barracks emperors

Noun

barracks emperor (plural barracks emperors)

1. (Ancient-Rome, historical) An emperor who seized power by virtue of his command of the army.
   • The next twenty-nine emperors, who ruled Rome for ninety-two years, or until a.d. 284, were known as the Barracks Emperors, because most of them owed their elevation to the purchase of favors from the soldiers. A few of these men were of unblemished character, but most of them encouraged the...1924, Charles H[erbert] Sylvester, “The History of Rome”, in The Writings of Mankind: […] Twenty Volumes, volume V (Greece·Latin), Kansas City, Mo.: The Epsilon Sigma Alpha Sorority, National...