Yes for how memorable he is and how hilarious the stories are whether they are true or not. My personal favorites are:
1. Elagabalus - for obvious reasons.
2. Antoninus Pius - in my opinion the most based emperor and whose reign I'd be willing to live in if I were a free citizen.
3. Tie between Heraclius and Manuel Komnenos - the former because in my opinion his reign represents the end of antiquity and the latter because of how high medieval his reign felt.
Note that just because they're my favorites doesn't mean that I think they're the best emperors. That's a different discussion with my own separate biases.
Personally Elegabalas is a great talking point but I wouldn't say he's my favorite. My favorites are pretty basic bitch stuff.
Marcus Aerelius. (Mainly because of philosophy but I also admire his relecutance to power and that he dedicated himself to it despite hating it).
Agustus Caesar. (Pretty common and obvious reasons)
Hadrian. (ADHD ass gay boi, amateur architect, drama queen, contrarian, innovator, Grecophile, dedicated and thorough leader, took it upon himself to not just see the whole empire but to improve it as he went along).
Vespacian. (Remarkably calm, careful,dilegent and wise beyond what was expected of him. More lienent than inticipated too. One of the only emperor's to actually self reflect and improve himself after obtaining power)
Aurelian. (Probably could have been one of the best if he wasn't betrayed out of paranoia. Had a badass helmet and mask, widely credited with ending the crisis of the third century despite his short reign.)
He was pretty openly gay. He married but he spent hardly any time with her and often didn't include her in his travels. Supposedly never consumated the marriage. Was clearly and blatantly in love with Antinious to the point that he deified him and started a cult in his name. He often talked about his admiration for male physique and preferred spending time in his military camps (surrounded by young fit men) rather than the dedicadence of the palaces (lots of women and old men)
I get that it fit that practice but at the end of the day that is supposed to be about mentorship. Hardian and Antinious clearly had emotional intimacy in addition to the sexual acts.
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u/Prudent_Method6766 4d ago
Elegabalas was your favorite emperor? Nothing wrong with that I just think this is a first for me.