons. In this way, Hadrian has identified two generations of heirs to the empire, and historical facts have proved that his vision is good. Antoni achieved a smooth transition of power for two successive generations with his calm style.
Marco Aurelio
Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121 to March 17, 180), the last emperor of the five sages of the Roman Empire, reigned from 161 to 180.
In 161 AD, Antony died, and it was said to be located in his adopted sons Marco Aurelio and Verus. It is the first time in Roman history that two heads of state are in power together.
When the new head of state took office, the first thing he encountered was the invasion of the Parthians. In 161 AD, the Parthian king Vologus III invaded Syria, and Verus led his troops to fight back. At first, Rome was very smooth. They not only cleared the Parthians out of Syria and Armenia, but also went deep into Mesopotamia and occupied the two capital cities of Parthia - Selevkia and Texiphon. However, Rome withdrew from Mesopotamia in 166.
In 167 AD, Verus took the lead in Rome and was warmly welcomed by the Roman people. However, Verus also brought disaster to Rome when he brought good news of victory to Rome. A terrible infectious disease quickly spread to all parts of the empire with the arrival of the Eastern Army. The plague not only engulfed countless people, but also affected the supply of troops; It also reduced the tax revenue of the national treasury, causing a serious financial crisis in the country. All this provided conditions for the invasion of the Germanic people.
In 168 AD, the Germanic tribes of the Outer Danube swarmed south and invaded the frontier of the Roman Empire. Among them, the Marcomani, Vandal and Quad were the most ferocious. They not only ravaged the vast areas of the northeastern provinces of Rome, but also cleared the door to Italy. The two heads of state rushed to mobilize troops from all places and personally led the dangerous Marcomani War. In 169 AD, Virus died of illness in the barracks, and Aurelio continued to lead the war. After defeating the barbarians many times, the enemy agreed to surrender. In order to protect the northern border of Rome and protect it from new attacks, Aurelio decided to let those tribes willing to serve for Rome settle at the northern border of the empire. Since then, the Germanic people have gradually become the main source of Roman mercenaries, and the Roman army has begun its barbarization process.
In 178AD, the Makomani and Quad attacked the border of the Empire again. Aurelio unified the army. In 180 AD, Aurelio died of a plague in the military camp of Pontuna (Vienna) in Pannonia. The imperial situation is in a state of extreme tension.
Aurelio was one of the greatest emperors of the Roman Empire. He is not only a very wise monarch, but also a very successful Stoic philosopher. He has handed down the book Meditation written in Greek. In the whole western civilization, Aurelio is also a rare sage. What is more worth mentioning is that although he yearns for peace, he has extraordinary military leadership skills. But he was deceived by his wife, the dissolute queen Faustina.
Aurelio was born in Rome on April 26, 121, and grew up in a very powerful and wealthy family. When he was young, he was noticed by the Roman emperor Hadrian at that time, so he received special education. At the age of six, he entered the Equestrian Order. At the age of seven, he entered the Salii College in Rome, where he received education from elites in various cultures. Aurelio became Emperor of the Roman Empire on March 7, 161. At the beginning of his term of office, there were many wars and natural disasters. In 163, he invaded Armenia, and at the same time infectious diseases flooded the whole empire, but he successfully drove the Germanic nomadic tribes out of Roman territory. As a result of these wars, the national treasury was empty and the emperor's life was increasingly difficult.
After Marco's death, his son Commodus (the young emperor who killed his father and usurped the throne in the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator, but he did not kill his father in history) succeeded to the throne. Comod was a cowardly man with a fierce and vicious nature. He attached great importance to martial arts and despised literature. During his reign, he carried out tyranny and was later killed. The Antonian dynasty also ended. The golden age created by Emperor Wuxian is gone.