ok, what emperor or emperess would you most like to have lunch with?

[rick fox]

I would have like to have breakfast with Caligula (during the first 6 months of his reign).  I would like to see the boy as "enlightened" and then compare him to the monster history records.

I would like to have lunch with Vespasian.  It would be interesting to see if his sense of humor was as weird as history portrays it.  (Quick as an asparagus!)

I would then liked to have dinner with Priscus Attalus.  Not that he as a popular emperor or even a good one.  No I would have dinner with him, just to meet the famous barbarian Alaric.  I would love to see how civilized he was, and whether the title barbarian was justified or simply a smear.

I would like to have a snack or cup of tea with Romulus Augustus, and trade him a silver dollar for a coin of his.

[TifJC]

I would like to have lunch with Antoninus Pius--as long as swiss cheese isn't on the menu!

[cliff_marsland]

That's a tough question.  I'm not sure I would have liked to meet most of the emperors.  He isn't an emperor, but the public figure that would have qualified most for me was Marcus Junius Brutus.

As for emperors, perhaps one of the Adoptive emperors, Postumus, or even Carausius.  I could find out what the silver "denarii" of Carausius really were..

[SVLLAIMP]

I'd probably go with Augustus or Trajan, both were wildly successful and not intimately documented in a manner free of progpanganda.  It would be fascinating to meet the men behind the deeds.  But if i could go with any Roman, I'd like to have talked with Sulla.  The lack of information about him when he was obviously so important has always made him a figure of interest to me.

[Lloyd Taylor]

Dinner, rather than lunch, with Nero ...  I've read that his evening barbecues were well illuminated, plus the guy appears to have been a genuine barrel of laughs as long as you were on the right side of him, which of course would make the dinner engagement a little risky if not risque!

[Maffeo]

A gin and tonic with Julian II might prove stimulating...

[Andrew McCabe]

But if i could go with any Roman, I'd like to have talked with Sulla.  The lack of information about him when he was obviously so important has always made him a figure of interest to me.

I'd go with Sulla. I think he's the most complex of documented Roman leaders. The mixture of scandal, respect for his competency, disrespect for his atrocities, partician background, low-life associations, exercise of power, range of constitutional changes, military competence, wiliness, and the fact that he retired voluntarily after holding supreme power despite having it in his power to remain for life (which emperor has done that?). The fact that he remained well-regarded by history despite his proscriptions speaks volumes.

And of course the portrayal of the actor Chrysogonus and other dilettantes in Saylor's books suggest to me that dinner would be an amusing and unconventional affair,

I rely on this Uncyclopaedia entry for most of my factual information about Sulla: There's a nice Faustus Sulla denarius described as "A coin showing Jugurtha (left) surrendering to Sulla (seated centre), notice his bare chested slave girl opposite, dirty womaniser!"
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Lucius_Cornelius_Sulla

[gallienus1]

Well I would chose lunch with Gallienus and his empress Cornelia Salonina. It would be wonderful to have a long conversation with this most civilized, yet enigmatic emperor.  I would ask him about the reasons for his leniency towards the Christians, the meanings of the images on many of his coins, why did he not make more effort to save his father and what type of world he would like the human race to inhabit.

Regards,
Steve

[areich]

That was a good read.

[aragon6]

I would love to have lunch with Faustina Sr and her husband Antonius Pius just to find out what they were really like not what history has painted them, especially Faustina, and to listen to their stories about their world.  Imagine what it would be like to see the real person, or persons, and not just the images on bits of metal.   

[Paleologo]

Marcus Aurelius for having some interesting talks, Nero for having fun 

[commodus]

Lunch with Julian for sure.

Dinner with Messalina.

[Jay GT4]

Germanicus for sure.  If he had lived a very different world would have emerged.  He seemed reasonable and a nice guy. I also would love to ask him about his mixed loyalties being related to both Mark Antony and Augustus!

Of course I'd also love to go out on the town with Mark Antony...why he didn't send Cleopatra away and move north of Actium to block the Via Egnatia I'll never know!

[Robert_Brenchley]

But if i could go with any Roman, I'd like to have talked with Sulla.  The lack of information about him when he was obviously so important has always made him a figure of interest to me.

What I'd like to know is whether Caesar's refusal to punish his enemies was influenced by what happened when Sulla took Rome.

[Andrew McCabe]

What I'd like to know is whether Caesar's refusal to punish his enemies was influenced by what happened when Sulla took Rome.

It always struck me as the business-like pragmatism of someone who, like Sulla, understood what action was appropriate in the circumstances. The "whatever works best" mode of government, and absolutely nothing to do with kind hearts. Caesar fought a long civil war against an opposition who had some of the most famous names in the business of government. Only by repeated pardons of military opposition who then transferred to his side could he in the end isolate and weaken his principal enemies. Bear in mind the bulk of his pardons were before he defeated Pompey. Sulla was however facing more of an "enemy within" after he took control of Italy - there were few military enemies after the Colline gate but potentially many hidden political enemies. Pardons were a pretty useless tool against senators wearing togas and carrying no arms. Octavian in his long war with Antony was more in Caesar's situation. Pardons of military opposition such as that of Scarpus, whose forces and coinage switched from supporting Antony http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/3352152734/ to supporting Octavian http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/3840749094/ in the blink of an eyelid, were strategic rather than tactical, all with an eye to the long game. One couldn't renege on either the pardons or the pattern of behaviour without incurring the fate of Caesar himself.

[marandnumiz]

I'd like to have lunch with Jovian, for a number of reasons. To check if his coin portraits offer any likeness, was he really that tall as Ammianus Marcellin claims, to ask him what really went wrong with Julian's Persian war, what was Julian like, then to ask him what was Singidunum (his birthplace) like back then, and perhaps where to dig to find his family home.

[Randygeki(h2)]

i think maybe Vespasian

[Paleologo]

It always struck me as the business-like pragmatism of someone who, like Sulla, understood what action was appropriate in the circumstances... Pardons were a pretty useless tool against senators wearing togas and carrying no arms

If pragmatism was the way to go, then circumstances of the Social War would dictate a totally different behavior as Sulla did. The Foederati were providing the bulk of the Roman army and their force was basically equal to that of Rome itself. It might have been extremely wise to find some sort of accommodation in order to avoid a war that would likely put Rome itself into extreme danger and, in any case, weaken seriously Rome's military strength. Sulla reduced Italy to burning ashes instead. Maybe it was just his style (the good old Roman style, indeed)?

Regards, P. 

[casata137ec]

I think it would be interesting to sit down for a state dinner at Elagabalus' table (being ever mindful for the possible shower of rose petals ) just to see if he thought himself the primarily emperor of Rome or a priest of Elagabal. I would also like to have lunch with Septimius Severus to see if the Punic accent really made him pronounce his name Sheptiush Sheverush or not...and I would just like to see Juila Domna and Julia Maesa in person...

Chris

PS Oh yeah! I would like to have dinner with the ghost of Valerian I just to ask him if he thought surrendering in person was still a good idea!

C.

[Randygeki(h2)]

lol

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'd like to have lunch with Caligula, and find out whether he really did think he was a god.

[zeid]

I will be interested in having a lunch with wiser Emperors that have relatively longer experience in life and its unexpected twists..

A wise  Emperor that can tell the story of his interesting  life on a lunch table...

Maybe an Emperor that was pushed to be an Emperor... maybe Tiberius in his last days

Vespasian is also a good candidate...he said sarcastically as death approached

'I think I'm becoming a god!'...

Trajan is also a good candidate...

[Danny S. Jones]

I doubt any of the emperors of Rome would sit and discuss anything with the likes of us. However, if I could get a minute with one, I guess it would be Titus. I'd hit him up for a couple box seat tickets to the opening games of the colosseum.

[commodus]

I doubt any of the emperors of Rome would sit and discuss anything with the likes of us.

True enough under normal circumstances, but we can tell them how things turned out, which might interest them considerably!

[ancientdave]

Vespasian and Titus! Man, I bet those two were a riot together, it would be fun to see how they interacted with each other. The food might be modest, but I bet the laughs and wine would be overflowing. I can also picture Domitian, sitting at the other end of the table, sullenly muttering to himself and being largely ignored.