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Glite Dictionary
Emperor of Rome

Emperor of Rome

1 6.9
A person who ruled the Roman Empire from Augustus to the end of the Western Empire
  • proper noun
translation icon : Emperador de Roma
  • While Augustus Caesar was Emperor of Rome and Herod was King of the Jews, Jesus Christ, a Jew, was born in Nazareth, a part of Judea.
  • the first Emperor of Rome

And he ended up emperor of Rome.

Examples

  • Augustus became the first emperor of Rome after winning the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.

  • By his settlement with the Senate in 27 BC, Augustus became the first emperor of Rome.

    Academic text (2014)

  • Octavian adopted the name 'Augustus' and in 30 BC became the first Emperor of Rome.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Tiberius succeeded Augustus as the second emperor of Rome, ruling from A.D. 14 to 37.

  • Nero, known for his artistic ambitions, was the fifth emperor of Rome, reigning from A.D. 54 to 68.

Synonyms

emperor
vsEmperor of Rome
524 3.5

A man who rules an empire made of many countries

is specific to the ancient western empire rather than any large realm
ruler
vsEmperor of Rome
153 2.1

A person who has power over a country or its people

is the supreme sovereign of an empire rather than a general governor
Roman Emperor
vsEmperor of Rome
3 5.2

A ruler of the ancient Roman Empire who has almost complete power

is the same meaning but uses different word order
imperator
vsEmperor of Rome
  • Archaic
3 9.9

An old title given to a Roman general after victory

is the sovereign office rather than a military honorific title

Surface Forms

Emperor of Rome main

Morphology

emperor + of + Rome

The phrase 'Emperor of Rome' is fully compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'emperor' (sovereign ruler), the preposition 'of' (indicating relation/possession), and 'Rome' (the city/empire) can readily infer it denotes the sovereign ruler associated with Rome. This structure (ruler + of + place) is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward noun phrase composition, so the meaning is transparent to learners.

Etymology

Emperor of Rome comes from a time when soldiers would cheer a victorious leader and call him an emperor, the commander of Rome and its armies. That's why the title means 'the ruler of the Roman Empire'.