Augustus had adopted Tiberius after marrying his mother. In the year 12, the aging emperor agreed to share power with his adopted son. When Augustus died two years later, Tiberius became emperor.

The new emperor had little taste for conquest or over-reaching power and, after a few years, exiled himself to the island of Capri. He effectively ruled from there for the rest of his life. When he died, one of the most infamous of emperors succeeded him.

Caligula was the grandson of Tiberius. His first few years on the throne were filled with activity. He found competition thrilling and large-scale public competitions doubly so and ordered the production of many entertainments for the populace, such as boxing matches, chariot races, and gladiator matches. (The Roman people had by this time come to expect such entertainments, and rulers sometimes used them as distractions against otherwise harsh or difficult times.) He completed many building projects initiated by Tiberius and also ordered the construction of a large handful of new building projects, including an amphitheater at Pompeii, a lighthouse at Boulogne, and a large racetrack, inside which was an obelisk he had brought from Egypt. A sudden illness changed him, and he turned to cruelty, sometimes in the extreme. He ordered public executions just to watch them happen and sometimes forced parents to witness the deaths of their children. He spent enormous sums of royal money on vanity projects, including jewel-encrusted collars for his horse, to which he promised the title of consul. He exhibited other behavior consistent with an unstable mind. In desperation, members of his own guard did away with him, in 41.

Succeeding Caligula as Emperor of Rome was his uncle, Claudius. Claudius didn't get along all that well with the Senate, many of whom distrusted him. However, he gained favor with the Senate and with the people for executing the people who killed Caligula. He restored fiscal responsibility to the royal treasury, in stark contrast to his wild-spending predecessor. He ordered new building projects, including roads, canals, and aqueducts. He proved a good administrator and personally oversaw fundamental changes in the imperial bureaucracy. A keen interest in law compelled him to preside at public trials. All of these things convinced the Senate and the people to respect him, to a certain extent. He still had his enemies and his detractors.

For a variety of reasons, and despite his lack of military training, Claudius ordered the might of Rome to be unleashed on Britain. He ordered an expedition of conquest, sending 40,000 troops and several war elephants to Britain. Roman legions were very successful there, conquering what is now England and Wales and some of what is now Scotland. Claudius arrived to preside over the capture of Colchester, then returned to Rome to announce his victory. He was in Britain all of 16 days, but Britain was conquered (and would stay Roman for a few centuries).

Claudius died in 54, after eating poisoned mushrooms. Historians have long suspected that his wife, Agrippina, and perhaps even her son, Nero participated in or at least knew about the feeding of the poisoned mushrooms to Claudius. When Claudius died, his successor was not Brittanicus, his son, but Nero, his adopted son. Nero was all of 17 when he became Emperor.

Nero set about rolling back some of the reforms that Claudius had put in place, reducing taxes and putting on lavish public games and spectacles, such as chariot races and gladiatorial tournaments. Plays and music were part of Nero's preferred entertainment. He himself liked to sing and play the lyre; historians tell us that he had little talent at either. It was a standard commitment that all who attended a musical performance given by the emperor were required to stay until he was finished. Whether they enjoyed the performance or whether they attended of their free own will was beside the point.

He and his mother had a falling out, and he ordered his execution. Thereafter a changed man, he ordered large amounts of money spent on things for himself and his palaces and for public spectacles. He also brought back capital punishment, which he had recently outlawed, and used it against perceived enemies, even people who spoke unkind words about him. Prone to fits of rage, he killed his wife by accident after an argument.

Perhaps Nero's greatest challenge came in the face of a natural disaster, the Great Fire of Rome. For six days in July 64, the city of Rome was consumed by fire. Summer temperatures and winds were already high; many buildings were made of wood and poorly constructed; and, according to some sources, high-ranking officials hampered efforts to control the blaze. As a result, many people died and 10 of the 14 city regions were either heavily affected or ruined. To this day, historians cannot agree on some basic elements of the story, including who, if anyone, might have caused the blaze. Nero eventually blamed Christians living in Rome and ordered persecutions based on those accusations.

Once the fire finally burned itself out, Nero took the opportunity to build the city the way he wanted it to look, including the construction of the Domus Aurea. This new palace complex was expansive (covering nearly 100 acres), full of gold-plated ceilings, exotic animals, and sported a very large lake. In the center was a 100-foot-tall bronze statue of Nero, known as the Colossus Neronis. To finance all of this construction and augmentation, Nero ordered new taxes and large-scale confiscations of money and property from people suspected of treason.

Despite his initial popularity, Nero, now a figure of ridicule to some and figure to be feared by others, found himself the target of conspiracies. The Piso Conspiracy was a large-scale attempt to kill the emperor, perpetrated by nearly two dozen senators and other leading officials; Nero had most of those involved executed. As well, when the inevitable rise in taxes came about, people in outlying provinces like Gaul and Judea revolted and contingents of soldiers were required to put down the revolts. Another large-scale revolt during Nero's reign happened in Britain, when the Iceni queen Boudicca succeeded in rallying a large number of Britons to her side; the resulting rebels killed thousands of Romans before the Roman Army turned the tide and put down the rebellion.

Closer to home, the governor Gaius Julius Vindex rebelled in 68. Gathering support, he recalled another governor, Servius Sulpicius Galba, to join in the rebellion. The plan was for a large number of people and soldiers to rise up, overthrow Nero, and install Galba as emperor. The emperor was successful at putting down the rebellion, but only just: His own bodyguards declared their allegiance to Galba. Nero tried to flee Rome but could convince neither bodyguard nor soldier to go with him and so returned to his palace. After hearing that the Senate had condemned him to death, he decided to do the deed himself; in the end, he couldn't finish himself off and convinced his secretary, Epaphroditos, to finish the job. Nero's final words were said to have been, "What an artist dies in me!"

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