Only one in four Western Roman emperors died of natural causes
The Roman Empire was ruled by 175 men, from Augustus (63 BCE-19 CE) to Constantine XI (1405-53), including the Eastern or Byzantine Empire after the split in 395 CE, but excluding those who did not rule in their own right because they were minors during regencies or co-emperors.
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Tau.Neutrino said:
Only one in four Western Roman emperors died of natural causesThe Roman Empire was ruled by 175 men, from Augustus (63 BCE-19 CE) to Constantine XI (1405-53), including the Eastern or Byzantine Empire after the split in 395 CE, but excluding those who did not rule in their own right because they were minors during regencies or co-emperors.
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I think it’s fewer than that died of truly natural causes.
I read Gibbons “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
When it talks about an emperor in later Rome dying of “natural causes”, I take that with a grain of salt. I’m not sure that any of them actually died of natural causes. Because a lot of those claimed to have died of “natural causes” were fit young men dying in office soon after taking up the office, from no identifiable cause, which is very suspect.
Quite apart from death in battle, there was the political battle between the corrupt and honest factions. The honest incumbents were killed by the corrupt faction and the corrupt incumbents were killed by the pro-honesty faction. No-one survived.
In one case an honest Senator who didn’t want to be emperor, for obvious reasons, was threatened with the death of all his family if he didn’t take the job. He became emperor and died soon after. In another case the Praetorian Guard (emperors bodyguards) called for bids, the one who paid them the highest bribe became emperor.
With impeachment proceedings in the USA for every president, they’re heading the same way. But they haven’t got nearly as bad as late ancient Rome yet.