Roman Emperors The Romans Empire was one of the biggest and best-organised in history. It began more than two thousand years ago, with the founding of the city of Rome. In the early days the Romans were ruled by Kings. Rome then became a republic with the Romans voting for governors. Finally in 27 BC Augustus seized power and became the first of Roman's Emperors. This A3 size poster shows all the Roman Emperors from Augustus in 27 BC through to Romulus Augustus in AD 475. The poster includes the famous emperors Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus. The bust images, in gold, are taken from coins that were minted during each emperor's reign.