Vespasian: The Savior of Rome
How a low-class mule breeder saved the Roman Empire from the brink of collapse.
Vespasian was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. He was the fourth and last emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Four Emperors. After ascending the throne, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal and bureaucratic reforms resulted in political stability.
In 68 AD, Nero committed suicide, ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty. This plunged Rome into chaos. It led to a succession crisis known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Vespasian emerged as the victorious emperor, and founded Rome’s second imperial dynasty: the Flavians.
Early life
The early details of Vespasian’s life are provided by Suetonius. Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on November 17, 9 AD in the Sabina region of Italy. He came from the village of Falacrinae. He came from an obscure family, and humble origins.
The first notable member of the Flavian family was Vespasian’s paternal grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro. Petro had been a centurion for Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus against Caesar. After losing the war, Petro had obtained a full pardon and became a tax collector. So did Petro’s son, Sabinus.
Sabinus had the reputation of being an honest tax-collector, and he was recognized by statues across the Asian provinces. The man married Vespasia Polla. The couple had two kids, Vespasian being one of them. Vespasian’s family managed to achieve distinction in ancient Rome through military service.
Politics
Vespasian began his public career as a tribune in Thrace. During the reign of Claudius, Vespasian became a legate, thanks to the intervention of a freedman named Narcissus. Vespasian received command of his own legion in Germany. Although he climbed up Rome’s ranks, Vespasian became a sworn enemy of Agrippina, the conniving and powerful wife of Emperor Claudius.
Vespasian served as governor of a Roman province in North Africa. Vespasian’s governorship was, according to Tacitus, “notorious and hated.” Suetonius, on the other hand, described Vespasian as governing “with great justice and high honor,” but also mentioned riots against his reign. Vespasian’s governorship nearly brought the man to bankruptcy. This was because, unlike most governors, he refused to make a dishonest living from extortion and bribes. Nevertheless, Vespasian was not necessary the most virtuous politician in Rome. He relied on close personal friendships, which provided favors.
Vespasian’s career as a civil servant ended quite ignominiously, when he fell out of the good graces of Emperor Nero. He offended Nero by falling asleep during, or even walking out of, his musical performances. Vespasian was eventually kicked out of the emperor’s inner circle, and was forced to withdraw from public life altogether.
British invasion
Vespasian distinguished himself on the battlefield. He took part in Rome’s invasion of Britain in 43 AD, under the command of General Aulus Plautius. At the time, Vespasian was still a legate. He engaged in 30 battles and subdued two powerful tribes, the Durotriges and the Dumnonii. He captured over 20 towns, and conquered the island of Vectis, known today as the Isle of Wight. For his successes, he received a triumph back in Rome, and eventually made his way to the consulship.
Revolt in Judea
The Roman general distinguished himself even further when he was tasked with crushing the Jewish revolt in the Roman province of Judea. This became the First Jewish-Roman War. It started in 66. The people of Judea were angry over taxes. Tensions grew between the Jews and the Romans. Roman governor Gessius Florus decided to plunder the Second Temple, and he ordered raids against Jewish towns. Instead of quelling the Jews, it only escalated the conflict into a full-scale insurrection. The legate of the nearby province of Syria, Cestius Gallus, assembled his army and marched into Judea, but he suffered a shocking defeat in 67 AD. The mission of defeating the Jews, therefore, was given to Vespasian from Emperor Nero.
This was two decades after his incursions into Britain. By this point, Vespasian’s oldest son, Titus, had also joined the ranks of Rome’s military. Titus bolstered his father’s forces with reinforcements from Alexandria, and served as his second-in-command.
Vespasian was very cautious when approaching the Jewish Revolt. He avoided any direct attack on Jerusalem, since the city was heavily reinforced and guarded by a professional army. Instead, he invaded Galilee. With 60,000 troops at his command, he had little trouble conquering the region. Many towns surrendered without a fight. He led the siege of Yodfat in the summer of 67. The Romans took the city after just 47 days. The leader of the Jewish forces was none other than Josephus, the famous historian.
Vespasian kept Josephus in his retinue as a slave and interpreter, eventually granting him freedom and Roman citizenship when he became emperor. Josephus wrote The War of the Jews, where he chronicled the revolt from the Jewish perspective. Josephus persuaded Vespasian that, according to divine prophecy, he would become the future emperor of Rome. This opportunity came in 69, as Rome was left without a new emperor.
Leaving behind his son Titus in Judea, Vespasian went to Rome. Titus favored a more direct approach, and he besieged the city of Jerusalem. Titus was aided by the same people he had earlier tried to defeat. There was in-fighting between the leaders of the rebel forces, known as the Zealots. Two of them, John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora, splintered the movement from within. It took over four months, but Titus managed to break down the walls of Jerusalem. He stormed into the city, nearly burning it to the ground.
Year of the Four Emperors
Meanwhile, back in Rome, Nero was becoming deeply unpopular. In 65, the Pisonian conspiracy attempted to depose the mad emperor and restore the Republic. It failed, and Nero became even more paranoid. A couple years later, a governor in Gaul named Vindex revolted against Nero. He joined forces with another governor, named Galba. In 68, the Praetorian Guard became convinced that Nero was impossible to support. The emperor was tried in absentia and condemned to death as a public enemy. When word reached Nero, the defiant emperor committed suicide, killing Rome’s first imperial dynasty along with him.
The first contender for Rome’s throne was Galba. After just six months, he lost his supporters, whose loyalty largely came from bribes, and he was deposed. He was replaced by Otho, who had the influence to sway the Senate and bribe the Praetorian Guard. On January 15, 69, the Guard assassinated Galba and replaced him with Otho. Otho’s reign lasted only three months. He was challenged by another man named Vitellus, who traveled to Rome from Germania Inferior. When Vitellius finally arrived in Italy, he fought against Otho at the Battle of Bedriacum on April 14. Vitellius won decisively. Otho committed suicide. According to Tacitus, Otho’s decision was motivated by his selfless desire to spare Rome from another civil war.
Any initial enthusiasm Vitellius enjoyed was lost over the course of his ever-so-brief reign. According to Cassius Dio, the emperor was given over to “luxury and licentiousness.” He gorged himself on rare, expensive foods, and held banquets multiple times a day. His careless spending strained Rome’s economy, and he lost his supporters.
Vespasian was a much more proposing candidate to Rome’s imperial throne. He was a well-respected general, in command of many legions. He was famous for his success in Judea. He also enjoyed the support of the nearby provinces of Syria and Egypt. Before long, he had an army powerful enough to march on Rome. Vespasian’s forces were placed under the command of Mucianius, governor of Syria, while Vespasian himself traveled to Egypt to secure its vital grain networks. Even more legions across the Roman provinces pledged their allegiance to Vespasian. Those supporters were largely Otho loyalists who resented Vitellius. Vespasian defeated Vitellius at yet another battle at Bedriacum, on October 24.
The civil war was brutal. The Temple of Jupiter, Rome’s oldest and most important site, was demolished. Tacitus described it as the “saddest and most shameful crime ever suffered by the Roman state.” Vitellius was executed on the shameful Gemonian Stars. As the last man standing, he became Rome’s new emperor. He was declared such by the Senate on December 21.
The Flavian dynasty
Upon taking power, Vespasian immediately enacted reforms. He imposed a tax on urinals. This was protested even by his son Titus. The emperor held up a coin to Titus’ nose and asked if it stunk. When Titus replied no, Vespasian replied that money, regardless of the source, doesn’t stink. That became the Latin phrase pecunia non olet (“money doesn’t stink”). In French, a urinal is called a vespasianne.
The new emperor sought to legitimize his new Flavian dynasty with an expansive propaganda campaign. He encouraged the spread of alleged prophecies and omens that predicted his rise to power. He rewarded pro-regime writers, and punished dissenters. The Stoic philosophers were often targeted and harassed, and their works were destroyed. At one point, at the insistence of Mucianus, Vespasian expelled them from Rome altogether.
For the most part, Vespasian’s reign was largely peaceful. The main exception was the Batavian rebellion, which occurred early on in his reign. Several tribes banded together in Gaul and Germany, rising up against the Roman Empire. They sought to exploit the chaos of post-Nero Rome. The revolt was crushed in 70 AD.
Vespasian’s long-lasting legacy was his impressive oeuvre of Roman construction projects. When he first ascended the throne, many parts of Rome were still in ruins from the Great Fire. He rebuilt the Temple of Jupiter. He took great pains to restore over 3,000 of its bronze tablets. He created two new temples, one dedicated to peace and the other to the deified Emperor Claudius. In order to restore destroyed neighborhoods, Vespasian enacted a new law that eased restrictions on building real estate.
Vespasian’s most important work, by far, was the Flavian Amphitheater, between known as the Roman Colosseum. Capable of seating over 50,000 spectators, it was the largest such structure of its kind. Construction began in 72 AD, and finished under the reign of Vespasian’s son Titus. Domitian oversaw renovations as well.
Death
Vespasian died on June 24, 79 AD, at the age of 69. He was only the second Roman emperor to die of natural causes, the first being Augustus himself. All other emperors had died by assassination or suicide. According to Suetonius, Vespasian died in Campania of a bowel disease, which resulted in severe diarrhea. Just before dying, he asked his friends to stand him up, because “an emperor ought to die standing.”
Vespasian was succeeded by his two sons, Titus and Domitian, the latter of whom died in 96 AD. Despite a short reign of just 25 years, the Flavian dynasty managed to completely remake Rome with its supremely beautiful works of architecture.