'Five Good Emperors' is a term atributted to five successive emperors who reigned the Roman Empire from 96 - 180 AD: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius.
Their reigns were considered as the height of Roman power and glory, as well as 'the happiest times of humanity'.
Below are their respective achievements:
1.Nerva
-despite his old age and weak health, he decided to accept the Senate's offer for becoming emperor to prevent civil war from errupting
-ended the trials based on treason, released those who had been imprisoned under these charges, granted amnesty to many who had been exiled, and returned all properties which had been confiscated (all of those had been started by Domitian)
-in order to improve the economy of Rome, he forbade any silver or gold statues that made in his honor
-established a tradition of succession through adoption, thus founding the Nerva-Antonine dynasty
2.Trajan
-continuing the Nerva's policy of freeing unjustly imprisoned people and returning their confiscated properties
-with the conquests of Dacia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Nabataea, he brought Roman Empire to her greatest extent
-undergo an extensive public building programs (Trajan's Column, Trajan's Forum, Trajan's Market, as well as extending Roman road systems, Via Traiana, and expanding the aqueducts)
-have an immense popularity so that the Senate bestowed upon him the honorific title of optimus ('the best')
3.Hadrian
-maintain a 'peace policy' by erecting permanent fortifications along the empire's borders (Hadrian's Wall in Britain and a series of fortifications, forts, outposts, and watchtowers along the Rhine and Danube)
-travelling throughout the empire in order to personally inspecting the border armies and improving the infrastructures (libraries, aqueducts, baths, theaters) in many Roman cities
-patronized arts, architectures, and poetry as well promoting them to all parts of the empire (especially Greek culture)
4.Antoninus Pius
-just like his predecessors, he built temples, theaters, and mausoleums, promoted the arts and sciences, and bestowed honours and financial rewards upon the teachers of rhetoric and philosophy
-created Alimenta, a welfare program that helped orphans and poor children throughout the empire
-governed the empire efficiently without leaving Italy once during his long and peaceful reign, but instead dealt with provincial matters through their governors or through imperial letters to the cities
5.Marcus Aurelius
-being the first ever emperor to share his emperorship to another person (Lucius Verus)
-successfully repelling the invasions of Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians during the Marcomannic Wars
-giving free granaries to many Romans after the flooding of Tiber and the outbreak of Antonine Plague
-hailed as 'an emperor most skilled in the law', he took great care in three areas of the law: the manumission of slaves, the guardianship of orphans and minors, and the choice of city councillors
-known as the most important Stoic philosopher of all time, for his writing 'Meditations' and his philosophic way of life
So, who do you think is the best of all...?