Servius Sulpicius Galba (December 24, 3 BC - January 15, AD 69) was Roman Emperor from June AD 68 until his death. He was the first emperor of the Year of the four emperors.
He was born near Tarragona. He came of a noble family and was a man of great wealth, but unconnected either by birth or by adoption with the first six Caesars. In his early years he was regarded as a youth of remarkable abilities, and it is said that both Augustus and Tiberius prophesied his future eminence (Tacitus, Annals, vi. 20; Suet. Galba, 4).
Praetor in 20, and consul in 33, he acquired a well-merited reputation in the provinces of Gaul, Germania, Africa and Spain by his military capability, strictness and impartiality. On the death of Caligula, he refused the invitation of his friends to make a bid for empire, and loyally served Claudius. For the first half of Nero's reign he lived in retirement, till, in 61, the emperor bestowed on him the province of Hispania Tarraconensis.
In the spring of 68, Galba was informed of Nero's intention to put him to death, and of the insurrection of Julius Vindex in Gaul. He was at first inclined to follow the example of Vindex, but the defeat and death of the latter renewed his hesitation. The news that Nymphidius Sabinus, the praefect of the praetorians, had declared in his favour revived Galba's spirits. Hitherto, he had only dared to call himself the legate of the senate and Roman people; after the murder of Nero, he assumed the title of Caesar, and marched straight for Rome.
Following the death of Nero, Nymphidius Sabinus sought to seize power prior to the arrival of Galba, but he could not win the loyalty of the Praetorian guard and was killed. Upon Galba's approach to the city in October, he was met by soldiers presenting demands; Galba replied with violence, killing many of them.
The primary concern of Galba during his brief reign was in restoring state finances, and to this end he undertook a number of unpopular measures, the most dangerous of which was his refusal to pay the praetorians the reward promised in his name. Galba scorned the notion that soldiers should be bribed for their loyalty. He further disgusted the mob by his meanness and dislike of pomp and display. His advanced age had destroyed his energy, and he was entirely in the hands of favourites. All this made the new emperor gravely unpopular.
On January 1, 69, two legions in Germania Superior refused to swear loyalty to Galba and toppled his statues, demanding that a new emperor be chosen; on the next day, the soldiers of Germania Inferior also rebelled and took the decision of who should be the next emperor into their own hands, proclaiming the governor of the province, Vitellius, as emperor. This outbreak of revolt made Galba aware of his own unpopularity and of the general discontent. In order to check the rising storm, he adopted as his coadjutor and successor L. Calpurnius Piso. The populace regarded the choice of successor as a sign of fear, and the Praetorians were indignant, because the usual donative was not forthcoming.
M. Salvius Otho, formerly governor of Lusitania, and one of Galba's earliest supporters, disappointed at not being chosen instead of Piso, entered into communication with the discontented Praetorians, and was adopted by them as their emperor. Galba, who at once set out to meet the rebels - he was so feeble that he had to be carried in a litter - was met by a troop of cavalry and was butchered near the Lacus Curtius.
During the later period of his provincial administration he was indolent and apathetic, but this was due either to a desire not to attract the notice of Nero or to the growing infirmities of age. Tacitus rightly says that all would have pronounced him worthy of empire if he had never been emperor
Marcus Salvius Otho (April 25, 32 - April 16, 69) was Roman Emperor from January 15 to April 16, in 69 AD, the second emperor of the Year of the four emperors.
Otho belonged to an ancient and noble Etruscan family settled at Ferentinum (modern Ferento, near Viterbo) in Etruria. He appears first as one of the most reckless and extravagant of the young nobles who surrounded Nero. This friendship was brought to an end in 58 because of a woman, Poppea Sabina. Otho introduced his beautiful wife to the Emperor upon the insistence of his wife, who then began an affair that would eventually be the death of her. After securely establishing this position as his mistress, she divorced Otho and had the emperor send him away to the remote province of Lusitania.
Otho remained in Lusitania for the next ten years, administrating the province with a moderation unusual at the time. When in 68 his neighbour Galba, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, rose in revolt against Nero, Otho accompanied him to Rome. Resentment at the treatment he had received from Nero may have impelled him to this course, but to this motive was added before long that of personal ambition. Galba was childless and far advanced in years, and Otho, encouraged by the predictions of astrologers, aspired to succeed him. But in January 69 his hopes were dissipated by Galba's formal adoption of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus, who Galba had previously named a recipient in his will.
Nothing remained for Otho but to strike a bold blow. Desperate as was the state of his finances, thanks to his previous extravagance, he found money to purchase the services of some twenty-three soldiers of the Praetorian Guard. On the morning of January 15, only five days after the adoption of Piso, Otho attended as usual to pay his respects to the emperor, and then hastily excusing himself on the score of private business hurried from the Palatine to meet his accomplices. He was then escorted to the Pretorian camp, where, after a few moments of surprise and indecision, he was saluted imperator.
With an imposing force he returned to the Forum, and at the foot of the Capitol encountered Galba, who, alarmed by vague rumours of treachery, was making his way through a dense crowd of wondering citizens towards the barracks of the guard. The cohort on duty at the Palatine, which had accompanied the emperor, instantly deserted him. Galba, his newly adopted son Piso and others were brutally murdered by the Praetorians.
The brief struggle over, Otho returned in triumph to the camp, and on the same day was duly invested by the senators with the name of Augustus, the tribunician power and the other dignities belonging to the principate. Otho had owed his success to the resentment felt by the Pretorian guards and the rest of the army at Galba's refusal to pay the promised gold to the ones who supported his accession to the throne. The population of the city was also unhappy with Galba and cherished the memory of Nero. Otho's first acts as emperor showed that he was not unmindful of the facts.
He accepted, or appeared to accept, the cognomen of Nero conferred upon him by the shouts of the populace, whom his comparative youth and the effeminacy of his appearance reminded of their lost favourite. Nero's statues were again set up, his freedmen and household officers reinstalled, and the intended completion of the Golden House announced. At the same time the fears of the more sober and respectable citizens were allayed by Otho's liberal professions of his intention to govern equitably, and by his judicious clemency towards Marius Celsus, consul-designate, a devoted adherent of Galba.
But any further development of Otho's policy was checked once Otho read through Galba's private correspondence and realized the extent of the revolution in Germany, where several legions had declared for Vitellius, the commander of the legions on the lower Rhine, and were already advancing upon Italy. After a vain attempt to conciliate Vitellius by the offer of a share in the empire, Otho, with unexpected vigour, prepared for war. From the remoter provinces, which had acquiesced in his accession, little help was to be expected; but the legions of Dalmatia, Pannonia and Moesia were eager in his cause, the pretorian cohorts were in themselves a formidable force and an efficient fleet gave him the mastery of the Italian seas.
The fleet was at once dispatched to secure Liguria, and on the March 14 Otho, undismayed by omens and prophecies, started northwards at the head of his troops in the hopes of preventing the entry of the Vitellius' troops into Italy. But for this he was too late, and all that could be done was to throw troops into Placentia and hold the line of the Po. Otho's advanced guard successfully defended Placentia against Alienus Caecina, and compelled that general to fall back on Cremona. But the arrival of Fabius Valens altered the aspect of affairs.
Vitellius' commanders now resolved to bring on a decisive battle, the Battle of Bedriacum, and their designs were assisted by the divided and irresolute counsels which prevailed in Otho's camp. The more experienced officers urged the importance of avoiding a battle, until at least the legions from Dalmatia had arrived. But the rashness of the emperor's brother Titianus and of Proculus, prefect of the pretorian guards, added to Otho's feverish impatience, overruled all opposition, and an immediate advance was decided upon, Otho himself remaining behind with a considerable reserve force at Brixellum, on the southern bank of the Po.
When this decision was taken, Otho's army had already crossed the Po and were encamped at Bedriacum (or Betriacum), a small village on the Via Postumia, and on the route by which the legions from Dalmatia would naturally arrive.Leaving a strong detachment to hold the camp at Bedriacum, the Othonian forces advanced along the Via Postumia in the direction of Cremona.
At a short distance from that city they unexpectedly encountered the Vitellian troops. The Othonians, though taken at a disadvantage, fought desperately, but were finally forced to fall back in disorder upon their camp at Bedriacum. There on the next day the victorious Vitellians followed them, but only to come to terms at once with their disheartened enemy, and to be welcomed into the camp as friends.
More unexpected still was the effect produced at Brixellum by the news of the battle. Otho was still in command of a formidable force: the Dalmatian legions had already reached Aquileia and the spirit of his soldiers and their officers was unbroken. But he was resolved to accept the verdict of the battle that his own impatience had hastened. In a dignified speech he bade farewell to those about him, and then retiring to rest slept soundly for some hours.
Early in the morning he stabbed himself in the heart with a dagger, which he had concealed under his pillow, and died as his attendants entered the tent. His funeral was celebrated at once, as he had wished, and not a few of his soldiers followed their master's example by killing themselves at his pyre. A plain tomb was erected in his honour at Brixellum, with the simple inscription Diis Manibus Marci Othonis.
He was just thirty-seven at the time of his death, and had reigned just three months.
Aulus Vitellius Germanicus (September 24 AD 15December 22, 69) was Roman Emperor from April 17 69 to December 22 of the same year, one of the emperors in the "Year of the four emperors".
He was the son of Lucius Vitellius, who had been consul and governor of Syria under Tiberius. Vitellius the son was consul in 48, and (perhaps in 60-61) proconsul of Africa, in which capacity he is said to have acquitted himself with credit. At the end of 68 Galba, to the general astonishment, selected him to command the army of Germania Inferior, and here Vitellius made himself popular with his subalterns and with the soldiers by outrageous prodigality and excessive good nature, which soon proved fatal to order and discipline.
Far from being ambitious or scheming, he was lazy and self-indulgent, fond of eating and drinking, and owed his elevation to the throne to Caecina and Valens, commanders of two legions on the Rhine. Through these two men a military revolution was speedily accomplished, and early in 69 Vitellius was proclaimed emperor at Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne), or, more accurately, emperor of the armies of Germania Inferior and Superior.
In fact, he was never acknowledged as emperor by the entire Roman world, though at Rome the senate accepted him and decreed to him the usual imperial honours. He advanced into Italy at the head of a licentious and rough soldiery, and Rome became the scene of riot and massacre, gladiatorial shows and extravagant feasting. As soon as it was known that the armies of the East, Dalmatia, and Illyricum had declared for Vespasian, Vitellius, deserted by many of his adherents, would have resigned the title of emperor.
It is said that he awaited Vespasian's army at Mevania. It was said that the terms of resignation had actually been agreed upon with Primus of Alexandria, one of Vespasianšs chief supporters, but the praetorians refused to allow him to carry out the agreement, and forced him to return to the palace, when he was on his way to deposit the insignia of empire in the Temple of Concord.
On the entrance of Vespasian's troops into Rome he was dragged out of some miserable hiding-place, driven to the fatal Gemonian stairs, and there struck down. "Yet I was once your emperor," were the last and, as far as we know, the noblest words of Vitellius.
During his brief administration Vitellius showed indications of a desire to govern wisely, but he was completely under the control of Valens and Caecina, who for their own ends encouraged him in a course of vicious excesses which threw his better qualities into the background.
Caesar Vespasianus Augustus (November 17, 9 June 23, 79), originally known as Titus Flavius Vespasianus and best known as Vespasian, was the emperor of Rome from 69 to 79. He was founder of the Flavian dynasty and ascended the throne in the end of the Year of the four emperors.
He was born in the Sabine country near Reate. His father, Titus Flavius Sabinus, was an equestrian who worked as a customs official in Asia and a money-lender on a small scale in Aventicum, where Vespasian lived for some time; his mother, Vespasia Polla, was the sister of a Senator.
After prompting from his mother, Vespasian followed his older brother, also called Titus Flavius Sabinus, into public life. He served in the army as a military tribune in Thrace in 36, and the following year was elected quaestor, serving in Crete and Cyrene.
He rose through the ranks of Roman public office, being elected aedile at the second attempt in 39 and praetor at the first attempt in 40, taking the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Emperor Caligula.In the meantime he had married Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of an equestrian from Ferentium, and they had two sons, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (b. 41) and Titus Flavius Domitianus (b. 51), and a daughter, Domitilla (b. 39). Flavia died before Vespasian became emperor; therafter his mistress, Caenis, was his wife in all but name until she died in 74.Upon the accession of Claudius as emperor in 41, Vespasian was appointed legate of the Legio II Augusta, stationed in Germania, thanks to the influence of the Imperial freedman Narcissus.
Invasion of Britannia
In 43, Vespasian and the II Augusta participated in the Roman invasion of Britain, and he distinguished himself under the overall command of Aulus Plautius. After participating in crucial early battles on the rivers Medway and Thames, he was sent to reduce the southwest, penetrating to the borders of modern Somerset. He fought thirty battles, captured twenty oppida (towns, or more probably hillforts, one of them being Maiden Castle in Dorset), subdued two powerful nations and reduced Vectis (the Isle of Wight), earning a triumph on his return to Rome.
Continued political career
Vespasian was elected consul for the last two months of 51, after which he withdrew from public life. He came out of retirement in 63 when he was sent as governor to Africa, where, according to Tacitus (ii.97), his rule was "infamous and odious"; according to Suetonius (Vesp. 4), "upright and, highly honourable". On one occasion he was pelted with turnips. At this time he found himself in financial difficulties and was forced to mortgage his estates to his brother. To revive his fortunes he turned to the mule trade and gained the nickname mulio (mule-driver).
Returning from Africa, Vespasian toured Greece in Nero's retinue, but lost Imperial favour after paying insufficient attention to the Emperor's recitals on the lyre, and found himself in the political wilderness.
Great Jewish Revolt
However, in 66, Vespasian was appointed to conduct the war in Iudaea, which was threatening unrest throughout the East. A revolt there had killed the previous governor and routed Licinius Mucianus, the governor of Syria, when he tried to restore order. Vespasian was dispatched with two legions to add to the one already there. His elder son, Titus, served under him. During this time he became the patron of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish resistance leader turned Roman agent who would go on to write his people's history in Greek.
The Year of Four Emperors
After the death of Nero in 68, Rome saw a succession of short-lived emperors and a year of civil wars. Galba was murdered by Otho, who was defeated by Vitellius. Otho's supporters, looking for another candidate to support, settled on Vespasian.
According to Suetonius, a prophecy ubiquitous in the Eastern provinces claimed that from Iudaea would come the future rulers of the world. Vespasian eventually believed that this prophecy applied to him, and found a number of omens, oracles, and portents that reinforced this belief.
He also found encouragement in Mucianus, the governor of Syria; and although a strict disciplinarian and reformer of abuses, Vespasian's soldiers were thoroughly devoted to him. All eyes in the East were now upon him; Mucianus and the Syrian legions were eager to support him; and while he was at Caesarea, he was proclaimed emperor (July 1, 69), first by the army in Egypt, and then by his troops in Iudaea (July 11).
Nevertheless, Vitellius, the occupant of the throne, had on his side the veteran legions of Gaul and the Rhineland, Rome's best troops. But the feeling in Vespasian's favour quickly gathered strength, and the armies of Moesia, Pannonia, and Illyricum soon declared for him, and made him in fact master of half of the Roman world.
While Vespasian himself was in Egypt securing its grain supply, his troops entered Italy on the northeast under the leadership of M. Antonius Primus, defeated Vitellius's army (which had awaited him in Mevania) at Bedriacum (or Betriacum), sacked Cremona and advanced on Rome, which they entered after furious fighting and a frightful confusion, in which the Capitol was destroyed by fire.
On receiving the tidings of his rival's defeat and death at Alexandria, the new emperor at once forwarded supplies of urgently needed grain to Rome, along with an edict or a declaration of policy, in which he gave assurance of an entire reversal of the laws of Nero, especially those relating to treason. While in Egypt he visited the Temple of Serapis, where reportedly he experienced a vision, and later was confronted by two laborers who were convinced that he possessed a divine power which could work miracles.
Vespasian as Emperor
Leaving the war in Judaea to his son Titus, he arrived at Rome in 70. He at once devoted his energies to repairing the evils caused by civil war. He restored discipline in the army, which under Vitellius had become utterly demoralized, and, with the cooperation of the Senate, put the government and the finances on a sound footing.
He renewed old taxes and instituted new ones, increased the tribute of the provinces, and kept a watchful eye upon the treasury officials. By his own example of simplicity of life, he put to shame the luxury and extravagance of the Roman nobles and initiated in many respects a marked improvement in the general tone of society.
As censor he reformed the Senatorial and Equestrian orders, removing unfit and unworthy members and promoting good and able men, among them Gnaeus Julius Agricola. At the same time, he made it more dependent upon the Emperor, by exercising an influence upon its composition. He altered the constitution of the Praetorian Guard, in which only Italians, formed into nine cohorts, were enrolled.
In 70, a formidable rising in Gaul, headed by Gaius Julius Civilis, was suppressed by Vespasian's brother-in-law, Quintus Petillius Cerialis, and the German frontier made secure; the Jewish War was brought to a close by Titus's capture of Jerusalem, and in the following year, after the joint triumph of Vespasian and Titus, memorable as the first occasion on which a father and his son were thus associated together in the Western world, the temple of Janus was closed, and the Roman world had rest for the remaining nine years of Vespasian's reign. "The peace of Vespasian" passed into a proverb.
In 78 Agricola went to Britain, and both extended and consolidated the Roman dominion in that province, pushing his way into what is now Scotland. In the following year Vespasian died, on June 23.[edit]
Views on Vespasian
The avarice with which both Tacitus and Suetonius stigmatize Vespasian seems really to have been an enlightened economy, which, in the disordered state of the Roman finances, was an absolute necessity.
Vespasian could be liberal to impoverished Senators and equestrians, to cities and towns desolated by natural calamity, and especially to men of letters and rhetors, several of whom he pensioned with salaries of as much as 1,000 gold pieces a year. Quintilian is said to have been the first public teacher who enjoyed this Imperial favor.
Pliny the Elder's great work, the Natural History, was written during Vespasian's reign, and dedicated to Vespasian's son Titus. Some of the philosophers who talked idly of the good old times of the Republic, and thus indirectly encouraged conspiracy, provoked him into reviving the obsolete penal laws against this profession, but only one, Helvidius Priscus, was put to death, and he had affronted the Emperor by studied insults. "I will not kill a dog that barks at me," were words honestly expressing the temper of Vespasian.
Vespasian was indeed noted for mildness and a healthy sense of justice. For example, he helped his late adversary Vitellius' daughter find a suitable husband and even provided her with the dowry. Much money was spent on public works and the restoration and beautifying of Rome: a new forum, the splendid Temple of Peace, the public baths and the vast Colosseum.
To the last, Vespasian was a plain, blunt soldier, with a demonstrated strength of character and ability, and with a steady purpose to establish good order and secure the prosperity and welfare of his subjects. In his habits he was punctual and regular, transacting his business early in the morning, and enjoying a siesta in the afternoon.
He did not quite have the distinguished bearing looked for in an emperor. He was free in his conversation, and his humor, of which he had a good deal, was apt to take the form of rather coarse jokes. He could jest even in his last moments. "Alas, I think I'm turning into a God," he whispered to those around him. There is something very characteristic in the exclamation he is said to have uttered in his last illness, "An emperor ought to die standing."
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (December 30, 39 - September 13, 81) ruled the Roman Empire from 79 to 81.
Early life and military successes
Titus was the elder son of the emperor Vespasian and Domitilla the Elder.
In 61 he was military tribune in Britannia. In 64 he returned to Rome and married Arrecina Tertulla, who died, and then Marcia Furnilla (one daughter, Julia Flavia), whom he was forced to divorce.
Titus accompanied Vespasian to the east in 67 to put down the Jewish Rebellion. In 69, the Year of the Four Emperors, Vespasian returned to Rome to claim the throne, and left Titus behind to put down the rebellion, which he did in 70 with four legions. Jerusalem was sacked; the Temple was destroyed and much of the population was killed or dispersed. While in Jerusalem he also began a love affair with Berenice of Cilicia, daughter of Herod Agrippa. He was awarded a triumph upon his return to Rome in 71. The Triumphal Arch of Titus, which stands at one entrance to the Roman Forum, memorializes this triumph. He held various consulships under his father and also served as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, ensuring their loyalty to the emperor. These events were recorded in dramatic detail by the historian Josephus in his work The Jewish War.
Emperor
Titus succeeded his father as Emperor in 79, although some Senators were opposed to his relationship with Berenice, whom they compared to a new Cleopatra. However, he was an effective emperor and was well-loved by the population. He stopped the treason trials and punished the delatores (public informants), and held expensive gladiatorial games.
In addition to his arch, he also essentially completed the Colosseum, and built his namesake baths on the former site of Nero's Domus Aurea. Titus was emperor during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 and the consequent destruction of life and property in the cities and resort communities around the Bay of Naples, such as Pompeii and Herculaneum.
In 80 there was a fire in Rome; Titus spent large amounts of money relieving victims of both the volcano and the fire. His reign also saw the rebellion led by Terentius Maximus, the False Nero.
After just two years, Titus died of a fever. He was deified by the Senate and was succeeded by his brother, Domitian. Titus's reputation has prospered in contrast to the character of Domitian, whose persecutions were detailed by the contemporary historian Tacitus. Had Titus lived long enough, he may have suffered from the same excesses as previous emperors; instead, he was used as a model by later emperors, especially those known as the Five Good Emperors.
Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 18 September 96), commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman emperor of the gens Flavia.
Domitianus was the son of Vespasian, by his wife Domitilla, and brother of Titus, whom he succeeded in 81.
Early life
Domitian was born in Rome while his father was still a politician and military commander. He received the education of a young man of the privileged senatorial class. He studied rhetoric and literature, publishing some of his writings, law and administration. In his biography Suetonius describes him as a learned and educated adolescent, with elegant conversation. Unlike his brother, Titus, who was much older than himself, Domitian did not accompany their father in his campaigns in the African provinces and Judea.
During the year of the four emperors (AD 69), Domitian assumed a cautious, discreet position, but moved immediately to the imperial palace once his father was proclaimed emperor. He was the representative of the Flavius family in the senate prior to Vespasian and Titus' arrival in Rome. With the rise to power of his father, Domitian grew bolder.
In 70 he managed to force the divorce of Domitia Longina in order to marry her. Lucius Aelius Lamia, her husband, could not prevent the prince's will, and so Domitia became daughter in law of the emperor. Despite its initial recklessness, the alliance was very prestigious for both sides. Domitia Longina was the only daughter of general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, one of the victims of Nero's terror, remembered as a worthy commander and a honoured politician.
They had a son in 71 and a daughter in 74, but both died young. The marriage was far from being traditional: Domitian was a notorious womaniser and his wife was not jealous. Some sources refer that she would join Domitian in his escapades with his mistresses.
As a second son, Domitian was spared from responsibilities. He held several honorary consulships and several priesthoods but no office with imperium. During the reign of his brother Titus, his situation remained essentially the same, since nobody saw him as future emperor. But Domitian certainly had his ambitions. When Titus was dying, he managed to be hailed as his successor by securing the Praetorian Guard's support.
Emperor
As an administrator, Domitian soon proved to be a disaster. The economy first came to a halt and then went into recession, forcing him to heavily devaluate the denarius (silver currency). To further compensate for the economic situation, taxes were raised and discontent soon followed. Due to his love of the arts and to woo the population, Domitian invested large sums in the reconstruction and embellishment of the city, still suffering the effects of the great fire of Rome in 64 and the civil war of 69.
Around fifty new buildings were erected and restored, including the Temple of Jupiter in the Capitoline Hill and a palace in the Palatine Hill.In 85, Domitian nominated himself perpetual censor, the office which held the task of supervising Roman morals and conduct, a task he could hardly apply to himself.
By 83, his own marriage was in rupture with continuous infidelities and scandals on both sides. In this year, Domitia Longina was caught with her lover, the actor Paris. The man was executed and the empress was exiled after a hasty divorce. In the next year he developed a passion for his niece Julia Flavia (daughter of Titus) and, like in his first marriage, he kidnapped the girl by dismissing her husband. Julia Flavia died in 91 during an abortion, being deified afterwards.
After this, Domitia Longina was recalled to the palace as Roman empress, despite the fact that Domitian never remarried her.
Domitian's greatest passions were the arts and the games. He finished the Colosseum, started by his father, and implemented the Capitoline Games in 86. Like the Olympic Games, they were to be held every four years and included athletic displays, chariot races, but also oratory, music and acting competitions. The Emperor himself supported the travels of competitors from the whole empire and attributed the prizes. He was also very fond of gladiator shows and added important innovations like female and dwarf gladiator fights.
As a military commander, Domitian was not gifted, due to his education in Rome, away from the legions. Probably because of this, the emperor limited Roman military enterprises during his reign. He claimed several Roman triumphs, namely over the Chatti and in Britain, but they were only propaganda manoeuvres, since these wars were still being fought.
Nevertheless, several campaigns were fought during his reign, especially in the Danube frontier against the Dacians. Domitian also founded Legio I Minervia in 82, to fight against Chatti.
Towards the end of his reign, which had started with moderation, Domitian revealed a cruel personality. According to several sources, despite some arguments in the academic community, Jews and Christians were heavily persecuted during his reign. The emperor also developed a paranoid fear of persecution that led him to kill or execute several members of the senatorial and equestrian orders. He disliked aristocrats and had no fear of showing it, withdrawing every decision-making power from the Senate.
Domitian was murdered in September 96, in a plot organized by his enemies in the Senate, Stephanus (the steward of the deceased Julia Flavia), members of the Pretorian Guard and empress Domitia Longina. The emperor knew that, according to an astrological prediction, he would die around noon. Therefore, he was always restless during this time of the day.
In his last day, Domitian was feeling disturbed and asked a servant boy what time it was several times. The boy, included in the plot, lied, saying that it was much later. More at ease, the emperor went to his desk to sign some decrees, where he was stabbed eight times by Stephanus.
Domitian was succeeded by Nerva (by appointment of the senate), the first of the Five Good Emperors.
Domitian and Early Christianity
For scholars, it is difficult to uncover Domitian's exact policy towards the developing Christian community. It is generally agreed upon that he was the Emperor during the time that the Revelation to John was authored (95 or 96 C.E.). From a Christian perspective, the Revelation, the final canonical book of the New Testament, reveals God's plan for the Apocalypse. From a secular viewpoint, the Revelation could be viewed as a reaction to the anti-Christian policies of Domitian and some earlier emperors.
At the time, Christianity was a struggling religion attempting to find a foothold in the classical world. In addition to sporadic persecutions Christians were also facing pressure to conform to the Imperial Cult of Domitian. Although it is unclear that Domitian officially enforced adherence to the cult, scholars generally agree that Roman governors forced citizens to participate in order to prove their loyalty and patriotism.
Since Christian doctrine specifically forbids the worship of false idols, Christians refused to partake in this Imperial tradition. In the face of adversity many Christians may have been doubting their beliefs and may even been on the verge of abandoning Christianity all together.
In this atmosphere it is conceivable that John of Patmos wrote the Revelation in hopes of inspiring fledgling Christians to persevere. Within the book several symbolic references are made about the Roman Empire and the incumbent Emperor, most likely Domitian. In short, Christians are reminded that their Savior will return to reward those who believe and punish those who do not and those who stand against believers.
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