ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Family tree of Roman emperors

Imagine you have a big family tree, just like the kind you might see at school to show the different members of your family. Only our family tree is really complicated because it's about all the Roman emperors, who were rulers of ancient Rome a long time ago.

At the very top of the tree, we have the first Roman emperor, a man named Augustus. He was like the grandpa of all the other emperors. From him, there are lots of branches that go down to show his family. Some of the people on these branches were his kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, and so on.

Now, here's where it starts getting complicated. See, Rome had a system where the emperor wasn't always the eldest son of the previous emperor. Sometimes, other men would fight to become emperor, and they might have their own sons who then became emperor. So, not all of the emperors were related by blood, but some were.

One way to keep track of who was related to who is to look for names that repeat in different branches of the family tree. For example, Caesar was another famous ancient Roman, and he was related to Augustus. So, when we see someone with the name "Caesar" popping up in the family tree, we know they're part of that side of the family.

There were also some cases where an emperor would adopt someone as their son, even if they weren't related by blood. This was a way for them to pick a successor and keep the family tree going.

Overall, the family tree of Roman emperors is like a big puzzle with lots of different pieces that fit together. But by looking at names and relationships, we can see how all these different rulers were connected to each other.