The subject of the study is the literary representation of the deaths of bad emperors in Roman historiography from the 1st to the 6th century. Starting from the thesis that ancient historiography is literature with a high degree of fictional content, the depictions of the tyrants' deaths are less credible accounts of real events and more pointed elements of the narrative intentions of the respective authors. Questions regarding the rhetorical form of the death representations or the use of fixed topoi are particularly significant here. Another focus is the comparison between pagan and Christian authors in their evaluation and portrayal of imperial deaths. In total, 41 historiographical texts were examined, including those by Tacitus, Suetonius, Lactantius, and Eusebius.