Nerva
Elderly senator raised to the purple after Domitian's assassination in 96, and the first of the emperors later called the Five Good Emperors. His importance is a single decision taken under pressure from the army: adopting Trajan, an able general with no blood claim, as his heir. That converted a succession crisis into a principle, and the century of adoptive succession that followed is the reason his brief and otherwise unremarkable reign matters.
- Lived: 30 CE – 98 CE
- Nationality: roman
- Roles: head_of_state
