Nerva (8 November 30–27 January 98) was Roman Emperor from 96 to 98, succeeding Domitian and preceding Trajan. He took power after murdering the tyrant Domitian, but he was forced to adopt an heir by the Praetorian Guard; this heir was Trajan. Nerva's premature death of illness in 98 led to Trajan taking power, and Nerva was deified.
Biography[]
Nerva was born on 8 November 30 in Narni, a town near the city of Rome in central Italy, descended from an aristocratic family. In 65, he was elected praetor of the Roman Empire, and he revealed Gaius Calpurnius Piso's plot against Emperor Nero. He was granted a triumph for his success in unraveling the conspiracy, an unusual honor for a non-military achievement. Nero's suicide in 68 led to the collapse of stability in the empire, and Nerva was torn between supporting his brother-in-law Otho and the famed general Vespasian. Nerva was inclined to serve the latter, and Otho would ultimately commit suicide to prevent his army from suffering unnecessary losses. In 71, he was made a consul under Vespasian as a reward for his service to Vespasian in the civil war of 68-69, and Nerva revealed Lucius Antonius Saturninus's plot to rebel in Germania in 89. On 18 September 96, the assassination of Emperor Domitian by freedmen led to Nerva being appointed emperor due to his experience, but he would reign for just two years. The empire was unstable under his rule, and his inability to produce a male heir led to Nerva choosing to adopt Trajan, a great general of Rome (whom he may have had sexual relations with; bisexuality was common among Rome's elites). Nerva died in 98, and Trajan succeeded him as emperor.