Definition:

Nerva was born November 8, A.D. 30. His full name was Marcus Cocceius Nerva.

Nerva was the Roman emperor who followed Domitian and was named the first of the five good emperors by the historian Edward Gibbon. He shared the consulship with the Flavian emperors. When he became emperor, Nerva was a 60-year-old senator whose support came from the Senate. To gain Praetorian favor, Nerva appointed Trajan his successor.

Nerva was the first of the emperors to adopt an heir who was not a blood relative. He suffered a stroke and died soon thereafter. He ruled from A.D. 96-98.

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