Because the principate was not technically an office, Augustus could not legally hand it to a successor. His solution was to adopt his stepson Tiberius (who was also his son-in-law) as his son. Adoption of an heir was a common practice among members of the elite in Rome, who used this method to pass on property to a chosen younger man — often a relative — if they had no sons. Long before his death, Augustus shared his consular and tribunician powers with Tiberius, thus grooming him for the principate. In his will, Augustus left most of his vast fortune to Tiberius, and the Senate formally requested that Tiberius assume the burdens of the principate. Formalities apart, by the time of his death in 14 C.E., Augustus had succeeded in creating a dynasty.

For fifty years after Augustus’s death, the dynasty that he established provided the emperors of Rome. Two of the Julio-Claudians who followed Augustus, Tiberius and Claudius, were sound rulers and able administrators. The other two, Caligula and Nero, were not.

Augustus’s creation of an imperial bodyguard known as the Praetorians (pree-TAWR-ee-uhnz) had repercussions for his successors. In 41 C.E., the Praetorians murdered Caligula and forced the Senate to ratify their choice of Claudius as emperor. The events were repeated frequently. During the first three centuries of the empire, the Praetorian Guard often murdered emperors they were supposed to protect and raised to emperor men of their own choosing.

In his early years, Nero ruled fairly well, but he became increasingly paranoid about the power of those around him. In 68 C.E., his erratic actions and his policies led to a revolt by several generals, a revolt that was supported by the Praetorian Guard and members of the Senate. He was declared an enemy of the people and committed suicide. This opened the way to widespread disruption and civil war. In 69 C.E., the “year of the four emperors,” four men claimed the position of emperor in quick succession. The man who emerged triumphant was Vespasian, commander of the eastern armies.

To prevent others from claiming the throne, Vespasian designated his sons Titus and Domitian as his successors, thus establishing the Flavian dynasty. Although Roman policy was to rule by peaceful domination whenever possible, he used the army to suppress the rebellions that had begun erupting at the end of Nero’s reign. The most famous of these was one that had burst out in Judaea in 66 C.E. Jewish rebels initially defeated the Roman troops stationed in Judaea, but a larger army under the leadership of Vespasian and his son Titus put down the revolt. They destroyed much of the city of Jerusalem, including the Jewish temple, in 70 C.E. and took thousands of Jews as military captives and slaves, dispersing them throughout the empire.

The Flavians carried on Augustus’s work in Italy and on the frontiers. During the brief reign of Vespasian’s son Titus, Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy erupted, destroying Pompeii and other cities and killing thousands of people. Titus gave money and sent officials to organize the relief effort. His younger brother Domitian, who followed Titus as emperor, won additional territory in Germany, consolidating it into two new provinces. Later in life Domitian became more autocratic, however, and he was killed in 96 C.E. in a plot that involved his own wife, thus ending the Flavian dynasty.