Flavians
Vespasian
Vespasian finally left
West
Asia and sailed to Rome in the spring of 70
AD,
when it was safe to travel on the Mediterranean, after the
winter
storms were over. He turned out to be a pretty good emperor, though
he was always more interested in the army than anything else, and he
favored the army of West Asia that he had commanded. He was popular
because he lived very simply, and didn't throw big parties or spend
a lot of money like the
Julio-Claudian
emperors. So the empire had a lot of money in the treasury. He was emperor
for ten years, until he died in bed in 79 AD. When he died, he is supposed
to have said "Oh my God, I think I'm
becoming
a god!"
Titus
When Vespasian died, his older son Titus took over. Everyone seemed
to have been happy to avoid another
civil
war. Titus ran into some trouble with the Senate because he fell
in love with a
Jewish woman
named Berenice, who was a princess in West Asia, but not Roman. Titus
also crushed a
Jewish
revolt in Israel and destroyed the big Jewish temple in Jerusalem,
which he reminded Romans about with a big stone
triumphal
arch. Still he is mostly remembered as a good emperor. He died young,
in 81 AD, after ruling less than three years.
Domitian
Then Titus' younger brother Domitian became emperor. Domitian was
a very different sort of man. He had always felt that his father, Vespasian,
liked Titus better, and this feeling made him angry and mean. He even
tried to organize revolts against Titus when Titus was emperor. As emperor,
Domitian was convinced that everyone was plotting to kill him, and he
had many senators and other people killed because he suspected them.
He also may have persecuted some early
Christians.
He also made people call him "Lord and God" (
Dominus et Deus).
In the end people couldn't stand this sort of behavior, and he was really
assassinated in 96
AD. (This story has something
in common with the story of the Athenian tyrant
Hippias,
doesn't it?)
For more on the Flavians, check out these books from Amazon.com or
from your library:
Classical
Rome, by John Clare (1993). For kids, the whole political history
from beginning to end.
The
Romans: From Village to Empire, by Mary Boatwright, Daniel Gargola,
and Richard Talbert (2004). Okay, it's a little dry, but it is up to
date and has all the facts you could want.
The
Roman Empire, by Colin Wells (1984). More readable. Alternates chapters
on political and social history. Unfortunately, he stops at the third
century crisis.
Vespasian,
by Barbara Levick (1999). The only biography of Vespasian in English.
Mainly for academics.
The
Emperor Domitian, by Brian Jones (1992). Makes Domitian seem like
not such a bad guy. Jones also has written a biography of Titus, but
it's out of print.
Suetonius:
The Flavian Emperors : A Historical Commentary, by Brian Jones and
Robert Milns (2003). Academic commentary on the Roman historian Suetonius'
account of these emperors.
