alternatehistory.com

I'm currently listening to Mike Duncan's The History of Rome podcast, having gotten up to the death of Nero and the extinguishment of the Julio-Claudian dynasty that had been the unquestioned rulers of Rome since Augustus. Duncan makes a point of the new territory being entered now that the ruling family had run it's course, and mentioned how some could've easily thought that, rather than somebody being found to begin a new dynasty, the powers concentrated in the emperor could now be redistributed to many different men, and the Senate be restored as the supreme authority, with the Julio-Claudians being a weird and embarrassing aberration, a second kingdom period that Rome can now try to quietly smooth over as rapidly as possible. Was this ever achievable after Augustus and before the fall of Western Rome in the 5th Century. If so, how? If not, what were the obstacles in the way?
Top