The Roman Empire was a spectacular polity of unprecedented scale which
stretched from Scotland to Sudan and from Portugal to Persia. It
survived for over 500 years in the west and 1,480 years in the east.
Ruling it was a task of frightening complexity; few emperors made a good
fist of it, yet thanks to dynastic connections, an efficient bureaucracy
and a governing class eager to attain the kudos of holding the highest
offices, it survived the mad, bad and incompetent emperors remarkably
well. Although not always apparent, it was the interplay of emperors'
kin and family connections which also made a major contribution to
controlling the empire.
This book aims to put on record the known ancestry, relations and
descendants of all emperors, including ephemeral ones and show
connections from one dynasty to another as completely as possible,
accompanied by concise biographical notes about each ruler and known
facts about family members, which include Romans both famous and
obscure. It also attempts to distinguish between certainty and
possibility and to eliminate obvious fiction. The introduction provides
a narrative lead-in to the creation of the empire, attempts to clarify
the complexities of Roman genealogy and assess the sources.
