Theory:Timeline - Emperor of Rome

This page lists Caesars of the Roman Empire and related leaders in chronological the order. This timeline is based upon observations of the Doctor Who universe and the events that occur during each of these stories.

Years given are the ones confirmed by DWU stories.

Roman Kingdom

 * Tarquin the Proud
 * ‘The legends say that, about a thousand years ago, a Sybil came to the court of the last royal of the Roman Kingdom, Tarquin the Proud, with nine books said to embody all the secrets of human destiny.’ (PROSE: Combat Magicks)

Roman Republic

 * b. 100 BC-d. 44 BC: Julius Caesar
 * 'Julius Caesar was made a Dictator for life in forty-four BC. It was about the highest office the Republic could bestow.' (PROSE: State of Change)
 * "The most famous example was the ides of March in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated." (PROSE: The Ruby's Curse)

Roman Empire

 * 14: Augustus
 * "What I found out seemed extremely significant. Cleopatra was dead. Egypt was now a Roman province, captured by the man currently called Octavian, who would become known to history as Augustus, the first emperor of Rome." (PROSE: The Ruby's Curse)


 * 14: Tiberius
 * 37: Caligula
 * XX: Claudius
 * 64: Nero
 * MESSENGER: Caesar Nero, Emperor of all Rome!
 * DOCTOR: Caesar Nero made it. The rebuilding of Rome. Let me see, where are we now? 64 AD, July. Yes, of course. He sets fire to Rome. (TV: The Romans)


 * Galba
 * Otho
 * Vespasian
 * 111: Trajan
 * TACITUS: Now, since this misunderstanding is the primary basis for the claims to the Imperial Purple of Emperors Galba, Otho, Vespasian, Trajan (the well-known columnist), and our current genial incumbent, Hadrian (whom Jupiter preserve), you will perhaps understand why I have been hesitant to bring the somewhat embarrassing circumstances of his legally unsound position before the Emperor. (PROSE: The Romans)


 * 150: Antoninus Pius
 * 'I think Rome, about the year one hundred and fifty AD, by your calendar,' the Doctor said, lifting his gaze from the timeline display, and beaming at Peri. 'The rule of Emperor Antoninus Pius.' (PROSE: State of Change)


 * 1XX: Hadrian
 * TACITUS: Now, since this misunderstanding is the primary basis for the claims to the Imperial Purple of Emperors Galba, Otho, Vespasian, Trajan (the well-known columnist), and our current genial incumbent, Hadrian (whom Jupiter preserve), you will perhaps understand why I have been hesitant to bring the somewhat embarrassing circumstances of his legally unsound position before the Emperor. (PROSE: The Romans)


 * Marcus Aurelius
 * CLARA: Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor. Last of the five good 'uns. Stoic philosopher. (TV: Deep Breath)


 * 219: Elagabalus
 * "In AD 219, the Emperor Elagabalus entered Rome with a black sphere the Syrians worshipped as a god, the Sol Invictus. The sphere was said to have fallen from the sky. Elagabalus should never have become Emperor; he was a twisted and sadistic fourteen-year-old boy." (PROSE: Trace Memory)


 * 312-325: Constantine I
 * 312: Maxentius

Western Roman Empire

 * 451: Valentinian

Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire)

 * 5XX: Leo
 * 493: Zeno
 * 540: Justinian
 * BELISARIUS: Men of Ravenna! I demand your immediate surrender! – I am Flavius Belisarius of the Imperial Roman Army, and I take this city in the name of the Emperor Justinian!


 * 11XX: Nardole
 * NARDOLE: Twelfth century Constantinople. I ruled firmly, but wisely. (TV: The Return of Doctor Mysterio)

Holy Roman Empire

 * 800: Charlemagne
 * DOCTOR: This is the year 800! If that meeting doesn't happen... Charlemagne won't be crowned head of the Roman Empire. The whole history of Europe will be up the swanny. We've got to find him - and fast! (PROSE: The Lonely Computer)


 * 1242: Frederick II
 * "Not for the first time did the Castellan wish he’d remained in the Holy Land with Frederick II."


 * 1504: Maximilian I
 * DOCTOR: Well, do you know who was the only Emperor about at that time? Maximilian the First of the Holy Roman Empire, that's who.
 * BRIGADIER: Are you suggesting that the presence of this comet in, erm... 1504 and... 1888, and of course this year, was somehow mixed up in all this... hoo-hah with Vilmio? (AUDIO: The Ghosts of N-Space)

Roma I

 * Augustus
 * "By the reign of Augustus, in the eighth century after the foundation of Rome, the Empire's frontiers were drawn at the Atlantic, the Rhine and Danube, the Euphrates and the African and Arabian deserts." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Nerva
 * Trajan
 * Hadrian
 * Antonius Pius
 * Marcus Aurelius
 * Avidius Cassius
 * Septimus Severus
 * Publius Septimius
 * Claudius Gothicus
 * Domitius Aurelianus
 * Diocletian
 * "The golden age had begun, exemplified by the eleven Golden Emperors who ruled in the tenth and eleventh centuries: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Avidius Cassius, Septimus Severus, Publius Septimius, Claudius Gothicus, Domitius Aurelianus and Diocletian." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Constantine I
 * "With the Western Empire prospering, Constantine moved East; his armies swept into Arabia, then Parthia, which had been ravaged by plague." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Julius Alexander
 * "His grandson, Julius Alexander, did what his namesake could not and reached India, securing outposts and trading routes there." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Justinian
 * "Six centuries after Augustus, when Justinian was crowned in Rome, he was declared Emperor of India, as well as the Romans. By the time of his death, Justinian was also Emperor of what we now call America." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Carolus Magnus
 * Octavian VI
 * "The campaign in the North, started by Carolus Magnus, ended by Octavian VI, saw them defeated." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Cosimo
 * "Yung Lo requested a private audience with the new Roman Emperor, Cosimo." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Prime Emperor Emmanuel Victorius
 * "From there, it reached the attention of the Emperor himself. So it was that six years after I completed the work, the old Emperor Emmanuel Victorius wrote to me." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Prime Emperor Eugenius
 * "At a time close to the end of my captivity, as yet unknown to me, the Emperor of Roma I finally succumbed to old age. His youngest son, Eugenius, emerged safely as the successor." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Roma VI

 * Diana
 * " Diana, now Empress of Roma VI, summoned a dozen legions of the ferocious female warriors of her world." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Roma XIII

 * Hieronymous
 * "Terrance Ollacondire and Regina arrived on Roma XIII ... Many centuries ago, the Emperor Hieronymous had successfully unified the various state-sanctioned religions." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)


 * Crolix LI
 * "This was the Emperor of this world, Crolix LI, and he shared a palace on the Palatine with the ghosts of all his predecessors." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Roma LVIII

 * Constantine I
 * Flavius Venerarius

Roma CI

 * Constantine I
 * Flavius Venerarius
 * "When Roma Cl was discovered, we thought it was Roma LVIII at first, until we discovered that Constantine there had worshipped Mithras, not Christ. Mithras favoured one Constantine in battle exactly as Christ did the other, and sixteen-hundred years later, both Emperors Flavius Venerarius served as absolute rulers of almost identical Empires with an official religion and a distinct lack of tolerance for other faiths." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Roma D

 * 3021 RI: Adolphus Caesar
 * (COMIC: Doctor Who and the Iron Legion)

Roma DCX

 * Nero
 * "The Emperor Nero had embraced Christianity, made it the state religion, and within a century all other faiths had gone, either suppressed, absorbed or simply withered away." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Germania I

 * Honorius
 * "At what point had the Romans realised all was lost, I wondered? When had Honorius accepted that the Empire had fallen? Never, I suspect, if he was truly Roman." (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia)

Terra Nova

 * Marcus Antonius
 * "Marcus Antonius had been elected permanent Consul of Rome, taken the ancient title of Praetor and been made Dictator for life — but never Emperor."
 * "When, in due course, Antonius and my mother died, effective power passed to Alexander and Selene, who were by then well versed in political affairs. In name, we three rule the Dominion in a triumvirate, but all know my status is largely symbolic." (PROSE: State of Change)


 * Cleopatra Selene
 * Alexander Helios
 * Ptolemy Caesar
 * 'These appear,' said the Doctor, 'to be the Triumvirate currently ruling the Roman Dominion, and are all Cleopatra's children. The older man on the right is Ptolemy Caesar, her child by Julius Caesar, while the other two were fathered by Mark Antony. Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios. Alexander, according to the inscription, is Dictator of Rome.' (PROSE: State of Change)

20th century

 * c. 1988: Margarita
 * ‘So, the Empire is at its strongest, Caesar must be the Empress Margarita and it’s about eighty years since that meteorite struck Tunguska. Near Subartu. Marvellous, a little over ten years till the next millennium begins, so I’m not too far out.’ (PROSE: Spiral Scratch)

Pandorica timeline

 * 118: Caesar
 * An unnamed emperor is depicted as openly bisexual. Notably set in the alternate timeline created in The Pandorica Opens. (AUDIO: Gladiator) Emperor in 118, after the TARDIS is taken to Rome under armed guard. (TV: The Big Bang)


 * c.118: Augusta
 * An unnamed empress has her husband killed (AUDIO: Gladiator) before she herself meets her demise and is succeeded by Rory Williams. (AUDIO: The Unwilling Assassin)


 * c.118: Rory Williams
 * RORY: Obviously I wasn't in the history books, I think someone would have noticed. So does this mean we're in some sort of alternative timeline? Or is it just that the Romans got really embarrassed about having a woman ruler, then an ex-gladiator emperor, and decided not to mention it? (AUDIO: I, Rorius)


 * c.118: Hilarius
 * RORY: I won't pop up and embarrass you or your puppet emperor Hilarius. He can take over now, he can stick his hand in the fire. Hail Caesar Hilarius! (AUDIO: I, Rorius)

River Song's World

 * 22 April 2011: Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill
 * NEWSREADER: Crowds lined the Mall today as Holy Roman Emperor, Winston Churchill, returned to the Buckingham Senate on his personal mammoth. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)