Roman emperors may have planned for the future of their dynasties far more carefully than historians have often assumed. A study of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Commodus argues that rulers regularly considered several possible heirs, marriages and family lines when deciding how imperial power might pass to future generations.
The research, by historian Caillan Davenport, challenges the idea that Rome operated as a largely non-dynastic monarchy. Roman emperors had no fixed law requiring the eldest son to inherit the throne. Yet Davenport argues that many rulers still worked to keep power within their families.
Instead of following one clear line of succession, emperors often prepared for several possible outcomes at the same time.
Augustus planned for more than one successor
The system can be traced back to Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, whose rule established a new imperial political order after decades of civil war.
Davenport argues that Augustus initially expected his adopted sons and grandsons, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, to succeed him together. Both received major public honors and were presented as a pair in official imagery.
Their early deaths forced Augustus to change his plans. He then adopted his stepson Tiberius and required Tiberius to adopt Germanicus, creating another set of possible successors across several generations. This approach became a recurring feature of imperial politics.
Roman emperors had no fixed rules for who would inherit the throne. So how did they plan for the future?
A new study reveals how rulers from Augustus to Commodus used adoption, marriage and multiple heirs to keep power in the family for generations. pic.twitter.com/xgAeyk8wNj
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) August 17, 2026
Tiberius prepared both Germanicus and his biological son Drusus for prominent roles. Later, his will made Caligula and Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs, although Caligula ultimately became sole emperor.
Claudius may also have imagined a future involving both Nero and Britannicus. Nero received greater public honors, but evidence suggests Britannicus could still have been prepared for a major imperial role had Claudius lived longer.
Davenport describes this practice as “dynastic scenario thinking,” meaning emperors considered several future possibilities rather than relying on a single expected successor.
Adoption kept power inside the dynasty
Adoption became one of Rome’s most important tools for managing succession. Roman rulers without biological sons could bring nephews, grandsons, stepsons, and other male relatives into the family as legal heirs. Women also played a central role because their marriages created new branches through which imperial power could pass.
Augustus repeatedly relied on this system. Later emperors followed similar strategies. Hadrian created one of the most complex succession plans. After his first chosen heir died, Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius and required him to adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
That arrangement eventually produced Rome’s first formal joint emperors when Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus took power together in A.D. 161.
Marcus Aurelius, also remembered for his devotion to Greek Stoic philosophy, appeared to think in terms of paired heirs as well. Several of his sons were presented together, including Commodus and his younger brother Annius Verus, who were both made Caesars on the same day.
The repeated use of pairs offered a practical advantage. If one heir died, another remained available.
Emperors also managed marriage and family size
Davenport argues that succession planning extended into emperors’ marriages and family relationships. Some early emperors, including Caligula and Nero, married several times, possibly in part to increase their chances of producing children.
Later rulers often took a different approach. Vespasian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius did not remarry after their wives died. Instead, they relied on existing children, daughters, grandchildren and wider family networks.
This suggests Roman emperors did not always want as many sons as possible. Too many potential heirs could create rivalry and instability.
When rulers selected men from outside the immediate family, they still usually adopted them. Galba adopted Piso, Nerva adopted Trajan, and Hadrian adopted men who were not his closest relatives.
Davenport argues that these choices did not weaken the dynastic system. Adoption transformed outsiders into sons and created new imperial families.
Commodus broke with long-term planning
The study identifies Commodus, whose reign became associated with violence and political instability, as a major exception to this pattern of long-term dynastic planning.
Unlike his father Marcus Aurelius, Commodus showed little concern for preserving the wider Antonine family network. He had no surviving children with his wife Bruttia Crispina, maintained other sexual relationships, and ordered the execution of several relatives.
His actions reduced the number of trusted family members who might have provided a stable line of succession.
After Commodus was murdered in A.D. 192, no clear Antonine heir emerged, and the empire entered another period of political struggle.
Davenport concludes that the first two centuries of Roman imperial rule were not evidence of a monarchy without dynastic thinking. Instead, they were a period of experimentation.
Roman emperors had no automatic rule for choosing the next ruler. But many still planned several generations, using adoption, marriage, shared rule, and extended family ties to increase the chances that imperial power would remain within a dynasty.
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