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The Roman emperors used to adopt the next chosen emperor and pass him the family name "Caesar", as did Julius Caesar, probably without trying to create a tradit
by fiatjaf 12y ago
The Roman emperors used to adopt the next chosen emperor and pass him the family name "Caesar", as did Julius Caesar, probably without trying to create a tradition, with Octavius.
- badloginagain 12y agoOnly if there was no son to inherit the throne.
- mmanfrin 12y agoNo -- this was done by the 'Five Good Emperors' (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Pious, Aurelius) and done more out of the lack of suitable male Heirs than of a notion to go outside the blood line. The Five Good Emperors ends to Aurelius, who -- coincidentally enough -- was the first to name his son as Heir. His son was Commodus, and was (by the account of contemporaneous, biased sources) a bad emperor -- although there is thought that many of his evils were embellished by detractor historians. Otherwise, the title of Imperator/Augustus went to male blood heirs or usurping Generals (in one case, to a wealthy man who bought off the Praetorian Guard).
- fiatjaf 12y agoThank you for clarifying.