But wait – there’s more Roman Empires!
As my usual rule, I have twenty special mentions for each top ten – and to my surprise, I was able to compile twenty special mentions for my Top 10 Roman Empires, as there was no shortage of claimants for succession to the Roman Empire. That is, there’s was shortage of polities or states claiming succession from the Roman Empire as a whole or from one of its western or eastern halves.
I might even have squeezed out some more – or at least a couple more, with the short-lived state of Dalmatia held by the surviving former emperor Julius Nepos until 480 AD, or the Despotate of the Morea holding out in revolt against the Ottomans until 1460.
“The continuation, succession, and revival of the Roman Empire is a running theme of the history of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. It reflects the lasting memories of power and prestige associated with the Roman Empire. Several polities have claimed immediate continuity with the Roman Empire, using its name or a variation thereof as their own exclusive or non-exclusive self-description. As centuries went by and more political ruptures occurred, the idea of institutional continuity became increasingly debatable”.
As the above quote indicates, the claimants to the succession of the Roman Empire reflected in my special mentions become increasingly tenuous, to the point of metaphor at best and delusions of grandeur at worst. Indeed, perhaps more than most of my special mentions, these special mentions might be regarded as something of an iceberg meme – that is, my iceberg of the succession of the Roman Empire, starting with more straightforward entries towards at the outset of the iceberg above the surface and going on to wilder or more esoteric entries as we go beneath the surface to the bottom of the iceberg.
Not surprisingly then, my god-tier first special mention is something of an exception to the other claimants to succession from the Roman Empire, albeit still involving a line of succession with the empire, while my god-tier second special mention does involve a line of succession from the empire but in a unique sense.
My next top-tier three special mentions are for “the most enduring and significant claimants of continuation of the Roman Empire”.
My high-tier special mentions may not be as “enduring and significant” but at least could made their claims from a position of having control or possession of either Rome or Constantinople – or close enough for the purposes of the ranking.
And the balance of special mentions is where things get wild – as tends to be the case in my special mentions where I have some fun with the subject category and splash out with some wilder entries – hence their consistent wild-tier ratings.