Emperors

Greatest Mughal emperor, enthroned at 13 in 1556; later that year his regent Bairam Khan secured the throne at the second battle...

Grandson of Chandragupta, he ruled nearly all South Asia from Afghanistan to Bengal. After the bloodsoaked conquest of Kalinga he...

Born Gaius Octavius, heir of Julius Caesar, he won the civil wars and became the first Roman emperor, styling himself princeps...

The Bulgar Slayer, under whom Byzantium reached its greatest medieval extent from Italy to Armenia. He campaigned every year...

King of the Franks crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in Rome on Christmas Day 800. He united most of western Europe...

Ruler of an empire on which the sun never set, inheriting Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and the Americas, where conquistadors...

First Christian Roman emperor, who credited a vision before his victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312 for his win and took control...

The last Roman emperor, who refused surrender when the armies of Mehmed II closed on Constantinople in the spring of 1453. He...

Founder of the Persian empire, who toppled the Medes, Lydia and Babylon in under three decades, creating the largest empire yet...

Great King who organized the Persian empire into satrapies with the royal road, postal couriers and a single coinage, the daric...

Heisei emperor, who with Empress Michiko brought the throne close to the people, comforting disaster victims and marrying the...

The legendary first emperor, said to descend from the sun goddess Amaterasu and to have founded the throne in 660 BC. Historians...

Mutsuhito, the teenage emperor whose 1868 restoration ended 260 years of shogun rule. Under the Meiji slogan of a rich country...

A historian who wrote his Oxford thesis on navigation and traffic on the upper Thames in the 18th century, he became the 126th...

Hirohito, whose 62 year reign spanned the war in China, the Pacific war, defeat, occupation and the transformation into a...

The red bearded emperor who sought to restore imperial power in Italy, destroying Milan in 1162 before the Lombard League...

Emperor of Ethiopia, styled Conquering Lion of Judah, who appealed in person to the League of Nations against the 1935 Italian...

Zhu Yuanzhang, born a destitute peasant orphan who became a monk and rebel, then founder of the Ming dynasty in 1368. He restored...

The last emperor to speak Latin as a first language, he recoded all Roman law in the Corpus Juris Civilis, the foundation of most...

Longest reigning emperor in Chinese history at 61 years, he consolidated Qing rule, crushed the three feudatories, took Taiwan...

Grandson of Genghis who completed the conquest of the Song in 1279 and founded the Yuan dynasty, ruling from what is now Beijing...

Philosopher king, author of the Meditations written on campaign, the private stoic reflections still widely read. He spent much...

The artillery officer of the revolution who became Emperor of the French in 1804. His civil code still shapes law across...

Last of the Julio-Claudians, remembered for extravagance and tyranny, though the surviving histories were written by hostile...

Saxon duke and king who defeated the Magyars at the Lechfeld in 955, ending their raids, and was crowned emperor in Rome in 962...

The last emperor, enthroned at two and forced to abdicate at six in February 1912 when the republic replaced the Qing. Restored...

First emperor of unified China, whose armies finished the conquest of the warring states by 221 BC. He standardized script...

The builder emperor, whose grief for his wife Mumtaz Mahal produced the Taj Mahal, the pinnacle of Mughal architecture. He moved...

Second Tang emperor, who took the throne after the Xuanwu incident killed his brothers. His reign of Zhenguan became the textbook...

Optimus Princeps, the best of princes. He conquered Dacia in two wars, commemorated on his column in Rome, and his later war...

The only woman to rule China as emperor in her own name. From concubine to empress consort to empress dowager, she proclaimed her...

Zhu Di, who seized the throne from his nephew. He moved the capital to Beijing and raised the Forbidden City, sent the admiral...