Historical Lookalikes

[Jona Lendering]

Yeah, Nero had that beard but why is it always claimed that Hadrian was the first bearded Emperor ? :? ?

It's just one of those superlatives ('first', 'largest', 'tallest') that have become part of our tradition, and no one checks.

"The Roman Empire reached its greatest expansion size under Trajan", is another one - forgetting that the Parthian campaign led to a very brief occupation of Iraq only. Septimius Severus' conquests were more permanent.