Where Every Roman Emperor was Buried [13:52]

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
· Introduction
0:10 · Over the millennium and a half that separate the rise of Augustus from the fall of Constantinople,
0:16 · there were about 150 Roman emperors. They reigned, on average, 11 years,
0:22 · living to a median age of 51. Not quite half met unnatural ends.
0:29 · Some emperors never received a formal burial. Vitellius,
0:34 · Elagabalus, and Petronius were flung into the Tiber. Constantine II was dumped into
0:41 · the River Alsa. Justinian II and Alexius II were cast into the sea. So was Constantine V,
0:49 · after being posthumously declared a heretic. All that was mortal of Andronicus II was left to rot
0:56 · in a vault of the Hippodrome at Constantinople. The ashes of Phocas were scattered to the winds.
1:04 · The bodies of several emperors, likewise, were never recovered. Decius was lost in the mud of
1:11 · a Balkan swamp. Valens was incinerated in a farmhouse outside Adrianople. The
1:17 · skull of Nicephorus I became a favorite drinking cup of the Bulgar Khan Krum.
· Imperial funerals
1:24 · Most emperors, however, were buried with great ceremony. By the third century,
1:29 · an elaborate ritual had evolved. A wax effigy of the emperor was placed on an ivory couch.
1:36 · It was attended for seven days by the Senate, dressed in mourning black. Then the effigy was
1:41 · brought into the Forum, where choruses sang the emperor's praises. In the Campus Martius,
1:47 · finally, the effigy was placed on a gargantuan pyre, decorated with
1:52 · statues and paintings and packed with incense. Troops of horsemen paraded around the pyre,
1:58 · as did chariots carrying likenesses of famous Romans. When the pyre was lit,
2:03 · an eagle was released from the top to symbolize the flight of the emperor's soul to heaven.
2:09 · Although Septimius Severus and most of his predecessors were cremated,
2:13 · inhumation was standard from the third century onward. The body of Justinian
2:18 · was so well embalmed that the crusaders, pillaging the emperor's sarcophagus more
2:24 · than six centuries after his death, found it almost perfectly preserved.
2:29 · The rest of this video will consider where the Roman emperors were buried,
2:33 · from Augustus in 14 AD to Constantine XI in 1453.
2:39 · I haven't been able to track down every emperor, but I've come close. Buckle up.
· Augustus to Nerva
2:46 · Augustus, the first emperor, designed his own mausoleum. It stood on the
2:51 · northern edge of Rome's Campus Martius, between the Tiber and the Via Flaminia.
2:56 · A vast circular structure with walls of travertine-faced concrete, it was crowned
3:01 · by a terraced roof planted with trees. A long passageway led to the burial chamber,
3:08 · where rows of niches held the cinerary urns of Augustus and his family. One marble urn,
3:13 · belonging to Agrippina the Elder, survived the Middle Ages as a grain measure.
3:13 · Tiberius was buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus. So,
3:18 · presumably, was Claudius. A generation later, the ashes of Nerva were placed there.
3:24 · The less reputable Julio-Claudians were denied admission. Caligula was cremated and buried in
3:31 · the Lamian Gardens on the outskirts of Rome. Although his sisters later exhumed the remains,
3:37 · his ghost reportedly lingered there. Nero's ashes were placed in the tomb of Domitii,
3:43 · his father's family, on the Pincian Hill.
3:46 · Galba was assassinated in the Forum, and his head was paraded around the city on a spear.
3:52 · After various adventures, head and body were reunited and buried in the former emperor's
3:58 · gardens near the Via Aurelia. Otho took his own life outside Brixellum, modern Bresica,
4:05 · and was buried there. Vitellius, struck down near the forum, was hauled to the Tiber with
4:11 · a meat hook. His wife, however, managed to fish the body from the river and bury it near Rome.
4:18 · The Flavian emperors – Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian – all ended up in the Temple of the
4:24 · Gens Flavia, which stood on the Quirinal Hill. Domitian himself was initially buried
4:29 · elsewhere. His faithful nurse, however, smuggled his ashes into the family temple.
· Trajan to Caracalla
4:36 · Trajan's ashes were interred at the base of his namesake column – a signal honor, since the column
4:41 · stood inside the pomerium, the ritual boundary within which burials were normally forbidden.
4:48 · Hadrian built a grandiose mausoleum modeled on that of Augustus, but considerably
4:53 · more elaborate. Every part was sheathed in gleaming marble; colossal statues stood guard
4:59 · on the roof. (Centuries later, during Justinian's reconquest of Italy,
5:04 · they would be hurled down to break the siege ladders of the Goths.) Inside the mausoleum,
5:10 · a circular ramp corkscrewed up to the chamber in which the emperors lay. All this was despoiled
5:16 · long ago, but visitors can still see the papal apartment built over the tomb chamber during
5:21 · the Renaissance, which features a bathroom with frescoes of questionable propriety.
5:28 · Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Septimius Severus were buried in the
5:34 · Mausoleum of Hadrian. So, eventually, was Caracalla.
· Third Century
5:39 · Severus Alexander was buried just outside Rome in the mausoleum now known as the
5:44 · Monte del Grano. The famous Portland Vase in the British Museum may have contained
5:49 · his ashes. Gallienus was laid to rest in a mausoleum along the Via Appia. Aurelian
5:56 · was probably also buried at Rome, but the location of his tomb is unknown.
6:02 · A series of third-century emperors were buried far from Rome. Gordian III was
6:08 · buried at Zaitha in Mesopotamia; Hostilian, at Viminacium on the
6:13 · Danube frontier. Valerian was probably buried at Gundeshapur in modern Iran,
6:20 · where he had been taken as a captive of the Persian emperor. It would later be rumored
6:25 · that the Persians had Valerian's corpse flayed, stuffed, and displayed in a temple.
6:31 · Claudius Gothicus was felled by a plague at Sirmium,
6:34 · and likely buried there. A fever claimed Tacitus at Tyana; as far as we know,
6:41 · there he remained. Carus was reportedly incinerated by a lightning bolt near the
6:46 · Persian capital at Ctesiphon. If so, he would have been buried on the spot.
· Tetrarchs and Constantine
6:53 · Moving on to the Tetrarchy, Diocletian was buried in his retirement villa, so massive that its walls
6:58 · still contain the entire old town of Split, Croatia. In one of those ironies of history,
7:05 · the arch-persecutor's mausoleum became a Christian cathedral. Diocletian's co-emperor Maximian seems
7:12 · to have been buried in Marseille; a medieval legend claimed that his body was later discovered,
7:18 · perfectly preserved, floating in a pool of perfumed oil. Galerius was buried just
7:24 · outside the massive fortified palace he had built for himself at Felix Romuliana,
7:29 · now in eastern Serbia. Constantius Chlorus died at York, but was probably buried at Trier.
7:37 · Constantine established the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, where he and many
7:42 · other emperors would eventually be entombed. Before discussing that remarkable complex,
7:48 · however, let's focus on the final rulers of the Western Roman Empire,
7:51 · who were left out of Constantine's mausoleum.
7:55 · During the fifth century, four emperors were buried in Rome.
· Last emperors of the west
8:00 · Honorius was buried in a mausoleum beside old St. Peter's Basilica. Valentinian III
8:05 · and (probably) Severus and Olybrius were laid in the same structure. When the mausoleum was
8:12 · demolished in the 16th century, the sarcophagus of Honorius' wife, was discovered. Honorius himself
8:18 · and the emperors buried with him, however, still lie undisturbed beneath the church.
8:24 · Gratian and Valentinian II were buried by St. Ambrose in Milan. Avitus was buried at Brioude,
8:32 · now in central France. Majorian was probably buried at Tortona in northern Italy. After a
8:40 · brief stint as emperor, Glycerius was deposed and made bishop of Salona, now in Croatia, where he
8:46 · was eventually buried. Before his demise, however, he seems to have orchestrated the assassination of
8:53 · his successor Julius Nepos, who had also been exiled to the vicinity. Romulus Augustulus,
9:00 · the final western Roman emperor, lived out his days near Naples, and was buried there.
· Early and Middle Byzantine emperors
9:06 · Returning to the Eastern Roman Empire – Constantine was buried
9:09 · in a circular mausoleum beside the Church of the Holy Apostles
9:13 · at Constantinople. Over the following seven centuries, that mausoleum and
9:18 · another constructed by Justinian would accumulate dozens of imperial sarcophagi.
9:24 · For reasons ranging from personal devotion to deposition,
9:28 · some emperors were buried elsewhere in and around Constantinople. After 1028,
9:34 · when the mausoleums of the Holy Apostles were completely full, the practice became universal.
9:40 · A few emperors were buried outside Constantinople. Constans II was buried in Syracuse. Leontius,
9:48 · Tiberius III, Leo V, and Romanus IV were all buried on Prote, one of the
9:54 · Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. Another of the Princes' Islands, Prinkipo,
9:59 · was briefly the resting place of Empress Irene. The tomb of Michael V was on Chios. Michael I
10:07 · was buried at Satyros in Bithynia. Theodosius III, who became bishop of Ephesus after being deposed,
10:14 · was buried in that city; his tomb became famous as a place of miraculous cures.
· Comneni and Palaiologoi
10:21 · The Comnenian Dynasty established a family mausoleum at the Pantokrator Monastery in
10:26 · Constantinople, now Zeyrek Mosque. John II and Manuel I were buried here. Alexius I,
10:35 · the dynasty's founder, was buried at Pammakaristos Monastery, now Fethiye Mosque.
10:43 · After the crusaders took Constantinople in 1204, several Byzantine successor states
10:48 · rose in the provinces. The most significant of these, the Empire of Nicaea, was founded
10:54 · by Theodore Laskaris, who was buried in the city he had chosen as his capital.
11:00 · His successors John III and Theodore II were buried in Magnesia ad Sipylum,
11:06 · and John IV – the last of the line – was buried on the Asian coast of the Sea of Marmara.
11:13 · Michael VIII, who retook Constantinople and founded the Palaiologan Dynasty,
11:18 · was denied burial in the imperial city due to a religious controversy;
11:23 · his remains were interred at a monastery in Selymbria, Thrace. John VI,
11:29 · a later member of the dynasty, was buried at Mystra, near ancient Sparta.
11:35 · The rest of the Palaiologans were buried in Constantinople. Andronicus II, buried
11:40 · at the Monastery of Constantine Lips, is the only Roman emperor whose remains have been discovered
11:45 · by archaeologists. Andronicus III and John V ended up at the Monastery of Panagia Hodegetria,
11:54 · now on the grounds of Topkapı Palace. Andronicus IV, Manuel II, and John
12:01 · VIII were all interred near their Comnenian predecessors at the Pantokrator Monastery.
12:07 · Constantine XI, the last of the Roman emperors,
12:10 · died fighting beneath the walls of Constantinople. His body was never found.
· Final thoughts
12:17 · Looking at the map of all the burials discussed in this video, some clear patterns emerge.
12:23 · Unsurprisingly, most emperors were buried in Rome or Constantinople. Emperors were buried elsewhere
12:29 · either because they fell in battle, because they were exiled, or because they had established a
12:34 · capital in the provinces. To be buried in a place, after all, is to claim it.
12:42 · If you'd like to claim your place on my upcoming trips to Rome and Eastern Turkey,
12:48 · follow the link in the description. The Turkey trip includes an excursion in Istanbul,
12:53 · where we'll see the remains of several imperial tombs. You'll find the latest
12:58 · episode in my "Rome in Review" series, which investigates the 1963 film Cleopatra,
13:04 · on Patreon, also linked below. Finally, for more historical content, check out my other channels,
13:12 · Toldinstone Footnotes and Scenic Routes to the Past. Thanks for watching.

ChatGPT is perfect for that:

I copied the transcript and told it to generate it as normal paragraphs:

### Introduction
Over the millennium and a half that separate the rise of Augustus from the fall of Constantinople, there were about 150 Roman emperors. They reigned, on average, 11 years, living to a median age of 51. Nearly half met unnatural ends. Some emperors never received a formal burial. Vitellius, Elagabalus, and Petronius were flung into the Tiber. Constantine II was dumped into the River Alsa. Justinian II and Alexius II were cast into the sea, as was Constantine V after being posthumously declared a heretic. The remains of Andronicus II were left to rot in a vault of the Hippodrome at Constantinople, and the ashes of Phocas were scattered to the winds. Several emperors’ bodies were never recovered—Decius was lost in a Balkan swamp, Valens was incinerated in a farmhouse outside Adrianople, and Nicephorus I’s skull became a drinking cup for the Bulgar Khan Krum.

### Imperial Funerals
Most emperors, however, were buried with great ceremony. By the third century, an elaborate ritual had evolved. A wax effigy of the emperor was placed on an ivory couch, attended for seven days by the Senate dressed in mourning black. The effigy was then brought to the Forum, where choruses sang praises. Finally, in the Campus Martius, it was placed on a gargantuan pyre adorned with statues and paintings and packed with incense. Horsemen paraded around the pyre, followed by chariots carrying likenesses of famous Romans. When the pyre was lit, an eagle was released to symbolize the emperor’s soul ascending to heaven.

Although Septimius Severus and most of his predecessors were cremated, inhumation became standard from the third century onward. Justinian’s body was so well embalmed that crusaders, pillaging his sarcophagus six centuries later, found it nearly perfectly preserved. This video explores where Roman emperors were buried, from Augustus in 14 AD to Constantine XI in 1453.

### Augustus to Nerva
Augustus, the first emperor, designed his own mausoleum on the northern edge of Rome’s Campus Martius. It was a vast circular structure with travertine-faced concrete walls and a terraced roof planted with trees. A long passageway led to the burial chamber, where niches held the cinerary urns of Augustus and his family. Tiberius and Nerva were also buried here. However, less reputable Julio-Claudians, like Caligula and Nero, were buried elsewhere. Caligula’s remains were cremated and interred in the Lamian Gardens, while Nero’s ashes were placed in the tomb of Domitii on the Pincian Hill.

Galba, assassinated in the Forum, had his remains reunited and buried near the Via Aurelia. Otho, who took his own life, was buried near Brixellum, while Vitellius, after a gruesome death, was buried near Rome by his wife. The Flavian emperors—Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian—rested in the Temple of Gens Flavia.

### Trajan to Caracalla
Trajan’s ashes were uniquely interred at the base of Trajan’s Column, an exception to the rule against burials within Rome’s pomerium. Hadrian constructed a grand mausoleum, later converted into Castel Sant’Angelo, which became the resting place of Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Septimius Severus, and eventually Caracalla.

### Third Century
Severus Alexander was buried in a mausoleum now called Monte del Grano, while Gallienus was laid to rest along the Via Appia. Gordian III, Hostilian, and Valerian were buried far from Rome due to campaigns or captivity. Valerian’s corpse was reportedly flayed and displayed by the Persian emperor. Other third-century emperors, like Claudius Gothicus, Tacitus, and Carus, were buried at sites close to where they died.

### Tetrarchs and Constantine
Diocletian was buried in his massive retirement palace, now the old town of Split, Croatia. Maximian was buried in Marseille, while Galerius rested at Felix Romuliana in Serbia. Constantine the Great established the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, where he and many later emperors were entombed.

### Last Emperors of the West
During the fifth century, four Western emperors—Honorius, Valentinian III, Severus, and Olybrius—were buried in a mausoleum near old St. Peter’s Basilica. Gratian and Valentinian II were buried in Milan, Avitus in central France, and Majorian in northern Italy. Romulus Augustulus, the final Western Roman emperor, was buried near Naples.

### Early and Middle Byzantine Emperors
In Constantinople, many Byzantine emperors were buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles or nearby mausoleums. Some emperors, such as Constans II and Theodosius III, were buried elsewhere due to personal or political circumstances.

### Comneni and Palaiologoi
The Comnenian dynasty established a family mausoleum at the Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople. After the crusaders sacked the city in 1204, several Byzantine successor states emerged. The Palaiologan emperors were buried at various sites in and around Constantinople. Constantine XI, the last Roman emperor, died in battle during the fall of Constantinople, and his body was never found.

### Final Thoughts
Most emperors were buried in Rome or Constantinople, reflecting their power and legacy. Emperors buried elsewhere often died in battle, were exiled, or established provincial capitals. Burial locations were a statement of ownership and legacy.

For more historical content and upcoming trips to explore these sites, check the links in the video description. Thank you for watching!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

--> YouTube-Generated Transcript <--
	·	Introduction
0:10	·	Over the millennium and a half that separate the rise of Augustus from the fall of Constantinople,
0:16	·	there were about 150 Roman emperors. They reigned, on average, 11 years,
0:22	·	living to a median age of 51. Not quite half met unnatural ends.
0:29	·	Some emperors never received a formal burial. Vitellius,
0:34	·	Elagabalus, and Petronius were flung into the Tiber. Constantine II was dumped into
0:41	·	the River Alsa. Justinian II and Alexius II were cast into the sea. So was Constantine V,
0:49	·	after being posthumously declared a heretic. All that was mortal of Andronicus II was left to rot
0:56	·	in a vault of the Hippodrome at Constantinople. The ashes of Phocas were scattered to the winds.
1:04	·	The bodies of several emperors, likewise, were never recovered. Decius was lost in the mud of
1:11	·	a Balkan swamp. Valens was incinerated in a farmhouse outside Adrianople. The
1:17	·	skull of Nicephorus I became a favorite drinking cup of the Bulgar Khan Krum.
	·	Imperial funerals
1:24	·	Most emperors, however, were buried with great ceremony. By the third century,
1:29	·	an elaborate ritual had evolved. A wax effigy of the emperor was placed on an ivory couch.
1:36	·	It was attended for seven days by the Senate, dressed in mourning black. Then the effigy was
1:41	·	brought into the Forum, where choruses sang the emperor's praises. In the Campus Martius,
1:47	·	finally, the effigy was placed on a gargantuan pyre, decorated with
1:52	·	statues and paintings and packed with incense. Troops of horsemen paraded around the pyre,
1:58	·	as did chariots carrying likenesses of famous Romans. When the pyre was lit,
2:03	·	an eagle was released from the top to symbolize the flight of the emperor's soul to heaven.
2:09	·	Although Septimius Severus and most of his predecessors were cremated,
2:13	·	inhumation was standard from the third century onward. The body of Justinian
2:18	·	was so well embalmed that the crusaders, pillaging the emperor's sarcophagus more
2:24	·	than six centuries after his death, found it almost perfectly preserved.
2:29	·	The rest of this video will consider where the Roman emperors were buried,
2:33	·	from Augustus in 14 AD to Constantine XI in 1453.
2:39	·	I haven't been able to track down every emperor, but I've come close. Buckle up.
	·	Augustus to Nerva
2:46	·	Augustus, the first emperor, designed his own mausoleum. It stood on the
2:51	·	northern edge of Rome's Campus Martius, between the Tiber and the Via Flaminia.
2:56	·	A vast circular structure with walls of travertine-faced concrete, it was crowned
3:01	·	by a terraced roof planted with trees. A long passageway led to the burial chamber,
3:08	·	where rows of niches held the cinerary urns of Augustus and his family. One marble urn,
3:13	·	belonging to Agrippina the Elder, survived the Middle Ages as a grain measure.
3:13	·	Tiberius was buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus. So,
3:18	·	presumably, was Claudius. A generation later, the ashes of Nerva were placed there.
3:24	·	The less reputable Julio-Claudians were denied admission. Caligula was cremated and buried in
3:31	·	the Lamian Gardens on the outskirts of Rome. Although his sisters later exhumed the remains,
3:37	·	his ghost reportedly lingered there. Nero's ashes were placed in the tomb of Domitii,
3:43	·	his father's family, on the Pincian Hill.
3:46	·	Galba was assassinated in the Forum, and his head was paraded around the city on a spear.
3:52	·	After various adventures, head and body were reunited and buried in the former emperor's
3:58	·	gardens near the Via Aurelia. Otho took his own life outside Brixellum, modern Bresica,
4:05	·	and was buried there. Vitellius, struck down near the forum, was hauled to the Tiber with
4:11	·	a meat hook. His wife, however, managed to fish the body from the river and bury it near Rome.
4:18	·	The Flavian emperors – Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian – all ended up in the Temple of the
4:24	·	Gens Flavia, which stood on the Quirinal Hill. Domitian himself was initially buried
4:29	·	elsewhere. His faithful nurse, however, smuggled his ashes into the family temple.
	·	Trajan to Caracalla
4:36	·	Trajan's ashes were interred at the base of his namesake column – a signal honor, since the column
4:41	·	stood inside the pomerium, the ritual boundary within which burials were normally forbidden.
4:48	·	Hadrian built a grandiose mausoleum modeled on that of Augustus, but considerably
4:53	·	more elaborate. Every part was sheathed in gleaming marble; colossal statues stood guard
4:59	·	on the roof. (Centuries later, during Justinian's reconquest of Italy,
5:04	·	they would be hurled down to break the siege ladders of the Goths.) Inside the mausoleum,
5:10	·	a circular ramp corkscrewed up to the chamber in which the emperors lay. All this was despoiled
5:16	·	long ago, but visitors can still see the papal apartment built over the tomb chamber during
5:21	·	the Renaissance, which features a bathroom with frescoes of questionable propriety.
5:28	·	Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, and Septimius Severus were buried in the
5:34	·	Mausoleum of Hadrian. So, eventually, was Caracalla.
	·	Third Century
5:39	·	Severus Alexander was buried just outside Rome in the mausoleum now known as the
5:44	·	Monte del Grano. The famous Portland Vase in the British Museum may have contained
5:49	·	his ashes. Gallienus was laid to rest in a mausoleum along the Via Appia. Aurelian
5:56	·	was probably also buried at Rome, but the location of his tomb is unknown.
6:02	·	A series of third-century emperors were buried far from Rome. Gordian III was
6:08	·	buried at Zaitha in Mesopotamia; Hostilian, at Viminacium on the
6:13	·	Danube frontier. Valerian was probably buried at Gundeshapur in modern Iran,
6:20	·	where he had been taken as a captive of the Persian emperor. It would later be rumored
6:25	·	that the Persians had Valerian's corpse flayed, stuffed, and displayed in a temple.
6:31	·	Claudius Gothicus was felled by a plague at Sirmium,
6:34	·	and likely buried there. A fever claimed Tacitus at Tyana; as far as we know,
6:41	·	there he remained. Carus was reportedly incinerated by a lightning bolt near the
6:46	·	Persian capital at Ctesiphon. If so, he would have been buried on the spot.
	·	Tetrarchs and Constantine
6:53	·	Moving on to the Tetrarchy, Diocletian was buried in his retirement villa, so massive that its walls
6:58	·	still contain the entire old town of Split, Croatia. In one of those ironies of history,
7:05	·	the arch-persecutor's mausoleum became a Christian cathedral. Diocletian's co-emperor Maximian seems
7:12	·	to have been buried in Marseille; a medieval legend claimed that his body was later discovered,
7:18	·	perfectly preserved, floating in a pool of perfumed oil. Galerius was buried just
7:24	·	outside the massive fortified palace he had built for himself at Felix Romuliana,
7:29	·	now in eastern Serbia. Constantius Chlorus died at York, but was probably buried at Trier.
7:37	·	Constantine established the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, where he and many
7:42	·	other emperors would eventually be entombed. Before discussing that remarkable complex,
7:48	·	however, let's focus on the final rulers of the Western Roman Empire,
7:51	·	who were left out of Constantine's mausoleum.
7:55	·	During the fifth century, four emperors were buried in Rome.
	·	Last emperors of the west
8:00	·	Honorius was buried in a mausoleum beside old St. Peter's Basilica. Valentinian III
8:05	·	and (probably) Severus and Olybrius were laid in the same structure. When the mausoleum was
8:12	·	demolished in the 16th century, the sarcophagus of Honorius' wife, was discovered. Honorius himself
8:18	·	and the emperors buried with him, however, still lie undisturbed beneath the church.
8:24	·	Gratian and Valentinian II were buried by St. Ambrose in Milan. Avitus was buried at Brioude,
8:32	·	now in central France. Majorian was probably buried at Tortona in northern Italy. After a
8:40	·	brief stint as emperor, Glycerius was deposed and made bishop of Salona, now in Croatia, where he
8:46	·	was eventually buried. Before his demise, however, he seems to have orchestrated the assassination of
8:53	·	his successor Julius Nepos, who had also been exiled to the vicinity. Romulus Augustulus,
9:00	·	the final western Roman emperor, lived out his days near Naples, and was buried there.
	·	Early and Middle Byzantine emperors
9:06	·	Returning to the Eastern Roman Empire – Constantine was buried
9:09	·	in a circular mausoleum beside the Church of the Holy Apostles
9:13	·	at Constantinople. Over the following seven centuries, that mausoleum and
9:18	·	another constructed by Justinian would accumulate dozens of imperial sarcophagi.
9:24	·	For reasons ranging from personal devotion to deposition,
9:28	·	some emperors were buried elsewhere in and around Constantinople. After 1028,
9:34	·	when the mausoleums of the Holy Apostles were completely full, the practice became universal.
9:40	·	A few emperors were buried outside Constantinople. Constans II was buried in Syracuse. Leontius,
9:48	·	Tiberius III, Leo V, and Romanus IV were all buried on Prote, one of the
9:54	·	Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. Another of the Princes' Islands, Prinkipo,
9:59	·	was briefly the resting place of Empress Irene. The tomb of Michael V was on Chios. Michael I
10:07	·	was buried at Satyros in Bithynia. Theodosius III, who became bishop of Ephesus after being deposed,
10:14	·	was buried in that city; his tomb became famous as a place of miraculous cures.
	·	Comneni and Palaiologoi
10:21	·	The Comnenian Dynasty established a family mausoleum at the Pantokrator Monastery in
10:26	·	Constantinople, now Zeyrek Mosque. John II and Manuel I were buried here. Alexius I,
10:35	·	the dynasty's founder, was buried at Pammakaristos Monastery, now Fethiye Mosque.
10:43	·	After the crusaders took Constantinople in 1204, several Byzantine successor states
10:48	·	rose in the provinces. The most significant of these, the Empire of Nicaea, was founded
10:54	·	by Theodore Laskaris, who was buried in the city he had chosen as his capital.
11:00	·	His successors John III and Theodore II were buried in Magnesia ad Sipylum,
11:06	·	and John IV – the last of the line – was buried on the Asian coast of the Sea of Marmara.
11:13	·	Michael VIII, who retook Constantinople and founded the Palaiologan Dynasty,
11:18	·	was denied burial in the imperial city due to a religious controversy;
11:23	·	his remains were interred at a monastery in Selymbria, Thrace. John VI,
11:29	·	a later member of the dynasty, was buried at Mystra, near ancient Sparta.
11:35	·	The rest of the Palaiologans were buried in Constantinople. Andronicus II, buried
11:40	·	at the Monastery of Constantine Lips, is the only Roman emperor whose remains have been discovered
11:45	·	by archaeologists. Andronicus III and John V ended up at the Monastery of Panagia Hodegetria,
11:54	·	now on the grounds of Topkapı Palace. Andronicus IV, Manuel II, and John
12:01	·	VIII were all interred near their Comnenian predecessors at the Pantokrator Monastery.
12:07	·	Constantine XI, the last of the Roman emperors,
12:10	·	died fighting beneath the walls of Constantinople. His body was never found.
	·	Final thoughts
12:17	·	Looking at the map of all the burials discussed in this video, some clear patterns emerge.
12:23	·	Unsurprisingly, most emperors were buried in Rome or Constantinople. Emperors were buried elsewhere
12:29	·	either because they fell in battle, because they were exiled, or because they had established a
12:34	·	capital in the provinces. To be buried in a place, after all, is to claim it.
12:42	·	If you'd like to claim your place on my upcoming trips to Rome and Eastern Turkey,
12:48	·	follow the link in the description. The Turkey trip includes an excursion in Istanbul,
12:53	·	where we'll see the remains of several imperial tombs. You'll find the latest
12:58	·	episode in my "Rome in Review" series, which investigates the 1963 film Cleopatra,
13:04	·	on Patreon, also linked below. Finally, for more historical content, check out my other channels,
13:12	·	Toldinstone Footnotes and Scenic Routes to the Past. Thanks for watching.