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The Top Benevolent and Malevolent Dictators From History

Khalid Elhassan November 30, 2020 32 min

Augustus - Ancient Rome — 'The Emperor Augustus Rebukes Cornelius Cinna for His Treachery', by Etienne Jean Delecluze, 1814 - Augustus pardoned Cinna and gave him a government job. Van Go Yourself

2. Rome’s First Emperor From a Non-Senatorial Background

Vespasian. Museum of Classical Archaeology

In the chaos following the fall of Nero, Vespasian seized the moment. He secured support in the Roman east, where he had been sent down to put down the Jewish Revolt, and declared himself emperor. He sent his forces to Rome, and by the end of 69 AD, he had won. That victory made him Rome’s first emperor who hailed not from a senatorial family, but an equestrian one – a social rank below that of senators.

Vespasian’s rule was successful, as he restored stability and good governance, and launched a massive building and public works program. Construction of Rome’s Colosseum, known at the time as the Flavian Amphitheater, was begun in his reign. It was completed and inaugurated in the reign of his son and successor, Titus.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.