The reason the Roman emperors were assassinated

Drought with famine can urge rebel forces to coup, assassination and overthrow of the Roman emperor.

For more than 500 years the Roman Empire existed, about 20% of the 82 emperors were assassinated while in power. The cause of their downfall could be rain, according to a study published in the October issue of Economics Letters.

Bust of Roman emperors.(Photo: iStock).

Researchers speculate that when the rainfall is low , the Roman army will starve due to dependence on rainwater to irrigate the fields planted by local farmers. 'That will motivate them to cross the boundary and rebel. It was the rebellion that caused the forces to support the emperor to collapse and make the emperor more vulnerable to assassination , "Live Science quoted research leader Cornelius Christian, assistant professor of economics at Brock University, Ontario, Canada.

Christian discovered this through the use of ancient weather data from a study published in 2011 in Science magazine. In that study, scientists analyzed thousands of rounds of fossil plants in France and Germany, then calculated the rainfall each spring for the past 2,500 years. This area is located on the border of the Roman Empire, where the army is stationed.

Next, Christian collected data on coups and assassinated the emperor in ancient Rome. He formulated the calculation formula and found that 'lower rainfall means the possibility of imminent assassinations is higher because of low rainfall accompanied by less food'.

For example, the Vitellius emperor was assassinated in 69, after a year of little rain on the Roman border."Vitellius was put up by his army as emperor. Unfortunately, that year the rain was little and Vitellius was completely unexpected. His army rebelled and finally, Vitellius was assassinated in Rome , " Christian said.

However, many factors can contribute to the assassination. For example, Emperor Commodus was assassinated in 192 in part because the army was frustrated by his abuse of power, including forcing gladiators to lose to the emperor in the Roman arena."We are not trying to confirm that rainfall is the best explanation for all assassinations. It is just one of many factors that can make this happen," Christian said.