Western Civilization I / Unit 7 WC1 0626 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Classifying an Emperor: Julio-Claudian, Flavian, Adoptive, Severan
The idea
The exam describes an emperor's reign without the name and asks the dynasty, or gives a name and asks what kind of succession put him there. The method is one question: how did he get the throne. By descent from Augustus's family: Julio-Claudian. By winning the civil war of sixty-nine or being Vespasian's son: Flavian. By adoption as the most competent candidate: adoptive, the Five Good Emperors. By a general's seizure after one ninety-two: Severan.
In practice
Five cases. An emperor whose mother poisoned her husband to make him heir: descent, Julio-Claudian, Nero. A general who won a four-way civil war and had the Senate ratify him: Flavian, Vespasian. An emperor chosen by his childless predecessor for competence who then gave up a province as unsustainable: adoptive, Hadrian. An emperor who inherited from his father inside the adoptive century and neglected the empire: Commodus, the exception that ended adoption. A soldier-emperor who took power after Commodus's murder and ruled through the army: Severan.
Where people slip
The source problem is part of the classification. A description drawn from Suetonius will stress scandal, and the anchor warns that the scandal may or may not be true. Classify by succession, not by reputation.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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