4 Enoch: : The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism, and Christian and Islamic Origins - User contributions [en]

Welcome to 4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism (Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Origins) -- International Research, Scholarship & Fiction, from the 15th century to the present

2012-12-14T12:08:34Z

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<big>

* [[Second Temple Studies]] -- [[Qumran Studies]] / [[Enochic Studies]] / [[Philo Studies]] / [[Josephus Studies]]

* [[New Testament Studies]] -- [[Historical Jesus Studies]] / [[Gospels Studies]] / [[Pauline Studies]] / [[Petrine Studies]] / [[Johannine Studies]]

* Cf. [[Ancient Israel Studies]] -- [[Archaeology]] -- [[Christian Origins]] / [[Early Jewish Studies]] / [[Early Islamic Studies]] </big>

<big>'''4 Enoch''' offers a comprehensive and authoritative introduction to scholarly research in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins, i.e. from Ezekiel to the completion of the New Testament and the Mishnah. With more than 15,000 pages, "4 Enoch" provides a comprehensive '''WHO's WHO''' of the period, as well as '''BIOGRAPHIES''' of Scholars and Authors, and '''ABSTRACTS''' of scholarly and fictional Works, authored from the mid-15th century to the present, all around the world. Still a work in progress, the Encyclopedia, created in 2009 by [[Gabriele Boccaccini]] of the University of Michigan, is the collective work of international specialists in the field associated with the [[Enoch Seminar]] [http://www.enochseminar.org ]</big>

*Enter the [[:Category:Index|GENERAL INDEX (here)]] to see the contents of the Encyclopedia in details.

*''Are you a scholar or graduate student, and would you like to contribute to the Encyclopedia?'' Please, contact Editor-in-Chief Professor [[Gabriele Boccaccini]] <gbocca@umich.edu>, or Associate Editor Professor [[Carlos A. Segovia]] <segoviamail@gmail.com>, and join the team of international specialists working in this project.

*Visit [http://www.enochseminar.org/drupal/ ENOCH SEMINAR Online] to see the many activities of the [[Enoch Seminar]].

== Editorial Board ==

*[[Gabriele Boccaccini]], University of Michigan, USA, Editor-in-chief
**[[Carlos A. Segovia]], Associate Editor and Chair of the Board
***[[Kelley Coblentz Bautch]], St Edward's University, USA
***[[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
***[[Shayna Sheinfeld]], McGill University, Canada
***[[Géza G. Xeravits]], [[Sapientia College of Theology]], Budapest, Hungary
****[[Rodney Caruthers]], University of Michigan, USA
****[[Deborah Forger]], University of Michigan, USA

====Thematic Board====
*[[Samuele Rocca]], Israel, Associate Editor and Chair of the Thematic Board
*[[Shayna Sheinfeld]], McGill University, Canada, Associate Editor and Co-Chair of the Thematic Board
**[[Leonard Rutgers]], University of Utrecht, Netherlands (in charge for HELLENISTIC, ROMAN, AND DIASPORA JUDAISM scholarship)
**[[Jack Pastor]], Oranim College, Department of History and Land of Israel Studies (in charge for ECONOMY, SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD scholarship)
**[[Ian Willem Van Henten]], Directeur Graduate School of Humanities, Vice-decaan Geesteswetenschappen, Universiteit van Amsterdam (in charge of JOSEPHUS scholarship)

====Language Board====
*[[Géza G. Xeravits]], Sapientia College of Theology, Budapest, Hungary, Associate Editor and Chair of the Language Board
**[[Daniel Assefa]], Capuchin Franciscan Institute of Philosophy and Theology, Addis Abeba (in charge for ETHIOPIC scholarship)
**[[Florentina Badalanova-Geller]], Freie-Universität Berlin, Germany (in charge for BULGARIAN and SERBO-CROATIAN scholarship)
**[[Emmanouela Grypeou]], University of Oxford, England (in charge for GREEK scholarship)
**[[Paul Kim]], Methdist Theological School, OH (in charge for KOREAN scholarship)
**[[Ludmila Navtanovich]], St Petersburg, Russia (in charge for RUSSIAN scholarship)
**[[Rivka Nir]], Open University of Israel (in charge for ISRAELI scholarship)
**[[Mika Pajunen]], University of Helsinki, Finland (in charge for FINNISH scholarship)
**[[Stephane Saulnier]], Newman University (in charge for FRENCH scholarship)
**[[Carlos A. Segovia]], Camilo Jose Cela University, Madrid, Spain (in charge for SPANISH scholarship)
**[[Carla Sulzbach]], McGill University, Canada (in charge for DUTCH scholarship)
**[[Alexander Toepel]], University of Tübingen, Germany (in charge for GERMAN scholarship)
**[[Cecilia Wassen]], University of Uppsala, Sweden (in charge for SWEDISH scholarship)
**[[Géza G. Xeravits]], [[Sapientia College of Theology]], Budapest, Hungary (in charge for HUNGARIAN scholarship)

==History==

'''4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of [[Second Temple Judaism]] and [[Christian Origins]]''' is an academic project of the [[Enoch Seminar]], created in 2009 by [[Gabriele Boccaccini]] (University of Michigan, USA), in collaboration with the late [[Hanan Eshel]] (Bar-Ilan University, Israel), [[Loren T. Stuckenbruck]] (Princeton Theological Seminary, USA), and [[Carlos A. Segovia]] (Camilo José Cela University, Spain). The current Board of Directors of the Enoch Seminar includes: [[Gabriele Boccaccini]] (chair), [[Kelley Coblentz Bautch]], [[Esther Eshel]], [[Matthias Henze]], [[Pierluigi Piovanelli]], [[Carlos A. Segovia]], and [[Loren T. Stuckenbruck]]. See the [http://www.enochseminar.org Enoch Seminar Website]

Born as a bibliography in the early 1990s and developed as a database in the 2000s, '''4 Enoch''' has been made freely accessible online in wiki-format since August 2009. It now includes more than 1,000 encyclopedic entries, 8,000 abstracts of scholarly and fictional works, 3,000 biographies of scholars and authors, from the 15th century to the present...

Funds for the Enoch Seminar are provided by the ''Alessandro Nangeroni International Endowment'', the ''Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies'', the ''Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Michigan'' and the ''Frankel Center for Judaic Studies''.

For more details on the website, see [[4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism:About|About 4 Enoch]]. To register and contribute, go to [[4 Enoch: The Online Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism:Community Portal|Community Portal]].

==News and Obituaries==

* '''October 17, 2012''' [[Frank Moore Cross]] passed away. He was one of the pioneers of Qumran Studies and among the most distinguished and influential scholars of his generation in the field of ancient Judaism.

* '''September 5, 2012''' [[Walter Harrelson]] Walter Harrelson, an internationally acclaimed Old Testament scholar who previously served as dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School, died in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Distinguished Professor of Hebrew Bible, emeritus, was 92 years old and had been in hospice care. Vanderbilt University posted a fitting tribute here- http://bit.ly/PX6PLZ

* '''August 16, 2012''' -- [[Marvin Meyer]], was Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies and Co-Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Chapman University. He was also Director of the Chapman University Albert Schweitzer Institute. His publications were multitudinous and very influential in the field of early Christianity.

* '''March 26, 2012''' -- [[Helmer Ringgren]], Old Testament scholar and linguist died. He got his doctorate at Uppsala in 1947 and was a pupil of Geo Widengren, professor of Comparative Religion, and of the famous semitist H. S. Nyberg. He had held chairs both in Comparative Religion (Åbo, Finland, 1962-64), and in Old Testament Exegetics (Evanston, 1960-62; Uppsala 1964-83). Further here- http://bit.ly/HGNV95

* '''February 10, 2012''' -- [[Richard T. France]] died. He was born on 2 April 1938. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford (BA, 1960; MA 1963). He earned his BD at Tyndale Hall, University of London (1963) and his PhD at Tyndale Hall, Bristol (1967). He served pastoral charges in England and Wales from 1995 until his retirement in 1999. He was the author of many important exegetical works.

* '''February 2, 2012''' Lexicographer and New Testament scholar [[Frederick W. Danker]] passed away; see http://bit.ly/xM0gen. His memorial service was held Saturday, 18 Feb, 2012, at Bethel Lutheran Church, 7001 Forsyth Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63105.

* '''November November 21, 2011''' Israeli Archaeologist [[Joseph Naveh]] passed away; see http://bit.ly/sccijU. For a list of his publications visit here - http://bit.ly/t4lpvy. And for a brief biography, here - http://bit.ly/t4L7wi. Christopher Rollston has penned an obituary which can be found here - http://www.rollstonepigraphy.com/?p=331

* The '''6th Enoch Seminar''' was held in Milan, Italy (June 26-30, 2011) on ''2 Baruch / 4 Ezra''. See the [[Enoch Seminar]] page for further details.

*[[The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow)]] is now available. It is a landmark in the history of research in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins.

*'''July 11, 2011''' Italian NT scholar [[Giuseppe Segalla]] passed away; see http://www.fttr.it/pls/fttr/V3_S2EW_CONSULTAZIONE.mostra_pagina?id_pagina=1005

*'''June 24, 2011''' [[Friedemann Golka]], a member of the [[Society for Old Testament Study]] and author of numerous Old Testament studies, passed away. He was born on the 5th of April in 1942. A brief obituary has been uploaded here- http://www.scribd.com/doc/59305033/Friedemann-Obituary .

*'''May 26, 2011''' [[Dafydd Rhys ap-Thomas]], a former President of SOTS and author of many biblical studies books as well as translator of many, passed away. There's a brief obituary here - http://www.annibynwyr.org/5353.html?diablo.lang=eng

*'''February 19, 2011''' - Israeli Archaeologist '''[[Anson F. Rainey]]''' (born 11 January 1930) passed away 19 February 2011. A biography and bibliography of his many works is available here- http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/archaeology/directory/dir_anson_rainey.html . May his memory be a blessing.

*'''February 13, 2011''' - American Professor, and friend of the [[Enoch Seminar]], '''[[Alan F. Segal]]''' (1945-2011) passed away on Feb 13. His premature death is very sad news for all those who had the privilege of knowing him, and a great loss for the entire community of specialists in Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins. Our thoughts are with his family. May his memory be a blessing.

*'''January 13, 2011''' - German scholar [[Rudolf Pesch]] (1936-2011) passed away. Prof. Pesch's research focused on the [[Gospel of Mark]] and the [[Acts of Apostles]].

*'''Dec 15, 2010''' - With great sorrow we announce that Israeli Professor, and member of the [[Enoch Seminar]], '''[[Shemaryahu Talmon]]''' (1920-2010) passed away on Dec 15. Prof. Talmon was the chief editor of the Hebrew University Bible Project for many years. May his memory be a blessing.

* '''December 6, 2010''' - Biblical scholar and translator [[John Bowden]] (1935 - 2010) passed away. He was an accomplished scholar in his own right but is probably better known as a translator of many books in the field of Biblical studies.

* '''Oct 28, 2010''' - Israeli Archaeologist [[Ehud Netzer]] (1934-2010) passed away. A specialist of Herodian archaeology, is renowned for his excavations at the [[Herodium]]. He recently announced the discovery of the location of the tomb of [[Herod the Great]].

* '''Oct 26, 2010''' - Biblical scholar [[Jan Alberto Soggin]] (1926-2010) passed away. He was Professor at the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome, Italy. His ''History of Israel'' and ''Introduction to the Old Testament'' were international bestsellers.

* '''May 15, 2010''' - American-Israeli scholar [[Moshe Greenberg]] (1928-2010) passed away.

*''' Apr 8, 2010''' - Israeli archaeologist and co-director of the Enoch Seminar [[Hanan Eshel]] (1958-2010) passed away.

*'''Apr 7, 2010''' - American historian [[Ellis Rivkin]] (1918-2010) passed away

==Conferences==

'''November 17-20, 2012''' - The Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting - The details, call for papers, and registration information can be read here - http://sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx

''Note'': 4 Enoch is a work in progress. In the first phase (Aug 2009 - Jul 2010) thousands of entries (abstracts of works of scholarship and fiction, biographies of scholars and authors, etc.) were included.

The keywords associated with each bibliographical and biographical entry have generated numerous "Subject entries" or "Categories" (now existing mostly in a draft form), which in the second phase of the project (Aug 2010 - Aug 2014) are now in the process of being assigned to specialists and developed as original contributions to the study of Second Temple Judaism and Christian Origins]]

Category:Josephus (subject)

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Category:Josephus (subject)

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Category:Josephus (subject)

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*[[:Category:People|BACK TO THE PEOPLE--INDEX]]

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel

'''Flavius Josephus''' (''Yosef Ben Matityahu''; 37 CE - c100 CE) was a Jewish priest, politician, general, and historian. His writings are the major source for the study of [[Second Temple Judaism]].[[Josephus]]’ life is known on the main from his [[Jewish War]], in which he took a prominent part, on both sides, and of course in the Life itself. Joseph, son of Matthias, was born in 37 or 38 CE. in [[Jerusalem]] from a well known respected family of priests, which belong to the “first of the twenty four courses”, and which could trace his lineage to no less than the [[Hasmoneans]] from his mother side. [[Josephus]] at about sixteen, to better his education, passed though the three sects, which dominated then Jewish spiritual and political life in [[Judaea]], the [[Pharisees]], the [[Sadducees]] and the [[Essenes]]. However he decided also to follow a certain [[Bannus]] in the wilderness. At the end, [[Josephus]] at nineteen, in 56-57 C.E., chose the [[Pharisees]] as the sect more suited to his needs. In 61 C.E., when he was twenty-sixth, [[Josephus]] traveled to [[Rome]] as part of a delegation of eight people to ask for the liberation of a group of priests, sent there by the procurator [[Felix]]. [[Josephus]] was presented to the empress [[Poppaea]] through the offices of Aliturus, “an actor who was a special favorite of [[Nero]] and of Jewish origin.” It is in this period that [[Josephus]] probably married his first wife. Back to [[Judaea]], soon the [[Jewish Revolt]] broke out in 66 C.E. Josephus was appointed governor of [[Galilee]] by the new provisory government in the same year. In [[Galilee]], [[Josephus]] organized anew the administration of the area confided to him, and of course he planned the defense of Galilee from the Roman onslaught, which did not wait to come. [[Josephus]], as Governor of [[Galilee]], made to himself various enemies, as [[Justus of Tiberias]], a member of the local elite, with ties to King [[Agrippa II]], and [[John of Gishala]], a local potentate who aspired to be a member of the local elite, and [[Simeon Ben Gamaliel]], a moderate Pharisee leader from [[Jerusalem]], who, however did not get along with [[Joseph Ben Mattatiah]]. The military situation deteriorated swiftly when [[[Sepphoris]], the most important city in Galilee after [[Tiberias]], gave itself to the Romans, who garrisoned the city. Soon [[Josephus]] found himself besieged in the stronghold of Jotapata in the spring of 67 C.E. After a siege of forty seven days, by the middle of the summer of 67 C.E., [[Jotapata]] fall in the hands of the Romans. [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]] was successful to escape into a cistern connected with a cave, together with forty companions. However, the Romans soon discovered the hiding place of Joseph. As the Romans told to Joseph that his life would be spared though the middle of a certain [[Nicanor]], [[Josephus]] persuaded his companions to kill each other drawing lots, than to fall in the hands of the Romans, positioning himself to be the last. But then he persuaded his surviving companion to surrender to the Romans. This was probably the most dramatic moment of Joseph’s life. According to [[Josephus]], once in front of [[Vespasian]], the Roman commander, he predicted him no less than his accession to the Imperial throne. Anyway, in chains, [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]] remained together with the Roman army for the rest of the war, as an adviser, as Vespasian decided not to send him to Nero. Joseph then followed [[Vespasian]] and [[Titus]] to [[Alexandria]] in the summer of 69 CE. There [[Vespasian]] was indeed acclaimed Emperor. The prophecy of [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]] somehow fulfilled itself. [[Titus]], who from the beginning had developed a special bond of friendship with [[Josephus]], ordered that [[Josephus]]’s chains be symbolically severed with an axe. As a prisoner Joseph married his second wife, a Jewess captive from [[Caesarea]], who did not remain with him long, but left him when he was in [[Alexandria]]. Once [[Vespasian]] left for Rome, [[Josephus]] followed [[Titus]] for the rest of the campaign, which by now was focused on the siege of [[Jerusalem]] in 70 CE. There [[Josephus]] tried to persuade the Jews, without much success, to surrender to the besieging Roman army. His role was probably conspicuous enough if, after the capture of [[Jerusalem]], [[Josephus]] was successful in asking for the freedom of his brother and fifty friends, and no less than one hundred and ninety prisoners, including women, detained in the Temple area. Moreover, he was given by [[Titus]] as well some sacred books pillaged in the sack of the city. [[Josephus]] then followed [[Titus]] to [[Rome]], where he “was honored with the privilege of Roman citizenship”, was given a pension, and a lodging “in the house which he had occupied before he became Emperor”. Moreover Josephus was granted instead of the lands that he owned in Judaea in the [[Jerusalem]] area, other lands in the plain area. Thus, from now onwards, [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]], now a Roman citizen, assumed the name of [[Titus Flavius Josephus]], in honor of his patrons. During the reign of [[Vespasian]] and his son [[Titus]], Josephus probably continued to live in the Flavian domus, previously owned by the Imperial family before their relocation on the [[Palatine]]. By then, [[Vespasian]] had given to Josephus a country estate in [[Judaea]], “no small quantity of land”, probably [[Josephus]] main source of income. Moreover Josephus, once he divorced his previous wife, had married a “wife who had lived at [[Crete]], but a Jewess by birth”. To his firstborn, Hyrcanus, son of his first wife, two more sons were added to the family, Flavius Iustus and Flavius Simonides Agrippa. Although more than once “accused” by his enemies, nor Vespasian nor Titus, gave any serious hearings to the slanders towards Josephus. It seems that his situation did not worsen under Domitian. On the contrary, in the [[Life]], [[Josephus]] clearly states that Domitian, who succeeded [[Titus]] “still augmented his respects to me”. Not only [[Domitian]], but also his wife [[Domitia]] showed kindness towards the Jewish propagandist. Moreover the Roman ruler exempted Josephus country estates in Judaea from taxes. Another episode that [[Josephus]] relate, on which however we have no other hint, is that once [[Josephus]] was accused by some Jews, and two of [[Josephus]]’s servants, an eunuch, and another slave who was also the tutor of [[Josephus]]’s son. The Emperor not only did not accept the slanders moved towards [[Josephus]], but he punished all the accusers as well. Therefore, [[Josephus]] survived well the reign of terror that characterized Domitian last years, as he was successful to survive in much more unpleasant situations before. [[Josephus]] probably died in the last years of the first century CE. or at the very beginning of the second century.

==Overview==

In his writings, Josephus provides very detailed autobiographical information, about his childhood, his role of leadership in the Jewish War, and his reconversion as a supporter of the Roman rule and a personal friend of the Flavian emperors.
[[Josephus]] wrote in Greek. Greek was the main language of the Jewish communities scattered in Rome and in Italy, as well as the language of the Jews living in the Hellenistic East. However Greek was also the language of a multitude of Greek intellectuals, who settled in Rome, and used Greek to write on the rise and might of Rome. Therefore [[Josephus]]’s choice of Greek has a double purpose, to reach the Diaspora Jews, who with him, try to cope with the recent calamity, and a Roman audience, prone to listen to Greek intellectuals.
Josephus is first of all known for the account of the [[Jewish War]]. The peculiarity of this book is that [[Josephus]], the writer, does not just narrate the [[Jewish War]] between the Jews and the Romans, but he depicts himself as a witness. It seems that [[Josephus]] begun to make notes of what he was witnessing already during the siege of [[Jerusalem]] using as primary source both eye witnesses accounts taken from the mouth of Jewish deserters fleeing from besieged [[Jerusalem]], and all “that went under my eye in the Roman camp”. Moreover, clearly, [[Josephus]] made use of personal recollections from his activities as Rebel commander of [[Galilee]] for the first part of the war. Thus [[Josephus]] to describe the Jewish rebel side, he made use of his personal experience and, it is probable that once narrating events that he did not witness personally, as for example what happened inside Jerusalem during the siege, he “interviewed” deserters to the Roman camp, prisoners, and of course survivors. On the other side, the Roman side is no less well documented. Thus it seems that Josephus made use of [[Vespasian]]’s Memorabilia as well as the military Commentaries written on the campaign In fact Josephus could boast that [[Vespasian]] as well as [[Titus]], to whom he submitted the work once finished, not only praised its accuracy, but also [[Titus]] suggested to [[Josephus]] to publish the work, understanding clearly its propagandistic value for the [[Flavian]] dynasty. However [[Josephus]] did not use as source only accounts coming from the Jewish rebels on one side, and the Roman Imperial camp on the other. Thus King [[Agrippa II]] wrote no less than sixty - two letters to testify the veracity of [[Josephus]]’s account. Relatives of King [[Agrippa II]], to which [[Josephus]] sold copies of his work in Greek, together with other of his compatriots, as [[Julius Archelaus]], well testified the veracity of [[Josephus]]’s account. As the work was presented to Vespasian, when he was still alive, the [[Jewish War]] post quem dating is 79 CE., the year in which [[Vespasian]] died. On the other side, the last events described in the Jewish War, in book VII, relates to the year 73 CE. that must therefore be taken as the date ante quem, the book was written. However, as [[Josephus]] refer in his book to the Temple of Peace as already finished, thus to the year 75 CE., it is possible to assume that the [[Jewish War]] was published between 75 and 79 CE. It seems that the [[Jewish War]] was written twice, the first in Aramaic as Josephus addressed the first edition of his book to the Jews who lived in the [[Parthian]] kingdom. Later on [[Josephus]] published his work in Greek, with the help of assistants. In fact the Greek used by [[Josephus]] is quite polished, and more often than not, as the use of speeches to punctuate his history, clearly reflects the use of [[Thucydides]] as a source of inspiration. On the other, although written in Greek, and not in Latin, the structure of [[Josephus]]’s [[Jewish War]], follows that of the Roman military commentaries which related a specific campaign. Thus [[Josephus]] follows quite closely the general structure of [[Iulius Caesar]], [[De Bello Gallico]]. Therefore the book begins with a history of the people which the Roman fought, and the description of the campaign is punctuated by geographical descriptions of the countryside which witnessed the war. However a most important motive of the book is not just the polemos or war between the Jews and the Romans, but also, and possibly in no less than a measure, the stasis, or civil war between the Jews, and at a certain point, the stasis in the Roman Empire itself, which brought to the supreme position of power, as Emperor, the Roman commander in [[Judaea]], [[Vespasian.]] Yet it is possible to say that the stasis inside the Jews can be seen as the main theme of the book. It is the stasis that brought to the confrontation between Jews and Romans, and therefore can be seen as the main cause of the war. Moreover, all along the book [[Josephus]] does not loose an occasion to condemn in the fiercest terms the Jewish extremists, no matter if the [[Sicarii]]or the [[Zealots]]. Therefore, although the Roman governors’ greed has its own responsibility in precipitating the events, it is the Jewish extremists who bear the greatest responsibility to the outburst of the war and to its conclusion to the bitter end, not the [[Romans]]. The [[Jewish War]] is divided in seven books. If the first book can be seen as an introductive history of [[Judaea]] till the death of [[Herod the Great]], already the second book depicts the origins of the war as well as the beginning of the war. The third and four books on the main describe Vespasian and Titus campaign in Galilee and Judaea and ends with the Roman army at the gates of Jerusalem, ravaged by stasis, or civil war. The fifth and the sixth books focus on the siege and conquest of Jerusalem, and are probably the most important and dramatic part of the entire book. The last seventh book is dedicated to the aftermath of the siege of [[Jerusalem]], thus the conclusion of the war in Judaea, with a description of the dramatic siege of [[Masada]], and with the triumphal procession of [[Vespasian]] and [[Titus]] at [[Rome]].
The second book published by [[Josephus]] in [[Rome]] is the [Jewish Antiquities]]. Josephus published it no less than twenty years after the publication of the Jewish War, in a social and political climate totally different from that of the [[War]]. In fact, [[Jewish Antiquities]] were published well into the reign of [[Domitian]]. It seems that Antiquities was dedicated to a certain [[Epaphroditus]], who urged Josephus to write “Archaeology of Judaism and the Jews”, and to whom [[Josephus]] dedicated the book.
This book is directed to an audience far away from the world of the Imperial ruling house, to which [[Josephus]] dedicated the [[War]]. Therefore [[Josephus]] answer the contemporary need for an apology of [[Jews]] and [[Judaism]], much necessary in the hostile climate that stemmed inn Imperial Rome, as consequence of the [[Jewish War]] that devastated [[Judaea]] and razed to the ground the [[Temple]]. Josephus dates the Antiquities to year 13 of the reign of [[Domitian]], between September 93 and September 94 CE. [[Jewish Antiquities]] is divided in twenty books. The individual books are preceded by an introduction which briefly indicates their contents; however this introduction was probably written much later, and probably did not stem in Josephus himself. It is possible to divide Antiquities in roughly two parts. The first part, books I-X, starts with the Creation of the World and ends with the return of the Exiles from [[Babylonia]]. This part is much dependent from the [[Bible]], although it is not the only source used by [[Josephus]]. However [[Josephus]] follows somehow the chronological order and the division of the Bible. The second part, books XI-XX, which covers the Second Temple period, roughly start with the reconstruction of the [[Temple]] by [[Zerubabel]] and [[Joshua]], the high priest, and it ends with the outbreak of the war against Rome in 66 C.E. In the first part, [[Josephus]]’s main model is in fact the [[Greek Bible]]. On the other side the [[Roman Antiquities]] of [[Dionysus of Halicarnassus]] are seen by Josephus as no less than a source of inspiration than the [[Bible]]. In fact the structure of [[Jewish Antiquities]], presented to a public which included Gentiles, follows quite closely the structure of [[Roman Antiquities]], beginning with its common division in twenty books. Moreover, both books share in a common the main outline, which stress the antiquity of the people discussed, the Romans in [[Dionysus]]s’ book and the Jews in [[Josephus]]. If at the beginning, [[Josephus]] depends from the last books of the [[Bible]], then he makes ample use of the external books of the [[Bible]] and the [[Apocrypha]] and [[Pseudoepigrapha]], as the non canonical writings of [[Pseudo-Eupolemus]], the writings of the Hellenistic writer [[Artapanus]], the [[Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates]] and of course the [[First Book of Maccabees]], [[Josephus]] main sources for the twelfth and thirteenth books of [[Antiquities]]. [[Josephus]] used external sources to corroborate the Biblical narration. The first and foremost example is of course [[Berossus]]’ History of Chaldea, Josephus main external source to corroborate the history of the flood and later on, [[Nebuchadnezzar]]’s reign. Other sources, whose use is attested by [[Josephus]] are [[Hieronymus]] the Egyptian’ Phoenician History, [[Mnasesas]], the Phoenician [[Menander]], who translated the Tyrian archives in Greek, and is used by [[Josephus]] to corroborate the Biblical material dedicated to the figure of Solomon, [[Megasthenes]]’ History of India, [[Philostratus]], History of India, and [[Philocrates]], History of India and Phoenicia. [[Josephus]]’s main sources for the second part of [[Antiquities]] were the texts of Greek historians, mainly for the Hellenistic period. Therefore [[Josephus]] makes use of [[Herodotus]] to present an alternative source for the expedition of [[Sennacherib]], [[Polybius]], for the early Hellenistic period, [[Poseidonius]], for Seleucid history, and of course of [[Strabo of Amaseia]] for the latter Hellenistic period, as well as for the history of the Jewish Diaspora in Egypt. However, the most important Greek historian, who indeed dominated the second part of [[Antiquities]], mainly the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth books, is of course [[Nicolaus of Damascus]], which is the main source used for the history of the reign of [[King Herod]]. One of the most interesting characteristics of [[Antiquities]] is that [[Josephus]] presents us with a list of decrees enacted by Roman rulers, which are probably authentic. Thus, the end of the fourteenth book is dedicated to a series of decrees concerning the Jews, which today most historians consider authentic. Moreover, another group of decrees is found in the successive sixteenth book. [[Against Apion]] is the last work published by [[Josephus]]. We do not know the original title, as the present name of the work, [[Against Apion]], is found in [[Jerome]]. The work was written after [[Antiquities]]. First [[Josephus]] complains that [[Antiquities]] did not elicit enough response from his audience, which led him to write [[Against Apion]]. Thus the book was written after 96 C.E., in the last years of [[Domitian]]’s rule. As [[Antiquities]], the book is dedicated to [[Epaphroditus]]. The book is an apology of [[Judaism]], depicted as a classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity, as opposed to the relatively more recent tradition of the [[Greeks]]. [[Josephus]] therefore present part of the topics, already discussed in [[Antiquities]]. However now, [[Josephus]] emphasizes even more the antiquity and morality of [[Jewish Law]] and of its practice, opposing it to the moral ad civic traditions of the Greeks. Josephus, however, makes ample use of Greek authors, who indeed attest the antiquity of Jews and Judaism, and in the same time he criticize various statements of Greek writing authors, mainly Egyptian natives as [[Manetho]], and Greeks from Alexandria, as [[Apion]], who expounded a strongly anti-Jewish agenda. More than once, [[Josephus]] emphasizes the distinctiveness of [[Judaism,]] claiming that the Jews, contrary to other peoples were ready to die to defend their law. Therefore, with a much skilful use of rhetoric, in the best traditions of Greek and Roman apologetic writings, showing a real mastery of the intricacies of the rhetoric, Josephus strive to demonstrate the greater antiquity and the general superiority of Jewish tradition, law and practices over those of the Greeks. However, [[Josephus]], to sharpen his point, makes ample use of Oriental sources in Greek, to corroborate the Biblical tradition, and therefore the antiquity of the Jews and of Jewish Law. [[Life]], seen by [[Josephus]] as an appendix of [[Antiquities]], was maybe written in the last years of the first century CE., although its exact date vary. As in [[Life]], [[Josephus]] states that his far away patron and friend [[Agrippa II]] was already dead, it is clear that the [[Life]] was written after the last scion of the Herodian royal house died. Although [[Photius]], using as source [[Justus of Tiberias]], wrote that [[Agrippa II]] died in the third year of [[Traian]], in 100 CE., however epigraphic and numismatic material points to an earlier date, possibly 95-96 CE, the year in which [[Agrippa II]] ceased to mint, slightly before [[Domitian]]’s murder. Yet, according to Rajak, [[Life]] was published as an appendix to [[Antiquities]] in 93/94 CE. The [[Life]] focuses on the main on [[Josephus]]’s years as Governor of [[Galilee]], in the years 66-67 C.E. It seems that [[Josephus]] wrote this book as an answer to [[Justus of Tiberias]], who blamed the young [[Jerusalem]] priest as one of the main responsible of the revolt against Rome. Thus [[Josephus]] tries to depict himself as a supporter of Rome from the beginning, and thus contradicts many statements written in the earlier [[Jewish War]]. Josephus is well known also in Roman sources (Suetonius).

==In Depth==

*[[Josephus (sources)]]

*[[Josephus (research)]]

*[[Josephus (arts)]]

==Related categories==

*[[Josephus' Works]]

*[[Vespasian]] / [[Titus]]

==References==

*'''Josephus''' / [[Steve Mason]] / In: [[The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary]], 828-832

*''' ''' / [[]] / In: [[The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary]],

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus Wikipedia]
*[http://www.livius.org/jo-jz/josephus/josephus.htm Livius.org]

[[Category:Index (database)]]
[[Category:People (database)]]

Category:Josephus (subject)

2012-08-31T07:08:35Z

Roccasam:

*[[:Category:People|BACK TO THE PEOPLE--INDEX]]

'''Flavius Josephus''' (''Yosef Ben Matityahu''; 37 CE - c100 CE) was a Jewish priest, politician, general, and historian. His writings are the major source for the study of [[Second Temple Judaism]].[[Josephus]]’ life is known on the main from his [[Jewish War]], in which he took a prominent part, on both sides, and of course in the Life itself. Joseph, son of Matthias, was born in 37 or 38 CE. in [[Jerusalem]] from a well known respected family of priests, which belong to the “first of the twenty four courses”, and which could trace his lineage to no less than the [[Hasmoneans]] from his mother side. [[Josephus]] at about sixteen, to better his education, passed though the three sects, which dominated then Jewish spiritual and political life in [[Judaea]], the [[Pharisees]], the [[Sadducees]] and the [[Essenes]]. However he decided also to follow a certain [[Bannus]] in the wilderness. At the end, [[Josephus]] at nineteen, in 56-57 C.E., chose the [[Pharisees]] as the sect more suited to his needs. In 61 C.E., when he was twenty-sixth, [[Josephus]] traveled to [[Rome]] as part of a delegation of eight people to ask for the liberation of a group of priests, sent there by the procurator [[Felix]]. [[Josephus]] was presented to the empress [[Poppaea]] through the offices of Aliturus, “an actor who was a special favorite of [[Nero]] and of Jewish origin.” It is in this period that [[Josephus]] probably married his first wife. Back to [[Judaea]], soon the [[Jewish Revolt]] broke out in 66 C.E. Josephus was appointed governor of [[Galilee]] by the new provisory government in the same year. In [[Galilee]], [[Josephus]] organized anew the administration of the area confided to him, and of course he planned the defense of Galilee from the Roman onslaught, which did not wait to come. [[Josephus]], as Governor of [[Galilee]], made to himself various enemies, as [[Justus of Tiberias]], a member of the local elite, with ties to King [[Agrippa II]], and [[John of Gishala]], a local potentate who aspired to be a member of the local elite, and [[Simeon Ben Gamaliel]], a moderate Pharisee leader from [[Jerusalem]], who, however did not get along with [[Joseph Ben Mattatiah]]. The military situation deteriorated swiftly when [[[Sepphoris]], the most important city in Galilee after [[Tiberias]], gave itself to the Romans, who garrisoned the city. Soon [[Josephus]] found himself besieged in the stronghold of Jotapata in the spring of 67 C.E. After a siege of forty seven days, by the middle of the summer of 67 C.E., [[Jotapata]] fall in the hands of the Romans. [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]] was successful to escape into a cistern connected with a cave, together with forty companions. However, the Romans soon discovered the hiding place of Joseph. As the Romans told to Joseph that his life would be spared though the middle of a certain [[Nicanor]], [[Josephus]] persuaded his companions to kill each other drawing lots, than to fall in the hands of the Romans, positioning himself to be the last. But then he persuaded his surviving companion to surrender to the Romans. This was probably the most dramatic moment of Joseph’s life. According to [[Josephus]], once in front of [[Vespasian]], the Roman commander, he predicted him no less than his accession to the Imperial throne. Anyway, in chains, [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]] remained together with the Roman army for the rest of the war, as an adviser, as Vespasian decided not to send him to Nero. Joseph then followed [[Vespasian]] and [[Titus]] to [[Alexandria]] in the summer of 69 CE. There [[Vespasian]] was indeed acclaimed Emperor. The prophecy of [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]] somehow fulfilled itself. [[Titus]], who from the beginning had developed a special bond of friendship with [[Josephus]], ordered that [[Josephus]]’s chains be symbolically severed with an axe. As a prisoner Joseph married his second wife, a Jewess captive from [[Caesarea]], who did not remain with him long, but left him when he was in [[Alexandria]]. Once [[Vespasian]] left for Rome, [[Josephus]] followed [[Titus]] for the rest of the campaign, which by now was focused on the siege of [[Jerusalem]] in 70 CE. There [[Josephus]] tried to persuade the Jews, without much success, to surrender to the besieging Roman army. His role was probably conspicuous enough if, after the capture of [[Jerusalem]], [[Josephus]] was successful in asking for the freedom of his brother and fifty friends, and no less than one hundred and ninety prisoners, including women, detained in the Temple area. Moreover, he was given by [[Titus]] as well some sacred books pillaged in the sack of the city. [[Josephus]] then followed [[Titus]] to [[Rome]], where he “was honored with the privilege of Roman citizenship”, was given a pension, and a lodging “in the house which he had occupied before he became Emperor”. Moreover Josephus was granted instead of the lands that he owned in Judaea in the [[Jerusalem]] area, other lands in the plain area. Thus, from now onwards, [[Joseph Ben Mattiah]], now a Roman citizen, assumed the name of [[Titus Flavius Josephus]], in honor of his patrons. During the reign of [[Vespasian]] and his son [[Titus]], Josephus probably continued to live in the Flavian domus, previously owned by the Imperial family before their relocation on the [[Palatine]]. By then, [[Vespasian]] had given to Josephus a country estate in [[Judaea]], “no small quantity of land”, probably [[Josephus]] main source of income. Moreover Josephus, once he divorced his previous wife, had married a “wife who had lived at [[Crete]], but a Jewess by birth”. To his firstborn, Hyrcanus, son of his first wife, two more sons were added to the family, Flavius Iustus and Flavius Simonides Agrippa. Although more than once “accused” by his enemies, nor Vespasian nor Titus, gave any serious hearings to the slanders towards Josephus. It seems that his situation did not worsen under Domitian. On the contrary, in the [[Life]], [[Josephus]] clearly states that Domitian, who succeeded [[Titus]] “still augmented his respects to me”. Not only [[Domitian]], but also his wife [[Domitia]] showed kindness towards the Jewish propagandist. Moreover the Roman ruler exempted Josephus country estates in Judaea from taxes. Another episode that [[Josephus]] relate, on which however we have no other hint, is that once [[Josephus]] was accused by some Jews, and two of [[Josephus]]’s servants, an eunuch, and another slave who was also the tutor of [[Josephus]]’s son. The Emperor not only did not accept the slanders moved towards [[Josephus]], but he punished all the accusers as well. Therefore, [[Josephus]] survived well the reign of terror that characterized Domitian last years, as he was successful to survive in much more unpleasant situations before. [[Josephus]] probably died in the last years of the first century CE. or at the very beginning of the second century.

==Overview==

In his writings, Josephus provides very detailed autobiographical information, about his childhood, his role of leadership in the Jewish War, and his reconversion as a supporter of the Roman rule and a personal friend of the Flavian emperors.
[[Josephus]] wrote in Greek. Greek was the main language of the Jewish communities scattered in Rome and in Italy, as well as the language of the Jews living in the Hellenistic East. However Greek was also the language of a multitude of Greek intellectuals, who settled in Rome, and used Greek to write on the rise and might of Rome. Therefore [[Josephus]]’s choice of Greek has a double purpose, to reach the Diaspora Jews, who with him, try to cope with the recent calamity, and a Roman audience, prone to listen to Greek intellectuals.
Josephus is first of all known for the account of the [[Jewish War]]. The peculiarity of this book is that [[Josephus]], the writer, does not just narrate the [[Jewish War]] between the Jews and the Romans, but he depicts himself as a witness. It seems that [[Josephus]] begun to make notes of what he was witnessing already during the siege of [[Jerusalem]] using as primary source both eye witnesses accounts taken from the mouth of Jewish deserters fleeing from besieged [[Jerusalem]], and all “that went under my eye in the Roman camp”. Moreover, clearly, [[Josephus]] made use of personal recollections from his activities as Rebel commander of [[Galilee]] for the first part of the war. Thus [[Josephus]] to describe the Jewish rebel side, he made use of his personal experience and, it is probable that once narrating events that he did not witness personally, as for example what happened inside Jerusalem during the siege, he “interviewed” deserters to the Roman camp, prisoners, and of course survivors. On the other side, the Roman side is no less well documented. Thus it seems that Josephus made use of [[Vespasian]]’s Memorabilia as well as the military Commentaries written on the campaign In fact Josephus could boast that [[Vespasian]] as well as [[Titus]], to whom he submitted the work once finished, not only praised its accuracy, but also [[Titus]] suggested to [[Josephus]] to publish the work, understanding clearly its propagandistic value for the [[Flavian]] dynasty. However [[Josephus]] did not use as source only accounts coming from the Jewish rebels on one side, and the Roman Imperial camp on the other. Thus King [[Agrippa II]] wrote no less than sixty - two letters to testify the veracity of [[Josephus]]’s account. Relatives of King [[Agrippa II]], to which [[Josephus]] sold copies of his work in Greek, together with other of his compatriots, as [[Julius Archelaus]], well testified the veracity of [[Josephus]]’s account. As the work was presented to Vespasian, when he was still alive, the [[Jewish War]] post quem dating is 79 CE., the year in which [[Vespasian]] died. On the other side, the last events described in the Jewish War, in book VII, relates to the year 73 CE. that must therefore be taken as the date ante quem, the book was written. However, as [[Josephus]] refer in his book to the Temple of Peace as already finished, thus to the year 75 CE., it is possible to assume that the [[Jewish War]] was published between 75 and 79 CE. It seems that the [[Jewish War]] was written twice, the first in Aramaic as Josephus addressed the first edition of his book to the Jews who lived in the [[Parthian]] kingdom. Later on [[Josephus]] published his work in Greek, with the help of assistants. In fact the Greek used by [[Josephus]] is quite polished, and more often than not, as the use of speeches to punctuate his history, clearly reflects the use of [[Thucydides]] as a source of inspiration. On the other, although written in Greek, and not in Latin, the structure of [[Josephus]]’s [[Jewish War]], follows that of the Roman military commentaries which related a specific campaign. Thus [[Josephus]] follows quite closely the general structure of [[Iulius Caesar]], [[De Bello Gallico]]. Therefore the book begins with a history of the people which the Roman fought, and the description of the campaign is punctuated by geographical descriptions of the countryside which witnessed the war. However a most important motive of the book is not just the polemos or war between the Jews and the Romans, but also, and possibly in no less than a measure, the stasis, or civil war between the Jews, and at a certain point, the stasis in the Roman Empire itself, which brought to the supreme position of power, as Emperor, the Roman commander in [[Judaea]], [[Vespasian.]] Yet it is possible to say that the stasis inside the Jews can be seen as the main theme of the book. It is the stasis that brought to the confrontation between Jews and Romans, and therefore can be seen as the main cause of the war. Moreover, all along the book [[Josephus]] does not loose an occasion to condemn in the fiercest terms the Jewish extremists, no matter if the [[Sicarii]]or the [[Zealots]]. Therefore, although the Roman governors’ greed has its own responsibility in precipitating the events, it is the Jewish extremists who bear the greatest responsibility to the outburst of the war and to its conclusion to the bitter end, not the [[Romans]]. The [[Jewish War]] is divided in seven books. If the first book can be seen as an introductive history of [[Judaea]] till the death of [[Herod the Great]], already the second book depicts the origins of the war as well as the beginning of the war. The third and four books on the main describe Vespasian and Titus campaign in Galilee and Judaea and ends with the Roman army at the gates of Jerusalem, ravaged by stasis, or civil war. The fifth and the sixth books focus on the siege and conquest of Jerusalem, and are probably the most important and dramatic part of the entire book. The last seventh book is dedicated to the aftermath of the siege of [[Jerusalem]], thus the conclusion of the war in Judaea, with a description of the dramatic siege of [[Masada]], and with the triumphal procession of [[Vespasian]] and [[Titus]] at [[Rome]].
The second book published by [[Josephus]] in [[Rome]] is the [Jewish Antiquities]]. Josephus published it no less than twenty years after the publication of the Jewish War, in a social and political climate totally different from that of the [[War]]. In fact, [[Jewish Antiquities]] were published well into the reign of [[Domitian]]. It seems that Antiquities was dedicated to a certain [[Epaphroditus]], who urged Josephus to write “Archaeology of Judaism and the Jews”, and to whom [[Josephus]] dedicated the book.
This book is directed to an audience far away from the world of the Imperial ruling house, to which [[Josephus]] dedicated the [[War]]. Therefore [[Josephus]] answer the contemporary need for an apology of [[Jews]] and [[Judaism]], much necessary in the hostile climate that stemmed inn Imperial Rome, as consequence of the [[Jewish War]] that devastated [[Judaea]] and razed to the ground the [[Temple]]. Josephus dates the Antiquities to year 13 of the reign of [[Domitian]], between September 93 and September 94 CE. [[Jewish Antiquities]] is divided in twenty books. The individual books are preceded by an introduction which briefly indicates their contents; however this introduction was probably written much later, and probably did not stem in Josephus himself. It is possible to divide Antiquities in roughly two parts. The first part, books I-X, starts with the Creation of the World and ends with the return of the Exiles from [[Babylonia]]. This part is much dependent from the [[Bible]], although it is not the only source used by [[Josephus]]. However [[Josephus]] follows somehow the chronological order and the division of the Bible. The second part, books XI-XX, which covers the Second Temple period, roughly start with the reconstruction of the [[Temple]] by [[Zerubabel]] and [[Joshua]], the high priest, and it ends with the outbreak of the war against Rome in 66 C.E. In the first part, [[Josephus]]’s main model is in fact the [[Greek Bible]]. On the other side the [[Roman Antiquities]] of [[Dionysus of Halicarnassus]] are seen by Josephus as no less than a source of inspiration than the [[Bible]]. In fact the structure of [[Jewish Antiquities]], presented to a public which included Gentiles, follows quite closely the structure of [[Roman Antiquities]], beginning with its common division in twenty books. Moreover, both books share in a common the main outline, which stress the antiquity of the people discussed, the Romans in [[Dionysus]]s’ book and the Jews in [[Josephus]]. If at the beginning, [[Josephus]] depends from the last books of the [[Bible]], then he makes ample use of the external books of the [[Bible]] and the [[Apocrypha]] and [[Pseudoepigrapha]], as the non canonical writings of [[Pseudo-Eupolemus]], the writings of the Hellenistic writer [[Artapanus]], the [[Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates]] and of course the [[First Book of Maccabees]], [[Josephus]] main sources for the twelfth and thirteenth books of [[Antiquities]]. [[Josephus]] used external sources to corroborate the Biblical narration. The first and foremost example is of course [[Berossus]]’ History of Chaldea, Josephus main external source to corroborate the history of the flood and later on, [[Nebuchadnezzar]]’s reign. Other sources, whose use is attested by [[Josephus]] are [[Hieronymus]] the Egyptian’ Phoenician History, [[Mnasesas]], the Phoenician [[Menander]], who translated the Tyrian archives in Greek, and is used by [[Josephus]] to corroborate the Biblical material dedicated to the figure of Solomon, [[Megasthenes]]’ History of India, [[Philostratus]], History of India, and [[Philocrates]], History of India and Phoenicia. [[Josephus]]’s main sources for the second part of [[Antiquities]] were the texts of Greek historians, mainly for the Hellenistic period. Therefore [[Josephus]] makes use of [[Herodotus]] to present an alternative source for the expedition of [[Sennacherib]], [[Polybius]], for the early Hellenistic period, [[Poseidonius]], for Seleucid history, and of course of [[Strabo of Amaseia]] for the latter Hellenistic period, as well as for the history of the Jewish Diaspora in Egypt. However, the most important Greek historian, who indeed dominated the second part of [[Antiquities]], mainly the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth books, is of course [[Nicolaus of Damascus]], which is the main source used for the history of the reign of [[King Herod]]. One of the most interesting characteristics of [[Antiquities]] is that [[Josephus]] presents us with a list of decrees enacted by Roman rulers, which are probably authentic. Thus, the end of the fourteenth book is dedicated to a series of decrees concerning the Jews, which today most historians consider authentic. Moreover, another group of decrees is found in the successive sixteenth book. [[Against Apion]] is the last work published by [[Josephus]]. We do not know the original title, as the present name of the work, [[Against Apion]], is found in [[Jerome]]. The work was written after [[Antiquities]]. First [[Josephus]] complains that [[Antiquities]] did not elicit enough response from his audience, which led him to write [[Against Apion]]. Thus the book was written after 96 C.E., in the last years of [[Domitian]]’s rule. As [[Antiquities]], the book is dedicated to [[Epaphroditus]]. The book is an apology of [[Judaism]], depicted as a classical religion and philosophy, stressing its antiquity, as opposed to the relatively more recent tradition of the [[Greeks]]. [[Josephus]] therefore present part of the topics, already discussed in [[Antiquities]]. However now, [[Josephus]] emphasizes even more the antiquity and morality of [[Jewish Law]] and of its practice, opposing it to the moral ad civic traditions of the Greeks. Josephus, however, makes ample use of Greek authors, who indeed attest the antiquity of Jews and Judaism, and in the same time he criticize various statements of Greek writing authors, mainly Egyptian natives as [[Manetho]], and Greeks from Alexandria, as [[Apion]], who expounded a strongly anti-Jewish agenda. More than once, [[Josephus]] emphasizes the distinctiveness of [[Judaism,]] claiming that the Jews, contrary to other peoples were ready to die to defend their law. Therefore, with a much skilful use of rhetoric, in the best traditions of Greek and Roman apologetic writings, showing a real mastery of the intricacies of the rhetoric, Josephus strive to demonstrate the greater antiquity and the general superiority of Jewish tradition, law and practices over those of the Greeks. However, [[Josephus]], to sharpen his point, makes ample use of Oriental sources in Greek, to corroborate the Biblical tradition, and therefore the antiquity of the Jews and of Jewish Law. [[Life]], seen by [[Josephus]] as an appendix of [[Antiquities]], was maybe written in the last years of the first century CE., although its exact date vary. As in [[Life]], [[Josephus]] states that his far away patron and friend [[Agrippa II]] was already dead, it is clear that the [[Life]] was written after the last scion of the Herodian royal house died. Although [[Photius]], using as source [[Justus of Tiberias]], wrote that [[Agrippa II]] died in the third year of [[Traian]], in 100 CE., however epigraphic and numismatic material points to an earlier date, possibly 95-96 CE, the year in which [[Agrippa II]] ceased to mint, slightly before [[Domitian]]’s murder. Yet, according to Rajak, [[Life]] was published as an appendix to [[Antiquities]] in 93/94 CE. The [[Life]] focuses on the main on [[Josephus]]’s years as Governor of [[Galilee]], in the years 66-67 C.E. It seems that [[Josephus]] wrote this book as an answer to [[Justus of Tiberias]], who blamed the young [[Jerusalem]] priest as one of the main responsible of the revolt against Rome. Thus [[Josephus]] tries to depict himself as a supporter of Rome from the beginning, and thus contradicts many statements written in the earlier [[Jewish War]]. Josephus is well known also in Roman sources (Suetonius).

==In Depth==

*[[Josephus (sources)]]

*[[Josephus (research)]]

*[[Josephus (arts)]]

==Related categories==

*[[Josephus' Works]]

*[[Vespasian]] / [[Titus]]

==References==

*'''Josephus''' / [[Steve Mason]] / In: [[The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary]], 828-832

*''' ''' / [[]] / In: [[The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary]],

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus Wikipedia]
*[http://www.livius.org/jo-jz/josephus/josephus.htm Livius.org]

[[Category:Index (database)]]
[[Category:People (database)]]

Category:Josephus' Works (subject)

2012-08-31T06:28:50Z

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*[[:Category:Texts|BACK TO THE TEXTS--INDEX]]

'''Josephus' Works''' are a corpus of works authored at the end of the first century CE by the Jewish historian [[Josephus]].

==Overview==

Josephus were known in the Middle Ages through the Latin versions of his works and mostly, through the Latin and Hebrew paraphrases of the [[Bellum Iudaicum]] (Hegesippus and Josippon, respectively).

No surprisingly, the ''editio princeps '' (1470 Schüssler) published the Latin version, on which the first translations also were based.

With the publication of the ''editio princeps'' of the Greek text in 1544, began the critical work to recover the "original" Josephus and also came the first translations based on the Greek.

==Related categories==
*[[Josephus]] -- [[Jewish War]]
*[[Josephus]] -- [[Jewish Antiquities]]
*[[Josephus]] -- [[Against Apion]]
*[[Josephus]] -- [[Life]]

==External links==
*[ Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index (database)]]
[[Category:Texts (database)]]

Category:Josephus (subject)

2012-08-31T06:27:22Z

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Alexander Severus

2012-03-06T11:44:40Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Alexander Severus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Alexander Severus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander]] (208 – 235 CE) reigned from 222 till 235. He was the last ruler of the [[Severan]] dynasty. His murder marked the beginning of the third century’crisis.

====Overview====

[[Alexander Severus]], the son of [[Iulia Mammaea]], succeeded to his cousin [[Elagabalus]] in 222 CE. His reign was characterized by the demise of the [[Parthians]], and the rise of the [[Sassanians]]. The war waged by [[Alexander Severu]] against the [[Sassanians]] in 231 C.E, ended successfully. Although he checked a Germanic invasion of Gaul, [[Alexander Severus]] was murdered in 235 C.E.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander]] was born in 208 CE at [[Arca Caesarea]]. His father, [[Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus]], an equestrian, hold the appointment of promagistrate. His mother [[Julia Avita Mamaea]] was the daughter of [[Julia Maesa]], the sister of [[Julia Domna]], the wife of [[Septimius Severus]] and the mother of [[Caracalla]]. The sister of [[Julia Mamaea]] was [[Julia Soemias]], the mother of the future emperor [[Elagabalus]]. [[Alexander Severus]] had an elder daughter [[Theoclia]]. [[Alexander Severus]] and his mother followed [[Elagabalus]] to Rome after his proclamation. In 221 CE, [[Julia Maesa]] convinced [[Elagabalus]] to appoint the young [[Alexander Severus]], his cousin, as his heir with the title of Caesar.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Elagabalus]] became soon suspicious of his young cousin and decided to have him and his mother executed. However [[Julia Maesa]] was successful in persuading the Praetorian Guard to murder the emperor instead. In 222 CE, after the murder of [[Elagabalus]], [[Alexander Severus]] was acclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard and accepted by the Senate. The reign of [[Alexander Severus]] began well. [[Julia Mamaea]], his mother, took in fact the government of the empire in her hands. She was assisted by a select board of sixteen senators. Moreover, a municipal council of fourteen assisted the urban praefect in administering the fourteen districts of Rome. Although she was quite capable, various mutinies spread all over the empire, in [[Illyricum]], in [[Mauritania]], in [[Armenia]], in [[Mesopotamia]] and in [[Germania]]. In 228 CE, [[Ulpian]], the praetorian prefect, and an important jurist, was murdered during a mutiny of the Praetorian Guard. In another mutiny, [[Cassius Dio]] was ousted from his command. [[Alexander Severus]] was wed to [[Sallustia Orbiana]] in 225 CE, but he divorced and exiled her two years later, in 227 CE, after her father [[Seius Sallustius]] was executed for plotting against him. Afterwards he married [[Sulpicia Memmia]], the daughter of a consular. At Rome, [[Alexander Severus]] erected the last aqueduct, the [[Aqua Alexandrina]], which supplied the [[Thermae of Nero]]. The reign of [[Alexander Severus]] was dominated in the East by the demise of the [[Parthian]] ruling dynasty and the rise of the [[Sassanians]]. In 231 CE, [[Alexander Severus]] moved against the [[Sassanian]] ruler [[Ardashir I]], from his base in [[Antioch]] towards [[Ctesiphon]]. Although the army under the leadership of [[Alexander Severus]] was victorious, a second army was defeated by the Persians, and the Roman army incurred further losses retreating to [[Armenia]]. The Roman army was characterized by a lack of discipline. Moreover in 232 CE, the Syrian legions during a mutiny acclaimed a usurper, [[Taurinus]], as Emperor. The mutiny was soon quelled and [[Taurinus]] drowned in the [[Euphrates]] while escaping. [[Alexander Severus]], back in Rome, celebrated a triumph in 233 CE. In 234 CE, [[Alexander Severus]] marched to Gaul to face the German tribes. Although he was successful in defeating the invasion, and he crossed the Rhine, his next move, to buy off the invaders, was seen in a negative light by the army, as the soldiers judged it as an act of weakness. A plot was formed and [[Gaius Iulius Verus Maximus]], an officer of Thracian origins, was acclaimed emperor by the soldiers. As consequence [[Alexander Severus]] was murdered together with his mother by the soldiers of the [[Legio XXII Primigenia]] at [[Mainz]], [[Moguntiacum]].

==== Alexander Severus and the Jews====

The Life of Alexander Severus, which depicts [[Alexander Severus]] as the paradigm of the good emperor, and stress the positive attitude of this emperor towards Judaism. No matter if some of the anecdotes are spurious; still it reflects the much more favorable ambiance of the [[Severan]] period towards the Jews. However Pucci Ben Ze’ev rightly argues that this positive attitude towards Judaism and Jews attributed to [[Alexander Severus]] in fact probably mirrors the positive attitude towards Judaism of the fourth century Pagan aristocracy. Thus, according to the [[Historia Augusta]], [[Alexander Severus]] “respected the privileges of the Jews”. It seems that this Emperor was so favorably disposed towards the Jews that the mob of [[Antiochia]] called him “archisynagogus”. Moreover [[Alexander Severus]] kept in his Lararium, not only the portraits of his ancestors, but also the statues of the most positive deified emperors, and the statues of [[Apollonius of Tyana]] and those of [[Jesus]], [[Abraham]], and [[Orpheus]]. It seems that the young emperor liked to aannounce his future plans publicly, and when he wished to appoint any man governor of a province same, he declared that he was following the Jews and the Christians, who always announced the names of those who they ordained as priests. Furthermore [[Alexander Severus]] often said as the sternest rebuke, “Do you desire this to be done to your land which you are doing to another's?” a sentence probably heard by a Jew or a Christian. Moreover he had the well known rule “What you do not wish that a man should do to you, do not do to him” carved on a monumental inscription on the walls of the Imperial Palace and on other public buildings (See SHA, Alexander Severus, 22: 4; 28: 7, 29: 2, 45: 6-7, 51: 6-8.).

== [[Alexander Severus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Alexander Severus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Alexander Severus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Alexander Severus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Alexander Severus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Alexander Severus

2012-03-06T11:43:36Z

Roccasam:

Alexander Severus

2012-03-06T11:43:02Z

Roccasam: Created page with " *This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Alexander Severus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Alexander Severus (subj..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Alexander Severus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Alexander Severus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander]] (208 – 235 CE) reigned from 222 till 235. He was the last ruler of the [[Severan]] dynasty. His murder marked the beginning of the third century’crisis.

====Overview===

[[Alexander Severus]], the son of [[Iulia Mammaea]], succeeded to his cousin [[Elagabalus]] in 222 CE. His reign was characterized by the demise of the [[Parthians]], and the rise of the [[Sassanians]]. The war waged by [[Alexander Severu]] against the [[Sassanians]] in 231 C.E, ended successfully. Although he checked a Germanic invasion of Gaul, [[Alexander Severus]] was murdered in 235 C.E.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander]] was born in 208 CE at [[Arca Caesarea]]. His father, [[Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus]], an equestrian, hold the appointment of promagistrate. His mother [[Julia Avita Mamaea]] was the daughter of [[Julia Maesa]], the sister of [[Julia Domna]], the wife of [[Septimius Severus]] and the mother of [[Caracalla]]. The sister of [[Julia Mamaea]] was [[Julia Soemias]], the mother of the future emperor [[Elagabalus]]. [[Alexander Severus]] had an elder daughter [[Theoclia]]. [[Alexander Severus]] and his mother followed [[Elagabalus]] to Rome after his proclamation. In 221 CE, [[Julia Maesa]] convinced [[Elagabalus]] to appoint the young [[Alexander Severus]], his cousin, as his heir with the title of Caesar.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Elagabalus]] became soon suspicious of his young cousin and decided to have him and his mother executed. However [[Julia Maesa]] was successful in persuading the Praetorian Guard to murder the emperor instead. In 222 CE, after the murder of [[Elagabalus]], [[Alexander Severus]] was acclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard and accepted by the Senate. The reign of [[Alexander Severus]] began well. [[Julia Mamaea]], his mother, took in fact the government of the empire in her hands. She was assisted by a select board of sixteen senators. Moreover, a municipal council of fourteen assisted the urban praefect in administering the fourteen districts of Rome. Although she was quite capable, various mutinies spread all over the empire, in [[Illyricum]], in [[Mauritania]], in [[Armenia]], in [[Mesopotamia]] and in [[Germania]]. In 228 CE, [[Ulpian]], the praetorian prefect, and an important jurist, was murdered during a mutiny of the Praetorian Guard. In another mutiny, [[Cassius Dio]] was ousted from his command. [[Alexander Severus]] was wed to [[Sallustia Orbiana]] in 225 CE, but he divorced and exiled her two years later, in 227 CE, after her father [[Seius Sallustius]] was executed for plotting against him. Afterwards he married [[Sulpicia Memmia]], the daughter of a consular. At Rome, [[Alexander Severus]] erected the last aqueduct, the [[Aqua Alexandrina]], which supplied the [[Thermae of Nero]]. The reign of [[Alexander Severus]] was dominated in the East by the demise of the [[Parthian]] ruling dynasty and the rise of the [[Sassanians]]. In 231 CE, [[Alexander Severus]] moved against the [[Sassanian]] ruler [[Ardashir I]], from his base in [[Antioch]] towards [[Ctesiphon]]. Although the army under the leadership of [[Alexander Severus]] was victorious, a second army was defeated by the Persians, and the Roman army incurred further losses retreating to [[Armenia]]. The Roman army was characterized by a lack of discipline. Moreover in 232 CE, the Syrian legions during a mutiny acclaimed a usurper, [[Taurinus]], as Emperor. The mutiny was soon quelled and [[Taurinus]] drowned in the [[Euphrates]] while escaping. [[Alexander Severus]], back in Rome, celebrated a triumph in 233 CE. In 234 CE, [[Alexander Severus]] marched to Gaul to face the German tribes. Although he was successful in defeating the invasion, and he crossed the Rhine, his next move, to buy off the invaders, was seen in a negative light by the army, as the soldiers judged it as an act of weakness. A plot was formed and [[Gaius Iulius Verus Maximus]], an officer of Thracian origins, was acclaimed emperor by the soldiers. As consequence [[Alexander Severus]] was murdered together with his mother by the soldiers of the [[Legio XXII Primigenia]] at [[Mainz]], [[Moguntiacum]].

==== Alexander Severus and the Jews====

The Life of Alexander Severus, which depicts [[Alexander Severus]] as the paradigm of the good emperor, and stress the positive attitude of this emperor towards Judaism. No matter if some of the anecdotes are spurious; still it reflects the much more favorable ambiance of the [[Severan]] period towards the Jews. However Pucci Ben Ze’ev rightly argues that this positive attitude towards Judaism and Jews attributed to [[Alexander Severus]] in fact probably mirrors the positive attitude towards Judaism of the fourth century Pagan aristocracy. Thus, according to the [[Historia Augusta]], [[Alexander Severus]] “respected the privileges of the Jews”. It seems that this Emperor was so favorably disposed towards the Jews that the mob of [[Antiochia]] called him “archisynagogus”. Moreover [[Alexander Severus]] kept in his Lararium, not only the portraits of his ancestors, but also the statues of the most positive deified emperors, and the statues of [[Apollonius of Tyana]] and those of [[Jesus]], [[Abraham]], and [[Orpheus]]. It seems that the young emperor liked to aannounce his future plans publicly, and when he wished to appoint any man governor of a province same, he declared that he was following the Jews and the Christians, who always announced the names of those who they ordained as priests. Furthermore [[Alexander Severus]] often said as the sternest rebuke, “Do you desire this to be done to your land which you are doing to another's?” a sentence probably heard by a Jew or a Christian. Moreover he had the well known rule “What you do not wish that a man should do to you, do not do to him” carved on a monumental inscription on the walls of the Imperial Palace and on other public buildings (See SHA, Alexander Severus, 22: 4; 28: 7, 29: 2, 45: 6-7, 51: 6-8.).

== [[Alexander Severus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Alexander Severus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Alexander Severus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Elagabalus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Alexander Severus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Elagabalus

2012-03-06T11:01:35Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Elagabalus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Elagabalus (subject)]]

[[Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]], known as Elagabalus (203 – 222 CE) reigned from 218 till 222 CE.

====Overview====

[[Elagabalus]], a cousin of [[Caracalla]] was proclaimed emperor in 218 CE. His short reign was characterized by the introduction of the Syrian cult of [[Elagabalus]] at [[Rome]]. In 222 C.E. [[Elagabalu]]s was murdered together with his mother [[Julia Soemias]]. He was succeeded by his cousin [[Alexander Severus]].

====Early Career====

[[Varius Avitus Bassus]] was born in 203 CE at [[Emesa]]. His father, [[Sextus Varius Marcellus]], originally was a member of the equestrian class, was elevated to Senatorial rank. His paternal family holds the hereditary priesthood of the god [[Elagabalus]], who had a temple in [[Emesa]]. [[Elagabalus]] was the Latinized form of the Syrian name of the god, the [[Ba’al of the Mountain]]. The Romans syncretized this god with the sun – god, and he was known also as [[Sol Invictus]]. In the temple of [[Emesa]] stood a betyle, a black conical meteorite. The mother of [[Elagabalus]] was [[Julia Soemias]], the daughter of [[Julia Maesa]], who was the sister of [[Julia Domna]], the wife of the emperor [[Septimius Severus]] and the mother of [[Caracalla]]. [[Elagabalus]] relatives also included [[Julia Mamaea]], the sister of his mother [[Julia Soemias]], and thus her aunt. [[Julia Mamaea]] was the wife of [[Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus]] and the mother of the future emperor [[Alexander Severus]]. After the murder of [[Caracalla]], his successor [[Macrinus]], in an act of conciliation, exiled the various members of the [[Severan]] dynasty to [[Emesa]].

====Imperial Succession====

[[Julia Maesa]] began a plot to put on the throne her grand son [[Elagabalus]]. She then announced that [[Elagabalus]] was the illegitimate son of [[Caracalla]], of whom in fact he was a cousin. [[Elagabalus]] was thus acclaimed emperor by the soldiers of the [[Legio III Gallica]], under the command of [[Valerius Comazon Eutychianus]], at [[Raphanea]] in 218 CE. [[Elagabalus]] assumed the name of [[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]] to strengthen his tie with [[Caracalla]]. Although [[Macrinus]] was successful in enlisting the help of the Roman Senate, which outlawed [[Elagabalus]] and his mother, however he was soon deserted by his soldiers and defeated near [[Antioch]] by an army under the command of [[Gannys]], the eunuch adviser and tutor of [[Elagabalus]]. [[Macrinus]] and his son [[Diadumenianus]] were captured and executed. Although [[Elagabalus]] had been proclaimed emperor in spite of the [[Senate]], he soon sent letters of reconciliation to [[Rome]]. The Senate answered to the conciliatory gesture of [[Elagabalus]] with the deification of both [[Caracalla]] and [[Julia Domna]].
[[Elagabalus]] then moved slowly to Rome, bringing with him the betyle of the temple of Emesa, his god [[Elagabalus]], of which, he was the high priest as well. [[Elagabalus]] spent the winter of 218 at [[Nicomedia]] in [[Bythinia]]. In the same time he had to quell the mutinies of the [[Legio III Gallica]], and the [[Legio IV Scythica]]. [[Elagabalus]] reached Rome in 219 CE. [[Julia Maesa]] in fact served as regent, while [[Valerius Comazon Eutychianus]] was appointed praetorian prefect. The relationship with the Senate was quite tense. Despite that, both [[Julia Maesa]] and [[Julia Soemias]] were allowed in the Senate, [[Soemias]] with the title of clarissima and [[Julia Maesa]] with the title of Mater Castrorum et Senatus. However soon the young [[Elagabalus]] proved himself impossible to check and his excesses alienated him the Senate and the army. His religious behavior scandalized the upper classes of Rome. [[Elagabalus]] had his god from [[Emesa]], renamed [[Deus Sol Invictus]], proclaimed as the chief god of Rome instead of [[Jupiter]]. He set a temple to his god on the [[Palatine]]. Moreover [[Elagabalus]] married [[Aquilia Severa]], a [[Vestal Virgin]]. A year later, however, he abandoned her, and married instead [[Annia Faustina]], a descendant of the [[Antonine]] dynasty. His sexual behavior, [[Elagabalus]] was a transsexual, did not help either the public image of the young emperor. [[Elagabulus]] tried to have his presumed lover Hierocles appointed Caesar. Another lover, Zoticus was appointed to the prominent position of cubicularius, or head chamberlain. [[Julia Maesa]] soon decided that the situation had become unbearable. Thus she was successful in convincing first [[Elagabalus]] to appoint [[Alexander Severus]], the son of [[Julia Mamaea]], his aunt, as heir. However, as [[Elagabalus]] became suspicious and tried to have [[Alexander Severus]] executed, [[Julia Maesa]] was successful in convincing the Praetorian Guard to kill [[Elagabalus]] and his mother instead. They were killed in 222 CE. Following his assassination, the Roman Senate decreed his damnatio memoriae, his body and that of his mother had been cut to pieces and thrown in the [[Cloaca Maxima]], women were bared from entering the Senate, and the betyle of [[Elagabalus]] was sent back to Rome. [[Elagabalus]] was succeeded by his cousin [[Alexander Severus]].

====Elagabalus and the Jews====

The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus refers twice to Jews. The first time (SHA, Antoninus Heliogabalus 3: 4-5) it mentions that Heliogabalus wished that the religious rites of the Jews should be performed in his palace on the Palatine, while the second time, it mentions a joke of the emperor on Jewish dietary laws. (SHA, Antoninus Heliogabalus 28: 1-4).

== [[Elagabalus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Elagabalus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Elagabalus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Elagabalus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Elagabalus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Elagabalus

2012-03-06T11:00:52Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Elagabalus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Elagabalus (subject) [[Variu..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Elagabalus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Elagabalus (subject)]]

[[Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]], known as Elagabalus (203 – 222 CE) reigned from 218 till 222 CE.

====Overview===

[[Elagabalus]], a cousin of [[Caracalla]] was proclaimed emperor in 218 CE. His short reign was characterized by the introduction of the Syrian cult of [[Elagabalus]] at [[Rome]]. In 222 C.E. [[Elagabalu]]s was murdered together with his mother [[Julia Soemias]]. He was succeeded by his cousin [[Alexander Severus]].

====Early Career====

[[Varius Avitus Bassus]] was born in 203 CE at [[Emesa]]. His father, [[Sextus Varius Marcellus]], originally was a member of the equestrian class, was elevated to Senatorial rank. His paternal family holds the hereditary priesthood of the god [[Elagabalus]], who had a temple in [[Emesa]]. [[Elagabalus]] was the Latinized form of the Syrian name of the god, the [[Ba’al of the Mountain]]. The Romans syncretized this god with the sun – god, and he was known also as [[Sol Invictus]]. In the temple of [[Emesa]] stood a betyle, a black conical meteorite. The mother of [[Elagabalus]] was [[Julia Soemias]], the daughter of [[Julia Maesa]], who was the sister of [[Julia Domna]], the wife of the emperor [[Septimius Severus]] and the mother of [[Caracalla]]. [[Elagabalus]] relatives also included [[Julia Mamaea]], the sister of his mother [[Julia Soemias]], and thus her aunt. [[Julia Mamaea]] was the wife of [[Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus]] and the mother of the future emperor [[Alexander Severus]]. After the murder of [[Caracalla]], his successor [[Macrinus]], in an act of conciliation, exiled the various members of the [[Severan]] dynasty to [[Emesa]].

====Imperial Succession====

[[Julia Maesa]] began a plot to put on the throne her grand son [[Elagabalus]]. She then announced that [[Elagabalus]] was the illegitimate son of [[Caracalla]], of whom in fact he was a cousin. [[Elagabalus]] was thus acclaimed emperor by the soldiers of the [[Legio III Gallica]], under the command of [[Valerius Comazon Eutychianus]], at [[Raphanea]] in 218 CE. [[Elagabalus]] assumed the name of [[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]] to strengthen his tie with [[Caracalla]]. Although [[Macrinus]] was successful in enlisting the help of the Roman Senate, which outlawed [[Elagabalus]] and his mother, however he was soon deserted by his soldiers and defeated near [[Antioch]] by an army under the command of [[Gannys]], the eunuch adviser and tutor of [[Elagabalus]]. [[Macrinus]] and his son [[Diadumenianus]] were captured and executed. Although [[Elagabalus]] had been proclaimed emperor in spite of the [[Senate]], he soon sent letters of reconciliation to [[Rome]]. The Senate answered to the conciliatory gesture of [[Elagabalus]] with the deification of both [[Caracalla]] and [[Julia Domna]].
[[Elagabalus]] then moved slowly to Rome, bringing with him the betyle of the temple of Emesa, his god [[Elagabalus]], of which, he was the high priest as well. [[Elagabalus]] spent the winter of 218 at [[Nicomedia]] in [[Bythinia]]. In the same time he had to quell the mutinies of the [[Legio III Gallica]], and the [[Legio IV Scythica]]. [[Elagabalus]] reached Rome in 219 CE. [[Julia Maesa]] in fact served as regent, while [[Valerius Comazon Eutychianus]] was appointed praetorian prefect. The relationship with the Senate was quite tense. Despite that, both [[Julia Maesa]] and [[Julia Soemias]] were allowed in the Senate, [[Soemias]] with the title of clarissima and [[Julia Maesa]] with the title of Mater Castrorum et Senatus. However soon the young [[Elagabalus]] proved himself impossible to check and his excesses alienated him the Senate and the army. His religious behavior scandalized the upper classes of Rome. [[Elagabalus]] had his god from [[Emesa]], renamed [[Deus Sol Invictus]], proclaimed as the chief god of Rome instead of [[Jupiter]]. He set a temple to his god on the [[Palatine]]. Moreover [[Elagabalus]] married [[Aquilia Severa]], a [[Vestal Virgin]]. A year later, however, he abandoned her, and married instead [[Annia Faustina]], a descendant of the [[Antonine]] dynasty. His sexual behavior, [[Elagabalus]] was a transsexual, did not help either the public image of the young emperor. [[Elagabulus]] tried to have his presumed lover Hierocles appointed Caesar. Another lover, Zoticus was appointed to the prominent position of cubicularius, or head chamberlain. [[Julia Maesa]] soon decided that the situation had become unbearable. Thus she was successful in convincing first [[Elagabalus]] to appoint [[Alexander Severus]], the son of [[Julia Mamaea]], his aunt, as heir. However, as [[Elagabalus]] became suspicious and tried to have [[Alexander Severus]] executed, [[Julia Maesa]] was successful in convincing the Praetorian Guard to kill [[Elagabalus]] and his mother instead. They were killed in 222 CE. Following his assassination, the Roman Senate decreed his damnatio memoriae, his body and that of his mother had been cut to pieces and thrown in the [[Cloaca Maxima]], women were bared from entering the Senate, and the betyle of [[Elagabalus]] was sent back to Rome. [[Elagabalus]] was succeeded by his cousin [[Alexander Severus]].

====Elagabalus and the Jews====

The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus refers twice to Jews. The first time (SHA, Antoninus Heliogabalus 3: 4-5) it mentions that Heliogabalus wished that the religious rites of the Jews should be performed in his palace on the Palatine, while the second time, it mentions a joke of the emperor on Jewish dietary laws. (SHA, Antoninus Heliogabalus 28: 1-4).

== [[Elagabalus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Elagabalus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Elagabalus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Elagabalus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Elagabalus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Diadumenianus

2012-03-06T11:00:06Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Diadumenianus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Diadumenianus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus]] (208 – 218 CE) was co-emperor with his father Macrinus from 217 to 218 CE.

====Overview====

[[Diadumenianus]], the son of Macrinus, was co-emperor with his father from 217 to 218 CE. He was succeeded by Elagabalus.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus]] was born in 208 CE, the son of Macrinus and Nonia Caelsa.

====Imperial Succession====

After the murder of [[Caracalla]] in 217 CE, [[Macrinus] proclaimed himself as emperor. To guarantee and strengthen his position, soon after his accession, [[Macrinus]] appointed his son [[Diadumenianus]] as Caesar, with the name of [[Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus]]. In 218 CE, following the defeat and execution of his father, [[Diadumenianus]], hastily proclaimed emperor was captured at [[Zeugma]], while trying to escape to the Parthian court, and executed.

== [[Diadumenianus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Diadumenianus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Diadumenianus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Diadumenianus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Diadumenianus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

.

Diadumenianus

2012-03-06T10:59:04Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Diadumenianus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Diadumenianus (subject) [..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Diadumenianus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Diadumenianus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus]] (208 – 218 CE) was co-emperor with his father Macrinus from 217 to 218 CE.

====Overview===

[[Diadumenianus]], the son of Macrinus, was co-emperor with his father from 217 to 218 CE. He was succeeded by Elagabalus.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus]] was born in 208 CE, the son of Macrinus and Nonia Caelsa.

====Imperial Succession====

After the murder of [[Caracalla]] in 217 CE, [[Macrinus] proclaimed himself as emperor. To guarantee and strengthen his position, soon after his accession, [[Macrinus]] appointed his son [[Diadumenianus]] as Caesar, with the name of [[Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus]]. In 218 CE, following the defeat and execution of his father,
[[Diadumenianus]], hastily proclaimed emperor was captured at [[Zeugma]], while trying to escape to the Parthian court, and executed.

== [[Diadumenianus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Diadumenianus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Diadumenianus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Diadumenianus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Diadumenianus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

.

Macrinus

2012-03-06T10:58:19Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Macrinus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Macrinus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Opellius Macrinus]] (165 – 218 CE) reigned from 217 to 218 CE.

====Overview====

[[Macrinus]], the praetorian prefect succeeded to the Imperial throne after the murder of [[Caracalla]] in 217 CE. However, following an unsuccessful campaign against [[Parthia]], in 218 C.E., [[Macrinus]] was murdered in a conspiration headed by various members of the [[Severan]] dynasty whose purpose was to put on the Imperial throne [[Elagabalus]], a cousin of [[Caracalla]]. [[Macrinus]] was the first emperor to become so being a member of the equestrian class.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Opellius Macrinus]] was born in [[Caesarea]] in the province of [[Mauretania]] in 165 CE. [[Macrinus]] stemmed from an equestrian family. A skilled lawyer, he followed an equestrian cursus honorum under [[Septimius Severus]] and [[Caracalla]] which brought him the position of pretorian prefect. [[Macrinus]], as the commander of the [[Praetorian Guard]], thus followed [[Caracalla]] in the East. [[Macrinus]] was married to Nonia Caelsa.

====Imperial Succession====

After the murder of [[Caracalla]] in 217 CE, [[Macrinus] proclaimed himself as emperor. To guarantee and strengthen his position, soon after his accession, [[Macrinus]] appointed his son [[Diadumenianus]] as Caesar, with the name of [[Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus]]. The Senate in Rome confirmed [[Macrinus]], although he came from an equestrian background. [[Macrinus]] foreign policy was characterized by a trend towards conciliation. Therefore in [[Dacia]] he returned hostages taken by [[Caracalla]] and in [[Armenia]], he appointed as king [[Tiridates]], whose father had been imprisoned by [[Caracalla]]. At the beginning, also his relationship with the [[Severan]] Imperial family was characterized by a will of conciliation. However the mother empress [[Iulia Domna]] decided to starve herself to death. However, once the [[Parthians]] invaded [[Mesopotamia]], taking advantage from the murder of [Caracalla]], [[Macrinus]] moved against them, but he was defeated at the battle of [[Nisibis]]. [[Macrinus]] had to negotiate a humiliating peace with the Parthian ruler [[Artabanus V]], paying the indemnity of 200 million sesterces. This brought much anger and resentment from the army. The discontent of the army was played by various members of the [[Severan]] dinasty, chiefly [[Julia Maesa]], the sister of [[Julia Domna]], and her daughters [[Julia Soaemias]] and [[Julia Mamaea]]. In 218 CE, [[Elagabalus]], the son of [[Julia Soemia]] was proclaimed emperor by the [[Legio III Gallica]] at [[Raphanea]]. [[Macrinus]], deserted by most of his soldiers, was defeated by an army commanded by [[Gannys]], the tutor of [[Elagabalus]], near [[Antioch]]. [[Macrinus]], was captured near [[Chalcedon]] and later executed in [[Cappadocia]], while trying to flee to [[Italy]]. His son [[Diadumenianus]], hastily proclaimed emperor was captured at [[Zeugma]], while trying to escape to the Parthian court, and executed.

== [[Macrinus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Macrinus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Macrinus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Macrinus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Macrinus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Macrinus

2012-03-06T10:57:57Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Macrinus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Macrinus (subject) [[Marcus Op..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Macrinus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Macrinus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Opellius Macrinus]] (165 – 218 CE) reigned from 217 to 218 CE.

====Overview===

[[Macrinus]], the praetorian prefect succeeded to the Imperial throne after the murder of [[Caracalla]] in 217 CE. However, following an unsuccessful campaign against [[Parthia]], in 218 C.E., [[Macrinus]] was murdered in a conspiration headed by various members of the [[Severan]] dynasty whose purpose was to put on the Imperial throne [[Elagabalus]], a cousin of [[Caracalla]]. [[Macrinus]] was the first emperor to become so being a member of the equestrian class.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Opellius Macrinus]] was born in [[Caesarea]] in the province of [[Mauretania]] in 165 CE. [[Macrinus]] stemmed from an equestrian family. A skilled lawyer, he followed an equestrian cursus honorum under [[Septimius Severus]] and [[Caracalla]] which brought him the position of pretorian prefect. [[Macrinus]], as the commander of the [[Praetorian Guard]], thus followed [[Caracalla]] in the East. [[Macrinus]] was married to Nonia Caelsa.

====Imperial Succession====

After the murder of [[Caracalla]] in 217 CE, [[Macrinus] proclaimed himself as emperor. To guarantee and strengthen his position, soon after his accession, [[Macrinus]] appointed his son [[Diadumenianus]] as Caesar, with the name of [[Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus]]. The Senate in Rome confirmed [[Macrinus]], although he came from an equestrian background. [[Macrinus]] foreign policy was characterized by a trend towards conciliation. Therefore in [[Dacia]] he returned hostages taken by [[Caracalla]] and in [[Armenia]], he appointed as king [[Tiridates]], whose father had been imprisoned by [[Caracalla]]. At the beginning, also his relationship with the [[Severan]] Imperial family was characterized by a will of conciliation. However the mother empress [[Iulia Domna]] decided to starve herself to death. However, once the [[Parthians]] invaded [[Mesopotamia]], taking advantage from the murder of [Caracalla]], [[Macrinus]] moved against them, but he was defeated at the battle of [[Nisibis]]. [[Macrinus]] had to negotiate a humiliating peace with the Parthian ruler [[Artabanus V]], paying the indemnity of 200 million sesterces. This brought much anger and resentment from the army. The discontent of the army was played by various members of the [[Severan]] dinasty, chiefly [[Julia Maesa]], the sister of [[Julia Domna]], and her daughters [[Julia Soaemias]] and [[Julia Mamaea]]. In 218 CE, [[Elagabalus]], the son of [[Julia Soemia]] was proclaimed emperor by the [[Legio III Gallica]] at [[Raphanea]]. [[Macrinus]], deserted by most of his soldiers, was defeated by an army commanded by [[Gannys]], the tutor of [[Elagabalus]], near [[Antioch]]. [[Macrinus]], was captured near [[Chalcedon]] and later executed in [[Cappadocia]], while trying to flee to [[Italy]]. His son [[Diadumenianus]], hastily proclaimed emperor was captured at [[Zeugma]], while trying to escape to the Parthian court, and executed.

== [[Macrinus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Macrinus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Macrinus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Macrinus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Macrinus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Caracalla

2012-03-05T21:12:28Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Caracalla(sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Caracalla (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]] (186 – 217 CE) succeeded to his father, [[Septimius Severus]] in 211 and reigned till 217 CE.

====Overview====

[[Caracalla]], the elder son of [[Septimius Severus]] succeeded to his father in 211 CE. He is remembered for the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]] which granted Roman citizenship to all free provincials as well as for the erection of the huge [[Baths of Caracalla]] in Rome. He was succeeded by [[Macrinus]], the praetorian prefect, who had him murdered in 217 CE.

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Septimius Bassianus]] was born at [[Lugdunum]] the son of [[Septimius Severus]] and of [[Julia Domna]] in 187 CE. His father the future emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who stemmed from an equestrian family of African origin, had been elevated to the Senatorial rank by the Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]]. His mother [[Julia Domna]] was the daughter of [[Julius Bassianus]], the high priest of the sun god of [[Emesa]]. [[Lucius Septimius Geta]], his younger brother was born in 189 CE. When his father was acclaimed emperor by the legions of [[Pannonia]], he changed the name to his son to [[Marcus Aurelius Bassianus Antoninus]] to stress his connections to the [[Antonine]] dynasty, of which he saw himself as the political heir. [[Caracalla]], so nicknamed because he wore the caracalla, a hooded tunic of Gallic origin, was married to [[Fulvia Plautilla]], the daughter of [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], the praetorian prefect. Together with his younger brother [[Geta]], [[Caracalla]] followed his father in the expedition in [[Britain]].

====Imperial Succession====

On his deathbed at [[Eboracum]] in 211 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] had his elder son [[Caracalla]] acclaimed emperor by the army, together with his brother [[Geta]]. For a whole year he remained in [[Britain]], campaigning against the hostile [[Caledonian]] tribes. Back in Rome, after various squabbles with his brother [[Geta]], he had him murdered in the hands of his mother [[Julia Domna]]. After the assassination, he ordered the Senate to declare a damnatio memoriae for his brother. [[Caracalla]] also had his wife, executed in the wake of persecutions against the alleged supporters of [[Geta]]. In 212 C.E., [[Caracalla]] published the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]], giving the Roman citizenship to all free provincials. It seems that the main reason was probably to increase the taxation. [[Caracalla]]’ main economic reform was the debasing of the silver content of the Roman [[denarius]] by 25%, and the introduction of the [[antoninianus]], a double denarius, in order to raise the pay of the legions to 675 denarii, and distribute them various bounties. At Rome, the reign of [[Caracalla]] was characterized by the erection of the huge [[Baths of Caracalla]]. In 213 CE, [[Caracalla]] went campaigning in the [[Agri Decumates]] in [[Germany]] against the [[Alamanni]]. The Germanic tribes were defeated, but no decisive victory was won. He was conferred by the Senate the title of [[Germanicus Maximus]]. In 214 CE, [[Caracalla]] left once more Rome for the East to open a campaign against [[Parthia]]. In 215 CE, while visiting [[Alexandria]], he was mocked by the locals as he claimed to have had his brother killed in self defense. [[Caracalla]] reacted having the leading citizens executed and the city looted and plundered for several days. In 217 CE, while campaigning against [[Parthia]] he was assassinated by [[Julius Martialis]], an officer in the imperial bodyguard. [[Caracalla]] was succeeded by [[Macrinus]], the Praetorian Prefect.

====Caracalla and the Jews====

The Life of Caracalla refers to the positive and friendly attitude of the future emperor, still heir to the throne to a playmate, who was a proselyte to Judaism (SHA, Antoninus Caracalla 1: 6). [[Caracalla]], together with his father, [[Septimius Severus]], confirmed laws regulating the participation of Jews in public offices, enacted during the later [[Antonines]] (Digesta 50.2.3.3.). It seems that when [[Caracalla]], in 212 C.E. enacted the [[Constitutio Antoniniana de Civitate]] the Jews were also included between those who benefited from the new law. In fact, before the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]], only the Jews who were Roman citizens were subjects to Roman law; however, once Roman citizenship was awarded to all peregrini, a concession, never officially recognized de jure, was made in favor of all the Jews in the Empire, by which they were allowed to retain some of the institutions of Jewish law. Thus, probably most of the Jews living in Roman Italy, who had the status of peregrini, received Roman citizenship, improving their status. [[Caracalla]] visited Palestine in 214 CE, and possibly he met the Jewish Patriarch [[Judah ha – Nasi]]. Rabbinic sources, which refer to [[Antoninus]] friend of [[Rabbi]], possibly refer to him. The city of [[Sepphoris]], where the Jewish [[Patriarch]] lived minted a medallion to celebrate the friendship with the emperor.

== [[Caracalla]] in ancient sources==

== [[Caracalla]] in Scholarship==

== [[Caracalla]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Caracalla]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Caracalla Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Geta

2012-03-05T21:11:37Z

Roccasam: Created page with " *This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Geta (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Geta (subject) [[Publius Septimiu..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Geta (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Geta (subject)]]

[[Publius Septimius Geta]] (189 – 211 CE) succeeded to his father, [[Septimius Severus]] in 211. He was murdered in the same year.

====Overview====

[[Geta]], the youngerson of [[Septimius Severus]] succeeded to his father in 211 CE, as co – heir together with his elder brother [[Caracalla]]. He was murdered soon afterwards.

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Septimius Geta]] was born at in 189 CE in Rome, the younger son of [[Septimius Severus]] and of [[Julia Domna]]. His father the future emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who stemmed from an equestrian family of African origin, had been elevated to the Senatorial rank by the Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]]. His mother [[Julia Domna]] was the daughter of [[Julius Bassianus]], the high priest of the sun god of [[Emesa]]. [[Lucius Septimius Bassianus]], his elder brother was born in 188 CE. Together with his older brother [[Caracalla]], [[Geta]] followed his father in the expedition in [[Britain]].

====Imperial Succession====

On his deathbed at [[Eboracum]] in 211 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] had his elder son [[Caracalla]] acclaimed emperor by the army, together with his younger brother [[Geta]]. After various squabbles with his brother, [[Geta]] was murdered in the hands of his mother [[Julia Domna]]. After the assassination, [[Caracalla]] ordered the Senate to declare a damnatio memoriae for his brother.

== [[Geta]] in ancient sources==

== [[Geta]] in Scholarship==

== [[Geta]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Geta]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Geta Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Roman Emperors

2012-03-05T21:01:57Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Roman Emperors (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Roman Emperors (subject)]]

'''Roman Emperors''' reigned in the first-second century over Judea.

==List of Roman Emperors and years in office==

====Julio-Claudian Dynasty====

*[[Augustus]], 27 BCE - 14 CE
*[[Tiberius]], 14 CE - 37 CE
*[[Caligula]], 37 CE - 41 CE
*[[Claudius]], 41 CE - 54 CE
*[[Nero]], 54 CE - 68 CE

====Year of the Four Emperors====

*[[Galba]], 68 CE - 69 CE
*[[Otho]], 69 CE
*[[Vitellius]], 69 CE

====Flavian Dynasty====

*[[Vespasian]], 69-79 CE
*[[Titus]], 79-81 CE
*[[Domitian]], 81-96 CE

====Adopted Emperors====

*[[Nerva]], 96-98 CE
*[[Trajan]], 98-117 CE
*[[Hadrian]], 117-138 CE

===Antonine Dynasty===
*[[Antoninus Pius]], 138-161 CE
*[[Verus]], 161-169 CE
*[[Marcus Aurelius]], 161-180 CE
*[[Commodus]], 180-192 CE

===Year of the Five Emperors===
*[[Pertinax]] 193 CE
*[[Didius Julianus]] 193 CE
*[[Pescennius Niger]] 193-194 CE
*[[Clodius Albinus]] 193-197 CE

===Severan Dynasty===
*[[Septimius Severus]] 193-211 CE
*[[Caracalla]] 211-217 CE
*[[Geta]] 211-212 CE
*[[Macrinus]] 217-218 CE
*[[Diadumenianus]] 218 CE
*[[Eliogabalus]] 218-222 CE
*[[Alexander Severus]] 221-235 CE

===Third Century===
*[[Maximinus Thrax]] 235-238 CE
*[[Gordian I 238 CE]] 238 CE
*[[Gordian II]] 238 CE
*[[Pupienus]] 238 CE
*[[Balbinus]] 238 CE
*[[Gordian III]] 238 - 244 CE
*[[Philip the Arab]] 244-249 CE
*[[Decius]] 249-251 CE
*[[Hostilianus]] 251 CE
*[[Trebonianus Gallus]] 251-253 CE
*[[Volusianus]] 251-253 CE
*[[Aemilianus]] 253 CE
*[[Valerian]] 253-260 CE
*[[Gallienus]] 253-268 CE
*[[Saloninus]] 260 CE
*[[Postumus]] 260-269 CE
*[[Marius]] 269 CE
*[[Victorinus]] 269-271 CE
*[[Tetricus I]] 271-274 CE
*[[Claudius II Gothicus]] 268-270 CE
*[[Vaballathus]] 267-273 CE
*[[Quintillus]] 270 CE
*[[Aurelian]] 270-275 CE
*[[Tacitus]] 275-276 CE
*[[Florianus]] 276 CE
*[[Probus]] 276-282 CE
*[[Carus]] 282-283 CE
*[[Carinus]] 282-285 CE
*[[Numerian]] 282-284 CE

===Tetrarchy===
*[[Diocletian]] 284-305 CE
*[[Maximimian]] 286-305 CE
*[[Carausius]] 286-293 CE
*[[Allectus]] 293-296 CE
*[[Galerius]] 305-311 CE
*[[Constantius Chlorus]] 305-306 CE
*[[Severus]] 306-307 CE
*[[Maxentius]] 306-312 CE
*[[Maximinus II Daia]] 308-313 CE
*[[Licinius]] 308-324 CE

===Fourth Century===
*[[Constantine I the Great]] 306-337 CE
*[[Constantine II]] 337-340 CE
*[[Constans]] 337-350 CE
*[[Constantius II]] 337-361 CE
*[[Nepotianus]] 350 CE
*[[Magnentius]] 350-353 CE
*[[Magnus Decentius]] 352-353 CE
*[[Julian the Apostate]] 361-363 CE
*[[Jovian]] 363-364 CE
*[[Valentinian I]] 364-375 CE
*[[Valens]] 364-378 CE
*[[Gratian]] 375-383 CE
*[[Valentinian II]] 375-392 CE
*[[Theodosius I]] 379-395 CE
*[[Magnus Maximus]] 383-388 CE
*[[Eugenius]] 392-394 CE

===Fifth Century - West===
*[[Honorius]] 395 423 CE
*[[Jovinus]] 411-413 CE
*[[Flavius Constantius III]] 421 CE
*[[Ioannes]] 423-425 CE
*[[Valentinian III]] 425-455 CE
*[[Petronius Maximus]] 455 CE
*[[Avitus]] 455-456 CE
*[[Majorian]] 457-461 CE
*[[Libius Severus]] 461-465 CE
*[[Anthemius]] 467-472 CE
*[[Olybrius]] 472 CE
*[[Glycerius]] 473-474 CE
*[[Julius Nepos]] 474-475 CE
*[[Romolus Augustolus]] 475-476 CE

===Fifth Century - East===
*[[Arcadius]] 395-408 CE
*[[Theodosius]] II 408-450 CE
*[[Marcian]] 450-457 CE
*[[Leo I]] 457-474 CE
*[[Leo II]] 474 CE
*[[Zeno]] 474-491 CE
*[[Basiliscus]] 475-476 CE
*[[Anastasius I]] 491-518 CE

===Sixth Century===
*[[Justin I]] 518-527 CE
*[[Justinian I]] 527-565 CE
*[[Justin II]] 565-578 CE
*[[Tiberius II Constantine]] 574-582 CE
*[[Maurice]] 582-602 CE
*[[Phocas]] 602-610 CE
*[[Heraclius]] 610-641 CE

==Roman Emperors in ancient sources==

==Roman Emperors in Scholarship==

==Roman Emperors in Fiction==

==External links==

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]
[[Category:Topics]]

Caracalla

2012-03-05T21:01:15Z

Roccasam: Created page with " *This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Septimius Severus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Caracalla (subject) ..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Septimius Severus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Caracalla (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]] (186 – 217 CE) succeeded to his father, [[Septimius Severus]] in 211 and reigned till 217 CE.

====Overview====

[[Caracalla]], the elder son of [[Septimius Severus]] succeeded to his father in 211 CE. He is remembered for the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]] which granted Roman citizenship to all free provincials as well as for the erection of the huge [[Baths of Caracalla]] in Rome. He was succeeded by [[Macrinus]], the praetorian prefect, who had him murdered in 217 CE.

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Septimius Bassianus]] was born at [[Lugdunum]] the son of [[Septimius Severus]] and of [[Julia Domna]] in 187 CE. His father the future emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who stemmed from an equestrian family of African origin, had been elevated to the Senatorial rank by the Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]]. His mother [[Julia Domna]] was the daughter of [[Julius Bassianus]], the high priest of the sun god of [[Emesa]]. [[Lucius Septimius Geta]], his younger brother was born in 189 CE. When his father was acclaimed emperor by the legions of [[Pannonia]], he changed the name to his son to [[Marcus Aurelius Bassianus Antoninus]] to stress his connections to the [[Antonine]] dynasty, of which he saw himself as the political heir. [[Caracalla]], so nicknamed because he wore the caracalla, a hooded tunic of Gallic origin, was married to [[Fulvia Plautilla]], the daughter of [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], the praetorian prefect. Together with his younger brother [[Geta]], [[Caracalla]] followed his father in the expedition in [[Britain]].

====Imperial Succession====

On his deathbed at [[Eboracum]] in 211 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] had his elder son [[Caracalla]] acclaimed emperor by the army, together with his brother [[Geta]]. For a whole year he remained in [[Britain]], campaigning against the hostile [[Caledonian]] tribes. Back in Rome, after various squabbles with his brother [[Geta]], he had him murdered in the hands of his mother [[Julia Domna]]. After the assassination, he ordered the Senate to declare a damnatio memoriae for his brother. [[Caracalla]] also had his wife, executed in the wake of persecutions against the alleged supporters of [[Geta]]. In 212 C.E., [[Caracalla]] published the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]], giving the Roman citizenship to all free provincials. It seems that the main reason was probably to increase the taxation. [[Caracalla]]’ main economic reform was the debasing of the silver content of the Roman [[denarius]] by 25%, and the introduction of the [[antoninianus]], a double denarius, in order to raise the pay of the legions to 675 denarii, and distribute them various bounties. At Rome, the reign of [[Caracalla]] was characterized by the erection of the huge [[Baths of Caracalla]]. In 213 CE, [[Caracalla]] went campaigning in the [[Agri Decumates]] in [[Germany]] against the [[Alamanni]]. The Germanic tribes were defeated, but no decisive victory was won. He was conferred by the Senate the title of [[Germanicus Maximus]]. In 214 CE, [[Caracalla]] left once more Rome for the East to open a campaign against [[Parthia]]. In 215 CE, while visiting [[Alexandria]], he was mocked by the locals as he claimed to have had his brother killed in self defense. [[Caracalla]] reacted having the leading citizens executed and the city looted and plundered for several days. In 217 CE, while campaigning against [[Parthia]] he was assassinated by [[Julius Martialis]], an officer in the imperial bodyguard. [[Caracalla]] was succeeded by [[Macrinus]], the Praetorian Prefect.

====Caracalla and the Jews====

The Life of Caracalla refers to the positive and friendly attitude of the future emperor, still heir to the throne to a playmate, who was a proselyte to Judaism (SHA, Antoninus Caracalla 1: 6). [[Caracalla]], together with his father, [[Septimius Severus]], confirmed laws regulating the participation of Jews in public offices, enacted during the later [[Antonines]] (Digesta 50.2.3.3.). It seems that when [[Caracalla]], in 212 C.E. enacted the [[Constitutio Antoniniana de Civitate]] the Jews were also included between those who benefited from the new law. In fact, before the [[Constitutio Antoniniana]], only the Jews who were Roman citizens were subjects to Roman law; however, once Roman citizenship was awarded to all peregrini, a concession, never officially recognized de jure, was made in favor of all the Jews in the Empire, by which they were allowed to retain some of the institutions of Jewish law. Thus, probably most of the Jews living in Roman Italy, who had the status of peregrini, received Roman citizenship, improving their status. [[Caracalla]] visited Palestine in 214 CE, and possibly he met the Jewish Patriarch [[Judah ha – Nasi]]. Rabbinic sources, which refer to [[Antoninus]] friend of [[Rabbi]], possibly refer to him. The city of [[Sepphoris]], where the Jewish [[Patriarch]] lived minted a medallion to celebrate the friendship with the emperor.

== [[Caracalla]] in ancient sources==

== [[Caracalla]] in Scholarship==

== [[Caracalla]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Caracalla]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Caracalla Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Septimius Severus

2012-03-05T20:10:54Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Septimius Severus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Septimius Severus (subject)]]

[[Lucius Septimius Severus]] (146 – 211 CE) from [[Africa]] reigned from 193 till 211 CE. He was the founder of the[[ Severan]] dynasty.

====Overview====

[[Septimius Severus]], the commander of the legions of [[Pannonia]] was proclaimed emperor in 193 CE. After he defeated his rivals [[Didius Julianus]], [[Pescennius Niger]], and [[Clodius Albinus]], remaining sole master of the Roman Empire, he waged a victorious war against [[Parthia]] from 197 till 199 CE. He was succeeded by his son [[Caracalla]] in 211 CE. The reign of [[Septimius Severus]] was characterized by an increase in the importance of the army and the constant disregard of the prerogative of the Senate.

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Septimius Severus]] was born in 146 CE at [[Leptis Magna]]. His father [[Publius Septimius Geta]] holds equestrian rank. However two cousins, [[Publius Septimius Aper]] and [[Gaius Septimius Severus]], served as consuls under the emperor [[Antoninus Pius]]. His mother [[Fulvia Pia]] came from an Italic family that originated in Tusculum, which moved to [[Africa]]. His maternal cousin was [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], Praetorian Praefect and consul in 203 CE. [[Septimius Severus]] had a brother, [[Publius Septimius Geta]], and a sister, Septimia Pia. In 162 CE, the young [[Septimius Severus]] moved to Rome. Through the influence of his uncle, [[Gaius Septimius Severus]], the Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] granted him the Senatorial order. His cursus honorum began as a member of the vigintivirate. Back for a while to [[Leptis Magna]], in 169 CE he was appointed quaestor. He served as quaestor in [[Sardinia]] a second time. He was appointed legatus legionis pro praetore in 173 CE, when his uncle [[Gaius Septimius Severus]] was appointed governor of [[Africa]] as proconsul. Back in Rome, [[Septimius Severus]] stood as Imperial candidate for the nomination of tribunus plebis. In 190 CE [Severus]] became consul, and in the following year, in 191 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] received from [[Commodus]] the command of the legions in [[Pannonia]]. In 175 CE, while in [[Africa]], [[Septimius Severus]] married [[Paccia Marciana]], a woman from [[Leptis Magna]]. It seems that the couple was childless when [[Paccia Marciana]] died in 186 CE. In 187 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] married [[Julia Domna]], the daughter of [[Julius Bassianus]], the high priest of the sun god of [[Emesa]], [[Elagabal]]. The couple had two children, [[Lucius Septimius Bassianus]], the future emperor [[Caracalla]], born in 188 CE, and his younger brother [[Lucius Septimius Geta]], born in 189 CE.

====Imperial Succession====

After the murder of [[Pertinax]], once the proclamation of [[Didius Julianus]] as Emperor reached the Danubian frontier, in 193 CE, the legions of [[Pannonia]] proclaimed [[Septimius Severus]] emperor at [[Carnutum]]. [[Septimius Severus]] immediately moved to Rome. [[Didius Julianus]] asked the Senate to appoint [[Septimius Severus]], as a joint Emperor. [[Septimius Severus]] refused, and once he entered in Rome in the summer of 193 CE, he had [[Didius Julianus]] sentenced to death by the Senate and executed. However, in the same time [[Pescennius Niger]] was proclaimed Emperor by the Eastern legions in 193 CE while [[Clodius Albinus]] was acclaimed emperor by the legions stationed in [[Britannia]], and in [[Hispania]], making him the undisputed master of the western part of the Roman Empire. [[Clodius Albinus]] allied himself to [[Septimius Severus]], and in 194 CE, he shared together a consulship, accepting the title of Caesar. Once [[Septimius Severus]] in Rome, he ordered the Praetorian Praefect [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]] to held as hostages the children of [[Pescennius Niger]]. However, the latter secured the support of all the governors of the Eastern provinces, including [[Asellius Aemilianus]], the proconsul of [[Asia]]. However [[Septimius Severus]] could count on the support of the sixteen legions stationed on the [[Danube]], while [[Pescennius Niger]] had only six legions at his disposal. The war opened badly for [[Septimius Severus]], as [[Lucius Fabius Cilo]], who commanded part of [[Septimius Severus]]’army was defeated by [[Pescennius Niger]] at [[Perinthus]]. However, [[Tiberius Claudius Candidus]], who commanded the vanguard of the army of [[Septimius Severus]] defeated the army commanded by [[Asellius Aemilianus]] in the battle of [[Cyzicus]]. Then, the main army under the command of [[Septimius Severus]] put [[Byzantium]] under siege. [[Pescennius Niger]] had to retire to [[Nicaea]], where in a pitched battle he was defeated. However, [[Pescennius Niger]] was successful enough to retire with most of his army to [[Antioch]]. However various cities as [[Laodicaea]] and [[Tyre]] as well as the prefect of [[Egypt]] and the legate in [[Arabia]] switched their allegiance to [[Septimius Severus]]. In the spring of 194 CE, [[Cornelius Anullinus]], a general of [[Septimius Severus]] defeated definitely [[Pescennius Niger]] at the battle of [[Issus]]. [[Pescennius Niger]] was captured and beheaded. However the resistance of the East to [[Septimius Severus]] ceased only in 195 CE, with the surrender of [[Byzantium]]. In 196 CE, once he understood that he would have been the next target of [[Septimius Severus]], [[Clodius Albinus]] proclaimed himself Emperor, and crossed from [[Britain]] to [[Gaul]]. [[Virius Lupus]], the legate of [[Septimius Severus]], was defeated by Clodius Albinus, however the latter was unable to purchase the allegiance of the legions stationed on the [[Rhine]]. At the beginning of 197 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] defeated [[Clodius Albinus]] at the battle of [[Lugdunum]], who in the aftermath of the battle, was captured and executed. As sole Emperor, [[Septimius Severus]] fought from 197 till 199 CE a war against [[Parthia]]. The result of the war was that the Parthian capital [[Ctesiphon]] was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of [[Mesopotamia]] was restored to Rome. In 203 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] visited the province of [[Africa]]. This was the occasion to display his evergetism towards his native city, [[Leptis Magna]], which was much rebuilt. The [[Arch of Septimius Severus]] in the Roman Forum, which commemorates the victorious Parthian War, and the [[Septizodium]], a huge monument, set on the eastern side of the Palatine palace, testified [[Septimius Severus]] evergetism in Rome. From 208 till 211 CE [[Septimius Severus]] fought a campaign in Britain against the Barbarians, defending the Wall of [[Hadrian]]. During [[Septimius Severus]]’s rule the army much increased in importance. [[Septimius Severus[[ disbanded the [[Praetorian Guard]] and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000 loyal soldiers, moreover during his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25 - 30 to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (numerii), many of these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Moreover, the annual wage for a soldier was raised from 300 to 500 denarii a year. [[Septimius Severus]] enjoyed a very negative relationship with the Roman Senate. The Emperor had dozens of Senators sentenced to death and executed on various charges. On the other side, from 197 CE, till his dismissal and execution in 205 CE, [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], the praetorian prefect, whose daughter, [[Fulvia Plautilla]], was married to [[Caracalla]], the son of [[Septimius Severus]]', hold much influence. Also the two successive praefecti, including the jurist [[Aemilius Papinianus]] hold much influence.[[Septimius Severus]] died at [[York]] - [[Eburacum]], while campaigning in [[Britain]] in 211 CE. He left as successors his two sons, [[Caracalla]] and [[Geta]].

====Septimius Severus and the Jews====

The Life of Septimius Severus mentions the conquest of [[Palestine]] in the aftermath of the defeat of [[Pescennius Niger]], an unknown “Jewish triumph” of [[Caracalla]], which still puzzles the historians, and the fact that while [[Severus]] conferred numerous legal rights to the Jews, yet he forbade conversion to Judaism under heavy penalties (SHA, Septimius Severus 14: 6, 16: 7, 17: 1). In fact [[Septimius Severus]] founded in Palestine the colonia of [[Eleutheropolis]] in 200 CE, and according to Rabbinic literature he also conferred this title to the city of [[Tiberias]]. It seems that the relationship between the Severan ruling house and the Jews of [[Galilee]] was excellent as the synagogue of [[Katzion]] was dedicated to the welfare of the Imperial family. It is also possible that, when in Palaestina, [[Septimius Severus]] met the Jewish Patriarch, Judah ha Nasi in 194 CE. [[Septimius Severus]] and [[Caracalla]] confirmed the laws regulating the participation of Jews in public offices enacted by [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Commodus]]. [[Ulpianus]], who died in 218 C.E., in his Libri de Officio Proconsulis, while discussing the honor of decuriones in Book III, cites briefly the statues concerning the possibility of Jews attaining public office (Digesta 50.2.3.3.). [[Septimius Severus]] however maintained certain disabilities. Jews had still to pay the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], proselytism was forbidden, and slaves owned by Jews could not be circumcised.

== [[Septimius Severus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Septimius Severus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Septimius Severus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Septimius Severus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Septimius Severus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

.

Septimius Severus

2012-03-05T20:10:22Z

Roccasam: Created page with " *This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Septimius Severus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Septimius Severus (subj..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Septimius Severus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Septimius Severus (subject)]]

[[Lucius Septimius Severus]] (146 – 211 CE) from [[Africa]] reigned from 193 till 211 CE. He was the founder of the[[ Severan]] dynasty.

====Overview===

[[Septimius Severus]], the commander of the legions of [[Pannonia]] was proclaimed emperor in 193 CE. After he defeated his rivals [[Didius Julianus]], [[Pescennius Niger]], and [[Clodius Albinus]], remaining sole master of the Roman Empire, he waged a victorious war against [[Parthia]] from 197 till 199 CE. He was succeeded by his son [[Caracalla]] in 211 CE. The reign of [[Septimius Severus]] was characterized by an increase in the importance of the army and the constant disregard of the prerogative of the Senate.

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Septimius Severus]] was born in 146 CE at [[Leptis Magna]]. His father [[Publius Septimius Geta]] holds equestrian rank. However two cousins, [[Publius Septimius Aper]] and [[Gaius Septimius Severus]], served as consuls under the emperor [[Antoninus Pius]]. His mother [[Fulvia Pia]] came from an Italic family that originated in Tusculum, which moved to [[Africa]]. His maternal cousin was [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], Praetorian Praefect and consul in 203 CE. [[Septimius Severus]] had a brother, [[Publius Septimius Geta]], and a sister, Septimia Pia. In 162 CE, the young [[Septimius Severus]] moved to Rome. Through the influence of his uncle, [[Gaius Septimius Severus]], the Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] granted him the Senatorial order. His cursus honorum began as a member of the vigintivirate. Back for a while to [[Leptis Magna]], in 169 CE he was appointed quaestor. He served as quaestor in [[Sardinia]] a second time. He was appointed legatus legionis pro praetore in 173 CE, when his uncle [[Gaius Septimius Severus]] was appointed governor of [[Africa]] as proconsul. Back in Rome, [[Septimius Severus]] stood as Imperial candidate for the nomination of tribunus plebis. In 190 CE [Severus]] became consul, and in the following year, in 191 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] received from [[Commodus]] the command of the legions in [[Pannonia]]. In 175 CE, while in [[Africa]], [[Septimius Severus]] married [[Paccia Marciana]], a woman from [[Leptis Magna]]. It seems that the couple was childless when [[Paccia Marciana]] died in 186 CE. In 187 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] married [[Julia Domna]], the daughter of [[Julius Bassianus]], the high priest of the sun god of [[Emesa]], [[Elagabal]]. The couple had two children, [[Lucius Septimius Bassianus]], the future emperor [[Caracalla]], born in 188 CE, and his younger brother [[Lucius Septimius Geta]], born in 189 CE.

====Imperial Succession====

After the murder of [[Pertinax]], once the proclamation of [[Didius Julianus]] as Emperor reached the Danubian frontier, in 193 CE, the legions of [[Pannonia]] proclaimed [[Septimius Severus]] emperor at [[Carnutum]]. [[Septimius Severus]] immediately moved to Rome. [[Didius Julianus]] asked the Senate to appoint [[Septimius Severus]], as a joint Emperor. [[Septimius Severus]] refused, and once he entered in Rome in the summer of 193 CE, he had [[Didius Julianus]] sentenced to death by the Senate and executed. However, in the same time [[Pescennius Niger]] was proclaimed Emperor by the Eastern legions in 193 CE while [[Clodius Albinus]] was acclaimed emperor by the legions stationed in [[Britannia]], and in [[Hispania]], making him the undisputed master of the western part of the Roman Empire. [[Clodius Albinus]] allied himself to [[Septimius Severus]], and in 194 CE, he shared together a consulship, accepting the title of Caesar. Once [[Septimius Severus]] in Rome, he ordered the Praetorian Praefect [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]] to held as hostages the children of [[Pescennius Niger]]. However, the latter secured the support of all the governors of the Eastern provinces, including [[Asellius Aemilianus]], the proconsul of [[Asia]]. However [[Septimius Severus]] could count on the support of the sixteen legions stationed on the [[Danube]], while [[Pescennius Niger]] had only six legions at his disposal. The war opened badly for [[Septimius Severus]], as [[Lucius Fabius Cilo]], who commanded part of [[Septimius Severus]]’army was defeated by [[Pescennius Niger]] at [[Perinthus]]. However, [[Tiberius Claudius Candidus]], who commanded the vanguard of the army of [[Septimius Severus]] defeated the army commanded by [[Asellius Aemilianus]] in the battle of [[Cyzicus]]. Then, the main army under the command of [[Septimius Severus]] put [[Byzantium]] under siege. [[Pescennius Niger]] had to retire to [[Nicaea]], where in a pitched battle he was defeated. However, [[Pescennius Niger]] was successful enough to retire with most of his army to [[Antioch]]. However various cities as [[Laodicaea]] and [[Tyre]] as well as the prefect of [[Egypt]] and the legate in [[Arabia]] switched their allegiance to [[Septimius Severus]]. In the spring of 194 CE, [[Cornelius Anullinus]], a general of [[Septimius Severus]] defeated definitely [[Pescennius Niger]] at the battle of [[Issus]]. [[Pescennius Niger]] was captured and beheaded. However the resistance of the East to [[Septimius Severus]] ceased only in 195 CE, with the surrender of [[Byzantium]]. In 196 CE, once he understood that he would have been the next target of [[Septimius Severus]], [[Clodius Albinus]] proclaimed himself Emperor, and crossed from [[Britain]] to [[Gaul]]. [[Virius Lupus]], the legate of [[Septimius Severus]], was defeated by Clodius Albinus, however the latter was unable to purchase the allegiance of the legions stationed on the [[Rhine]]. At the beginning of 197 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] defeated [[Clodius Albinus]] at the battle of [[Lugdunum]], who in the aftermath of the battle, was captured and executed. As sole Emperor, [[Septimius Severus]] fought from 197 till 199 CE a war against [[Parthia]]. The result of the war was that the Parthian capital [[Ctesiphon]] was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of [[Mesopotamia]] was restored to Rome. In 203 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] visited the province of [[Africa]]. This was the occasion to display his evergetism towards his native city, [[Leptis Magna]], which was much rebuilt. The [[Arch of Septimius Severus]] in the Roman Forum, which commemorates the victorious Parthian War, and the [[Septizodium]], a huge monument, set on the eastern side of the Palatine palace, testified [[Septimius Severus]] evergetism in Rome. From 208 till 211 CE [[Septimius Severus]] fought a campaign in Britain against the Barbarians, defending the Wall of [[Hadrian]]. During [[Septimius Severus]]’s rule the army much increased in importance. [[Septimius Severus[[ disbanded the [[Praetorian Guard]] and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000 loyal soldiers, moreover during his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25 - 30 to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (numerii), many of these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Moreover, the annual wage for a soldier was raised from 300 to 500 denarii a year. [[Septimius Severus]] enjoyed a very negative relationship with the Roman Senate. The Emperor had dozens of Senators sentenced to death and executed on various charges. On the other side, from 197 CE, till his dismissal and execution in 205 CE, [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]], the praetorian prefect, whose daughter, [[Fulvia Plautilla]], was married to [[Caracalla]], the son of [[Septimius Severus]]', hold much influence. Also the two successive praefecti, including the jurist [[Aemilius Papinianus]] hold much influence.[[Septimius Severus]] died at [[York]] - [[Eburacum]], while campaigning in [[Britain]] in 211 CE. He left as successors his two sons, [[Caracalla]] and [[Geta]].

====Septimius Severus and the Jews====

The Life of Septimius Severus mentions the conquest of [[Palestine]] in the aftermath of the defeat of [[Pescennius Niger]], an unknown “Jewish triumph” of [[Caracalla]], which still puzzles the historians, and the fact that while [[Severus]] conferred numerous legal rights to the Jews, yet he forbade conversion to Judaism under heavy penalties (SHA, Septimius Severus 14: 6, 16: 7, 17: 1). In fact [[Septimius Severus]] founded in Palestine the colonia of [[Eleutheropolis]] in 200 CE, and according to Rabbinic literature he also conferred this title to the city of [[Tiberias]]. It seems that the relationship between the Severan ruling house and the Jews of [[Galilee]] was excellent as the synagogue of [[Katzion]] was dedicated to the welfare of the Imperial family. It is also possible that, when in Palaestina, [[Septimius Severus]] met the Jewish Patriarch, Judah ha Nasi in 194 CE. [[Septimius Severus]] and [[Caracalla]] confirmed the laws regulating the participation of Jews in public offices enacted by [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Commodus]]. [[Ulpianus]], who died in 218 C.E., in his Libri de Officio Proconsulis, while discussing the honor of decuriones in Book III, cites briefly the statues concerning the possibility of Jews attaining public office (Digesta 50.2.3.3.). [[Septimius Severus]] however maintained certain disabilities. Jews had still to pay the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], proselytism was forbidden, and slaves owned by Jews could not be circumcised.

== [[Septimius Severus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Septimius Severus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Septimius Severus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Septimius Severus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Septimius Severus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

.

Pescennius Niger

2012-03-01T12:21:12Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Pescennius Niger (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Pescennius Niger (subject..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Pescennius Niger (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Pescennius Niger (subject)]]

[[Gaius Pescennius Niger Augustus]] (135/140 – 194 CE) ruled between 193 and 194 CE in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.

====Overview====

[[Pescennius Niger]] was proclaimed Emperor in 193 CE by the legions under his command in Syria, who refused to acknowledge [[Didius Julianus]]. The following year in 194 CE, he was killed after his army unsuccessfully clashed with that of [[Septimius Severus]], while attempting to flee from [[Antioch]].

====Early Career====

[[Pescennius Niger]] was born between 135 and 140 CE, in [[Italy]]. He was a member of an equestrian family. It seems that his [[cursus honorum]] began with an administrative position in [[Egypt]], and afterwards, at the beginning of the reign of [[Commodus]], he served in [[Dacia]]. Because of his merits, he was enrolled in the Senatorial order. Thus, he was then appointed consul suffectus and in 191 CE, imperial legate in [[Syria]].

====Imperial Succession====

At the accession of [[Didius Julianus]] to the throne, in 193 CE, various demonstrations broke out in Rome, calling [[Pescennius Niger]] to the Imperial purple. The result was that [[Pescennius Niger]] was proclaimed Emperor by the Eastern legions in 193 CE as [[Gaius Pescennius Niger Justus Augustus]]. Once [[Septimius Severus]] marched in Rome and had [[Didius Julianus]] deposed by the [[Senate]] and then executed, he ordered the Praetorian Praefect [[Gaius Fulvius Plautianus]] to held as hostages the children of [[Pescennius Niger]]. The latter secured the support of all the governors of the Eastern provinces, including [[Asellius Aemilianus]], the proconsul of [[Asia]]. However [[Septimius Severus]] when he marched against him could count on the support of no less than the sixteen legions stationed on the [[Danube]], while [[Pescennius Niger]] had only six legions at his disposal, three in the province of [[Syria]], two in the province of [[Arabia Petrea]], and one located at [[Melitene]]. [[Pescennius Niger]] was able enough to defeat [[Lucius Fabius Cilo]], who commanded part of [[Septimius Severus]]’army, at [[Perinthus]]. The main army of [[Septimius Severus]] was preceded by a smaller vanguard under the command of [[Tiberius Claudius Candidus]], who defeated the army commanded by [[Asellius Aemilianus]] in the battle of [[Cyzicus]]. The army of [[Septimius Severus]] put [[Byzantium]] under siege, and [[Pescennius Niger]] had to retire to [[Nicaea]], where in a pitched battle [[Pescennius Niger]] was defeated. [[Pescennius Niger]] was successful enough to retire with most of his army to [[Antioch]]. However support for his cause was by now fading. Various cities as [[Laodicaea]] and [[Tyre]] as well as the prefect of [[Egypt]] and the legate in [[Arabia]] switched their allegiance to [[Septimius Severus]]. In the spring of 194 CE, [[Pescennius Niger]] was defeated definitely by [[Cornelius Anullinus]], a general of [[Septimius Severus]] at the battle of [[Issus]]. While attempting to flee from [[Antioch]] to [[Parthia]], [[Pescennius Niger]] was captured and beheaded. However the resistance of the East to [[Septimius Severus]] ceased only in 195 CE, with the surrender of [[Byzantium]].

== [[Pescennius Niger]] in ancient sources==

== [[Pescennius Niger]] in Scholarship==

== [[Pescennius Niger]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Pescennius Niger]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pescennius Niger Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Clodius Albinus

2012-03-01T12:15:39Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Clodius Albinus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Clodius Albinus (subject)]]

[[Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus]] (150 – 197 CE) ruled between 193 and 197 CE in the Western part of the Roman Empire.

====Overview====

[[Clodius Albinus]], from a prominent African family, was proclaimed emperor in 193 CE by the legions under his command in [[Britannia]] and [[Hispania]], who refused to acknowledge [[Didius Julianus]]. He was defeated and executed in the aftermath of the battle of [[Lugdunum]] by [[Septimius Severus]], by then sole Emperor.

====Early Career====

[[Clodius Albinus]] was born in 150 CE at [[Hadrumetum]] in [[Africa]]. He began his [[cursus honorum]] in the army, and served in the East in 175 CE, helping in the quelling of the rebellion of [[Avidius Cassius]], convincing the legions stationed in [[Bithynia]] not to pass to the usurper. [[Commodus]] appointed him governor of [[Gallia Belgica]], and in 191 CE, he was appointed governor of [[Britannia]].

====Imperial Succession====

At the accession to the Imperial purple of [[Didius Julianus] in 193 CE, [[Clodius Albinus]] was acclaimed emperor by the three legions stationed in [[Britannia]], and by the one stationed in [[Hispania]], making him the undisputed master of the western part of the Roman Empire. Meanwhile, the legions of [[Pannonia]] had proclaimed Emperor [[Septimius Severus]], and those of [[Syria]], [[Pescennius Niger]]. [[Septimius Severus]] marched to Rome and had [[Didius Julianus]] deposed and executed. [[Clodius Albinus]] allied himself to [[Septimius Severus]], and in 194 CE, he shared together a consulship, accepting the title of Caesar. From 194 till 196 CE, [[Septimius Severus]] was in the East, defeating [[Pescennius Niger]] and his allies. In 196, once he understood that he would have been the next target of [[Septimius Severus]], [[Clodius Albinus]] proclaimed himself Emperor as Imperator Caesar [[Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus]] Augustus, and crossed from [[Britain]] to [[Gaul]]. He was successful in defeating [[Virius Lupus]], the legate of [[Septimius Severus]], however he was unable to purchase the allegiance of the legions stationed on the [[Rhine]]. At the beginning of 197 CE, [[Clodius Albinus]] was defeated by [[Septimius Severus]] at the battle of [[Lugdunum]]. In the aftermath of the battle, he was captured and executed together with members of his family by the victorious [[Septimius Severus]].

== [[Clodius Albinus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Clodius Albinus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Clodius Albinus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Clodius Albinus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Clodius Albinus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Didius Julianus

2012-03-01T12:10:16Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Didius Julianus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Pertinax (subject) [[Ma..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Didius Julianus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Pertinax (subject)]]

[[Marcus Didius Salvius Julianus Severus]] (133 – 193 CE) reigned shortly in 193 CE.

====Overview====

[[Didius Julianus]], a Roman Senator, succeeded to [[Pertinax]], after the late was murdered by the [[Praetorian Guard]] in 193 CE. He had to face immediately various rebellions through the Empire. Soon afterwards, in the same year, [[Septimius Severus]] deposed him and had him executed.

====Early Career====

[[Didius Julianus]] was born in 133 CE. His father, Quintus Petronius Didius Severus, came from an important family from [[Milan]]. His mother, Aemilia Clara, came from a family of consular rank. The young [[Didius Julianus]] did grow up in the house of [[Domitia Lucilla]], the mother of Roman Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]]. [[Didius Julianus]] took the Senatorial [[cursus honorum]], and appointed in turn, quaestor, aedilis, and in 162 CE he was appointed praetor. He was then appointed legate of the [[Legio XXII Primigenia]] in [[Mogontiacum]]. There he repressed the rebellion of the [[Chauci]]. In 175 CE, he was appointed consul, together with [[Pertinax]]. His [[cursus honorum]] continued with a governorship in the provinces of [[Dalmatia]] and [[Germania Inferior]], prefect of Italy, governor of [[Bythinia]], and then in 190 CE, he was appointed proconsul of [[Africa]], where he succeeded to [[Pertinax]. He was married to [[Manlia Scantilla]] and in 153 CE, he had a daughter, [[Didia Clara]].

====Imperial Succession====

[[Didius Iulianus]] bought the Imperial purple in an auction hold by the [[Praetorian Guard]], who, under the leadership of the praetorian prefect [[Aemilius Laetus]], had murdered [[Pertinax]] in 193 CE. [[Didius Julianus]] won after he offered to the soldiers a big donative, outbidding the urban prefect [[Titus Flavius Sulpicianus]]. His accession to the throne was immediately contested by various rebellions all over the empire, [[Septimius Severus]] in [[Pannonia]], [[Pescennius Niger]] in [[Syria]], and [[Clodius Albinus]] in [[Britain]]. [[Didius Julianus]] asked the Senate to appoint [[Septimius Severus]], who was marching to Rome, as a joint Emperor. [[Septimius Severus]] refused, and once he entered in Rome in the summer of 193 CE, he had [[Didius Julianus]] sentenced to death by the Senate and executed.

== [[Didius Julianus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Didius Julianus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Didius Julianus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Didius Julianus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Didius Julianus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Pertinax

2012-03-01T12:05:10Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Pertinax (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Pertinax (subject)]]

[[Publius Helvius Pertinax]] (126 – 193 CE) reigned in 193 CE.

====Overview====

[[Pertinax]], the urban prefect of Rome, succeeded to the Imperial throne after the murder of [[Commodus]] in 193 CE. He was murdered a few months afterwards by a member of the [[Praetorian Guard]]. He was succeeded by [[Didius Julianus]].

====Early Career====

[[Pertinax]] was born in Alba. His father, Helvius Successus, was a freeman. Although [[Pertinax]] began as a [[grammaticus]], he found the right patronage to enter the army. He served in the [[Parthian War]], where he distinguished himself. Thus afterwards he could begin his [[cursus honorum]]. As an equestrian, he served as a military tribune of the [[Legio VI Victrix]] in [[Britain]] and on the Danubian Frontier. He was then appointed procurator in [[Dacia]]. He served under [[Claudius Pompeianus]], he was enrolled in the Senatorial order and in 175 CE, and he was appointed consul suffectus together with [[Didius Julianus]]. Till 185 CE, [[Pertinax]] served as governor of the provinces of [[Upper Moesia]] and [[Lower Moesia]], [[Dacia]], [[Syria]] and [[Britannia]], where he quelled a mutiny in 187 CE. However, because of the harsh treatment of the mutineers, he was forced to resign. In Rome, [[Pertinax]] had also to face the hostility of [[Perennis]], the favorite of [[Commodus]]. From 188 till 189 CE, [[Pertinax]] served as proconsul of [[Africa]]. He was then appointed urban prefect of Rome, and once more in 192 CE, he served as consul ordinarius together with [[Commodus]].

====Imperial Succession====

After the assassination of [[Commodus]], [[Pertinax]] was proclaimed Emperor by the [[Praetorian Guard]], soon afterwards at the beginning of 193 CE. He became soon unpopular with the [[Praetorian Guard]], as he refused them a donative at his accession, although afterwards to meet their expectations, he had to sell off various belonging of the previous emperor. A conspiracy, which purpose was to replace [[Pertinax]] with the consul [[Quintus Sosius Falco]], failed. However soon afterwards, he was murdered by various soldiers of the [[Praetorian Guards]], who complained that they did not receive their donatives in full. After his murder, the imperial title was auctioned by the [[Praetorian Guard]] in a bid, which the Senator [[Didius Julianus]] won. Later, once he conquered Rome, [[Septimius Severus]] had the murders of [[Pertinax]] punished, had the Senate deify him, and gave him a state funeral. The very short reign of [[Pertinax]] is also remembered as he tried to reform the [[alimenta]].

== [[Pertinax]] in ancient sources==

== [[Pertinax]] in Scholarship==

== [[Pertinax]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Pertinax]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pertinax Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Pertinax

2012-03-01T12:04:39Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Pertinax (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Pertinax (subject) [[Publius H..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Pertinax (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Pertinax (subject)]]

[[Publius Helvius Pertinax]] (126 – 193 CE) reigned in 193 CE.

====Overview===

[[Pertinax]], the urban prefect of Rome, succeeded to the Imperial throne after the murder of [[Commodus]] in 193 CE. He was murdered a few months afterwards by a member of the [[Praetorian Guard]]. He was succeeded by [[Didius Julianus]].

====Early Career====

[[Pertinax]] was born in Alba. His father, Helvius Successus, was a freeman. Although [[Pertinax]] began as a [[grammaticus]], he found the right patronage to enter the army. He served in the [[Parthian War]], where he distinguished himself. Thus afterwards he could begin his [[cursus honorum]]. As an equestrian, he served as a military tribune of the [[Legio VI Victrix]] in [[Britain]] and on the Danubian Frontier. He was then appointed procurator in [[Dacia]]. He served under [[Claudius Pompeianus]], he was enrolled in the Senatorial order and in 175 CE, and he was appointed consul suffectus together with [[Didius Julianus]]. Till 185 CE, [[Pertinax]] served as governor of the provinces of [[Upper Moesia]] and [[Lower Moesia]], [[Dacia]], [[Syria]] and [[Britannia]], where he quelled a mutiny in 187 CE. However, because of the harsh treatment of the mutineers, he was forced to resign. In Rome, [[Pertinax]] had also to face the hostility of [[Perennis]], the favorite of [[Commodus]]. From 188 till 189 CE, [[Pertinax]] served as proconsul of [[Africa]]. He was then appointed urban prefect of Rome, and once more in 192 CE, he served as consul ordinarius together with [[Commodus]].

====Imperial Succession====

After the assassination of [[Commodus]], [[Pertinax]] was proclaimed Emperor by the [[Praetorian Guard]], soon afterwards at the beginning of 193 CE. He became soon unpopular with the [[Praetorian Guard]], as he refused them a donative at his accession, although afterwards to meet their expectations, he had to sell off various belonging of the previous emperor. A conspiracy, which purpose was to replace [[Pertinax]] with the consul [[Quintus Sosius Falco]], failed. However soon afterwards, he was murdered by various soldiers of the [[Praetorian Guards]], who complained that they did not receive their donatives in full. After his murder, the imperial title was auctioned by the [[Praetorian Guard]] in a bid, which the Senator [[Didius Julianus]] won. Later, once he conquered Rome, [[Septimius Severus]] had the murders of [[Pertinax]] punished, had the Senate deify him, and gave him a state funeral. The very short reign of [[Pertinax]] is also remembered as he tried to reform the [[alimenta]].

== [[Pertinax]] in ancient sources==

== [[Pertinax]] in Scholarship==

== [[Pertinax]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Pertinax]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pertinax Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Roman Emperors

2012-02-28T10:53:25Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Roman Emperors (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Roman Emperors (subject)]]

'''Roman Emperors''' reigned in the first-second century over Judea.

==List of Roman Emperors and years in office==

====Julio-Claudian Dynasty====

*[[Augustus]], 27 BCE - 14 CE
*[[Tiberius]], 14 CE - 37 CE
*[[Caligula]], 37 CE - 41 CE
*[[Claudius]], 41 CE - 54 CE
*[[Nero]], 54 CE - 68 CE

====Year of the Four Emperors====

*[[Galba]], 68 CE - 69 CE
*[[Otho]], 69 CE
*[[Vitellius]], 69 CE

====Flavian Dynasty====

*[[Vespasian]], 69-79 CE
*[[Titus]], 79-81 CE
*[[Domitian]], 81-96 CE

====Adopted Emperors====

*[[Nerva]], 96-98 CE
*[[Trajan]], 98-117 CE
*[[Hadrian]], 117-138 CE

===Antonine Dynasty===
*[[Antoninus Pius]], 138-161 CE
*[[Verus]], 161-169 CE
*[[Marcus Aurelius]], 161-180 CE
*[[Commodus]], 180-192 CE

===Year of the Five Emperors===
*[[Pertinax]] 193 CE
*[[Didius Julianus]] 193 CE
*[[Pescennius Niger]] 193-194 CE
*[[Clodius Albinus]] 193-197 CE

===Severan Dynasty===
*[[Septimius Severus]] 193-211 CE
*[[Geta]] 211-212 CE
*[[Caracalla]] 211-217 CE
*[[Macrinus]] 217-218 CE
*[[Diadumenianus]] 218 CE
*[[Eliogabalus]] 218-222 CE
*[[Alexander Severus]] 221-235 CE

===Third Century===
*[[Maximinus Thrax]] 235-238 CE
*[[Gordian I 238 CE]] 238 CE
*[[Gordian II]] 238 CE
*[[Pupienus]] 238 CE
*[[Balbinus]] 238 CE
*[[Gordian III]] 238 - 244 CE
*[[Philip the Arab]] 244-249 CE
*[[Decius]] 249-251 CE
*[[Hostilianus]] 251 CE
*[[Trebonianus Gallus]] 251-253 CE
*[[Volusianus]] 251-253 CE
*[[Aemilianus]] 253 CE
*[[Valerian]] 253-260 CE
*[[Gallienus]] 253-268 CE
*[[Saloninus]] 260 CE
*[[Postumus]] 260-269 CE
*[[Marius]] 269 CE
*[[Victorinus]] 269-271 CE
*[[Tetricus I]] 271-274 CE
*[[Claudius II Gothicus]] 268-270 CE
*[[Vaballathus]] 267-273 CE
*[[Quintillus]] 270 CE
*[[Aurelian]] 270-275 CE
*[[Tacitus]] 275-276 CE
*[[Florianus]] 276 CE
*[[Probus]] 276-282 CE
*[[Carus]] 282-283 CE
*[[Carinus]] 282-285 CE
*[[Numerian]] 282-284 CE

===Tetrarchy===
*[[Diocletian]] 284-305 CE
*[[Maximimian]] 286-305 CE
*[[Carausius]] 286-293 CE
*[[Allectus]] 293-296 CE
*[[Galerius]] 305-311 CE
*[[Constantius Chlorus]] 305-306 CE
*[[Severus]] 306-307 CE
*[[Maxentius]] 306-312 CE
*[[Maximinus II Daia]] 308-313 CE
*[[Licinius]] 308-324 CE

===Fourth Century===
*[[Constantine I the Great]] 306-337 CE
*[[Constantine II]] 337-340 CE
*[[Constans]] 337-350 CE
*[[Constantius II]] 337-361 CE
*[[Nepotianus]] 350 CE
*[[Magnentius]] 350-353 CE
*[[Magnus Decentius]] 352-353 CE
*[[Julian the Apostate]] 361-363 CE
*[[Jovian]] 363-364 CE
*[[Valentinian I]] 364-375 CE
*[[Valens]] 364-378 CE
*[[Gratian]] 375-383 CE
*[[Valentinian II]] 375-392 CE
*[[Theodosius I]] 379-395 CE
*[[Magnus Maximus]] 383-388 CE
*[[Eugenius]] 392-394 CE

===Fifth Century - West===
*[[Honorius]] 395 423 CE
*[[Jovinus]] 411-413 CE
*[[Flavius Constantius III]] 421 CE
*[[Ioannes]] 423-425 CE
*[[Valentinian III]] 425-455 CE
*[[Petronius Maximus]] 455 CE
*[[Avitus]] 455-456 CE
*[[Majorian]] 457-461 CE
*[[Libius Severus]] 461-465 CE
*[[Anthemius]] 467-472 CE
*[[Olybrius]] 472 CE
*[[Glycerius]] 473-474 CE
*[[Julius Nepos]] 474-475 CE
*[[Romolus Augustolus]] 475-476 CE

===Fifth Century - East===
*[[Arcadius]] 395-408 CE
*[[Theodosius]] II 408-450 CE
*[[Marcian]] 450-457 CE
*[[Leo I]] 457-474 CE
*[[Leo II]] 474 CE
*[[Zeno]] 474-491 CE
*[[Basiliscus]] 475-476 CE
*[[Anastasius I]] 491-518 CE

===Sixth Century===
*[[Justin I]] 518-527 CE
*[[Justinian I]] 527-565 CE
*[[Justin II]] 565-578 CE
*[[Tiberius II Constantine]] 574-582 CE
*[[Maurice]] 582-602 CE
*[[Phocas]] 602-610 CE
*[[Heraclius]] 610-641 CE

==Roman Emperors in ancient sources==

==Roman Emperors in Scholarship==

==Roman Emperors in Fiction==

==External links==

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]
[[Category:Topics]]

Roman Emperors

2012-02-28T10:52:38Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Roman Emperors (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Roman Emperors (subject)]]

'''Roman Emperors''' reigned in the first-second century over Judea.

==List of Roman Emperors and years in office==

====Julio-Claudian Dynasty====

*[[Augustus]], 27 BCE - 14 CE
*[[Tiberius]], 14 CE - 37 CE
*[[Caligula]], 37 CE - 41 CE
*[[Claudius]], 41 CE - 54 CE
*[[Nero]], 54 CE - 68 CE

====Year of the Four Emperors====

*[[Galba]], 68 CE - 69 CE
*[[Otho]], 69 CE
*[[Vitellius]], 69 CE

====Flavian Dynasty====

*[[Vespasian]], 69-79 CE
*[[Titus]], 79-81 CE
*[[Domitian]], 81-96 CE

====Adopted Emperors====

*[[Nerva]], 96-98 CE
*[[Trajan]], 98-117 CE
*[[Hadrian]], 117-138 CE

===Antonine Dynasty===
*[[Antoninus Pius]], 138-161 CE
*[[Verus]], 161-169 CE
*[[Marcus Aurelius]], 161-180 CE
*[[Commodus]], 180-192 CE

===Year of the Five Emperors===
*[[Pertinax]] 193 CE
*[[Didius Julianus]] 193 CE
*[[Pescennius Niger]] 193-194 CE
*[[Clodius Albinus]] 193-197 CE

===Severan Dynasty===
*[[Septimius Severus]] 193-211 CE
*[[Geta]] 211-212 CE
*[[Caracalla]] 211-217 CE
*[[Macrinus]] 217-218 CE
*[[Diadumenianus]] 218 CE
*[[Eliogabalus]] 218-222 CE
*[[Alexander Severus]] 221-235 CE

===Third Century===
*[[Maximinus Thrax]] 235-238 CE
*[[Gordian I 238 CE]] 238 CE
*[[Gordian II]] 238 CE
*[[Pupienus]] 238 CE
*[[Balbinus]] 238 CE
*[[Gordian III]] 238 - 244 CE
*[[Philip the Arab]] 244-249 CE
*[[Decius]] 249-251 CE
*[[Hostilianus]] 251 CE
*[[Trebonianus Gallus]] 251-253 CE
*[[Volusianus]] 251-253 CE
*[[Aemilianus]] 253 CE
*[[Valerian]] 253-260 CE
*[[Gallienus]] 253-268 CE
*[[Saloninus]] 260 CE
*[[Postumus]] 260-269 CE
*[[Marius]] 269 CE
*[[Victorinus]] 269-271 CE
*[[Tetricus I]] 271-274 CE
*[[Claudius II Gothicus]] 268-270 CE
*[[Vaballathus]] 267-273 CE
*[[Quintillus]] 270 CE
*[[Aurelian]] 270-275 CE
*[[Tacitus]] 275-276 CE
*[[Florianus]] 276 CE
*[[Probus]] 276-282 CE
*[[Carus]] 282-283 CE
*[[Carinus]] 282-285 CE
*[[Numerian]] 282-284 CE

===Tetrarchy===
*[[Diocletian]] 284-305 CE
*[[Maximimian]] 286-305 CE
*[[Carausius]] 286-293 CE
*[[Allectus]] 293-296 CE
*[[Galerius]] 305-311 CE
*[[Constantius Chlorus]] 305-306 CE
*[[Severus]] 306-307 CE
*[[Maxentius]] 306-312 CE
*[[Maximinus II Daia]] 308-313 CE
*[[Licinius]] 308-324 CE

===Fourth Century===
*[[Constantine I the Great]] 306-337 CE
*[[Constantine II]] 337-340 CE
*[[Constans]] 337-350 CE
*[[Constantius II]] 337-361 CE
*[[Nepotianus]] 350 CE
*[[Magnentius]] 350-353 CE
*[[Magnus Decentius]] 352-353 CE
*[[Julian the Apostate]] 361-363 CE
*[[Jovian]] 363-364 CE
*[[Valentinian I]] 364-375 CE
*[[Valens]] 364-378 CE
*[[Gratian]] 375-383 CE
*[[Valentinian II]] 375-392 CE
*[[Theodosius I]] 379-395 CE
*[[Magnus Maximus]] 383-388 CE
*[[Eugenius]] 392-394 CE

===Fifth Century - West===
*[[Honorius]] 395 423 CE
*[[Jovinus]] 411-413 CE
*[[Flavius Constantius III]] 421 CE
*[[Ioannes]] 423-425 CE
*[[Valentinian III]] 425-455 CE
*[[Petronius Maximus]] 455 CE
*[[Avitus]] 455-456 CE
*[[Majorian]] 457-461 CE
*[[Libius Severus]] 461-465 CE
*[[Anthemius]] 467-472 CE
*[[Olybrius]] 472 CE
*[[Glycerius]] 473-474 CE
*[[Julius Nepos]] 474-475 CE
*[[Romolus Augustolus]] 475-476 CE

===Fifth Century - East===
*[[Arcadius]] 395-408 CE
*[[Theodosius]] II 408-450 CE
*[[Marcian]] 450-457 CE
*[[Leo I]] 457-474 CE
*[[Leo II]] 474 CE
*[[Zeno]] 474-491 CE
*[[Basiliscus]] 475-476 CE
*[[Anastasius I]] 491-518 CE

===Sixth Century==
*[[Justin I]] 518-527 CE
*[[Justinian I]] 527-565 CE
*[[Justin II]] 565-578 CE
*[[Tiberius II Constantine]] 574-582 CE
*[[Maurice]] 582-602 CE
*[[Phocas]] 602-610 CE
*[[Heraclius]] 610-641 CE

==Roman Emperors in ancient sources==

==Roman Emperors in Scholarship==

==Roman Emperors in Fiction==

==External links==

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]
[[Category:Topics]]

Commodus

2012-02-21T13:37:08Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Commodus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Commodus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus]] (161 – 192 CE), was associated by his father [[Marcus Aurelius]] to the throne in 177 CE, and succeeded him in 180 CE. He was murdered in 192 CE.

===Overview===

[[Commodus]], who succeeded to his father [[Marcus Aurelius]] in 180 CE, was the last ruler of the [[Antonine dynasty]]. His rule was characterized by certain instability. In 186 C.E. there were uprisings in [[Africa]] and [[Britain]], as well as the [[Brigands’s War]] in [[Italy]], and famine through the Empire in 189 C.E. Although various conspiracies, as that of [[Commodus]]’s sister, [[Lucilla]] in 183 C.E., were unsuccessful, [[Commodus]] was toppled and murdered by the Praetorian Praefectus [[Pertinax]] in 192 CE. The murder of [[Commodus]] resulted in a long civil war, from which emerged victorious in 197 C.E., [[Septimius Severus]].

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Aurelius Commodus]] was born in 161 CE, the son of the ruling emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] and of his wife [[Faustina the Younger]]. He had a twin brother, [[T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus]], who did not survive the first years and died in 165 CE. [[Commodus]] was appointed Caesar, together with his younger brother [[Marcus Annius Verus]] in 166 CE. However the latter died in 169 CE. In 172 CE, [[Commodus]] rejoined his father at his headquarters of [[Carnutum]] during the [[First Marcomannic War]]. There he was bestowed the title of Germanicus, together with his father. In 175, [[Commodus]] entered the College of Pontiffs, and in the same year he received the toga virils. The same year, he followed his father in his travel to the East, where he was initiated to the Eleusine Mysteries. In 176 CE, [[Marcus Aurelius]] bestowed on [[Commodus]] the title of Imperator, and the following year, in 177 CE, which of Augustus, as well as the tribunician power, therefore associating him to the throne. The same year the two emperors celebrated a joined triumph, and afterwards he was appointed consul. He than was betrothed and married [[Bruttia Crispina]]. With the beginning of the [[Second Marcomannic War]], in 178 CE, [[Commodus]] followed his father on the Danubian frontier. In 1809, with the death of his father at [[Vindobona]], he succeeded to the Imperial throne.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Commodus]] remained with the [[Danube]] armies for only a short time before negotiating a peace treaty with the Danubian tribes. He then returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph for the conclusion of the wars on 22 October 180. It seems that [[Commodus]] had little interest in the business of administration and tended throughout his reign to leave the practical running of the state to a succession of favorites, as [[Saoterus]], [[Perennis]] and [[Cleander]], who acted as Imperial chamberlains. One of the first acts, upon his accession to the Imperial throne, was a devaluation of the Roman [[denarius]] in both weight and in the purity of the silver. His devaluation of Roman coinage was the greatest since [[Nero]] began this process. The first conspiracy against [[Commodus]] came as early as 182 CE. The conspiracy was conceived by [[Lucilla]], the Emperor ‘sister. The conspiracy was discovered and as consequence [[Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus]] and [[Appius Claudius Quintianus]] were executed, [[Lucilla]] was exiled to Capri and her husband [[Claudius Pompeianus]] had to retire from public life, although he did not take part in the conspiracy. In the aftermath of the conspiracy, [[Sextus Tigidius Perennis]], one of the two praetorian prefects, had [[Saoterus]] murdered, becoming the imperial chamberlain. A second conspiracy was discovered by [[Perennis]]. [[Tarrutenius Paternus]], the other praetorian prefect and [[Publius Salvius Julianus]] were executed. [[Commodus]] appointed [[Cleander]] as his chamberlain, although [[Perennis]] remained the Imperial favorite. There were disturbances in [[Dacia]] and in 184 CE, in [[Britannia]], the governor once more moved the frontier northwards to the [[Antonine wall]]. However the army revolted against the governor, [[Ulpius Marcellus]], and acclaimed another legate, [[Priscus]] as Emperor, who, however, refused the soldiers’ acclamations. The same year [[Perennis]] was toppled from his position and executed. [[Cleander]] succeeded as the Imperial favorite. In the same period a large numbers of army deserters who turned brigands troubled the peace in the provinces of [[Gallia]] and [[Germania]]. A further conspiracy was unveiled in 187 CE, when [[Maternus]], one of the deserters, was caught and executed in Rome. In 191 CE, part of the city of [[Rome burned]], and [[Commodus]] took the opportunity to "refound" the city of Rome in his own honor, naming it [[Colonia Commodiana]]. [[Commodus]] was very fond of gladiatorial games, which made him very unpopular with the [[Senate]], although till the end of his rule he maintained his popularity with the army and the plebs. [[Commodu]]s liked to portrait himself as [[Hercules]], and claimed to be the son of [[Jupiter]]. In 192 CE, [[Latus]] the praetorian prefect, set up a conspiracy to enthrone [[Pertinax]], then the praefectus urbis. [[Commodus]] was murdered by [[Narcissus]], his wrestling partner. The [[Senate]] at his death declared the [[damnatio memoriae]]. However in 195 CE, the Emperor [[Septimius Severus]] rehabilitated his memory and obliged the [[Senate]] to deify him. [[Commodus]] was succeeded by [[Pertinax]].

==[[Commodus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Commodus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Commodus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Commodus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Commodus Wikipedia]

[[Category: Index]]
[[Category: People]]

Commodus

2012-02-21T13:36:38Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Commodus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see :Category: Commodus (subject) [[Marcus A..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Commodus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Commodus (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus]] (161 – 192 CE), was associated by his father [[Marcus Aurelius]] to the throne in 177 CE, and succeeded him in 180 CE. He was murdered in 192 CE.

====Overview===

[[Commodus]], who succeeded to his father [[Marcus Aurelius]] in 180 CE, was the last ruler of the [[Antonine dynasty]]. His rule was characterized by certain instability. In 186 C.E. there were uprisings in [[Africa]] and [[Britain]], as well as the [[Brigands’s War]] in [[Italy]], and famine through the Empire in 189 C.E. Although various conspiracies, as that of [[Commodus]]’s sister, [[Lucilla]] in 183 C.E., were unsuccessful, [[Commodus]] was toppled and murdered by the Praetorian Praefectus [[Pertinax]] in 192 CE. The murder of [[Commodus]] resulted in a long civil war, from which emerged victorious in 197 C.E., [[Septimius Severus]].

====Early Career====

[[Lucius Aurelius Commodus]] was born in 161 CE, the son of the ruling emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] and of his wife [[Faustina the Younger]]. He had a twin brother, [[T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus]], who did not survive the first years and died in 165 CE. [[Commodus]] was appointed Caesar, together with his younger brother [[Marcus Annius Verus]] in 166 CE. However the latter died in 169 CE. In 172 CE, [[Commodus]] rejoined his father at his headquarters of [[Carnutum]] during the [[First Marcomannic War]]. There he was bestowed the title of Germanicus, together with his father. In 175, [[Commodus]] entered the College of Pontiffs, and in the same year he received the toga virils. The same year, he followed his father in his travel to the East, where he was initiated to the Eleusine Mysteries. In 176 CE, [[Marcus Aurelius]] bestowed on [[Commodus]] the title of Imperator, and the following year, in 177 CE, which of Augustus, as well as the tribunician power, therefore associating him to the throne. The same year the two emperors celebrated a joined triumph, and afterwards he was appointed consul. He than was betrothed and married [[Bruttia Crispina]]. With the beginning of the [[Second Marcomannic War]], in 178 CE, [[Commodus]] followed his father on the Danubian frontier. In 1809, with the death of his father at [[Vindobona]], he succeeded to the Imperial throne.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Commodus]] remained with the [[Danube]] armies for only a short time before negotiating a peace treaty with the Danubian tribes. He then returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph for the conclusion of the wars on 22 October 180. It seems that [[Commodus]] had little interest in the business of administration and tended throughout his reign to leave the practical running of the state to a succession of favorites, as [[Saoterus]], [[Perennis]] and [[Cleander]], who acted as Imperial chamberlains. One of the first acts, upon his accession to the Imperial throne, was a devaluation of the Roman [[denarius]] in both weight and in the purity of the silver. His devaluation of Roman coinage was the greatest since [[Nero]] began this process. The first conspiracy against [[Commodus]] came as early as 182 CE. The conspiracy was conceived by [[Lucilla]], the Emperor ‘sister. The conspiracy was discovered and as consequence [[Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus]] and [[Appius Claudius Quintianus]] were executed, [[Lucilla]] was exiled to Capri and her husband [[Claudius Pompeianus]] had to retire from public life, although he did not take part in the conspiracy. In the aftermath of the conspiracy, [[Sextus Tigidius Perennis]], one of the two praetorian prefects, had [[Saoterus]] murdered, becoming the imperial chamberlain. A second conspiracy was discovered by [[Perennis]]. [[Tarrutenius Paternus]], the other praetorian prefect and [[Publius Salvius Julianus]] were executed. [[Commodus]] appointed [[Cleander]] as his chamberlain, although [[Perennis]] remained the Imperial favorite. There were disturbances in [[Dacia]] and in 184 CE, in [[Britannia]], the governor once more moved the frontier northwards to the [[Antonine wall]]. However the army revolted against the governor, [[Ulpius Marcellus]], and acclaimed another legate, [[Priscus]] as Emperor, who, however, refused the soldiers’ acclamations. The same year [[Perennis]] was toppled from his position and executed. [[Cleander]] succeeded as the Imperial favorite. In the same period a large numbers of army deserters who turned brigands troubled the peace in the provinces of [[Gallia]] and [[Germania]]. A further conspiracy was unveiled in 187 CE, when [[Maternus]], one of the deserters, was caught and executed in Rome. In 191 CE, part of the city of [[Rome burned]], and [[Commodus]] took the opportunity to "refound" the city of Rome in his own honor, naming it [[Colonia Commodiana]]. [[Commodus]] was very fond of gladiatorial games, which made him very unpopular with the [[Senate]], although till the end of his rule he maintained his popularity with the army and the plebs. [[Commodu]]s liked to portrait himself as [[Hercules]], and claimed to be the son of [[Jupiter]]. In 192 CE, [[Latus]] the praetorian prefect, set up a conspiracy to enthrone [[Pertinax]], then the praefectus urbis. [[Commodus]] was murdered by [[Narcissus]], his wrestling partner. The [[Senate]] at his death declared the [[damnatio memoriae]]. However in 195 CE, the Emperor [[Septimius Severus]] rehabilitated his memory and obliged the [[Senate]] to deify him. [[Commodus]] was succeeded by [[Pertinax]].

==[[Commodus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Commodus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Commodus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Commodus]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Commodus Wikipedia]

[[Category: Index]]
[[Category: People]]

Marcus Aurelius

2012-02-21T13:27:45Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Marcus Aurelius (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Marcus Aurelius (subject)]..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Marcus Aurelius (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Marcus Aurelius (subject)]]

[[Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus]] (121 – 180 CE) was the most important emperor of the [[Antonine]] dynasty. He was co-emperor with [[Lucius Verus]], from 161 till 169 CE. He ruled alone till 180 C.E.

===Overview===

[[Marcus Aurelius]] was adopted by [[Antoninus Pius]] together with [[Lucius Verus]]. From 161-till 169 C.E., the period called “the Dual Principate”, [[Marcus Aurelius]] shared the direction of the Empire with [[Lucius Verus]]. The reign of [[Marcus Aurelius]], the Emperor - Philosopher was dominated by the plague, and the wars on the Danubian borders against the [[Quadi]] and [[Marcomanni]]. In fact [[Marcus Aurelius]] spent most of his long reign away from Rome, fighting on the Danubian border, or quelling the uprising of [[Avidius Cassius]] in the East. At his death, he left the throne to his son [[Commodus]]. [[Marcus Aurelius]] wrote in Greek the [[Meditations]], a testament of Stoic philosophy.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Annius Catilius Severus]], was the son of [[Marcus Annius Verus]] and Domitia Lucilla. His father, of Spaniard origin, who reached the position of praetor, died when [[Marcus]] was a child. His sister was [[Annia Cornificia Faustina]]. After his father’death, [[Marcus]] was adopted and raised by [[MarcusAnnius Verus]], his paternal grandfather, his mother and [[Lucius Catilius Severus]]. After the adoption from his paternal grandfather, [[Marcus]] adopted the name of [[Marcus Annius Verus]]. [[Marcus]] did not study at public schools, but encouraged by [[Catilius Severus]], he was educated at home, as most of his contemporaries of Senatorial rank. His earliest teacher was [[Diognetus]], who much influenced the young [[Marcus]]’ upbringing and pushed him towards [[Stoic]] philosophy. Other tutors were [[Alexander of Cotiae]], [[Trosius Aper]], and [[Tuticius Proculus]], the last two his tutors of Latin. The cursus honorum of [[Marcus Aurelius]] begun in 127 CE, when he was enrolled as a knight in the equestrian order. In 128 CE, [[Marcus]] was appointed as a member of the priestly college of the [[Salii]]. In 136 CE, after he donned the toga virilis, he was appointed praefectus urbis. The same year, [[Hadrian]] had the young [[Marcus]] engaged to [[Ceionia Fabia]], the daughter of [[Lucius Ceionius Commodus]], who had been adopted by [[Hadrian]] as [[Lucius Aelius Caesar]], as his successor. However, with the death of [[Lucius Aelius Caesar]] in 138 CE, [[Hadrian]] adopted [[Antoninus Pius]] as his successor, on the condition that he would adopt both [[Lucius Verus]], the son of [[Lucius Aelius Caesar]], and [[Marcus Aurelius]], renamed [[Lucius Aurelius Verus]]. [[Antoninus Pius]], when he succeeded to the throne, confirmed the succession. However [[Marcus]] broke his engagement to [[Ceionia Fabia]] and in 145 CE, he married [[Annia Galeria Faustina]] or [[Faustina the Younger]], who was [[Antoninus Pius]]’ daughter. [[Marcus]], after he took the toga virilis, continued his studies and began his training in oratory three tutors in Greek, under the guide of [[Aninus Macer]], [[Caninius Celer]], and [[Herodes Atticus]], and one in Latin, [[Fronto]], a grammaticus of North African origin. During the years of rule of [[Antoninus Pius]], the cursus honorum of [[Marcus Aurelius]] continued. Thus in 138 CE he was appointed quaestor and he was appointed consul in 140 and 145 CE. [[Marcus]] also joined all the priestly colleges. In 147 CE [[Antoninus Pius]] bestowed on [[Marcus]] both the proconsular imperium outside Rome and the tribunicia potestas, the main formal powers of emperorship. In 161 CE, when [[Antoninus Pius]] died, [[Marcus Aurelius]] was once more appointed consul, together with [[Lucius Verus]]. In 147 CE, a daughter, [[Domitia Faustina[[, was born. She was the first of at least fourteen children. In 149 CE, [[Faustina]] gave birth again, to twin sons, Titus Aurelius Antoninus and Tiberius Aelius Aurelius, who did not survive long. In 150 CE, was born [[Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla]]. In 151 or 153 CE, the couple had another daughter, [[Annia Galeria Aurelia Faustina]]. In 152 was born another son, Tiberius Aelius Antoninus, who did not survive long. In 159 and 160 CE, were born two daughters, Fadilla and Cornificia.

====Imperial Succession====

When [[Marcus]] succeeded to the Imperial throne, he was granted the name Augustus and the title of Imperator, and he was appointed [[Pontifex Maximus]]. He was also given the name [[Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus]]. Although [[Marcus]] asked the Senate to share equal powers with [[Lucius Verus]], he enjoyed more auctoritas. [[Marcus Aurelius]] shared the direction of the Empire with [[Lucius Verus]] till the latter’s death in 169 CE. One of the first acts of [[Marcus]] was to deify his predecessor [[Antoninus Pius]]. Moreover, upon his accession [[Marcus]] also devalued the denarius, whose purity sensibly decreased. In 161 CE, twins were born to the Imperial couple, [[T. Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus]] and [[Lucius Aurelius Commodus]]. Only [[Commodus]] survived and eventually succeeded his father to the Imperial throne. [[Marcus]] also to strengthen the relationship between the two co-emperors betrothed his daughter [[Annia Lucilla]] to [[Lucius Verus]]. The early years of reign, from 162 to 165 CE, were dominated by the successful war against [[Parthia]], under the leadership of [[Lucius Verus]], for the control over the Armenian kingdom. In 1671 CE, [[Vologases IV]], King of [[Parthia]], penetrated in Armenia, expelled its legitimate king, appointed by Rome, and installed his own candidate, [[Pacorus]]. In 162 CE, [[Lucius Verus]] took the command of the war. In 163 CE, [[Lucius Verus]] started the counter offensive. An army, under the leadership of [[Statius Priscus]] conquered back [[Armenia]]. The Romans appointed a new king, [[Gaius Iulius Sahaemus]], a Roman senator of consular rank but also an [[Arsacid]] descent. However in the same year, the [[Parthians]] occupied [[Osroene]], deposing [[Mannus]], its king. In 165 CE, [[Lucius Verus]] mounted a counter offensive. A first army, under the leadership of [[Martius Verus]], occupied [[Osroene]]. A second army, under the leadership of [[Avidius Cassius]], occupied [[Mesopotamia]], reaching [[Seleucia]] and [[Ctesiphon]], and advanced as far as [[Media]]. The [[Parthians]] were forced to cede western [[Mesopotamia]] to the Romans. Back to Rome, [[Lucius Verus]] was awarded a triumph and the title of Armeniacus. While [[Lucius Verus]] was in the East, [[Marcus Aurelius]] ruled from Rome. The most important activity of the Emperor in the first years of rule was juridical. [[Marcus Aurelius]] left his imprint in Roman Law in three areas, the manumission of slaves, the guardianship of orphans and minors, and the choice of [[decuriones]], or city-councillors. The most dramatic consequences of the war, was the spread of the [[Antonine plague]], which proliferated from 165 till 180 CE. This plague, described in the writings of [[Galenus]], was probably one of the worst epidemics in the Ancient world. Although not all the areas of the Empire were equally stricken, it seems that by 180 CE, no less than five million persons had been killed by the pandemic. [[Rome]], the capital of the Empire, was severely stricken, and for a while no less than 2000 persons died daily. Thus the general population of Rome decreased from 1.000.000 under [[Trajan]] to no more than 650.000 in consequence of the [[Antonine plague]], reducing the population of the city by a third. A possible contact with [[Han]] [[China]] occurred in 166 CE, when a Roman informal embassy reached the Chinese court. Yet, in 168 CE, the economic situation was solid enough, that [[Marcus Aurelius]] revalued the denarius, increasing the silver purity to the same value at the beginning of the reign. During the second part of his rule, from 167 till 180 CE, [[Marcus Aurelius]] fought Barbarian invaders on the Danubian border. The [[First Marcomanni War]] was fought between 167-175 C.E. Already in 162 CE the [[Chatti]] invaded [[Germania Superior]] but were repulsed. In 166 or 167 CE, the [[Lombards]], the Ubii and the Lacringi joined forces and invaded [[Pannonia]]. The invasion was repulsed. However in 167 CE, a confederation of [[Vandals]] and [[Iazyges]] invaded [[Dacia]] and its governor, [[Calpurnius Proculus]], was killed. Only in 168 CE, [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]] could organize a punitive expedition. The two co-emperors set their headquarters at [[Aquileia]]. The punitive expedition in [[Pannonia]] was successful. However back at [[Aquileia]] [[Lucius Verus]] died at the end of 168 or at the beginning of 169 CE. In 169 [[Marcus Aurelius]] together with [[Claudius Pompeianus]], [[Lucilla]]’ second husband, prepared a further punitive expedition against the [[Iagyzes]] in [[Dacia]]. However the Barbarians invaded [[Lower Moesia]], killing its governor, [[Claudius Fronto]]. Moreover, in 170 CE, several tribes crossed the borders and invaded the Empire. Thus the [[Costoboci]] crossed the [[Danube]], descended the Balkans, reaching [[Eleusis]]. The [[Marcomanni]], under the leadership [[Ballomar]], crossed the [[Danube]] and defeated the Romans near [[Carnuntum]]. The Barbarians invasion reached Italy and they besieged [[Aquileia]]. The army of the praetorian prefect [[Furius Victorinus]] was defeated and its commander slain. The Romans mounted a counter offensive, under the leadership of [[Claudius Pompeianus]] and in 171 CE the [[Marcomanni]] had been expelled from the borders of the Empire. In the same year, the [[Quadi]] and the [[Iazyges]]] signed a peace treaty with the Romans. In 172 CE, the Romans, after they crossed the [[Danube]], continued their offensive in the area occupied by the [[Marcomanni]]. The Roman army defeated the [[Marcomanni]], and [[Marcus Aurelius]] could assume the title of Germanicus. In 173 CE, it was the turn of the [[Quadi]], who had broken the treaty signed in 171 CE. After various hardships suffered by the Roman army, the [[Quadi]] were defeated. Once more in 174 CE, the Romans mounted another campaign against the [[Quadi]], who were completely subjugated. The previous year [[Didius Iulianus]] defeated an invasion of the [[Chatti]] on the Rhine frontier. In 175 CE, [[Marcus]] Aurelius moved once more against the [[Iazyges]] and defeated them. This time the [[Senate]] bestowed on [[Marcus Aurelius]] the title of Sarmaticus. One of the consequences of the war was that in 170 CE, [[Marcus]] once more had to decrease dramatically to the previous values because of the Marcommannic wars.
In 175 CE, [[Avidius Cassius]], governor of [[Syria]], rebelled. It seems that false news of [[Marcus]]’s death fighting against the Barbarians, prompted the rebellion. With the exception of [[Cappadocia]] and [[Bithynia]] all the Eastern provinces joined the revolt. However after slightly less than four month later, when it was obvious that [[Marcus]] was alive, [[Avidius Cassius]] was killed by his own soldiers. [[Marcus Aurelius]], however found necessary to tour the Eastern provinces, including [[Achaia]], where he visited [[Athens]], and [[Syria – Palaestina]]. In 176 CE, back in Rome, [[Marcus]] celebrated a triumph together with his son [[Commodus]] on the [[Germans]] and the [[Sarmatians]]. He also began the construction of his own Forum, which included a Temple and a spiral column, in imitation of the Trajan column, which celebrated his [[First Marcomannic War]]. The Forum was completed by son [[Commodus]]. [[Marcus Aurelius]] fought the [[Second Marcomanni War]] from 178 till180 CE. In 177 CE the [[Quadi]] and the [[Marcomanni]] rebelled once more. In 178 CE [[Marcus Aurelius]] established his headquarters at [[Carnutum]]. He campaigned in the same years against the [[Marcomanni]] and in 179-180 CE against the [[Quadi]], who were defeated first by [[Marcus Valerius Maximianus]] at Laugaricio, and then by the praetorian prefect [[Tarutenius Paternus]]. However the 17 March 180 CE, the Emperor – Philosopher breathed his last at [[Vindobona,]] probably a victim of the plague. [[Marcus Aurelius]] wrote in Greek his meditations in twelve books from 170 till 180 CE during the [[Marcomannic War]]. The purpose of this book was to serve to the Emperor as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. A central theme of the [[Meditations]] is to analyze the judgment of self and of others, developing a cosmic perspective. Moral ethic is another much important theme. Thus the author tries to focus all along the book on the ethical principle of being good to the other.

==== [[Marcus Aurelius]] and the Jews ====

Under the rule of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and of his son [[Commodus]], the legal position of the Jews changed noticeably. Thus [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Commodus]], allowed the Jews who were Roman citizens to be elected to the municipal council, the [[decurionate]], and dispense with Pagan cultic ceremonies. [[Modestinus]], who floruit around 250 C.E. writes in his [[De Excusationibus]] that there are some laws, confirmed by [[MarcusAurelius]] and [[Commodus]] that regulated the Jews participation in public offices, and in particular the problem of the tutela of non-Jews (See Digesta 27.1.15.6). [[Marcus Aurelius]] visited [[Syria-Palaestina]] in 175 CE, in the aftermath of the rebellion of [[Avidius Cassius]]. By then, Jews, according to [[Cassius Dio]], served once more in the Roman army. It is possible that in this occasion [[Marcus Aurelius]] met [[Yehuda ha Nasi]], and therefore he could be one of the possible candidates, who could maybe correspond to the figure of [[Antoninus]], the Roman Emperor friend of [[Yehuda ha Nasi]], mentioned in Rabbinic literature.

== [[Marcus Aurelius]] in ancient sources==

== [[Marcus Aurelius]] in Scholarship==

== [[Marcus Aurelius]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Marcus Aurelius]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Marcus Aurelius Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Antoninus Pius

2012-02-21T13:08:49Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Antoninus Pius (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[Category: Antoninus Pius (subject)]]

[[Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus Pius]] (86 – 161 CE) was the first emperor of the [[Antonine dynasty]]. He succeeded to [[Hadrian]] in 138 CE. During his long reign, the Roman Empire enjoyed a long period of peace.

===Overview===

[[Antoninus Pius]], was born in a Senatorial family, which originated in [[Nemausus]], in [[Gallia]]. He followed the various steps of the Senatorial cursus honorum under [[Trajan]] and [[Hadrian]]. [[Hadrian]] adopted him as his son and successor in 138 CE. [[Antoninus Pius]], who ruled till 161 CE, was succeeded by the dual principate of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Early Career====

[[Antoninus Pius]] was the son of [[Titus Aurelius Fulvus]], consul in 89 CE and [[Arria Fadilla] ]. Although his family came from [[Nemausus]], he was born near [[Lanuvium]]. As his father and paternal grandfather died when he was young, he was raised by [[Arrius Antoninus]], his maternal grandfather, a friend of [[Pliny the Younger]]. His cursus honorum included the offices of quaestor and praetor. He was appointed consul in 120 CE. Hadrian appointed him as one of the four proconsuls, who administered [[Italy]]. Afterwards he was appointed governor of the province of [[Asia]] with proconsular rank. After the death of [[Lucius Aelius]], heir to the Imperial throne, [[Hadrian]] adopted him in 138 CE, on the condition that he would adopt [[Marcus Annius Verus]], the son of his wife's brother, and [[Lucius]], son of [[Aelius Verus]]. Between 110 and 115 CE, [[Antoninus]] married [[Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder]], daughter of the consul [[Marcus Annius Verus]] and Rupilia Faustina. The couple had four children, two sons, Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus and Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus, who both died before 138 CE, and two daughters, [[Aurelia Fadilla]], married to married [[Aelius Lamia Silvanus]], who died in 135 CE, and [[Annia Galeria Faustina Minor]] or [[Faustina the Younger]], who was married to [[Marcus Aurelius]].

====Imperial Succession====

The Imperial succession went smoothly and the Senate hailed the successor of [[Hadrian]] as [[Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus]] [[Pontifex Maximus]]. However, once Emperor, [[Antoninus]] had to persuade the [[Senate]] to deify his predecessor [[Hadrian]], who more than once clashed with the Senate and executed some of its members. [[Antoninus]] was successful, and because of that he was granted the title of Pius. All along his reign, he maintained cordial relationship with the [[Senate]]. His reign was quite peaceful. [[Antoninus Pius]] never left [[Italy]], and his rule in the province was felt through the authority exerted by his governors, or through his imperial letters. The main military activity during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] was in [[Britain]] the extension of the frontier to [[Scotland]], as consequence of troubles with the Brigantes, and the building of the [[Antonine Wall]], north to [[Hadrian’s Wall]], which spaced from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. In 139 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] appointed as governor [[Quintus Lollius Urbicus]]. In [[Germania Superior]], the governor [[Caius Popillius Carus Pedo]] fortified anew the area of the [[Agri Decumates]]. It seems that there were also disturbances in [[Mauretania]] and [[Judaea]]. In 141 CE, his wife [[Faustina the elder]] died. After she was deified, in her honor, [[Antoninus Pius]] erected a Temple in the Forum. He created as well, a charitable trust, called Puellae Faustinianae, which assisted orphaned girls. In 148 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] celebrated the nine-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome, offering lavish games to the population. However during his rein, [[Antoninus Pius]] had to debase the denarius to face the various expenses. His rule, characterized by deep concerns over humanity and equality, was much important for the development of Roman law. [[Antoninus Pius]] was assisted by [[L. Fulvius Aburnius Valens]], an author of legal treatises; [[L. Volusius Maecianus]], who was chosen to conduct the legal studies of [[Marcus Aurelius]], and was the author of a large work on Fidei Commissa, and [[L. Ulpius Marcellus]]. During [[Antoninus Pius]]’s reign the [[Institutes of Gaius]], an elementary legal manual for beginners saw the light. [[Antoninus]] legal rules included measures which eased the enfranchisement of slaves. However most of the legislative acts were passed in criminal law. [[Antoninus Pius]] introduced the principle that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial. Besides, he legislated that the trial was to be held, and the punishment inflicted, in the place where the crime had been committed. Last but not least, he mitigated the use of torture in examining slaves by certain limitations. [[Antoninus Pius]] died in 161 CE at Lorium, near Rome. His ashes were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The temple he had built in the Forum in 141 CE to his wife was rededicated to the deified [[Faustina]] and the deified [[Antoninus]]. [[Antoninus Pius]] was succeeded by [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Antoninus Pius and the Jews====

Although the beginning of the reign of [[Antoninus Piu]]s was probably characterized by troubles in Judaea, possibly the end of the Bar Kochba War, the Roman emperor assumed a conciliatory and peaceful attitude towards Judaism and Jews. Thus one of his first enactments was the revocation of the ban on the [[Circumcision]] enacted by his predecessor, [[Hadrian]]. Moreover [[Antoninus Pius]] probably restored most of the previous Jewish privileges concerning with the legal status of the Jewish communities. However Jews had still to pay the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], proselytism was forbidden, and slaves owned by Jews could not be circumcised.

== [[Antoninus Pius]] in ancient sources==

== [[Antoninus Pius]] in Scholarship==

== [[Antoninus Pius]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Antoninus Pius Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Antoninus Pius

2012-02-21T13:08:16Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Antoninus Pius (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[Category: Antoninus Pius (subject)]]

[[Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus Pius]] (86 – 161 CE) was the first emperor of the [[Antonine dynasty]]. He succeeded to [[Hadrian]] in 138 CE. During his long reign, the Roman Empire enjoyed a long period of peace.

===Overview===

[[Antoninus Pius]], was born in a Senatorial family, which originated in [[Nemausus]], in [[Gallia]]. He followed the various steps of the Senatorial cursus honorum under [[Trajan]] and [[Hadrian]]. [[Hadrian]] adopted him as his son and successor in 138 CE. [[Antoninus Pius]], who ruled till 161 CE, was succeeded by the dual principate of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Early Career====

[[Antoninus Pius]] was the son of [[Titus Aurelius Fulvus]], consul in 89 CE and [[Arria Fadilla] ]. Although his family came from [[Nemausus]], he was born near [[Lanuvium]]. As his father and paternal grandfather died when he was young, he was raised by [[Arrius Antoninus]], his maternal grandfather, a friend of [[Pliny the Younger]]. His cursus honorum included the offices of quaestor and praetor. He was appointed consul in 120 CE. Hadrian appointed him as one of the four proconsuls, who administered [[Italy]]. Afterwards he was appointed governor of the province of [[Asia]] with proconsular rank. After the death of [[Lucius Aelius]], heir to the Imperial throne, [[Hadrian]] adopted him in 138 CE, on the condition that he would adopt [[Marcus Annius Verus]], the son of his wife's brother, and [[Lucius]], son of [[Aelius Verus]]. Between 110 and 115 CE, [[Antoninus]] married [[Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder]], daughter of the consul [[Marcus Annius Verus]] and Rupilia Faustina. The couple had four children, two sons, Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus and Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus, who both died before 138 CE, and two daughters, [[Aurelia Fadilla]], married to married [[Aelius Lamia Silvanus]], who died in 135 CE, and [[Annia Galeria Faustina Minor]] or [[Faustina the Younger]], who was married to [[Marcus Aurelius]].

====Imperial Succession====

The Imperial succession went smoothly and the Senate hailed the successor of [[Hadrian]] as [[Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus]] [[Pontifex Maximus]]. However, once Emperor, [[Antoninus]] had to persuade the [[Senate]] to deify his predecessor [[Hadrian]], who more than once clashed with the Senate and executed some of its members. [[Antoninus]] was successful, and because of that he was granted the title of Pius. All along his reign, he maintained cordial relationship with the [[Senate]]. His reign was quite peaceful. [[Antoninus Pius]] never left [[Italy]], and his rule in the province was felt through the authority exerted by his governors, or through his imperial letters. The main military activity during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] was in [[Britain]] the extension of the frontier to [[Scotland]], as consequence of troubles with the Brigantes, and the building of the [[Antonine Wall]], north to [[Hadrian’s Wall]], which spaced from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. In 139 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] appointed as governor [[Quintus Lollius Urbicus]]. In [[Germania Superior]], the governor [[Caius Popillius Carus Pedo]] fortified anew the area of the [[Agri Decumates]]. It seems that there were also disturbances in [[Mauretania]] and [[Judaea]]. In 141 CE, his wife [[Faustina the elder]] died. After she was deified, in her honor, [[Antoninus Pius]] erected a Temple in the Forum. He created as well, a charitable trust, called Puellae Faustinianae, which assisted orphaned girls. In 148 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] celebrated the nine-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome, offering lavish games to the population. However during his rein, [[Antoninus Pius]] had to debase the denarius to face the various expenses. His rule, characterized by deep concerns over humanity and equality, was much important for the development of Roman law. [[Antoninus Pius]] was assisted by [[L. Fulvius Aburnius Valens]], an author of legal treatises; [[L. Volusius Maecianus]], who was chosen to conduct the legal studies of [[Marcus Aurelius]], and was the author of a large work on Fidei Commissa, and [[L. Ulpius Marcellus]]. During [[Antoninus Pius]]’s reign the [[Institutes of Gaius]], an elementary legal manual for beginners saw the light. [[Antoninus]] legal rules included measures which eased the enfranchisement of slaves. However most of the legislative acts were passed in criminal law. [[Antoninus Pius]] introduced the principle that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial. Besides, he legislated that the trial was to be held, and the punishment inflicted, in the place where the crime had been committed. Last but not least, he mitigated the use of torture in examining slaves by certain limitations. [[Antoninus Pius]] died in 161 CE at Lorium, near Rome. His ashes were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The temple he had built in the Forum in 141 CE to his wife was rededicated to the deified [[Faustina]] and the deified [[Antoninus]]. [[Antoninus Pius]] was succeeded by [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Antoninus Pius and the Jews====

Although the beginning of the reign of [[Antoninus Piu]]s was probably characterized by troubles in Judaea, possibly the end of the Bar Kochba War, the Roman emperor assumed a conciliatory and peaceful attitude towards Judaism and Jews. Thus one of his first enactments was the revocation of the ban on the [[Circumcision]] enacted by his predecessor, [[Hadrian]]. Moreover [[Antoninus Pius]] probably restored most of the previous Jewish privileges concerning with the legal status of the Jewish communities. However Jews had still to pay the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], proselytism was forbidden, and slaves owned by Jews could not be circumcised.

== [[Antoninus Pius]] in ancient sources==

== [[Antoninus Pius]] in Scholarship==

== [Antoninus Pius]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus Pius Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Verus

2012-02-21T13:07:11Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Lucius Verus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category: Lucius Verus (subject) [[L..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Lucius Verus (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[Category: Lucius Verus (subject)]]

[[Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus Armeniacus]] (130 – 169 CE) was co-emperor with [[Marcus Aurelius]], from 161 till 169 CE.

===Overview===

[[Lucius Verus]], succeeded to [[Antoninus Pius]] together with [[Marcus Aurelius]] in 161 CE. His rule as co-regent was characterized by the victorious war with [[Parthia]] from 161 till 166 CE, a short permanence in Rome, and his last years on the [[Danube]] frontier, fighting against the [[Marcomanni]]. After his death in 169 CE, [[Marcus Aurelius]] continued to rule alone till his death in 180 CE, after he had associated his son [[Commodus]] to the throne.

====Early Career====

Lucius Verus was the son of Lucius Aelius Caesar, the adopted son, and intended successor of Hadrian, and of Avidia Plautia. Lucius Verus had two sisters, Ceionia Fabia who was engaged to [[Marcus Aurelius]] in 136 CE, although [[Marcus Aurelius]] broke off the engagement in 138 CE, and [[Ceionia Plautia]], of whom little is known. With the untimely death of [[Aelius Caesar]] in 138 CE, Hadrian adopted [[Antoninus Pius]] as his successor, on the condition that he would adopt both [[Lucius Verus]] and [[Marcus Aurelius]]. [[Lucius Verus]] was educated by [[Marcus Cornelius Fronto]], the grammaticus of North African origin. His cursus honorum begun as quaestor in 153 CE, consul in 154 CE, and once again consul, together with [[Marcus Aurelius]] in 161 CE, the year of his accession to the Imperial throne.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Antoninus]] died on March 7, 161, and was succeeded by [[Marcus Aurelius]]. However the latter refused unless [[Lucius Verus]] shared in equal powers. The Senate bestowed on [[Lucius Verus]] the imperium, the tribunician power, and the name Augustus, becoming [[Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus]]. However, [[Marcus]] hold more auctoritas than [[Lucius Verus]]. Thus [[Verus]] was co-opted as co-emperor and from 161-till 169 C.E., the period called “the Dual Principate”, [[Marcus Aurelius]] shared the direction of the Empire with [[Lucius Verus]]. Soon after the emperors' accession, in 163 or in 164 CE, [[Marcus Aurelius]] gave his eleven-year-old daughter, [[Annia Lucilla]], in marriage to [[Lucius Verus]]. The couple had had two daughters and a son. The elder daughter and son died young, however the younger daughter lived long enough to be involved in a plot against her maternal uncle, the emperor [[Commodus]] in 182 CE. Between 162 and 166 CE, [[Lucius Verus]] was in the East, commanding a campaign against the Parthian kingdom for the control over the Armenian kingdom. The war begun as the Parthian King, [[Vologases IV]], entered in [[Armenia]], expelled its king, appointed by Rome, and installed his own candidate, Pacorus, a member of the Parthian royal family. [[Marcus Sedatius Severianus]], the governor of [[Cappadocia]], led a legion into [[Armenia]], but he was defeated and he had to commit suicide. Also an army under the command of [[L. Attidius Cornelianus]], the governor of [[Syria]], was defeated by the [[Parthians]]. Reinforcements were immediately dispatched for the Parthian frontier, and in 162 CE, [[Lucius Verus]] took the command of the war. [[Lucius Verus]]’ command included [[Furius Victorinus]], one of the two praetorian prefects, together with part of the [[Praetorian Guard]], and two senators, [[M. Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus]] and [[M. Iallius Bassus]]. [[Lucius]] spent most of the year in [[Antioch]], though he wintered at [[Laodicea]], preparing the army for the offensive. Thus in 163 CE, [[Statius Priscus]] conquered back Armenia and occupied its capital [[Artaxata]]. In 164 CE, a new capital, [[Kaine Polis]], replaced [[Artaxata]]. Moreover a new king, [[Gaius Iulius Sahaemus]], a Roman senator of consular rank but also an [[Arsacid]] descent, was crowned King of [[Armenia]] in [[Ephesus]]. However in 163 CE, the [[Parthians]] occupied [[Osroene]], and its capital, [[Edessa]], deposing the legitimate ruler [[Mannus]]. The Roman counter offensive in 165 CE resulted in the occupation of [[Osroene]] by an army under the leadership of [[Martius Verus]]. Another army under the leadership of [[Avidius Cassius]] reached [[Seleucia]] and [[Ctesiphon]] in [[Mesopotamia]]. The city of [[Seleucia]] on the [[Tigris]] was destroyed and the palace at the capital [[Ctesiphon]] was burned to the ground. The Roman legions, after the conquest of [[Mesopotamia]], advanced as far as [[Media]]. [[Vologases IV]] of [[Parthia]] made peace but was forced to cede western [[Mesopotamia]] to the Romans. The Roman border reached well south [[Dura Europos]]. [[Lucius Verus]] was awarded a triumph and the title of Armeniacus. [[Lucius Verus]] spent in Rome the next two years, 166–168 CE. In 168 CE as the [[Alamanni]] and the [[Marcomanni]] invaded the Roman territory, crossing the [[Danube]], war broke out once more. Both emperors, [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]] took the field. [[Lucius Verus]] died once returned to Rome in 169 CE. The senate bequeathed divine honors to [[Lucius Verus]] as Divus Verus.

== [[Lucius Verus]] in ancient sources==

== [[Lucius Verus]] in Scholarship==

== [[Lucius Verus]] in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Lucius Verus Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Antoninus Pius

2012-02-21T13:00:05Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Antoninus Pius (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[Category: Antoninus Pius (subject)]]

[[Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus Pius]] (86 – 161 CE) was the first emperor of the [[Antonine dynasty]]. He succeeded to [[Hadrian]] in 138 CE. During his long reign, the Roman Empire enjoyed a long period of peace.

===Overview===

[[Antoninus Pius]], was born in a Senatorial family, which originated in [[Nemausus]], in [[Gallia]]. He followed the various steps of the Senatorial cursus honorum under [[Trajan]] and [[Hadrian]]. [[Hadrian]] adopted him as his son and successor in 138 CE. [[Antoninus Pius]], who ruled till 161 CE, was succeeded by the dual principate of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Early Career====

[[Antoninus Pius]] was the son of [[Titus Aurelius Fulvus]], consul in 89 CE and [[Arria Fadilla] ]. Although his family came from [[Nemausus]], he was born near [[Lanuvium]]. As his father and paternal grandfather died when he was young, he was raised by [[Arrius Antoninus]], his maternal grandfather, a friend of [[Pliny the Younger]]. His cursus honorum included the offices of quaestor and praetor. He was appointed consul in 120 CE. Hadrian appointed him as one of the four proconsuls, who administered [[Italy]]. Afterwards he was appointed governor of the province of [[Asia]] with proconsular rank. After the death of [[Lucius Aelius]], heir to the Imperial throne, [[Hadrian]] adopted him in 138 CE, on the condition that he would adopt [[Marcus Annius Verus]], the son of his wife's brother, and [[Lucius]], son of [[Aelius Verus]]. Between 110 and 115 CE, [[Antoninus]] married [[Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder]], daughter of the consul [[Marcus Annius Verus]] and Rupilia Faustina. The couple had four children, two sons, Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus and Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus, who both died before 138 CE, and two daughters, [[Aurelia Fadilla]], married to married [[Aelius Lamia Silvanus]], who died in 135 CE, and [[Annia Galeria Faustina Minor]] or [[Faustina the Younger]], who was married to [[Marcus Aurelius]].

====Imperial Succession====

The Imperial succession went smoothly and the Senate hailed the successor of [[Hadrian]] as [[Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus]] [[Pontifex Maximus]]. However, once Emperor, [[Antoninus]] had to persuade the [[Senate]] to deify his predecessor [[Hadrian]], who more than once clashed with the Senate and executed some of its members. [[Antoninus]] was successful, and because of that he was granted the title of Pius. All along his reign, he maintained cordial relationship with the [[Senate]]. His reign was quite peaceful. [[Antoninus Pius]] never left [[Italy]], and his rule in the province was felt through the authority exerted by his governors, or through his imperial letters. The main military activity during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] was in [[Britain]] the extension of the frontier to [[Scotland]], as consequence of troubles with the Brigantes, and the building of the [[Antonine Wall]], north to [[Hadrian’s Wall]], which spaced from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. In 139 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] appointed as governor [[Quintus Lollius Urbicus]]. In [[Germania Superior]], the governor [[Caius Popillius Carus Pedo]] fortified anew the area of the [[Agri Decumates]]. It seems that there were also disturbances in [[Mauretania]] and [[Judaea]]. In 141 CE, his wife [[Faustina the elder]] died. After she was deified, in her honor, [[Antoninus Pius]] erected a Temple in the Forum. He created as well, a charitable trust, called Puellae Faustinianae, which assisted orphaned girls. In 148 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] celebrated the nine-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome, offering lavish games to the population. However during his rein, [[Antoninus Pius]] had to debase the denarius to face the various expenses. His rule, characterized by deep concerns over humanity and equality, was much important for the development of Roman law. [[Antoninus Pius]] was assisted by [[L. Fulvius Aburnius Valens]], an author of legal treatises; [[L. Volusius Maecianus]], who was chosen to conduct the legal studies of [[Marcus Aurelius]], and was the author of a large work on Fidei Commissa, and [[L. Ulpius Marcellus]]. During [[Antoninus Pius]]’s reign the [[Institutes of Gaius]], an elementary legal manual for beginners saw the light. [[Antoninus]] legal rules included measures which eased the enfranchisement of slaves. However most of the legislative acts were passed in criminal law. [[Antoninus Pius]] introduced the principle that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial. Besides, he legislated that the trial was to be held, and the punishment inflicted, in the place where the crime had been committed. Last but not least, he mitigated the use of torture in examining slaves by certain limitations. [[Antoninus Pius]] died in 161 CE at Lorium, near Rome. His ashes were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The temple he had built in the Forum in 141 CE to his wife was rededicated to the deified [[Faustina]] and the deified [[Antoninus]]. [[Antoninus Pius]] was succeeded by [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Antoninus Pius and the Jews====

Although the beginning of the reign of [[Antoninus Piu]]s was probably characterized by troubles in Judaea, possibly the end of the Bar Kochba War, the Roman emperor assumed a conciliatory and peaceful attitude towards Judaism and Jews. Thus one of his first enactments was the revocation of the ban on the [[Circumcision]] enacted by his predecessor, [[Hadrian]]. Moreover [[Antoninus Pius]] probably restored most of the previous Jewish privileges concerning with the legal status of the Jewish communities. However Jews had still to pay the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], proselytism was forbidden, and slaves owned by Jews could not be circumcised.

== Antoninus Pius in ancient sources==

== Antoninus Pius in Scholarship==

== Antoninus Pius in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus Pius Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Antoninus Pius

2012-02-21T12:59:37Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Antoninus Pius (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category: Antoninus Pius (subject) ..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Antoninus Pius (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[Category: Antoninus Pius (subject)]]

[[Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus Pius]] (86 – 161 CE) was the first emperor of the [[Antonine dynasty]]. He succeeded to [[Hadrian]] in 138 CE. During his long reign, the Roman Empire enjoyed a long period of peace.

====Overview===

[[Antoninus Pius]], was born in a Senatorial family, which originated in [[Nemausus]], in [[Gallia]]. He followed the various steps of the Senatorial cursus honorum under [[Trajan]] and [[Hadrian]]. [[Hadrian]] adopted him as his son and successor in 138 CE. [[Antoninus Pius]], who ruled till 161 CE, was succeeded by the dual principate of [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Early Career====

[[Antoninus Pius]] was the son of [[Titus Aurelius Fulvus]], consul in 89 CE and [[Arria Fadilla] ]. Although his family came from [[Nemausus]], he was born near [[Lanuvium]]. As his father and paternal grandfather died when he was young, he was raised by [[Arrius Antoninus]], his maternal grandfather, a friend of [[Pliny the Younger]]. His cursus honorum included the offices of quaestor and praetor. He was appointed consul in 120 CE. Hadrian appointed him as one of the four proconsuls, who administered [[Italy]]. Afterwards he was appointed governor of the province of [[Asia]] with proconsular rank. After the death of [[Lucius Aelius]], heir to the Imperial throne, [[Hadrian]] adopted him in 138 CE, on the condition that he would adopt [[Marcus Annius Verus]], the son of his wife's brother, and [[Lucius]], son of [[Aelius Verus]]. Between 110 and 115 CE, [[Antoninus]] married [[Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder]], daughter of the consul [[Marcus Annius Verus]] and Rupilia Faustina. The couple had four children, two sons, Marcus Aurelius Fulvius Antoninus and Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus, who both died before 138 CE, and two daughters, [[Aurelia Fadilla]], married to married [[Aelius Lamia Silvanus]], who died in 135 CE, and [[Annia Galeria Faustina Minor]] or [[Faustina the Younger]], who was married to [[Marcus Aurelius]].

====Imperial Succession====

The Imperial succession went smoothly and the Senate hailed the successor of [[Hadrian]] as [[Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus]] [[Pontifex Maximus]]. However, once Emperor, [[Antoninus]] had to persuade the [[Senate]] to deify his predecessor [[Hadrian]], who more than once clashed with the Senate and executed some of its members. [[Antoninus]] was successful, and because of that he was granted the title of Pius. All along his reign, he maintained cordial relationship with the [[Senate]]. His reign was quite peaceful. [[Antoninus Pius]] never left [[Italy]], and his rule in the province was felt through the authority exerted by his governors, or through his imperial letters. The main military activity during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]] was in [[Britain]] the extension of the frontier to [[Scotland]], as consequence of troubles with the Brigantes, and the building of the [[Antonine Wall]], north to [[Hadrian’s Wall]], which spaced from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. In 139 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] appointed as governor [[Quintus Lollius Urbicus]]. In [[Germania Superior]], the governor [[Caius Popillius Carus Pedo]] fortified anew the area of the [[Agri Decumates]]. It seems that there were also disturbances in [[Mauretania]] and [[Judaea]]. In 141 CE, his wife [[Faustina the elder]] died. After she was deified, in her honor, [[Antoninus Pius]] erected a Temple in the Forum. He created as well, a charitable trust, called Puellae Faustinianae, which assisted orphaned girls. In 148 CE, [[Antoninus Pius]] celebrated the nine-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Rome, offering lavish games to the population. However during his rein, [[Antoninus Pius]] had to debase the denarius to face the various expenses. His rule, characterized by deep concerns over humanity and equality, was much important for the development of Roman law. [[Antoninus Pius]] was assisted by [[L. Fulvius Aburnius Valens]], an author of legal treatises; [[L. Volusius Maecianus]], who was chosen to conduct the legal studies of [[Marcus Aurelius]], and was the author of a large work on Fidei Commissa, and [[L. Ulpius Marcellus]]. During [[Antoninus Pius]]’s reign the [[Institutes of Gaius]], an elementary legal manual for beginners saw the light. [[Antoninus]] legal rules included measures which eased the enfranchisement of slaves. However most of the legislative acts were passed in criminal law. [[Antoninus Pius]] introduced the principle that accused persons are not to be treated as guilty before trial. Besides, he legislated that the trial was to be held, and the punishment inflicted, in the place where the crime had been committed. Last but not least, he mitigated the use of torture in examining slaves by certain limitations. [[Antoninus Pius]] died in 161 CE at Lorium, near Rome. His ashes were buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The temple he had built in the Forum in 141 CE to his wife was rededicated to the deified [[Faustina]] and the deified [[Antoninus]]. [[Antoninus Pius]] was succeeded by [[Marcus Aurelius]] and [[Lucius Verus]].

====Antoninus Pius and the Jews====

Although the beginning of the reign of [[Antoninus Piu]]s was probably characterized by troubles in Judaea, possibly the end of the Bar Kochba War, the Roman emperor assumed a conciliatory and peaceful attitude towards Judaism and Jews. Thus one of his first enactments was the revocation of the ban on the [[Circumcision]] enacted by his predecessor, [[Hadrian]]. Moreover [[Antoninus Pius]] probably restored most of the previous Jewish privileges concerning with the legal status of the Jewish communities. However Jews had still to pay the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], proselytism was forbidden, and slaves owned by Jews could not be circumcised.

== Antoninus Pius in ancient sources==

== Antoninus Pius in Scholarship==

== Antoninus Pius in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus Pius Wikipedia]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Hadrian

2012-01-17T18:22:30Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Hadrian (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Hadrian (subject)]]

====Overview====

[[Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus]] succeeded to [[Trajan]] in unclear circumstances in 117 CE and ruled till 137 CE. He was the third and the last of the adopted emperors. [[Hadrian]] was a polyhedric figure; a humanist and a philellene, he also reformed Roman jurisprudence, and between else he rebuilt the [[Pantheon]] in Rome. Hadrian also widely traveled, visiting most of the provinces of the Empire, in [[Britain]], where he erected the wall, [[North Africa]] and [[Egypt]], where his lover [[Antinoos]] drowned, [[Greece]], where he created the [[Panhellenion]], Asia, and [[Judaea]], which after the [[Bar Kochba Wa]]r was renamed [[Syria – Palaestina]]. Hadrian’ succession was much problematic, and in the end he appointed [[Antoninus Pius]] as his successor.

====Early Career====

[[Hadrian]] was born in [[Italica]] in [[Hispania Baetica]] in 76 CE. His father, a paternal cousin of the future Emperor [[Trajan]], was Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, a senator of praetorian rank. Both parents of [[Hadrian]] died in 86 CE. Hadrian then became a ward of [[Trajan]] and Publius Acilius Attianus, later the Praetorian Prefect under Trajan. From an earlier age [[Hadrian]] showed much partiality to Greek culture, and he was soon nicknamed Graeculus. His cursus honorum begun as tribunus of the Legio II Adiutrix in 95 CE in [[Pannonia Inferior]], and then, in 96 CE as tribunus of the Legio V Macedonicae in [[Moesia Inferior]], and in 97 CE as tribunus of the Legio XXII Primigeniae Piae Fidelis in [[Germania Superior]]. He was appointed praetor in 106 CE. In the same year he was appointed legatus legionis I Minerviae Piae Fidelis in [[Germania Inferior]], and in the following year he fulfilled the task of governor of the province of [[Lower Pannonia]] as legatus Augusti pro praetore. In 108 CE he was appointed consul suffectus. Hadrian followed [[Trajan]] in the [[Parthian War]] as governor of [[Syria]], legatus Syriae.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Hadrian]] was made emperor in unclear circumstances, probably favored by [[Plotina]], [[Trajan]]’s wife. One of the first acts of his rule was the execution of four consulares arrested by C. Attianus, the praetorian prefect, between them [[Lusius Quietus]] and Cornelius Palma. [[Hadrian]], immediately after his accession to the throne surrendered [[Trajan]]’s conquests in [[Mesopotamia]]. A war with [[Parthia]] was averted in 121 CE, and resulted in a negotiated settlement with the Parthian king [[Osrohes I]]. Contrary to [[Trajan]], his aggressive predecessor; [[Hadrian]] promoted during his reign a defensive policy. [[Hadrian]] was known for his visits to the provinces. Thus between 121-125 C.E., [[Hadrian]] toured the western part of the Empire, [[Germany]] and the [[Rhine – Danube frontier]], [[Britain]], [[Spain]], [[Mauretania]] and [[Africa]], and then [[Asia Minor]] and [[Greece]]. On the borders along the Danube and the Rhine, he continued the policy of his Flavian predecessors, and erected a series of watchtowers, legionary and auxiliary forts. In [[Britannia]], where a rebellion took place between 119 and 121 CE, during his visit, [[Hadrian]] strengthened the border in [[Britannia]] with the erection of his wall. Its purpose was to prevent future possible invasions from the northern country of Caledonia. Yet [[Hadrian]] wall was not successful, as his successor, [[Antoninus Pius]], had to erect another one, the [[Antonine Wall]], further North. In 123 CE, he arrived in [[Mauretania]] where he personally led a campaign against local rebels. His policy of pacification in [[North Africa]] was as well quite unsuccessful, as once more his successor had to cope with local rebellions. He then continued to the East, and to Asia. There in [[Bythinia]], he visited the city of [[Nicomedia]], which had been stricken by an earthquake. It was probably during a visit of [[Claudiopolis]], that he met the young [[Antinous]]. From [[asia Minor]], [[Hadrian]] moved in 124 CE to [[Greece]], where he visited Athens, took part in the Eleusinian mysteries, and had the [[Temple of Zeus Olympios]] rebuilt. [[Hadrian]] was deeply attached to Greek culture. As philosopher, he favored the epicureans [[Epictetus]], [[Heliodorus]] and [[Favorinus]]. In 125 C.E. he created the [[Panhellenion]], to bind all the semi-autonomous former city states across all [[Greece] and [[Asia Minor]], with its seat at [[Athens]]. As many of Hadrian’s projects, the [[Panhellenion]] was a failure as well. Between the years 129-134 C.E. [[Hadrian]] once more made similar travels in Eastern provinces including [[Egypt]]. Thus he came back to [[Greece]], visited [[Ephesos]], [[Judaea]][ in 130, where on the ruins of [[Jerusalem]], he founded the colony of [[Aelia Capitolina]]. From there he arrived in [[Egypt]]. During a cruising on the Nile, [[Antinoos]], by now [[Hadrian]]’s lover, drowned. [[Hadrian]] founded the city of [[Antinoopolis]] in his honor. Between 131-132 CE, he was in [[Athens]], and when the [[Bar Kochba rebellion]] broke out, he took the command in the first years of the war. In 133 CE, [[Hadrian]] was back at Rome. [[Hadrian]]’s policy in Italy was quite problematic, making of it in fact a country not different from the surrounding provinces. Italy was divided in four juridical districts, appointing to each of these an official of consular rank, the quattuoviri consulares. Thus Italy was in fact reduced to the legal condition of a province. Hadrian reorganized as well Roman law. The Consilium Principis, an informal council, included the distinguished jurist [[Salvius Iulianus]]. With [[Hadrian]], the Praetor edict cease to be source of law, it became permanent code which the magistrates had to administer as it was, without alterations. However from [[Hadrian]]’s onwards, a clear legal division between humiliores and honestiores took the place of the division between Roman citizens and peregrini. Hadrian was also an important architect. At Rome, [[Hadrian]] erected the [[Pantheon]], the Temple of Venus and Roma. It seems that Hadrian had the architect [[Apollodorus of Damascus], who planned the Forum of Trajanus, executed. However to Rome, Hadrian preferred to reside in his Villa at Tivoli. In 136 C.E. Hadrian had his brother in law, [[Julius Ursus Servianus]], executed who was accused to conspirate to make emperor his grandson [[Cn. Pedianus Fuscus]]. In 136 C.E., [[Hadrian]] adopted one of the ordinary consuls of that year, [[Lucius Ceionius Commodus]], who took the name [[Lucius Aelius Caesar]]. [[Aelius Caesar]] died in 138 C.E. Following Aelius’s death [[Hadrian]] next adopted [[Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus]] (the future emperor [[Antoninus Pius]]. Hadrian died in 138 CE.

==== Hadrian and the Jews ====

During his travels in the East, in 130 C.E. [[Jerusalem]] then in ruin was refounded as the colony of [[Aelia Capitolina]]. It seems that [[Hadrian]] wanted to erect a temple to the Capitoline Triad on the [[Temple Mount]]. A temple dedicated to Venus was located in the forum. Probably in this year as well, [[Hadrian]] published an edict forbidding circumcision. The revolt of [[Bar Kochba]] exploded in 132 CE, when [[Tineius Rufus]] was the senatorial governor of [[Judaea]]. The leaders of the revolt were [[Shimon Bar Kochba]], a priest named [[E’lazar]], and, according to Rabbinic sources, [[Rabbi Akiva]]. The revolt, which soon transformed in a full war continued till 135 C.E. Together with the Legio VI Ferrata and the Legio X Fretensis, other legions were called in, the Legio III Gallica, Legio III Cyrenaica, the Legio XXII Deiotariana, and the Legio X Gemina. Yet, Roman losses were very heavy, and it seems that an entire legion, the XXII Deiotariana was wiped out. The Jewish leader [[Shimon Bar Kochba]], known as Nasi or president minted coinage. Hadrian at the beginning of the revolt took the command, and then, when he left he appointed [[Sextus Julius Severus]], who was called from [[Britain]], to command the Roman army in [[Judaea]]. It seems that troops were brought from as far as the [[Danube]]. After bitter guerrilla fighting, the Jewish settlement in [[Judaea]] was totally wiped out. According to [[Cassius Dio]], during the war 580,000 Jews were killed, 50 fortified towns and 985 villages razed. The last epic battle took place in [[Beitar]], a fortified city 10 km. southwest of Jerusalem. [[Bar Kochba]], the Jewish leader was killed during the battle. The province of [[Judaea]] was renamed [[Syria-Palaestina]].

== Hadrian in ancient sources==

== Hadrian in Scholarship==

== Hadrian in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian Wikipedia]

*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=47&letter=H&search=Hadrian Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Trajan

2012-01-17T16:22:46Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Trajan (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Trajan (subject)]]

====Overview====

[[Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus]], succeeded to [[Nerva]] in 98 CE, and ruled till 117 CE. [[Trajan]], the second of the adopted emperors, known as optimus princes was considered by his contemporaries as the most successful Roman emperor. Under his rule, the Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. [[Trajan]]’s reign is chiefly known for his quite successful foreign policy, he annexed in 106 CE the [[Nabatean]] kingdom as the Province of [[Arabia]], he waged two successful wars which resulted in the conquest of [[Dacia]] in 107 CE, The [[Parthian War]], albeit less successful, ended with the creation of new provinces in the East. His institution of [[alimenta]] in Italy, and the erection of many public monuments, as his Forum, or his baths, characterized his rule.

====Early Career====

[[Trajan]] was born in the city of Italica in 53 CE in the province of [[Hispania Baetica]]. His father [[Marcus Ulpius Trajanus]] took part in the [[Jewish War]] under [[Vespasian]] and Titus, as the legatus of the Legio X Fretensis. In 76-77 CE he was appointed Governor of [[Syria]], Legatus pro praetore Syriae. [[Trajan]] had a sister Marciana. [[Trajan]] started his cursus homorum as tribunus legionis in 76-77 in [[Syria]], under the command of his father. He was appointed consul under [[Domitian]] in 91 CE. He took part in the Germanic wars of [[Domitian]], and at the accession of [[Nerva]] in 96 CE, he was in command of the Rhine frontier. In 97 CE, the childless [[Nerva]], unpopular with the army, appointed [[Trajan]] as his adoptive son and successor.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Trajan]] reign was characterized by foreign wars that brought the Roman Empire to its greatest extension. The [[First Dacian War]] against Decebalus, waged between 101-102 CE, was only a partial success. Although [[Trajan]] defeated the Dacians at Tapae, [[Trajan]] had to face next year a counter attack of Decebalus, which however resulted in a failutre for the Dacians. King Decebalus submitted, and [[Trajan]], back to Rome received the title Dacicius Maximus. Between 105-107 CE, [[Trajan]] waged the [[Second Dacian War]]. The war was concluded with the conquest of Sarmingetusa, the Dacian capital, and the suicide of Decebalus. Dacia was annexed as a province and [[Trajan]] erected a colony, Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa on the site of the Dacian urban agglomeration. In 107 CE, with the death of the last Nabataean King, [[Trajan]] annexed his kingdom, and created the province of [[Arabia Petraea]], under the governorship of [[Sextus Florentinus]]. Two legions, the Legio III Cyrenaica and the Legio VI Ferrata, were stationed at [[Bostra]] and at [[Petra]], the former capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The conquest of the Nabatean kingdom resulted in the construction of the [[Via Nova Traiana]], which extended down the center of the province from [[Bostra]] to [[Aqaba]]. In 113 CE, [[Trajan]] started the [[Parthian War]], as consequence of the enthronement of a Parthian candidate on the throne of [[Armenia]]. The choice of the Armenian king was considered a prerogative of the Roman Empire. In 115 CE the Roman army conquered northern [[Mesopotamia]], including the cities of [[Nisibis]] and Batnae. The next year, in 116 CE, [[Trajan]] began to organize the new province of [[Mesopotamia]]. Then [[Trajan]] continued the push in southern [[Mesoptamia]], conquering [[Adiabene]], [[Babylon]], [[Seleucia]], and finally the Parthian capital, [[Ctesiphon]]. [[Trajan]] thus created two further provinces, [[Babylonia]], and [Assyria]], which covered the territory of the reign of [[Adiabene]]. [[Trajan]] then formally deposed the Parthian king [[Osroes I]] and put his own candidate [[Parthamaspates]] on the throne. However his failing health and a revolt of the Jews first in the Parthian territories conquered by [[Trajan]], and then in [[Cyrenaica]], [[Egypt]], and [[Cyprus]], obliged [[Trajan]] to withdraw. The ailing [[Trajan]] chose [[Lusius Quietus]], the Senatorial governor of [[Judaea]] to command the army, and probably he appointed Hadrian as his successor, possibly under the influence of his wife [[Plotina]]. After [[Trajan]]’s death, [[Hadrian]], his successor, had to relinquish most of the conquests made by [[Trajan]] during the [[Parthian War]]. In Italy, Trajan’rule was characteized by the institution of the [[alimenta]]. The [[alimenta]] were permanent loans from the fiscus to Italic cities or municipia. Thus out of their own revenue, the various municipia should provide maintenance allowances for the children of needy families in their territories. Later Hadrian instituted the praefectus alimentorum to supervise the treasury grants. The institution of [[alimenta]] was celebrated on the Beneventum Arch. In Rome, [[Trajan]] building policy was characterized by the erection of the huge Forum of Trajan and the related markets, and the gigantic Thermae of Trajan, not so far away. [[Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus]] was indeed bestowed by the Senate the title of optimus princeps in 114 C.E.

====Trajan and the Jews ====

For the Jews living in the Roman Empire, [[Trajan]]’s reign was probably disastrous.
As [[Trajan]]'s army advanced victoriously through Mesopotamia, the Jews, faithful subjects of the [[Parthians]], rebelled attacking the small garrisons left behind. The insurrection swiftly spread to the recently conquered provinces. Cities with substantial Jewish populations, [[Nisibis]], [[Edessa]], [[Seleucia]], and [[Arbela]], were conquered by the rebels. Moreover, between 115 and 117 C.E. the Jewish communities of [[Cyrenaica]], [[Egypt]] and [[Cyprus]] revolted. The revolt begun in [[Cyrenaica]] under the leadership of a certain [[Lukuas]] or [[Andreas]], who according to [[Eusebius]], called himself king of the Jews. The Jewish army, destroyed [[Cyrene]] and moved towards [[Egypt]], where the rebellion spread between the Jews living there. The city of [[Alexandria]] was probably conquered, and the Roman governor, [[Marcus Rutilius Lupus]], had to retire. It seems that the revolt extended to [[Cyprus]]. [[Trajan]] sent reinforcement under the leadership of the praefectus praetorio [[Quintus Marcius Turbo]]. The repression of the revolt, under the leadership of the consular [[Lusius Quietus]], continued till the beginning of Hadrian reign. The result was that [[Cyrenaica]] and [[Egypt]], mainly the countryside, were completely ravaged. On the other side, the local Jewish communities were completely wiped out. It is not clear what happened in [[Judaea]], where Rabbinic literature mention two leaders, [[Julian]] and [[Pappus]], who were executed during [[Trajan]]’s reign.

== Trajan in ancient sources==

== Trajan in Scholarship==

== Trajan in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan Wikipedia]
*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=293&letter=T&search=Trajan Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Trajan

2012-01-17T16:22:20Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Trajan (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Trajan (subject)]]

====Overview===

[[Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus]], succeeded to [[Nerva]] in 98 CE, and ruled till 117 CE. [[Trajan]], the second of the adopted emperors, known as optimus princes was considered by his contemporaries as the most successful Roman emperor. Under his rule, the Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. [[Trajan]]’s reign is chiefly known for his quite successful foreign policy, he annexed in 106 CE the [[Nabatean]] kingdom as the Province of [[Arabia]], he waged two successful wars which resulted in the conquest of [[Dacia]] in 107 CE, The [[Parthian War]], albeit less successful, ended with the creation of new provinces in the East. His institution of [[alimenta]] in Italy, and the erection of many public monuments, as his Forum, or his baths, characterized his rule.

====Early Career====

[[Trajan]] was born in the city of Italica in 53 CE in the province of [[Hispania Baetica]]. His father [[Marcus Ulpius Trajanus]] took part in the [[Jewish War]] under [[Vespasian]] and Titus, as the legatus of the Legio X Fretensis. In 76-77 CE he was appointed Governor of [[Syria]], Legatus pro praetore Syriae. [[Trajan]] had a sister Marciana. [[Trajan]] started his cursus homorum as tribunus legionis in 76-77 in [[Syria]], under the command of his father. He was appointed consul under [[Domitian]] in 91 CE. He took part in the Germanic wars of [[Domitian]], and at the accession of [[Nerva]] in 96 CE, he was in command of the Rhine frontier. In 97 CE, the childless [[Nerva]], unpopular with the army, appointed [[Trajan]] as his adoptive son and successor.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Trajan]] reign was characterized by foreign wars that brought the Roman Empire to its greatest extension. The [[First Dacian War]] against Decebalus, waged between 101-102 CE, was only a partial success. Although [[Trajan]] defeated the Dacians at Tapae, [[Trajan]] had to face next year a counter attack of Decebalus, which however resulted in a failutre for the Dacians. King Decebalus submitted, and [[Trajan]], back to Rome received the title Dacicius Maximus. Between 105-107 CE, [[Trajan]] waged the [[Second Dacian War]]. The war was concluded with the conquest of Sarmingetusa, the Dacian capital, and the suicide of Decebalus. Dacia was annexed as a province and [[Trajan]] erected a colony, Colonia Ulpia Traiana Augusta Dacica Sarmizegetusa on the site of the Dacian urban agglomeration. In 107 CE, with the death of the last Nabataean King, [[Trajan]] annexed his kingdom, and created the province of [[Arabia Petraea]], under the governorship of [[Sextus Florentinus]]. Two legions, the Legio III Cyrenaica and the Legio VI Ferrata, were stationed at [[Bostra]] and at [[Petra]], the former capital of the Nabataean kingdom. The conquest of the Nabatean kingdom resulted in the construction of the [[Via Nova Traiana]], which extended down the center of the province from [[Bostra]] to [[Aqaba]]. In 113 CE, [[Trajan]] started the [[Parthian War]], as consequence of the enthronement of a Parthian candidate on the throne of [[Armenia]]. The choice of the Armenian king was considered a prerogative of the Roman Empire. In 115 CE the Roman army conquered northern [[Mesopotamia]], including the cities of [[Nisibis]] and Batnae. The next year, in 116 CE, [[Trajan]] began to organize the new province of [[Mesopotamia]]. Then [[Trajan]] continued the push in southern [[Mesoptamia]], conquering [[Adiabene]], [[Babylon]], [[Seleucia]], and finally the Parthian capital, [[Ctesiphon]]. [[Trajan]] thus created two further provinces, [[Babylonia]], and [Assyria]], which covered the territory of the reign of [[Adiabene]]. [[Trajan]] then formally deposed the Parthian king [[Osroes I]] and put his own candidate [[Parthamaspates]] on the throne. However his failing health and a revolt of the Jews first in the Parthian territories conquered by [[Trajan]], and then in [[Cyrenaica]], [[Egypt]], and [[Cyprus]], obliged [[Trajan]] to withdraw. The ailing [[Trajan]] chose [[Lusius Quietus]], the Senatorial governor of [[Judaea]] to command the army, and probably he appointed Hadrian as his successor, possibly under the influence of his wife [[Plotina]]. After [[Trajan]]’s death, [[Hadrian]], his successor, had to relinquish most of the conquests made by [[Trajan]] during the [[Parthian War]]. In Italy, Trajan’rule was characteized by the institution of the [[alimenta]]. The [[alimenta]] were permanent loans from the fiscus to Italic cities or municipia. Thus out of their own revenue, the various municipia should provide maintenance allowances for the children of needy families in their territories. Later Hadrian instituted the praefectus alimentorum to supervise the treasury grants. The institution of [[alimenta]] was celebrated on the Beneventum Arch. In Rome, [[Trajan]] building policy was characterized by the erection of the huge Forum of Trajan and the related markets, and the gigantic Thermae of Trajan, not so far away. [[Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus]] was indeed bestowed by the Senate the title of optimus princeps in 114 C.E.

====Trajan and the Jews ====

For the Jews living in the Roman Empire, [[Trajan]]’s reign was probably disastrous.
As [[Trajan]]'s army advanced victoriously through Mesopotamia, the Jews, faithful subjects of the [[Parthians]], rebelled attacking the small garrisons left behind. The insurrection swiftly spread to the recently conquered provinces. Cities with substantial Jewish populations, [[Nisibis]], [[Edessa]], [[Seleucia]], and [[Arbela]], were conquered by the rebels. Moreover, between 115 and 117 C.E. the Jewish communities of [[Cyrenaica]], [[Egypt]] and [[Cyprus]] revolted. The revolt begun in [[Cyrenaica]] under the leadership of a certain [[Lukuas]] or [[Andreas]], who according to [[Eusebius]], called himself king of the Jews. The Jewish army, destroyed [[Cyrene]] and moved towards [[Egypt]], where the rebellion spread between the Jews living there. The city of [[Alexandria]] was probably conquered, and the Roman governor, [[Marcus Rutilius Lupus]], had to retire. It seems that the revolt extended to [[Cyprus]]. [[Trajan]] sent reinforcement under the leadership of the praefectus praetorio [[Quintus Marcius Turbo]]. The repression of the revolt, under the leadership of the consular [[Lusius Quietus]], continued till the beginning of Hadrian reign. The result was that [[Cyrenaica]] and [[Egypt]], mainly the countryside, were completely ravaged. On the other side, the local Jewish communities were completely wiped out. It is not clear what happened in [[Judaea]], where Rabbinic literature mention two leaders, [[Julian]] and [[Pappus]], who were executed during [[Trajan]]’s reign.

== Trajan in ancient sources==

== Trajan in Scholarship==

== Trajan in Fiction==

==Related categories==

*[[Roman Emperors]]

==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan Wikipedia]
*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=293&letter=T&search=Trajan Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Nerva

2012-01-17T16:20:54Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Nerva (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Nerva (subject)]]

====Overview====

[[Marcus Cocceius Nerva]] (30 – 98 CE) was the first of the Adopted Emperors. He was proclaimed emperor after the murder of [[Domitian]] by the Senate. He reigned only two years, from 96 till 98 CE. Following the mutiny of the Praetorian Guard, he adopted [[Trajan]], then in command on the Rhine frontier. [[Nerva]] is most known for the dismissal of the abuses connected with the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], as his coins [[Calumnia Judaica Sublata]] do indeed testify.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Cocceius Nerva]] was born in Narni, Umbria, in 35 CE from a family of Italic stock. His great-grandfather was consul in 36 BCE, and his grandfather was in the imperial entourage. His grandfather, also named [[Marcus Cocceius Nerva]], consul suffectus in 21 CE, was in a friendly relationship with [[Tiberius]]. [[Nerva]] had connection with the [[Julio-Claudian]] dynasty, as his uncle Octavius Laenas had married Rubellia Bassa, the great-granddaughter of [[Tiberius]]. One sister, named Cocceia married Lucius Salvius Titianus Otho, the brother of the future Emperor [[Otho]]. Nerva cursus honorum included a praetorship in 65 CE under Nero. In the same year, he helped to expose the Pisonian conspiracy. [[Nero]] awarded him triumphal honors. [[Nero]] then held a consulship under [[Vespasian]] in 71 CE and once more under [[Domitian]] in 90 CE.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Nerva]] was elevated to the Imperial throne after the murder of [[Domitian]] in 96 CE by the Senate. [[Nerva]] immediately eased [[Domitian]]’s reign of terror. Thus he released those imprisoned for treason, and banned future prosecutions for treason, granted amnesty to many whom [[Domitian]] had exiled, restored much confiscated property. Moreover [[Nerva]] publicly swore that no senators would be put to death as long as he remained in office. The short rule of [[Nerva]] was characterized by a close involvement of the Senate in the decision making. [[Nerva]]’ short reign was characterized by a series of reforms in Italy intended to alleviate the life of the poorest citizens. He thus granted allotments of land, exempted the poorest citizens from the inheritance tax, and begun the alimentary scheme, later expanded by [[Trajan]] and his successors. At Rome, [[Nerva]] erected the so called [[Forum Transitorium]], or the Forum of Nerva, located between the Forum of Mars Ultor, erected by Augustus, and the [[Forum Pacis]], erected by [[Vespasian]]. He also had roads repaired, and improved the water system of Rome, under the direction of [[Sextus Iulius Frontinus]]. He also had a public set of granaries built, known as Horrae Nervae. However, [[Nerva]] had a very uneasy relationship with the [[Praetorian Guard]]. Thus in 97 CE, the [[Praetorian Guard]] staged a palace revolution, took the emperor as hostage and obliged him to hand over the murderers of [[Domitian]], Petronius and Parthenius. However, Casperius Aelianus, the Guard Prefect responsible for the mutiny against [[Nerva]], was later executed under [[Trajan]]. [[Nerva]] also had to adopt Trajan, then in command of the Rhine frontier as successor.

====Nerva and the Jews ====

It seems that [[Nerva]] corrected the various abuses made under [[Domitian]] for the collection of the [[fiscus iudaicus]], as this was celebrated on the series of coins, bearing the inscription Fisci Iudaici Calumnia Sublata, minted by this short ruling Emperor. According to most scholars, the main correction of abuses, connected to the Jewish tax, by [[Nerva]] was the ending of the use of secret informers. However Goodman argues that [[Nerva]] released only ethnic Jews, who had given up public identification with their religion, from the payment of the [[fiscus iudaicus]]. Thus with [[Nerva]], only Jews who declared themselves Jews were taxed. The main incentive to make such declaration by individual Jews was the freedom of religion. Goodman argues as well for the side effects of [[Nerva]] policy on the status of the proselytes. Before 96 C.E., it was irrelevant if the status of the Gentile proselyte was that of full fledged Jew or just a friendly Pagan, or “theosebeis”. Nerva’ legislation, which imposed the [[Jewish tax]] only on observant Jews, defined now the proselyte or as a full fledged Jew, who had the obligation to pay the Jewish tax, or a sympatyzer, who was exempted from its payment. Thus [[Nerva]] for the first time gave the legal recognition to the Jewish proselytes, according to Roman law.

== Nerva in ancient sources==

== Nerva in Scholarship==

== Nerva in Fiction==

==Related categories==

Nerva

2012-01-17T16:20:17Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Nerva (sources)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category: Nerva (subject)]]

====Overview===

[[Marcus Cocceius Nerva]] (30 – 98 CE) was the first of the Adopted Emperors. He was proclaimed emperor after the murder of [[Domitian]] by the Senate. He reigned only two years, from 96 till 98 CE. Following the mutiny of the Praetorian Guard, he adopted [[Trajan]], then in command on the Rhine frontier. [[Nerva]] is most known for the dismissal of the abuses connected with the [[Fiscus Judaicus]], as his coins [[Calumnia Judaica Sublata]] do indeed testify.

====Early Career====

[[Marcus Cocceius Nerva]] was born in Narni, Umbria, in 35 CE from a family of Italic stock. His great-grandfather was consul in 36 BCE, and his grandfather was in the imperial entourage. His grandfather, also named [[Marcus Cocceius Nerva]], consul suffectus in 21 CE, was in a friendly relationship with [[Tiberius]]. [[Nerva]] had connection with the [[Julio-Claudian]] dynasty, as his uncle Octavius Laenas had married Rubellia Bassa, the great-granddaughter of [[Tiberius]]. One sister, named Cocceia married Lucius Salvius Titianus Otho, the brother of the future Emperor [[Otho]]. Nerva cursus honorum included a praetorship in 65 CE under Nero. In the same year, he helped to expose the Pisonian conspiracy. [[Nero]] awarded him triumphal honors. [[Nero]] then held a consulship under [[Vespasian]] in 71 CE and once more under [[Domitian]] in 90 CE.

====Imperial Succession====

[[Nerva]] was elevated to the Imperial throne after the murder of [[Domitian]] in 96 CE by the Senate. [[Nerva]] immediately eased [[Domitian]]’s reign of terror. Thus he released those imprisoned for treason, and banned future prosecutions for treason, granted amnesty to many whom [[Domitian]] had exiled, restored much confiscated property. Moreover [[Nerva]] publicly swore that no senators would be put to death as long as he remained in office. The short rule of [[Nerva]] was characterized by a close involvement of the Senate in the decision making. [[Nerva]]’ short reign was characterized by a series of reforms in Italy intended to alleviate the life of the poorest citizens. He thus granted allotments of land, exempted the poorest citizens from the inheritance tax, and begun the alimentary scheme, later expanded by [[Trajan]] and his successors. At Rome, [[Nerva]] erected the so called [[Forum Transitorium]], or the Forum of Nerva, located between the Forum of Mars Ultor, erected by Augustus, and the [[Forum Pacis]], erected by [[Vespasian]]. He also had roads repaired, and improved the water system of Rome, under the direction of [[Sextus Iulius Frontinus]]. He also had a public set of granaries built, known as Horrae Nervae. However, [[Nerva]] had a very uneasy relationship with the [[Praetorian Guard]]. Thus in 97 CE, the [[Praetorian Guard]] staged a palace revolution, took the emperor as hostage and obliged him to hand over the murderers of [[Domitian]], Petronius and Parthenius. However, Casperius Aelianus, the Guard Prefect responsible for the mutiny against [[Nerva]], was later executed under [[Trajan]]. [[Nerva]] also had to adopt Trajan, then in command of the Rhine frontier as successor.

====Nerva and the Jews ====

It seems that [[Nerva]] corrected the various abuses made under [[Domitian]] for the collection of the [[fiscus iudaicus]], as this was celebrated on the series of coins, bearing the inscription Fisci Iudaici Calumnia Sublata, minted by this short ruling Emperor. According to most scholars, the main correction of abuses, connected to the Jewish tax, by [[Nerva]] was the ending of the use of secret informers. However Goodman argues that [[Nerva]] released only ethnic Jews, who had given up public identification with their religion, from the payment of the [[fiscus iudaicus]]. Thus with [[Nerva]], only Jews who declared themselves Jews were taxed. The main incentive to make such declaration by individual Jews was the freedom of religion. Goodman argues as well for the side effects of [[Nerva]] policy on the status of the proselytes. Before 96 C.E., it was irrelevant if the status of the Gentile proselyte was that of full fledged Jew or just a friendly Pagan, or “theosebeis”. Nerva’ legislation, which imposed the [[Jewish tax]] only on observant Jews, defined now the proselyte or as a full fledged Jew, who had the obligation to pay the Jewish tax, or a sympatyzer, who was exempted from its payment. Thus [[Nerva]] for the first time gave the legal recognition to the Jewish proselytes, according to Roman law.

== Nerva in ancient sources==

== Nerva in Scholarship==

== Nerva in Fiction==

==Related categories==

Herod the Great

2011-12-18T11:32:14Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Herod the Great (subject)]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Herod the Great (sources)]]

'''Herod the Great''' (1st century BCE) was Governor of Galilee (47-40 BCE) and then King of Judaea (37-4 BCE).

==Overview==

Herod the Great was the second son of the Idumean [[:Category:Antipater (subject)|Antipater]] and the Nabatean Cypros. In 47 BCE [[Antipater]] was made procurator of Judea by [[Julius Caesar]] and appointed his sons [[:Category:Phasael (subject)|Phasael]] and Herod as governors of [[Jerusalem]] and [[Galilee]] respectively.

In 43 BCE [[Antipater]], who supported [[Cassius]], was poisoned. Herod and [[Phasael]] were quick enough to switch allegiance to [[Mark Anthony]] and retain power.

In 40 BCE Herod faced an even greater challenge. The Hasmonean [[:Category:Antigonus (subject)|Antigonus]] allied himself with the [[Parthians]] and by deception captured both [[Phasael]] and the High Priest [[:Category:John Hyrcanus II (subject)|John Hyrcanus II]]. Hyrcanus was mutilated to make him unfit for the office; [[Phasael]] committed suicide.
Herod fled to [[Rome]]; the Senate accepted his plea and elected him ''King of the Jews'' with the task of restoring the power of Rome in the region against the [[Parthians]]. At the same time, Herod married the granddaughter of John Hyrcanus II, [[:Category:Mariamne (subject)|Mariamne]], to secure the support of the rival portion of the [[Hasmoneans]] to his cause against the Hasmonean [[:Category:Antigonus (subject)|Antigonus]].

Herod achieved full victory; from 37 BCE to his death in 4 BCE he would be the sole and undisputed ruler of Judea. Herod always remained a loyal ally of the [[Romans]] and their leaders.

In 34 BCE [[Mark Anthony]] granted to [[Cleopatra]] the balsam plantations near Jericho, parts of Herod’s kingdom. In 32 BCE a civil war between [[Mark Anthony]] and [[Cleopatra]] on one side and [[Augustus|Octavian]] on the other side. Herod, who sided with [[Mark Anthony]] begun a war against the [[Nabataeans]] and defeats them. After the battle of Actium, Herod sides with [[Augustus|Octavian]]. In 30 BCE Herod met [[Augustus|Octavian]] at Rhodes and he was confirmed as King of Judaea. Moreover, Herod received from [[Augustus|Octavian]] Jericho, given by [[Mark Anthony]] to [[Cleopatra]], the Decapolis region with the cities of Gadara and Hippos, the Samaria region, and the coastal cities of Gaza, Anthedon, and Straton Tower, made independent by [[Pompey]] and [[Gabinius]].

The alliance of Herod with the [[:Category:Hasmoneans (subject)|Hasmoneans]] did not last long. Herod first killed [[Mariamne]]'s brother, [[:Category:Aristobulus III (subject)|Aristobulus III]], whom he had briefly appointed High Priest. Then Herod killed [[John Hyrcanus II]], after treacherously inviting to return to [[Jerusalem]] from his confinement in Parthia. Ultimately, [[:Category:Mariamne (subject)|Mariamne]], as well as Alexandra Herod's mother in law, also were executed in 29 BCE.

Between 27-25 BCE Herod sent 500 soldiers to [[Aelius Gallus]], Prefect of Egypt in his campaign against Arabia. In 25 BCE, as famine and pestilence devastated the country, Herod appeal to [[Petronius]], Prefect of Egypt, for help.
In 23-22 BCE Herod was given by [[Augustus]] the Districts of Trachonitis, Batanaea and Auranitis. Herod’s kingdom had by now the same borders of the Hasmonean kingdom at his gratest extension. Later on, in 20 BCE [[Augustus]], when visiting Syria presented Herod with the territory of [[Zenodorus]], which included Ituraea.
In 18-17 BCE Herod travelled to Rome to bring home his sons [[Alexander]] and [[Aristobulus]].
In 15 BCE [[Agrippa]] visited Herod in Jerusalem. The following year, in 14 BCE Herod joined [[Agrippa]] in Asia Minor. There, he was received by the local Jewish communities. In 12 BCE, once more Herod travelled to Rome to accuse his sons [[Alexander]] and [[Aristobulus]] in front of [[Augustus|Octavian]] at Aquileia. [[Augustus]] was succesfull in settling the quarrel. In 10 BCE Herod travelled once more to Rome. In 9 BCE as consequence of the Second War against the [[Nabataeans]], Herod is in disfavour with Augustus. However, by 7 BCE, thanks to the good offices of [[Nicolaus of Damascus]], Herod was once more in favour with the Roman ruler.

Herod proved to be a very effective ruler. He completed ambitious construction projects in [[Jericho]], where he edified three palaces in the Wadi Qelt area between 40 and 15 BCE. At [[Jerusalem]], between 20 and 19 BCE he begun the rebuilding of the Temple, which was inaugurated by Herod and [[Agrippa]] in 15 BCE. Herod erected in Jerusalem as well the Antonia Fortress, located in the north western corner of the Temple Mount. In the western part of the city a huge palace, which included three huge towers, named after Mariamme, Phasael and Hyppicos was erected.[[Samaria]] was dedicated in 25 BCE as [[Sebaste]] in honor of [[Augustus]]. In 23 BCE Herod founded the harbor and the city of [[Caesarea Maritima]], dedicated in 10 BCE. New fortresses were erected to defend the kingdom, such as the [[Herodium]] and [[Masada]].

The succession to his throne proved to be a very complicated matter. With many wives and children, Herod had many options but was not able to control the intrigues and the competition. In 7 BCE Herod had the two sons of [[Mariamne]], [[Alexandros]] and [[Aristobulus IV]], executed. In 4 BCE the same fate came to his oldest son, [[:Category:Antipater II (subject)|Antipater II]]. The fame of Herod as a fearful and suspicious child murder, which the [[Gospel of Matthew]] has left to the Christian tradition, was not totally undeserved.
At the end, Herod divided his kingdom in three parts to be given each to one of his surviving children, [[:Category:Herod Archelaus (subject)|Herod Archelaus]], who inherited Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea [[:Category:Herod Antipas (subject)|Herod Antipas]], who inherited [[Galilee]] and [[:Category:Herod Philip (subject)|Herod Philip]], who inherited the Gaulanitis area.

==Herod the Great in ancient sources==

*See [[Herod the Great (sources)]]

==Herod the Great in Scholarship==

==Herod the Great in Fiction==

==Related categories==
*[[Herodians]] / [[:Category:Mariamne (subject)|Mariamne (subject)]]

==References==
*'''Herod the Great''' / [[Adam Marshak]] / In: [[The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), edited volume]], 729-735

==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great Wikipedia]
*[http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great01.html Livius.org]

[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:People]]

Titus (sources)

2011-12-18T11:14:29Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Titus]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Titus]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category [[Titus]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Titus]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Titus]], the eleventh book of the Lives of the Twelve Caesars. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 66 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Titus]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, [[Titus]] ====
11 - - 1. [[Titus]], of the same surname as his father, was the delight and darling of the human race; such surpassing ability had he, by nature, art, or good fortune, to win the affections of all men, and that, too, which is no easy task, while he was emperor; for as a private citizen, and even during his father's rule, he did not escape hatred, much less public criticism. He was born on the third day before the Kalends of January, in the year memorable for the death of [[Gaius]], in a mean house near the [[Septizonium]] and in a very small dark room besides; for it still remains and is on exhibition.
11 - - 2. He was brought up at court in company with [[Britannicus]] and taught the same subjects by the same masters. At that time, so they say, a physiognomist was brought in by [[Narcissus]], the freedman of [[Claudius]], to examine [[Britannicus]] and declared most positively that he would never become emperor; but that [[Titus]], who was standing near by at the time, would surely rule. The boys were so intimate too, that it is believed that when [[Britannicus]] drained the fatal draught, [[Titus]], who was reclining at his side, also tasted of the potion and for a long time suffered from an obstinate disorder. [[Titus]] did not forget all this, but later set up a golden statue of his friend in the [[Palace]], and dedicated another equestrian statue of ivory, which is to this day carried in the procession of the [[Circus]], and he attended it on its first appearance.
11 - - 3. Even in boyhood his bodily and mental gifts were conspicuous and they became more and more so as he advanced in years. He had a handsome person, in which there was no less dignity than grace, and was uncommonly strong, although he was not tall of stature and had a rather protruding belly. His memory was extraordinary and he had an aptitude for almost all the arts, both of war and of peace. Skilful in arms and horsemanship, he made speeches and wrote verses in Latin and Greek with ease and readiness, and even off-hand. He was besides not unacquainted with music, but sang and played the harp agreeably and skilfully. I have heard from many sources that he used also to write shorthand with great speed and would amuse himself by playful contests with his secretaries; also that he could imitate any handwriting that he had ever seen and often declared that he might have been the prince of forgers.
11 - - 4. He served as military tribune both in [[Germany]] and in [[Britain]], winning a high reputation for energy and no less integrity, as is evident from the great number of his statues and busts in both those provinces and from the inscriptions they bear. After his military service he pleaded in the [[Forum]], rather for glory than as a profession, and at the same time took to wife [[Arrecina Tertulla]], whose father, though only a Roman knight, had once been prefect of the praetorian cohorts; on her death he replaced her by [[Marcia Furnilla]], a lady of a very distinguished family, but divorced her after he had ackowledged a daughter which she bore him. Then, after holding the office of quaestor, as commander of a legion he subjugated the two strong cities of [[Tarichaeae]] and [[Gamala]] in [[Judaea]], having his horse killed under him in one battle and mounting another, whose rider had fallen fighting by his side.
11 - - 5. Presently he was sent to congratulate [[Galba]] on becoming ruler of the state, and attracted attention wherever he went, through the belief that he had been sent for to be adopted. But observing that everything was once more in a state of turmoil, he turned back, and visiting the oracle of the [[Paphian Venus]], to consult it about his voyage, he was also encouraged to hope for imperial power. Soon realising his hope and left behind to complete the conquest of [[Judaea]], in the final attack on [[Jerusalem]] he slew twelve of the defenders with as many arrows; and he took the city on his daughter's birthday, so delighting the soldiers and winning their devotion that they hailed him as Imperator and detained him from time to time, when he would leave the province, urging him with prayers and even with threats either to stay or to take them all with him. This aroused the suspicion that he had tried to revolt from his father and make himself king of the East; and he strengthened this suspicion on his way to Alexandria by wearing a diadem at the consecration of the bull [[Apis]] in [[Memphis]], an act quite in accord with the usual ceremonial of that ancient religion, but unfavourably interpreted by some. Because of this he hastened to Italy, and putting in at [[Regium]] and then at [[Puteoli]] in a transport ship, he went with all speed from there to Rome, where as if to show that the reports about him were groundless, he surprised his father with the greeting, "I am here, father; I am here."
11 - - 6. From that time on he never ceased to act as the emperor's partner and even as his protector. He took part in his father's triumph and was censor with him. He was also his colleague in the tribunicial power and in seven consulships. He took upon himself the discharge of almost all duties, personally dictated letters and wrote edicts in his father's name, and even read his speeches in the senate in lieu of a quaestor. He also assumed the command of the praetorian guard, which before that time had never been held except by a Roman knight, and in this office conducted himself in a somewhat arrogant and tyrannical fashion. For whenever he himself regard anyone with suspicion, he would secretly send some of the Guard to the various theatres and camps, to demand their punishment as if by consent of all who were present; and then he would put them out of the way without delay. Among these was [[Aulus Caecina]], an ex-consul, whom he invited to dinner and then ordered to be stabbed almost before he left the dining-room; but in this case he was led by a pressing danger, having got possession of an autograph copy of an harangue which [[Caecina]] had prepared to deliver to the soldiers. Although by such conduct he provided for his safety in the future, he incurred such odium at the time that hardly anyone ever came to the throne with so evil a reputation or so much against the desires of all.
11 - - 7. Besides cruelty, he was also suspected of riotous living, since he protracted his revels until the middle of the night with the most prodigal of his friends; likewise of unchastity because of his troops of catamites and eunuchs, and his notorious passion for queen [[Berenice]], to whom it was even said that he promised marriage. He was suspected of greed as well; for it was well known that in cases which came before his father he put a price on his influence and accepted bribes. In short, people not only thought, but openly declared, that he would be a second [[Nero]]. But this reputation turned out to his advantage and gave place to the highest praise, when no fault was discovered in him, but on the contrary the highest virtues. His banquets were pleasant rather than extravagant. He chose as his friends men whom succeeding emperors also retained as indispensable alike to themselves and the State, and of whose services they made special use. [[Berenice]] he sent from Rome at once, against her will and against his own. Some of his most beloved paramours, although they were such skilful dancers that they later became stage favourites, he not only ceased to cherish any longer, but even to witness their public performances. He took away nothing from any citizen. He respected others' property, if anyone ever did; in fact, he would not accept even proper and customary presents. And yet he was second to none of his predecessors in munificence. At the dedication of his amphitheatre and of the baths which were hastily built near it he gave a most magnificent and costly gladiatorial show. He presented a sham sea-fight too in the old naumachia, and in the same place a combat of gladiators, exhibiting five thousand wild beasts of every kind in a single day.
11 - - 8. He was most kindly by nature, and whereas in accordance with a custom established by [[Tiberius]], all the [[Caesars]] who followed him refused to regard favours granted by previous emperors as valid, unless they had themselves conferred the same ones on the same individuals, [[Titus]] was the first to ratify them all in a single edict, without allowing himself to be asked. Moreover, in the case of other requests made of him, it was his fixed rule not to let anyone go away without hope. Even when his household officials warned him that he was promising more than he could perform, he said that it was not right for anyone to go away sorrowful from an interview with his emperor. On another occasion, remembering at dinner that he had nothing for anybody all day, he gave utterance to that memorable and praiseworthy remark: "Friends, I have lost a day." The whole body of the people in particular he treated with such indulgence on all occasions, that once at a gladiatorial show he declared that he would give it, "not after his own inclinations, but those of the spectators"; and what is more, he kept his word. For he refused nothing which anyone asked, and even urged them to ask for what they wished. Furthermore, he openly displayed his partiality for Thracian gladiators and bantered the people about it by words and gestures, always however preserving his dignity, as well as observing justice. Not to omit any act of condescension, he sometimes bathed in the baths which he had built, in company with the common people. There were some dreadful disasters during his reign, such as the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]] in [[Campania]], a fire at [[Rome]] which continued three days and as many nights, and a plague the like of which had hardly ever been known before. In these many great calamities he showed not merely the concern of an emperor, but even a father's surpassing love, now offering consolation in edicts, and now lending aid so far as his means allowed. He chose commissioners by lot from among the ex-consuls for the relief of [[Campania]]; and the property of those who lost their lives by [[Vesuvius]] and had no heirs left alive he applied to the rebuilding of the buried cities. During the fire in Rome he made no remark except "I am ruined," and he set aside all the ornaments of his villas for the public buildings and temples, and put several men of the equestrian order in charge of the work, that everything might be done with the greater dispatch. For curing the plague and diminishing the force of the epidemic there was no aid, human or divine, which he did not employ, searching for every kind of sacrifice and all kinds of medicines. Among the evils of the times were the informers and their instigators, who had enjoyed a long standing licence. After these had been soundly beaten in the [[Forum]] with scourges and cudgels, and finally led in procession across the arena of the amphitheatre, he had some of them put up and sold, and others deported to the wildest of the islands. To further discourage for all time any who might think of venturing on similar practices, among other precautions he made it unlawful for anyone to be tried under several laws for the same offence, or for any inquiry to be made as to the legal status of any deceased person after a stated number of years.
11 - - 9. Having declared that he would accept the office of pontifex maximus for the purpose of keeping his hands unstained, he was true to his promise; for after that he neither caused nor connived at the death of any man, although he sometimes had no lack of reasons for taking vengeance; but he swore that he would rather be killed than kill. When two men of patrician family were found guilty of aspiring to the throne, he satisfied himself with warning them to abandon their attempt, saying that imperial power was the gift of fate, and promising that if there was anything else they desired, he himself would bestow it. Then he sent his couriers with all speed to the mother of one of them, for she was some distance off, to relieve her anxiety by reporting that her son was sate; and he not only invited the men themselves to dinner among his friends, but on the following day at a gladiatorial show he purposely placed them near him, and when the swords of the contestants were offered him, handed them over for their inspection. It is even said that inquiring into the horoscope of each of them, he declared that danger threatened them both, but at some future time and from another, as turned out to be the case. Although his brother never ceased plotting against him, but almost openly stirred up the armies to revolt and meditated flight to them, he had not the heart to put him to death or banish him from the court, or even to hold him in less honour than before. On the contrary, as he had done from the very first day of his rule, he continued to declare that he was his partner and successor, and sometimes he privately begged him with tears and prayers to be willing at least to return his affection.
11 - - 10. In the meantime he was cut off by death, to the loss of mankind rather than to his own. After finishing the public games, at the close of which he wept bitterly in the presence of the people, he went down to the [[Sabine]] territory, somewhat cast down because a victim had escaped as he was sacrificing and because it had thundered from a clear sky. Then at the very first stopping place he was seized with a fever, and as he was being carried on from there in a litter, it is said that he pushed back the curtains, looked up to heaven, and lamented bitterly that his life was being taken from him contrary to his deserts; for he said that there was no act of his life of which he had cause to repent, save one only. What this was he did not himself disclose at the time, nor could anyone easily divine. Some think that he recalled the intimacy which he had with his brother's wife; but [[Domitia]] swore most solemnly that this did not exist, although she would not have denied it if it had been in the least true, but on the contrary would have boasted of it, as she was most ready to do of all her scandalous actions.
11 - - 11. He died in the same farmhouse as his father, on the Ides of September, two years, two months and twenty days after succeeding [[Vespasian]], in the forty-second year of his age. When his death was made known, the whole populace mourned as they would for a loss in their own families, the senate hastened to the House before it was summoned by proclamation, and with the doors still shut, and then with them open, rendered such thanks to him and heaped such praise on him after death as they had never done even when he was alive and present.

Domitian (sources)

2011-12-18T11:13:32Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Domitian]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Domitian]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category [[Domitian]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Domitian]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Domitian]], the eleventh book of the Lives of the Twelve Caesars. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 67 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Domitian]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, [[Domitian]] ====
12 - - 1. [[Domitian]] was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of November of the year when his father was consul elect and was about to enter on the office in the following month, in a street of the sixth region called "the Pomegranate," in a house which he afterwards converted into a temple of the [[Flavian]] family. He is said to have passed the period of his boyhood and his early youth in great poverty and infamy. For he did not possess a single piece of plate and it is a well known fact that [[Claudius Pollio]], a man of praetorian rank, against whom Nero's poem entitled "The One-eyed Man" is directed, preserved a letter in [[Domitian]]'s handwriting and sometimes exhibited it, in which the future emperor promised him an assignation; and there have not been wanting those who declared that [[Domitian]] was also debauched by Nerva, who succeeded him. In the war with [[Vitellius]] he took refuge in the [[Capitol]] with his paternal uncle [[Sabinus]] and a part of the forces under him. When the enemy forced an entrance and the temple was fired, he hid during the night with the guardian of the shrine, and in the morning, disguised in the garb of a follower of [[Isis]] and mingling with the priests of that fickle superstition, he went across the [[Tiber]] with a single companion to the mother of one of his school-fellows. There he was so effectually concealed, that though he was closely followed, he could not be found, in spite of a thorough search. It was only after the victory that he ventured forth and after being hailed as [[Caesar]], he assumed the office of city praetor with consular powers, but only in name, turning over all the judicial business to his next colleague. But he exercised all the tyranny of his high position so lawlessly, that it was even then apparent what sort of a man he was going to be. Not to mention all details, after making free with the wives of many men, he went so far as to marry [[Domitia Longina]], who was the wife of [[Aelius Lamia]], and in a single day he assigned more than twenty positions in the city and abroad, which led [[Vespasian]] to say more than once that he was surprised that he did not appoint the emperor's successor with the rest.
12 - - 2. He began an expedition against [[Gaul]] and the [[Germanies]], which was uncalled for and from which his father's friends dissuaded him, merely that he might make himself equal to his brother in power and rank. For this he was reprimanded, and to give him a better realisation of his youth and position, he had to live with his father, and when they appeared in public he followed the emperor's chair and that of his brother in a litter, while he also attended their triumph over [[Judaea]] riding on a white horse. Moreover, of his six consulships only one was a regular one, and he obtained that only because his brother gave place to him and recommended his appointment. He himself too made a remarkable pretence of modesty and especially of an interest in poetry, an art which had previously been as unfamiliar to him as it was later despised and rejected, and he even gave readings in public. Yet in spite of all this, when [[Vologaesus]], king of the [[Parthians]], had asked for auxiliaries against the [[Alani]] and for one of [[Vespasian]]'s sons as their leader, [[Domitian]] used every effort to have himself sent rather than [[Titus]]; and because the affair came to nothing, he tried by gifts and promises to induce other eastern kings to make the same request. On the death of his father he hesitated for some time whether to offer a double largess to the soldiers, and he never had any compunction about saying that he had been left a partner in the imperial power, but that the will had been tampered with. And from that time on he never ceased to plot against his brother secretly and openly, until [[Titus]] was seized with a dangerous illness, when [[Domitian]] ordered that he be left for dead, before he had actually drawn his last breath. And after his death he bestowed no honour upon him, save that of deification, and he often assailed his memory in ambiguous phrases, both in his speeches and in his edicts.
12 - - 3. At the beginning of his reign he used to spend hours in seclusion every day, doing nothing but catch fires and stab them with a keenly-sharpened stylus. Consequently when someone once asked whether anyone was in there with [[Caesar]], [[Vibius Crispus]] made the witty reply: "Not even a fly." Then he saluted his wife [[Domitia]] as Augusta. He had had a son by her in his second consulship, whom he lost the second year after he became emperor; he divorced her because of her love for the actor [[Paris]], but could not bear the separation and soon took her back, alleging that the people demanded it. In his administration of the government he for some time showed himself inconsistent, with about an equal number of virtues and vices, but finally he turned the virtues also into vices; for so far as one may guess, it was contrary to his natural disposition that he was made rapacious through need and cruel through fear.
12 - - 4. He constantly gave grand costly entertainments, both in the amphitheatre and in the Circus, where in addition to the usual races between two-horse and four-horse chariots, he also exhibited two battles, one between forces of infantry and the other by horsemen; and he even gave a naval battle in the amphitheatre. Besides he gave hunts of wild beasts, gladiatorial shows at night by the light of torches, and not only combats between men but between women as well. He was always present too at the games given by the quaestors, which he revived after they had been abandoned for some time, and invariably granted the people the privilege of calling for two pairs of gladiators from his own school, and brought them in last in all the splendour of the court. During the whole of every gladiatorial show there always stood at his feet a small boy clad in scarlet, with an abnormally small head, with whom he used to talk a great deal, and sometimes seriously. At any rate, he was overheard to ask him if he knew why he had decided at that last appointment day to make [[Mettius Rufus]] praefect of [[Egypt]]. He often gave sea-fights almost with regular fleets, having dug a pool near the [[Tiber]] and surrounded it with seats; and he continued to witness the contests amid heavy rains. He also celebrated [[Secular games]], reckoning the time, not according to the year when [[Claudius]] had last given them, but by the previous calculation of [[Augustus]]. In the course of these, to make it possible to finish a hundred races on the day of contests in the [[Circus]], he diminished the number of laps from seven to five. He also established a [[quinquennial contest]] in honour of [[Jupiter Capitolinus]] of a threefold character, comprising music, riding, and gymnastics, and with considerably more prizes than are awarded nowadays. For there were competitions in prose declamation both in hand and in Latin; and in addition to those of the lyre-players, between choruses of such players and in the lyre alone, without singing; while in the stadium there were races even between maidens. He presided at the competitions in half-boots, clad in a purple toga in the Greek fashion, and wearing upon his head a golden crown with figures of [[Jupiter]], [[Juno]], and [[Minerva]], while by his side sat the priest of [[Jupiter]] and the college of the [[Flaviales]], similarly dressed, except that their crowns bore his image as well. He celebrated the [[Quinquatria]] too every year in honour of [[Minerva]] at his Alban villa, and established for her a college of priests, from which men were chosen by lot to act as officers and give splendid shows of wild beasts and stage plays, besides holding contests in oratory and poetry. He made a present to the people of three hundred sesterces each on three occasions, and in the course of one of his shows in celebration of the feast of the Seven Hills gave a plentiful banquet, distributing large baskets of victuals to the senate and knights, and smaller one to the commons; and he himself was the first to begin to eat. On the following day he scattered gifts of all sorts of things to be scrambled for, and since the greater part of these fell where the people sat, he had five hundred tickets thrown into each section occupied by the senatorial and equestrian orders.
12 - - 5. He restored many splendid buildings which had been destroyed by fire, among them the [[Capitolium]], which had again been burned, but in all cases with the inscription of his own name only, and with no mention of the original builder. Furthermore, he built a new temple on the [[Capitoline hill]] in honour of [[Jupiter Custos]] and the forum which now bears the name of [[Nerva]]; likewise a temple to the [[Flavian]] family, a stadium, an [[Odeum]], and a pool for sea-fights. From the stone used in this last the [[Circus Maximus]] was afterwards rebuilt, when both sides of it had been destroyed by fire.
12 - - 6. His campaigns he undertook partly without provocation and partly of necessity. That against the [[Chatti]] was uncalled for, while the one against the [[Sarmatians]] was justified by the destruction of a legion with its commander. He made two against the [[Dacians]], the first when [[Oppius Sabinus]] an ex-consul was defeated, and the second on the overthrow of [[Cornelius Fuscus]], prefect of the praetorian guard, to whom he had entrusted the conduct of the war. After several battles of varying success he celebrated a double triumph over the [[Chatti]] and the [[Dacians]]. His victories over the [[Sarmatians]] he commemorated merely by the offering of a laurel crown to [[Jupiter]] of the [[Capitol]]. A civil war which was set on foot by [[Lucius Antonius]], governor of [[Upper Germany]], was put down in the emperor's absence by a remarkable stroke of good fortune; for at the very hour of battle the [[Rhine]] suddenly thawed and prevented his barbarian allies from crossing over to [[Antonius]]. [[Domitian]] learned of this victory through omens before he actually had news of it, for on the very day when the decisive battle was fought a magnificent eagle enfolded his statue at Rome with its wings, uttering exultant shrieks; and soon afterwards the report of [[Antony]]'s death became so current, that several went so far as to assert positively that they had seen his head brought to Rome.
12 - - 7. He made many innovations also in common customs. He did away with the distribution of food to the people and revived that of formal dinners. He added two factions of drivers in the [[Circus]], with gold and purple as their colours, to the four former ones. He forbade the appearance of actors on the stage, but allowed the practice of their art in private houses. He prohibited the castration of males, and kept down the price of the eunuchs that remained in the hands of the slave dealers. Once upon the occasion of a plentiful wine crop, attended with a scarcity of grain, thinking that the fields were neglected through too much attention to the vineyards, he made an edict forbidding anyone to plant more vines in [[Italy]] and ordering that the vineyards in the provinces be cut down, or but half of them at most be left standing; but he did not persist in carrying out the measure. He opened some of the most important offices of the court to freedmen and Roman knights. He prohibited the uniting of two legions in one camp and the deposit of more than a thousand sesterces by any one soldier at headquarters, because it was clear that [[Lucius Antonius]] had been especially led to attempt a revolution by the amount of such deposits in the combined winter quarters of two legions. He increased the pay of the soldiers one fourth, by the addition of three gold pieces each year.
12 - - 8. He administered justice scrupulously and conscientiously, frequently holding special sittings on the tribunal in the [[Forum]]. He rescinded such decisions of the [[Hundred Judges]] as were made from interested motives. He often warned the arbiters not to grant claims for freedom made under false pretences. He degraded jurors who accepted bribes, together with all their associates. He also induced the tribunes of the commons to prosecute a corrupt aedile for extortion, and to ask the senate to appoint jurors in the case. He took such care to exercise restraint over the city officials and the governors of the provinces, that at no time were they more honest or just, whereas after his time we have seen many of them charged with all manner of offences. Having undertaken the correction of public morals, he put an end to the licence at the theatres, where the general public occupied the seats reserved for the knights; did away with the prevailing publication of scurrilous lampoons, in which distinguished men and women were attacked, and imposed ignominious penalties on their authors; expelled an ex-quaestor from the senate, because he was given to acting and dancing; deprived notorious women of the use of litters, as well as of the right to receive inheritances and legacies; struck the name of a Roman knight from the list of jurors, because he had taken back his wife after divorcing her and charging her with adultery; condemned several men of both orders, offenders against the Scantinian law; and the incest of [[Vestal virgins]], condoned even by his father and his brother, he punished severely in diverse ways, at first by capital punishment, and afterwards in the ancient fashion. For while he allowed the sisters Oculata and also Varronilla free choice of the manner of their death, and banished their paramours, he later ordered that Cornelia, a chief-vestal who had been acquitted once but after a long interval again arraigned and found guilty, be buried alive; and her lovers were beaten to death with rods in the [[Comitium]], with the exception of an ex-praetor, whom he allowed to go into exile, because he admitted his guilt while the case was still unsettled and the examination and torture of the witnesses had led to no result. To protect the gods from being dishonoured with impunity by any sacrilege, he caused a tomb which one of his freedmen had built for his son from stones intended for the [[temple of Jupiter of the Capitol]] to be destroyed by the soldiers and the bones and ashes contained in it thrown into the sea.
12 - - 9. In the earlier part of his reign he so shrank from any form of bloodshed, that while his father was still absent from the city, he planned to issue an edict that no oxen should be offered up, recalling the line of [[Vergil]], "E'er yet an impious race did slay and feast upon bullocks." He was equally free from any suspicion of love of gain or of avarice, both in private life and for some time after becoming emperor; on the contrary, he often gave strong proofs not merely of integrity, but even of liberality. He treated all his intimates most generously, and there was nothing which he urged them more frequently, or with greater insistence, than that they should be niggardly in none of their acts. He would not accept inheritances left him by those who had children. He even annulled a legacy in the will of Rustus Caepio, who had provided that his heir should yearly pay a specified sum to each of the senators on his entrance into the House. He cancelled the suits against those who had been posted as debtors to the public treasury for more than five years, and would not allow a renewal except within a year and on the condition that an accuser who did not win his suit should be punished with exile. Scribes of the quaestors who carried on business, which had become usual although contrary to the Clodian law, he pardoned for past offences. Parcels of land which were left unoccupied here and there after the assignment of lands to the veterans he granted to their former owners as by right of possession. He checked false accusations designed for the profit of the privy purse and inflicted severe penalties on offenders; and a saying of his was current, that an emperor who does not punish informers hounds them on.
12 - - 10. But he did not continue this course of mercy or integrity, although he turned to cruelty somewhat more speedily than to avarice. He put to death a pupil of the pantomimic actor [[Paris]], who was still a beardless boy and ill at the time, because in his skill and his appearance he seemed not unlike his master; also [[Hermogenes of Tarsus]] because of some allusions in his History, besides crucifying even the slaves who had written it out. A householder who said that a Thracian gladiator was a match for the murmillio, but not for the giver of the games, he caused to be dragged from his seat and thrown into the arena to dogs, with this placard: "A favourer of the Thracians who spoke impiously." He put to death many senators, among them several ex-consuls, including [[Civica Cerealis]], at the very time when he was proconsul in [[Asia]], [[Salvidienus Orfitus]], [[Acilius Glabrio]] while he was in exile--these on the ground of plotting revolution, the rest on any charge, which were reflections on him, it is true, but made long before and harmless. For when [[Domitian]] had taken away [[Lamia]]'s wife, the latter replied to someone who praised his voice: "I practise continence"; and when [[Titus]] urged him to marry again, he replied: "Are you too looking for a wife?" He put to death [[Salvius Cocceianus]], because he had kept the birthday of the emperor [[Otho]], his paternal uncle; [[Mettius Pompusianus]], because it was commonly reported that he had an imperial nativity and carried about a map of the world on parchment and speeches of the kings and generals from [[Titus Livius]], besides giving two of his slaves the names of Mago and Hannibal; [[Sallustius Lucullus]], governor of [[Britain]], for allowing some lances of a new pattern to be named "Lucullean," after his own name; [[Junius Rusticus]], because he had published eulogies of [[Paetus Thrasea]] and [[Helvidius Priscus]] and called them the most upright of men; and on the occasion of this charge he banished all the philosophers from the city and from Italy. He also executed the younger [[Helvidius]], alleging that in a farce composed for the stage he had under the characters of Paris and Oenone censured [[Domitian]]'s divorce from his wife; [[Flavius Sabinus]] too, one of his cousins, because on the day of the consular elections the crier had inadvertently announced him to the people as emperor elect, instead of consul. After his victory in the civil war he became even more cruel, and to discover any conspirators who were in hiding, tortured many of the opposite party by a new form of inquisition, inserting fire in their privates; and he cut off the hands of some of them. It is certain that of the mere conspicuous only two were pardoned, a tribune of senatorial rank and a centurion, who the more clearly to prove their freedom from guilt, showed that they were of shameless unchastity and could therefore have had no influence with the general or with the soldiers.
12 - - 11. His savage cruelty was not only excessive, but also cunning and sudden. He invited one of his stewards to his bed-chamber the day before crucifying him, made him sit beside him on the couch, and dismissed him in a secure and gay frame of mind, even deigning to send him a share of his dinner. When he was on the point of condemning the ex-consul [[Arrecinius Clemens]], one of his intimates and tools, he treated him with as great favour as before, if not greater, and finally, as he was taking a drive with him, catching sight of his accuser he said: "Pray, shall we hear this base slave to-morrow?" To abuse men's patience the more insolently, he never pronounced an unusually dreadful sentence without a preliminary declaration of clemency, so that there came to be no more certain indication of a cruel death than the leniency of his preamble. He had brought some men charged with treason into the senate, and when he had introduced the matter by saying that he would find out that day how dear he was to the members, he had no difficulty in causing them to be condemned to suffer the ancient method of punishment. Then appalled at the cruelty of the penalty, he interposed a veto, to lessen the odium, in these words (for it will be of interest to know his exact language): "Allow me, Fathers of the senate, to prevail on you by your love for me to grant a favour which I know I shall obtain with difficulty, namely that you allow the condemned free choice of the manner of their death; for thus you will spare your own eyes and all men will know that I was present at the meeting of the senate."
12 - - 12. Reduced to financial straits by the cost of his buildings and shows, as well as by the additions which he had made to the pay of the soldiers, he tried to lighten the military expenses by diminishing the number of his troops; but perceiving that in this way he exposed himself to the attacks of the barbarians, and nevertheless had difficulty in easing his burdens, he had no hesitation in resorting to every sort of robbery. The property of the living and the dead was seized everywhere on any charge brought by any accuser. It was enough to allege any action or word derogatory to the majesty of the prince. Estates of those in no way connected with him were confiscated, if but one man came forward to declare that he had heard from the deceased during the lifetime that [[Caesar]] was his heir. Besides other taxes, that on the [[Jews]] was levied with the utmost rigour, and those were prosecuted who without publicly acknowledging that faith yet lived as [[Jews]], as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised. From his youth he was far from being of an affable disposition, but was on the contrary presumptuous and unbridled both in act and in word. When his father's concubine [[Caenis]] returned from [[Histria]] and offered to kiss him as usual, he held out his hand to her. He was vexed that his brother's son-in-law had attendants clad in white, as well as he, and uttered the words: "Not good is a number of rulers."
12 - - 13. When he became emperor, he did not hesitate to boast in the senate that he had conferred their power on both his father and his brother, and that they had but returned him his own; nor on taking back his wife after their divorce, that he had "recalled her to his divine couch." He delighted to hear the people in the amphitheatre shout on his feast day: "Good Fortune attend our Lord and Mistress." Even more, in the [[Capitoline]] competition, when all the people begged him with great unanimity to restore [[Palfurius Sura]], who had been banished some time before from the senate, and on that occasion received the prize for oratory, he deigned no reply, but merely had a crier bid them be silent. With no less arrogance he began as follows in issuing a circular letter in the name of his procurators, "Our Master and our God bids that this be done." He suffered no statues to be set up in his honour in the Capitol, except of gold and silver and of a fixed weight. He erected so many and such huge vaulted passage-ways and arches in the various regions of the city, adorned with chariots and triumphal emblems, that on one of them someone wrote in Greek: "It is enough." He held the consulship seventeen times, more often than any of his predecessors. Of these the seven middle ones were in successive years, but all of them he filled in name only, continuing none beyond the first May and few after the Ides of January. Having assumed the surname [[Germanicus]] after his two triumphs, he renamed the months of September and October from his own names, calling them "[[Germanicus]]" and "[[Domitianus]]," because in the former he had come to the throne and was born in the latter.
12 - - 14. In this way he became an object of terror and hatred to all, but he was overthrown at last by a conspiracy of his friends and favourite freedmen, to which his wife was also privy. He had long since had a premonition of the last year and day of his life, and even of the very hour and manner of his death. In his youth astrologers had predicted all this to him, and his father once even openly ridiculed him at dinner for refusing mushrooms, saying that he showed himself unaware of his destiny in not rather fearing the sword. Therefore he was at all times timorous and worried, and was disquieted beyond measure by even the slightest suspicions. It is thought that nothing had more effect in inducing him to ignore his proclamation about cutting down the vineyards than the circulation of notes containing the following lines: "Gnaw at my root, and you will; even then shall I have juice in plenty To pour upon thee, O goat, when at the altar you stand." It was because of this same timorousness that although he was most eager for all such honours, he refused a new one which the senate had devised and offered to him, a decree, namely, that whenever he held the consulship Roman knights selected by lot should precede him among his lictors and attendants, clad in the trabea and bearing lances. As the time when he anticipated danger drew near, becoming still more anxious every day, he lined the walls of the colonnades in which he used to walk with phengite stone, to be able to see in its brilliant surface the reflection of all that went behind his back. And he did not give a hearing to any prisoners except in private and alone, even holding their chains in his hands. Further, to convince his household that one must not venture to kill a patron even on good grounds, he condemned [[Epaphroditus]], his confidential secretary, to death, because it was believed that after [[Nero]] was abandoned the freedman's hand had aided him in taking his life.
12 - - 15. Finally he put to death his own cousin [[Flavius Clemens]], suddenly and on a very slight suspicion, almost before the end of his consulship; and yet [[Flavius]] was a man of most contemptible laziness and [[Domitian]] had besides openly named his sons, who were then very young, as his successors, changing their former names and calling the one by [[Vespasian]] and the other [[Domitian]]. And it was by this deed in particular that he hastened his own destruction. For eight successive months so many strokes of lightning occurred and were reported, that at last he cried: "Well, let him now strike whom he will." The [[temple of Jupiter of the Capitol]] was struck and that of the [[Flavian]] family, as well as the [[Palace]] and the emperor's own bedroom. The inscription too on the base of a triumphal statue of his was torn off in a violent tempest and fell upon a neighbouring tomb. The tree which had been overthrown when [[Vespasian]] was still a private citizen but had sprung up anew, then on a sudden fell down again. [[Fortune of Praeneste]] had throughout his whole reign, when he commended the new year to her protection, given him a favourable omen and always in the same words. Now at last she returned a most direful one, not without the mention of bloodshed. He dreamed that [[Minerva]], whom he worshipped with superstitious veneration, came forth from her shrine and declared that she could no longer protect him, since she had been disarmed by Jupiter. Yet there was nothing by which he was so much disturbed as a prediction of the astrologer [[Ascletarion]] and what befell him. When this man was accused before the emperor and did not deny that he had spoken of certain things which he had foreseen through his art, he was asked what his own end would be. When he replied that he would shortly be rent by dogs, [[Domitian]] ordered him killed at once; but to prove the fallibility of his art, he ordered besides that his funeral be attended to with the greatest care. While this was being done, it chanced that the pyre was overset by a sudden storm and that the dogs mangled the corpse, which was only partly consumed; and that an actor of farces called Latinus, who happened to pass by and see the incident, told it to [[Domitian]] at the dinner table, with the rest of the day's gossip.
12 - - 16. The day before he was killed he gave orders to have some apples which were offered him kept until the following day, and added: "If only I am spared to eat them"; then turning to his companions, he declared that on the following day the moon would be stained with blood in Aquarius, and that a deed would be done of which men would talk all over the world. At about midnight he was so terrified that he leaped from his bed. The next morning he conducted a trial of a soothsayer sent from [[Germany]], who when consulted about the lightning strokes had foretold a change of rulers, and condemned him to death. While he was vigorously scratching a festered wart on his forehead, and had drawn blood, he said: "May this be all." Then he asked the time, and by pre-arrangement the sixth hour was announced to him, instead of the fifth, which he feared. Filled with joy at this, and believing all danger now past, he was hastening to the bath, when his chamberlain [[Parthenius]] changed his purpose by announcing that someone had called about a matter of great moment and would not be put off. Then he dismissed all his attendants and went to his bedroom, where he was slain.
12 - - 17. Concerning the nature of this plot and the manner of his death, this is about all that became known. As the conspirators were deliberating when and how to attack him, whether at the bath or at dinner, [[Stephanus]], [[Domitilla]]'s steward, at the time under accusation for embezzlement, offered his aid and counsel. To avoid suspicion, he wrapped up his left arm in woollen bandages for some days, pretending that he had injured it, and concealed in them a dagger. Then pretending to betray a conspiracy and for that reason being given an audience, he stabbed the emperor in the groin as he was reading a paper which the assassin handed him, and stood in a state of amazement. As the wounded prince attempted to resist, he was slain with seven wounds by [[Clodianus]], a subaltern, [[Maximus]], a freedman of [[Parthenius]], [[Satur]], decurion of the chamberlains, and a gladiator from the imperial school. A boy who was engaged in his usual duty of attending to the Lares in the bedroom, and so was a witness of the murder, gave this additional information. He was bidden by [[Domitian]], immediately after he was dealt the first blow, to hand him the dagger hidden under his pillow and to call the servants; but he found nothing at the head of the bed save the hilt, and besides all the doors were closed. Meanwhile the emperor grappled with [[Stephanus]] and bore him to the ground, where they struggled for a long time, [[Domitian]] trying now to wrest the dagger from his assailant's hands and now to gouge out his eyes with his lacerated fingers. He was slain on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of October in the forty-fifth year of his age and the fifteenth of his reign. His corpse was carried out on a common bier by those who bury the poor, and his nurse [[Phyllis ]]cremated it at her suburban estate on the Via Latina; but his ashes she secretly carried to the [[temple of the Flavian family]] and mingled them with those of [[Julia]], daughter of [[Titus]], whom she had also reared.
12 - - 18. He was tall of stature, with a modest expression and a high colour. His eyes were large, but his sight was somewhat dim. He was handsome and graceful too, especially when a young man, and indeed in his whole body with the exception of his feet, the toes of which were somewhat cramped. In later life he had the further disfigurement of baldness, a protruding belly, and spindling legs, though the latter had become thin from a long illness. He was so conscious that the modesty of his expression was in his favour, that he once made this boast in the senate: "So far, at any rate, you have approved my heart and my countenance." He was so sensitive about his baldness, that he regarded it as a personal insult if anyone else was twitted with that defect in jest or in earnest; though in a book "On the Care of the Hair," which he published and dedicated to a friend, he wrote the following by way of consolation to the man and himself: "Do you not see that I am too tall and comely to look on?" And yet the same fate awaits my hair, and I bear with resignation the ageing of my locks in youth. Be assured that nothing is more pleasing than beauty, but nothing shorter-lived."
12 - - 19. He was incapable of exertion and seldom went about the city on foot, while on his campaigns and journeys he rarely rode on horseback, but was regularly carried in a litter. He took no interest in arms, but was particularly devoted to archery. There are many who have more than once seen him slay a hundred wild beasts of different kinds on his Alban estate, and purposely kill some of them with two successive shots in such a way that the arrows gave the effect of horns. Sometimes he would have a slave stand at a distance and hold out the palm of his right hand for a mark, with the fingers spread; then he directed his arrows with such accuracy that they passed harmlessly between the fingers.
12 - - 20. At the beginning of his rule he neglected liberal studies, although he provided for having the libraries, which were destroyed by fire, renewed at very great expense, seeking everywhere for copies of the lost works, and sending scribes to Alexandria to transcribe and correct them. Yet he never took any pains to become acquainted with history or poetry, or even to acquiring an ordinary good style. He read nothing except the memoirs and transactions of [[Tiberius Caesar]]; for his letters, speeches and proclamations he relied on others' talents. Yet his conversation was not inelegant, and some of his sayings were even noteworthy. "How I wish," said he, "that I were as fine looking as [[Maecius]] thinks he is." He declared too that the head of a certain man whose hair had changed colour in such a way that it was partly reddish and partly grey, was like "snow on which mead had been poured."
12 - - 21. He used to say that the lot of princes was most unhappy, since when they discovered a conspiracy, no one believed them unless they had been killed. Whenever he had leisure he amused himself with playing at dice, even on working days and in the morning hours. He went to the bath before the end of the forenoon and lunched to the point of satiety, so that at dinner he rarely took anything except a Matian apple and a moderate amount of wine from a jug. He gave numerous and generous banquets, but usually ended them early; in no case did he protract them beyond sunset, or follow them by a drinking bout. In fact, he did nothing until the hour for retiring except walk alone in a retired place.
12 - - 22. He was excessively lustful. His constant sexual intercourse he called bed-wrestling, as if it were a kind of exercise. It was reported that he depilated his concubines with his own hand and swam with common prostitutes. After persistently refusing his niece, who was offered him in marriage when she was still a maid, because he was entangled in an intrigue with [[Domitia]], he seduced her shortly afterwards when she became the wife of another, and that too during the lifetime of [[Titus]]. Later, when she was bereft of father and husband, he loved her ardently and without disguise, and even became the cause of her death by compelling her to get rid of a child of his by abortion.
12 - - 23. The people received the news of his death with indifference, but the soldiers were greatly grieved and at once attempted to call him the Deified [[Domitian]]; while they were prepared also to avenge him, had they not lacked leaders. This, however, they did accomplish a little later by most insistently demanding the execution of his murderers. The senators on the contrary were so overjoyed, that they raced to fill the House, where they did not refrain from assailing the dead emperor with the most insulting and stinging kind of outcries. They even had ladders brought and his shields and images torn down before their eyes and dashed upon the ground; finally they passed a decree that his inscriptions should everywhere be erased, and all record of him obliterated. A few months before he was killed, a raven perched on the Capitolium and cried "All will be well," an omen which some interpreted as follows: "High on the gable Tarpeian a raven but lately alighting, Could not say 'It is well,' only declared 'It will be.'"
[[Domitian]] himself, it is said, dreamed that a golden hump grew out on his back, and he regarded this as an infallible sign that the condition of the empire would be happier and more prosperous after his time; and this was shortly shown to be true through the uprightness and moderate rule of the succeeding emperors.

Domitian (sources)

2011-12-18T11:12:50Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *DICTIONARY: see Domitian *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Domitian (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category [[Domit..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Domitian]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Domitian]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category [[Domitian]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Domitian]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Domitian]], the eleventh book of the Lives of the Twelve Caesars. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 67 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Titus]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, [[Domitian]] ====
12 - - 1. [[Domitian]] was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of November of the year when his father was consul elect and was about to enter on the office in the following month, in a street of the sixth region called "the Pomegranate," in a house which he afterwards converted into a temple of the [[Flavian]] family. He is said to have passed the period of his boyhood and his early youth in great poverty and infamy. For he did not possess a single piece of plate and it is a well known fact that [[Claudius Pollio]], a man of praetorian rank, against whom Nero's poem entitled "The One-eyed Man" is directed, preserved a letter in [[Domitian]]'s handwriting and sometimes exhibited it, in which the future emperor promised him an assignation; and there have not been wanting those who declared that [[Domitian]] was also debauched by Nerva, who succeeded him. In the war with [[Vitellius]] he took refuge in the [[Capitol]] with his paternal uncle [[Sabinus]] and a part of the forces under him. When the enemy forced an entrance and the temple was fired, he hid during the night with the guardian of the shrine, and in the morning, disguised in the garb of a follower of [[Isis]] and mingling with the priests of that fickle superstition, he went across the [[Tiber]] with a single companion to the mother of one of his school-fellows. There he was so effectually concealed, that though he was closely followed, he could not be found, in spite of a thorough search. It was only after the victory that he ventured forth and after being hailed as [[Caesar]], he assumed the office of city praetor with consular powers, but only in name, turning over all the judicial business to his next colleague. But he exercised all the tyranny of his high position so lawlessly, that it was even then apparent what sort of a man he was going to be. Not to mention all details, after making free with the wives of many men, he went so far as to marry [[Domitia Longina]], who was the wife of [[Aelius Lamia]], and in a single day he assigned more than twenty positions in the city and abroad, which led [[Vespasian]] to say more than once that he was surprised that he did not appoint the emperor's successor with the rest.
12 - - 2. He began an expedition against [[Gaul]] and the [[Germanies]], which was uncalled for and from which his father's friends dissuaded him, merely that he might make himself equal to his brother in power and rank. For this he was reprimanded, and to give him a better realisation of his youth and position, he had to live with his father, and when they appeared in public he followed the emperor's chair and that of his brother in a litter, while he also attended their triumph over [[Judaea]] riding on a white horse. Moreover, of his six consulships only one was a regular one, and he obtained that only because his brother gave place to him and recommended his appointment. He himself too made a remarkable pretence of modesty and especially of an interest in poetry, an art which had previously been as unfamiliar to him as it was later despised and rejected, and he even gave readings in public. Yet in spite of all this, when [[Vologaesus]], king of the [[Parthians]], had asked for auxiliaries against the [[Alani]] and for one of [[Vespasian]]'s sons as their leader, [[Domitian]] used every effort to have himself sent rather than [[Titus]]; and because the affair came to nothing, he tried by gifts and promises to induce other eastern kings to make the same request. On the death of his father he hesitated for some time whether to offer a double largess to the soldiers, and he never had any compunction about saying that he had been left a partner in the imperial power, but that the will had been tampered with. And from that time on he never ceased to plot against his brother secretly and openly, until [[Titus]] was seized with a dangerous illness, when [[Domitian]] ordered that he be left for dead, before he had actually drawn his last breath. And after his death he bestowed no honour upon him, save that of deification, and he often assailed his memory in ambiguous phrases, both in his speeches and in his edicts.
12 - - 3. At the beginning of his reign he used to spend hours in seclusion every day, doing nothing but catch fires and stab them with a keenly-sharpened stylus. Consequently when someone once asked whether anyone was in there with [[Caesar]], [[Vibius Crispus]] made the witty reply: "Not even a fly." Then he saluted his wife [[Domitia]] as Augusta. He had had a son by her in his second consulship, whom he lost the second year after he became emperor; he divorced her because of her love for the actor [[Paris]], but could not bear the separation and soon took her back, alleging that the people demanded it. In his administration of the government he for some time showed himself inconsistent, with about an equal number of virtues and vices, but finally he turned the virtues also into vices; for so far as one may guess, it was contrary to his natural disposition that he was made rapacious through need and cruel through fear.
12 - - 4. He constantly gave grand costly entertainments, both in the amphitheatre and in the Circus, where in addition to the usual races between two-horse and four-horse chariots, he also exhibited two battles, one between forces of infantry and the other by horsemen; and he even gave a naval battle in the amphitheatre. Besides he gave hunts of wild beasts, gladiatorial shows at night by the light of torches, and not only combats between men but between women as well. He was always present too at the games given by the quaestors, which he revived after they had been abandoned for some time, and invariably granted the people the privilege of calling for two pairs of gladiators from his own school, and brought them in last in all the splendour of the court. During the whole of every gladiatorial show there always stood at his feet a small boy clad in scarlet, with an abnormally small head, with whom he used to talk a great deal, and sometimes seriously. At any rate, he was overheard to ask him if he knew why he had decided at that last appointment day to make [[Mettius Rufus]] praefect of [[Egypt]]. He often gave sea-fights almost with regular fleets, having dug a pool near the [[Tiber]] and surrounded it with seats; and he continued to witness the contests amid heavy rains. He also celebrated [[Secular games]], reckoning the time, not according to the year when [[Claudius]] had last given them, but by the previous calculation of [[Augustus]]. In the course of these, to make it possible to finish a hundred races on the day of contests in the [[Circus]], he diminished the number of laps from seven to five. He also established a [[quinquennial contest]] in honour of [[Jupiter Capitolinus]] of a threefold character, comprising music, riding, and gymnastics, and with considerably more prizes than are awarded nowadays. For there were competitions in prose declamation both in hand and in Latin; and in addition to those of the lyre-players, between choruses of such players and in the lyre alone, without singing; while in the stadium there were races even between maidens. He presided at the competitions in half-boots, clad in a purple toga in the Greek fashion, and wearing upon his head a golden crown with figures of [[Jupiter]], [[Juno]], and [[Minerva]], while by his side sat the priest of [[Jupiter]] and the college of the [[Flaviales]], similarly dressed, except that their crowns bore his image as well. He celebrated the [[Quinquatria]] too every year in honour of [[Minerva]] at his Alban villa, and established for her a college of priests, from which men were chosen by lot to act as officers and give splendid shows of wild beasts and stage plays, besides holding contests in oratory and poetry. He made a present to the people of three hundred sesterces each on three occasions, and in the course of one of his shows in celebration of the feast of the Seven Hills gave a plentiful banquet, distributing large baskets of victuals to the senate and knights, and smaller one to the commons; and he himself was the first to begin to eat. On the following day he scattered gifts of all sorts of things to be scrambled for, and since the greater part of these fell where the people sat, he had five hundred tickets thrown into each section occupied by the senatorial and equestrian orders.
12 - - 5. He restored many splendid buildings which had been destroyed by fire, among them the [[Capitolium]], which had again been burned, but in all cases with the inscription of his own name only, and with no mention of the original builder. Furthermore, he built a new temple on the [[Capitoline hill]] in honour of [[Jupiter Custos]] and the forum which now bears the name of [[Nerva]]; likewise a temple to the [[Flavian]] family, a stadium, an [[Odeum]], and a pool for sea-fights. From the stone used in this last the [[Circus Maximus]] was afterwards rebuilt, when both sides of it had been destroyed by fire.
12 - - 6. His campaigns he undertook partly without provocation and partly of necessity. That against the [[Chatti]] was uncalled for, while the one against the [[Sarmatians]] was justified by the destruction of a legion with its commander. He made two against the [[Dacians]], the first when [[Oppius Sabinus]] an ex-consul was defeated, and the second on the overthrow of [[Cornelius Fuscus]], prefect of the praetorian guard, to whom he had entrusted the conduct of the war. After several battles of varying success he celebrated a double triumph over the [[Chatti]] and the [[Dacians]]. His victories over the [[Sarmatians]] he commemorated merely by the offering of a laurel crown to [[Jupiter]] of the [[Capitol]]. A civil war which was set on foot by [[Lucius Antonius]], governor of [[Upper Germany]], was put down in the emperor's absence by a remarkable stroke of good fortune; for at the very hour of battle the [[Rhine]] suddenly thawed and prevented his barbarian allies from crossing over to [[Antonius]]. [[Domitian]] learned of this victory through omens before he actually had news of it, for on the very day when the decisive battle was fought a magnificent eagle enfolded his statue at Rome with its wings, uttering exultant shrieks; and soon afterwards the report of [[Antony]]'s death became so current, that several went so far as to assert positively that they had seen his head brought to Rome.
12 - - 7. He made many innovations also in common customs. He did away with the distribution of food to the people and revived that of formal dinners. He added two factions of drivers in the [[Circus]], with gold and purple as their colours, to the four former ones. He forbade the appearance of actors on the stage, but allowed the practice of their art in private houses. He prohibited the castration of males, and kept down the price of the eunuchs that remained in the hands of the slave dealers. Once upon the occasion of a plentiful wine crop, attended with a scarcity of grain, thinking that the fields were neglected through too much attention to the vineyards, he made an edict forbidding anyone to plant more vines in [[Italy]] and ordering that the vineyards in the provinces be cut down, or but half of them at most be left standing; but he did not persist in carrying out the measure. He opened some of the most important offices of the court to freedmen and Roman knights. He prohibited the uniting of two legions in one camp and the deposit of more than a thousand sesterces by any one soldier at headquarters, because it was clear that [[Lucius Antonius]] had been especially led to attempt a revolution by the amount of such deposits in the combined winter quarters of two legions. He increased the pay of the soldiers one fourth, by the addition of three gold pieces each year.
12 - - 8. He administered justice scrupulously and conscientiously, frequently holding special sittings on the tribunal in the [[Forum]]. He rescinded such decisions of the [[Hundred Judges]] as were made from interested motives. He often warned the arbiters not to grant claims for freedom made under false pretences. He degraded jurors who accepted bribes, together with all their associates. He also induced the tribunes of the commons to prosecute a corrupt aedile for extortion, and to ask the senate to appoint jurors in the case. He took such care to exercise restraint over the city officials and the governors of the provinces, that at no time were they more honest or just, whereas after his time we have seen many of them charged with all manner of offences. Having undertaken the correction of public morals, he put an end to the licence at the theatres, where the general public occupied the seats reserved for the knights; did away with the prevailing publication of scurrilous lampoons, in which distinguished men and women were attacked, and imposed ignominious penalties on their authors; expelled an ex-quaestor from the senate, because he was given to acting and dancing; deprived notorious women of the use of litters, as well as of the right to receive inheritances and legacies; struck the name of a Roman knight from the list of jurors, because he had taken back his wife after divorcing her and charging her with adultery; condemned several men of both orders, offenders against the Scantinian law; and the incest of [[Vestal virgins]], condoned even by his father and his brother, he punished severely in diverse ways, at first by capital punishment, and afterwards in the ancient fashion. For while he allowed the sisters Oculata and also Varronilla free choice of the manner of their death, and banished their paramours, he later ordered that Cornelia, a chief-vestal who had been acquitted once but after a long interval again arraigned and found guilty, be buried alive; and her lovers were beaten to death with rods in the [[Comitium]], with the exception of an ex-praetor, whom he allowed to go into exile, because he admitted his guilt while the case was still unsettled and the examination and torture of the witnesses had led to no result. To protect the gods from being dishonoured with impunity by any sacrilege, he caused a tomb which one of his freedmen had built for his son from stones intended for the [[temple of Jupiter of the Capitol]] to be destroyed by the soldiers and the bones and ashes contained in it thrown into the sea.
12 - - 9. In the earlier part of his reign he so shrank from any form of bloodshed, that while his father was still absent from the city, he planned to issue an edict that no oxen should be offered up, recalling the line of [[Vergil]], "E'er yet an impious race did slay and feast upon bullocks." He was equally free from any suspicion of love of gain or of avarice, both in private life and for some time after becoming emperor; on the contrary, he often gave strong proofs not merely of integrity, but even of liberality. He treated all his intimates most generously, and there was nothing which he urged them more frequently, or with greater insistence, than that they should be niggardly in none of their acts. He would not accept inheritances left him by those who had children. He even annulled a legacy in the will of Rustus Caepio, who had provided that his heir should yearly pay a specified sum to each of the senators on his entrance into the House. He cancelled the suits against those who had been posted as debtors to the public treasury for more than five years, and would not allow a renewal except within a year and on the condition that an accuser who did not win his suit should be punished with exile. Scribes of the quaestors who carried on business, which had become usual although contrary to the Clodian law, he pardoned for past offences. Parcels of land which were left unoccupied here and there after the assignment of lands to the veterans he granted to their former owners as by right of possession. He checked false accusations designed for the profit of the privy purse and inflicted severe penalties on offenders; and a saying of his was current, that an emperor who does not punish informers hounds them on.
12 - - 10. But he did not continue this course of mercy or integrity, although he turned to cruelty somewhat more speedily than to avarice. He put to death a pupil of the pantomimic actor [[Paris]], who was still a beardless boy and ill at the time, because in his skill and his appearance he seemed not unlike his master; also [[Hermogenes of Tarsus]] because of some allusions in his History, besides crucifying even the slaves who had written it out. A householder who said that a Thracian gladiator was a match for the murmillio, but not for the giver of the games, he caused to be dragged from his seat and thrown into the arena to dogs, with this placard: "A favourer of the Thracians who spoke impiously." He put to death many senators, among them several ex-consuls, including [[Civica Cerealis]], at the very time when he was proconsul in [[Asia]], [[Salvidienus Orfitus]], [[Acilius Glabrio]] while he was in exile--these on the ground of plotting revolution, the rest on any charge, which were reflections on him, it is true, but made long before and harmless. For when [[Domitian]] had taken away [[Lamia]]'s wife, the latter replied to someone who praised his voice: "I practise continence"; and when [[Titus]] urged him to marry again, he replied: "Are you too looking for a wife?" He put to death [[Salvius Cocceianus]], because he had kept the birthday of the emperor [[Otho]], his paternal uncle; [[Mettius Pompusianus]], because it was commonly reported that he had an imperial nativity and carried about a map of the world on parchment and speeches of the kings and generals from [[Titus Livius]], besides giving two of his slaves the names of Mago and Hannibal; [[Sallustius Lucullus]], governor of [[Britain]], for allowing some lances of a new pattern to be named "Lucullean," after his own name; [[Junius Rusticus]], because he had published eulogies of [[Paetus Thrasea]] and [[Helvidius Priscus]] and called them the most upright of men; and on the occasion of this charge he banished all the philosophers from the city and from Italy. He also executed the younger [[Helvidius]], alleging that in a farce composed for the stage he had under the characters of Paris and Oenone censured [[Domitian]]'s divorce from his wife; [[Flavius Sabinus]] too, one of his cousins, because on the day of the consular elections the crier had inadvertently announced him to the people as emperor elect, instead of consul. After his victory in the civil war he became even more cruel, and to discover any conspirators who were in hiding, tortured many of the opposite party by a new form of inquisition, inserting fire in their privates; and he cut off the hands of some of them. It is certain that of the mere conspicuous only two were pardoned, a tribune of senatorial rank and a centurion, who the more clearly to prove their freedom from guilt, showed that they were of shameless unchastity and could therefore have had no influence with the general or with the soldiers.
12 - - 11. His savage cruelty was not only excessive, but also cunning and sudden. He invited one of his stewards to his bed-chamber the day before crucifying him, made him sit beside him on the couch, and dismissed him in a secure and gay frame of mind, even deigning to send him a share of his dinner. When he was on the point of condemning the ex-consul [[Arrecinius Clemens]], one of his intimates and tools, he treated him with as great favour as before, if not greater, and finally, as he was taking a drive with him, catching sight of his accuser he said: "Pray, shall we hear this base slave to-morrow?" To abuse men's patience the more insolently, he never pronounced an unusually dreadful sentence without a preliminary declaration of clemency, so that there came to be no more certain indication of a cruel death than the leniency of his preamble. He had brought some men charged with treason into the senate, and when he had introduced the matter by saying that he would find out that day how dear he was to the members, he had no difficulty in causing them to be condemned to suffer the ancient method of punishment. Then appalled at the cruelty of the penalty, he interposed a veto, to lessen the odium, in these words (for it will be of interest to know his exact language): "Allow me, Fathers of the senate, to prevail on you by your love for me to grant a favour which I know I shall obtain with difficulty, namely that you allow the condemned free choice of the manner of their death; for thus you will spare your own eyes and all men will know that I was present at the meeting of the senate."
12 - - 12. Reduced to financial straits by the cost of his buildings and shows, as well as by the additions which he had made to the pay of the soldiers, he tried to lighten the military expenses by diminishing the number of his troops; but perceiving that in this way he exposed himself to the attacks of the barbarians, and nevertheless had difficulty in easing his burdens, he had no hesitation in resorting to every sort of robbery. The property of the living and the dead was seized everywhere on any charge brought by any accuser. It was enough to allege any action or word derogatory to the majesty of the prince. Estates of those in no way connected with him were confiscated, if but one man came forward to declare that he had heard from the deceased during the lifetime that [[Caesar]] was his heir. Besides other taxes, that on the [[Jews]] was levied with the utmost rigour, and those were prosecuted who without publicly acknowledging that faith yet lived as [[Jews]], as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised. From his youth he was far from being of an affable disposition, but was on the contrary presumptuous and unbridled both in act and in word. When his father's concubine [[Caenis]] returned from [[Histria]] and offered to kiss him as usual, he held out his hand to her. He was vexed that his brother's son-in-law had attendants clad in white, as well as he, and uttered the words: "Not good is a number of rulers."
12 - - 13. When he became emperor, he did not hesitate to boast in the senate that he had conferred their power on both his father and his brother, and that they had but returned him his own; nor on taking back his wife after their divorce, that he had "recalled her to his divine couch." He delighted to hear the people in the amphitheatre shout on his feast day: "Good Fortune attend our Lord and Mistress." Even more, in the [[Capitoline]] competition, when all the people begged him with great unanimity to restore [[Palfurius Sura]], who had been banished some time before from the senate, and on that occasion received the prize for oratory, he deigned no reply, but merely had a crier bid them be silent. With no less arrogance he began as follows in issuing a circular letter in the name of his procurators, "Our Master and our God bids that this be done." He suffered no statues to be set up in his honour in the Capitol, except of gold and silver and of a fixed weight. He erected so many and such huge vaulted passage-ways and arches in the various regions of the city, adorned with chariots and triumphal emblems, that on one of them someone wrote in Greek: "It is enough." He held the consulship seventeen times, more often than any of his predecessors. Of these the seven middle ones were in successive years, but all of them he filled in name only, continuing none beyond the first May and few after the Ides of January. Having assumed the surname [[Germanicus]] after his two triumphs, he renamed the months of September and October from his own names, calling them "[[Germanicus]]" and "[[Domitianus]]," because in the former he had come to the throne and was born in the latter.
12 - - 14. In this way he became an object of terror and hatred to all, but he was overthrown at last by a conspiracy of his friends and favourite freedmen, to which his wife was also privy. He had long since had a premonition of the last year and day of his life, and even of the very hour and manner of his death. In his youth astrologers had predicted all this to him, and his father once even openly ridiculed him at dinner for refusing mushrooms, saying that he showed himself unaware of his destiny in not rather fearing the sword. Therefore he was at all times timorous and worried, and was disquieted beyond measure by even the slightest suspicions. It is thought that nothing had more effect in inducing him to ignore his proclamation about cutting down the vineyards than the circulation of notes containing the following lines: "Gnaw at my root, and you will; even then shall I have juice in plenty To pour upon thee, O goat, when at the altar you stand." It was because of this same timorousness that although he was most eager for all such honours, he refused a new one which the senate had devised and offered to him, a decree, namely, that whenever he held the consulship Roman knights selected by lot should precede him among his lictors and attendants, clad in the trabea and bearing lances. As the time when he anticipated danger drew near, becoming still more anxious every day, he lined the walls of the colonnades in which he used to walk with phengite stone, to be able to see in its brilliant surface the reflection of all that went behind his back. And he did not give a hearing to any prisoners except in private and alone, even holding their chains in his hands. Further, to convince his household that one must not venture to kill a patron even on good grounds, he condemned [[Epaphroditus]], his confidential secretary, to death, because it was believed that after [[Nero]] was abandoned the freedman's hand had aided him in taking his life.
12 - - 15. Finally he put to death his own cousin [[Flavius Clemens]], suddenly and on a very slight suspicion, almost before the end of his consulship; and yet [[Flavius]] was a man of most contemptible laziness and [[Domitian]] had besides openly named his sons, who were then very young, as his successors, changing their former names and calling the one by [[Vespasian]] and the other [[Domitian]]. And it was by this deed in particular that he hastened his own destruction. For eight successive months so many strokes of lightning occurred and were reported, that at last he cried: "Well, let him now strike whom he will." The [[temple of Jupiter of the Capitol]] was struck and that of the [[Flavian]] family, as well as the [[Palace]] and the emperor's own bedroom. The inscription too on the base of a triumphal statue of his was torn off in a violent tempest and fell upon a neighbouring tomb. The tree which had been overthrown when [[Vespasian]] was still a private citizen but had sprung up anew, then on a sudden fell down again. [[Fortune of Praeneste]] had throughout his whole reign, when he commended the new year to her protection, given him a favourable omen and always in the same words. Now at last she returned a most direful one, not without the mention of bloodshed. He dreamed that [[Minerva]], whom he worshipped with superstitious veneration, came forth from her shrine and declared that she could no longer protect him, since she had been disarmed by Jupiter. Yet there was nothing by which he was so much disturbed as a prediction of the astrologer [[Ascletarion]] and what befell him. When this man was accused before the emperor and did not deny that he had spoken of certain things which he had foreseen through his art, he was asked what his own end would be. When he replied that he would shortly be rent by dogs, [[Domitian]] ordered him killed at once; but to prove the fallibility of his art, he ordered besides that his funeral be attended to with the greatest care. While this was being done, it chanced that the pyre was overset by a sudden storm and that the dogs mangled the corpse, which was only partly consumed; and that an actor of farces called Latinus, who happened to pass by and see the incident, told it to [[Domitian]] at the dinner table, with the rest of the day's gossip.
12 - - 16. The day before he was killed he gave orders to have some apples which were offered him kept until the following day, and added: "If only I am spared to eat them"; then turning to his companions, he declared that on the following day the moon would be stained with blood in Aquarius, and that a deed would be done of which men would talk all over the world. At about midnight he was so terrified that he leaped from his bed. The next morning he conducted a trial of a soothsayer sent from [[Germany]], who when consulted about the lightning strokes had foretold a change of rulers, and condemned him to death. While he was vigorously scratching a festered wart on his forehead, and had drawn blood, he said: "May this be all." Then he asked the time, and by pre-arrangement the sixth hour was announced to him, instead of the fifth, which he feared. Filled with joy at this, and believing all danger now past, he was hastening to the bath, when his chamberlain [[Parthenius]] changed his purpose by announcing that someone had called about a matter of great moment and would not be put off. Then he dismissed all his attendants and went to his bedroom, where he was slain.
12 - - 17. Concerning the nature of this plot and the manner of his death, this is about all that became known. As the conspirators were deliberating when and how to attack him, whether at the bath or at dinner, [[Stephanus]], [[Domitilla]]'s steward, at the time under accusation for embezzlement, offered his aid and counsel. To avoid suspicion, he wrapped up his left arm in woollen bandages for some days, pretending that he had injured it, and concealed in them a dagger. Then pretending to betray a conspiracy and for that reason being given an audience, he stabbed the emperor in the groin as he was reading a paper which the assassin handed him, and stood in a state of amazement. As the wounded prince attempted to resist, he was slain with seven wounds by [[Clodianus]], a subaltern, [[Maximus]], a freedman of [[Parthenius]], [[Satur]], decurion of the chamberlains, and a gladiator from the imperial school. A boy who was engaged in his usual duty of attending to the Lares in the bedroom, and so was a witness of the murder, gave this additional information. He was bidden by [[Domitian]], immediately after he was dealt the first blow, to hand him the dagger hidden under his pillow and to call the servants; but he found nothing at the head of the bed save the hilt, and besides all the doors were closed. Meanwhile the emperor grappled with [[Stephanus]] and bore him to the ground, where they struggled for a long time, [[Domitian]] trying now to wrest the dagger from his assailant's hands and now to gouge out his eyes with his lacerated fingers. He was slain on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of October in the forty-fifth year of his age and the fifteenth of his reign. His corpse was carried out on a common bier by those who bury the poor, and his nurse [[Phyllis ]]cremated it at her suburban estate on the Via Latina; but his ashes she secretly carried to the [[temple of the Flavian family]] and mingled them with those of [[Julia]], daughter of [[Titus]], whom she had also reared.
12 - - 18. He was tall of stature, with a modest expression and a high colour. His eyes were large, but his sight was somewhat dim. He was handsome and graceful too, especially when a young man, and indeed in his whole body with the exception of his feet, the toes of which were somewhat cramped. In later life he had the further disfigurement of baldness, a protruding belly, and spindling legs, though the latter had become thin from a long illness. He was so conscious that the modesty of his expression was in his favour, that he once made this boast in the senate: "So far, at any rate, you have approved my heart and my countenance." He was so sensitive about his baldness, that he regarded it as a personal insult if anyone else was twitted with that defect in jest or in earnest; though in a book "On the Care of the Hair," which he published and dedicated to a friend, he wrote the following by way of consolation to the man and himself: "Do you not see that I am too tall and comely to look on?" And yet the same fate awaits my hair, and I bear with resignation the ageing of my locks in youth. Be assured that nothing is more pleasing than beauty, but nothing shorter-lived."
12 - - 19. He was incapable of exertion and seldom went about the city on foot, while on his campaigns and journeys he rarely rode on horseback, but was regularly carried in a litter. He took no interest in arms, but was particularly devoted to archery. There are many who have more than once seen him slay a hundred wild beasts of different kinds on his Alban estate, and purposely kill some of them with two successive shots in such a way that the arrows gave the effect of horns. Sometimes he would have a slave stand at a distance and hold out the palm of his right hand for a mark, with the fingers spread; then he directed his arrows with such accuracy that they passed harmlessly between the fingers.
12 - - 20. At the beginning of his rule he neglected liberal studies, although he provided for having the libraries, which were destroyed by fire, renewed at very great expense, seeking everywhere for copies of the lost works, and sending scribes to Alexandria to transcribe and correct them. Yet he never took any pains to become acquainted with history or poetry, or even to acquiring an ordinary good style. He read nothing except the memoirs and transactions of [[Tiberius Caesar]]; for his letters, speeches and proclamations he relied on others' talents. Yet his conversation was not inelegant, and some of his sayings were even noteworthy. "How I wish," said he, "that I were as fine looking as [[Maecius]] thinks he is." He declared too that the head of a certain man whose hair had changed colour in such a way that it was partly reddish and partly grey, was like "snow on which mead had been poured."
12 - - 21. He used to say that the lot of princes was most unhappy, since when they discovered a conspiracy, no one believed them unless they had been killed. Whenever he had leisure he amused himself with playing at dice, even on working days and in the morning hours. He went to the bath before the end of the forenoon and lunched to the point of satiety, so that at dinner he rarely took anything except a Matian apple and a moderate amount of wine from a jug. He gave numerous and generous banquets, but usually ended them early; in no case did he protract them beyond sunset, or follow them by a drinking bout. In fact, he did nothing until the hour for retiring except walk alone in a retired place.
12 - - 22. He was excessively lustful. His constant sexual intercourse he called bed-wrestling, as if it were a kind of exercise. It was reported that he depilated his concubines with his own hand and swam with common prostitutes. After persistently refusing his niece, who was offered him in marriage when she was still a maid, because he was entangled in an intrigue with [[Domitia]], he seduced her shortly afterwards when she became the wife of another, and that too during the lifetime of [[Titus]]. Later, when she was bereft of father and husband, he loved her ardently and without disguise, and even became the cause of her death by compelling her to get rid of a child of his by abortion.
12 - - 23. The people received the news of his death with indifference, but the soldiers were greatly grieved and at once attempted to call him the Deified [[Domitian]]; while they were prepared also to avenge him, had they not lacked leaders. This, however, they did accomplish a little later by most insistently demanding the execution of his murderers. The senators on the contrary were so overjoyed, that they raced to fill the House, where they did not refrain from assailing the dead emperor with the most insulting and stinging kind of outcries. They even had ladders brought and his shields and images torn down before their eyes and dashed upon the ground; finally they passed a decree that his inscriptions should everywhere be erased, and all record of him obliterated. A few months before he was killed, a raven perched on the Capitolium and cried "All will be well," an omen which some interpreted as follows: "High on the gable Tarpeian a raven but lately alighting, Could not say 'It is well,' only declared 'It will be.'"
[[Domitian]] himself, it is said, dreamed that a golden hump grew out on his back, and he regarded this as an infallible sign that the condition of the empire would be happier and more prosperous after his time; and this was shortly shown to be true through the uprightness and moderate rule of the succeeding emperors.

Titus (sources)

2011-12-18T10:49:02Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *DICTIONARY: see Titus *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Titus (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category Titus (s..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Titus]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Titus]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category [[Titus]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Titus]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Titus]], the eleventh book of the Lives of the Twelve [[Caesar]]s. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 66 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Titus]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, [[Titus]] ====
11 - - 1. [[Titus]], of the same surname as his father, was the delight and darling of the human race; such surpassing ability had he, by nature, art, or good fortune, to win the affections of all men, and that, too, which is no easy task, while he was emperor; for as a private citizen, and even during his father's rule, he did not escape hatred, much less public criticism. He was born on the third day before the Kalends of January, in the year memorable for the death of [[Gaius]], in a mean house near the [[Septizonium]] and in a very small dark room besides; for it still remains and is on exhibition.
11 - - 2. He was brought up at court in company with [[Britannicus]] and taught the same subjects by the same masters. At that time, so they say, a physiognomist was brought in by [[Narcissus]], the freedman of [[Claudius]], to examine [[Britannicus]] and declared most positively that he would never become emperor; but that [[Titus]], who was standing near by at the time, would surely rule. The boys were so intimate too, that it is believed that when [[Britannicus]] drained the fatal draught, [[Titus]], who was reclining at his side, also tasted of the potion and for a long time suffered from an obstinate disorder. [[Titus]] did not forget all this, but later set up a golden statue of his friend in the [[Palace]], and dedicated another equestrian statue of ivory, which is to this day carried in the procession of the [[Circus]], and he attended it on its first appearance.
11 - - 3. Even in boyhood his bodily and mental gifts were conspicuous and they became more and more so as he advanced in years. He had a handsome person, in which there was no less dignity than grace, and was uncommonly strong, although he was not tall of stature and had a rather protruding belly. His memory was extraordinary and he had an aptitude for almost all the arts, both of war and of peace. Skilful in arms and horsemanship, he made speeches and wrote verses in Latin and Greek with ease and readiness, and even off-hand. He was besides not unacquainted with music, but sang and played the harp agreeably and skilfully. I have heard from many sources that he used also to write shorthand with great speed and would amuse himself by playful contests with his secretaries; also that he could imitate any handwriting that he had ever seen and often declared that he might have been the prince of forgers.
11 - - 4. He served as military tribune both in [[Germany]] and in [[Britain]], winning a high reputation for energy and no less integrity, as is evident from the great number of his statues and busts in both those provinces and from the inscriptions they bear. After his military service he pleaded in the [[Forum]], rather for glory than as a profession, and at the same time took to wife [[Arrecina Tertulla]], whose father, though only a Roman knight, had once been prefect of the praetorian cohorts; on her death he replaced her by [[Marcia Furnilla]], a lady of a very distinguished family, but divorced her after he had ackowledged a daughter which she bore him. Then, after holding the office of quaestor, as commander of a legion he subjugated the two strong cities of [[Tarichaeae]] and [[Gamala]] in [[Judaea]], having his horse killed under him in one battle and mounting another, whose rider had fallen fighting by his side.
11 - - 5. Presently he was sent to congratulate [[Galba]] on becoming ruler of the state, and attracted attention wherever he went, through the belief that he had been sent for to be adopted. But observing that everything was once more in a state of turmoil, he turned back, and visiting the oracle of the [[Paphian Venus]], to consult it about his voyage, he was also encouraged to hope for imperial power. Soon realising his hope and left behind to complete the conquest of [[Judaea]], in the final attack on [[Jerusalem]] he slew twelve of the defenders with as many arrows; and he took the city on his daughter's birthday, so delighting the soldiers and winning their devotion that they hailed him as Imperator and detained him from time to time, when he would leave the province, urging him with prayers and even with threats either to stay or to take them all with him. This aroused the suspicion that he had tried to revolt from his father and make himself king of the East; and he strengthened this suspicion on his way to Alexandria by wearing a diadem at the consecration of the bull [[Apis]] in [[Memphis]], an act quite in accord with the usual ceremonial of that ancient religion, but unfavourably interpreted by some. Because of this he hastened to Italy, and putting in at [[Regium]] and then at [[Puteoli]] in a transport ship, he went with all speed from there to Rome, where as if to show that the reports about him were groundless, he surprised his father with the greeting, "I am here, father; I am here."
11 - - 6. From that time on he never ceased to act as the emperor's partner and even as his protector. He took part in his father's triumph and was censor with him. He was also his colleague in the tribunicial power and in seven consulships. He took upon himself the discharge of almost all duties, personally dictated letters and wrote edicts in his father's name, and even read his speeches in the senate in lieu of a quaestor. He also assumed the command of the praetorian guard, which before that time had never been held except by a Roman knight, and in this office conducted himself in a somewhat arrogant and tyrannical fashion. For whenever he himself regard anyone with suspicion, he would secretly send some of the Guard to the various theatres and camps, to demand their punishment as if by consent of all who were present; and then he would put them out of the way without delay. Among these was [[Aulus Caecina]], an ex-consul, whom he invited to dinner and then ordered to be stabbed almost before he left the dining-room; but in this case he was led by a pressing danger, having got possession of an autograph copy of an harangue which [[Caecina]] had prepared to deliver to the soldiers. Although by such conduct he provided for his safety in the future, he incurred such odium at the time that hardly anyone ever came to the throne with so evil a reputation or so much against the desires of all.
11 - - 7. Besides cruelty, he was also suspected of riotous living, since he protracted his revels until the middle of the night with the most prodigal of his friends; likewise of unchastity because of his troops of catamites and eunuchs, and his notorious passion for queen [[Berenice]], to whom it was even said that he promised marriage. He was suspected of greed as well; for it was well known that in cases which came before his father he put a price on his influence and accepted bribes. In short, people not only thought, but openly declared, that he would be a second [[Nero]]. But this reputation turned out to his advantage and gave place to the highest praise, when no fault was discovered in him, but on the contrary the highest virtues. His banquets were pleasant rather than extravagant. He chose as his friends men whom succeeding emperors also retained as indispensable alike to themselves and the State, and of whose services they made special use. [[Berenice]] he sent from Rome at once, against her will and against his own. Some of his most beloved paramours, although they were such skilful dancers that they later became stage favourites, he not only ceased to cherish any longer, but even to witness their public performances. He took away nothing from any citizen. He respected others' property, if anyone ever did; in fact, he would not accept even proper and customary presents. And yet he was second to none of his predecessors in munificence. At the dedication of his amphitheatre and of the baths which were hastily built near it he gave a most magnificent and costly gladiatorial show. He presented a sham sea-fight too in the old naumachia, and in the same place a combat of gladiators, exhibiting five thousand wild beasts of every kind in a single day.
11 - - 8. He was most kindly by nature, and whereas in accordance with a custom established by [[Tiberius]], all the [[Caesars]] who followed him refused to regard favours granted by previous emperors as valid, unless they had themselves conferred the same ones on the same individuals, [[Titus]] was the first to ratify them all in a single edict, without allowing himself to be asked. Moreover, in the case of other requests made of him, it was his fixed rule not to let anyone go away without hope. Even when his household officials warned him that he was promising more than he could perform, he said that it was not right for anyone to go away sorrowful from an interview with his emperor. On another occasion, remembering at dinner that he had nothing for anybody all day, he gave utterance to that memorable and praiseworthy remark: "Friends, I have lost a day." The whole body of the people in particular he treated with such indulgence on all occasions, that once at a gladiatorial show he declared that he would give it, "not after his own inclinations, but those of the spectators"; and what is more, he kept his word. For he refused nothing which anyone asked, and even urged them to ask for what they wished. Furthermore, he openly displayed his partiality for Thracian gladiators and bantered the people about it by words and gestures, always however preserving his dignity, as well as observing justice. Not to omit any act of condescension, he sometimes bathed in the baths which he had built, in company with the common people. There were some dreadful disasters during his reign, such as the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius]] in [[Campania]], a fire at [[Rome]] which continued three days and as many nights, and a plague the like of which had hardly ever been known before. In these many great calamities he showed not merely the concern of an emperor, but even a father's surpassing love, now offering consolation in edicts, and now lending aid so far as his means allowed. He chose commissioners by lot from among the ex-consuls for the relief of [[Campania]]; and the property of those who lost their lives by [[Vesuvius]] and had no heirs left alive he applied to the rebuilding of the buried cities. During the fire in Rome he made no remark except "I am ruined," and he set aside all the ornaments of his villas for the public buildings and temples, and put several men of the equestrian order in charge of the work, that everything might be done with the greater dispatch. For curing the plague and diminishing the force of the epidemic there was no aid, human or divine, which he did not employ, searching for every kind of sacrifice and all kinds of medicines. Among the evils of the times were the informers and their instigators, who had enjoyed a long standing licence. After these had been soundly beaten in the [[Forum]] with scourges and cudgels, and finally led in procession across the arena of the amphitheatre, he had some of them put up and sold, and others deported to the wildest of the islands. To further discourage for all time any who might think of venturing on similar practices, among other precautions he made it unlawful for anyone to be tried under several laws for the same offence, or for any inquiry to be made as to the legal status of any deceased person after a stated number of years.
11 - - 9. Having declared that he would accept the office of pontifex maximus for the purpose of keeping his hands unstained, he was true to his promise; for after that he neither caused nor connived at the death of any man, although he sometimes had no lack of reasons for taking vengeance; but he swore that he would rather be killed than kill. When two men of patrician family were found guilty of aspiring to the throne, he satisfied himself with warning them to abandon their attempt, saying that imperial power was the gift of fate, and promising that if there was anything else they desired, he himself would bestow it. Then he sent his couriers with all speed to the mother of one of them, for she was some distance off, to relieve her anxiety by reporting that her son was sate; and he not only invited the men themselves to dinner among his friends, but on the following day at a gladiatorial show he purposely placed them near him, and when the swords of the contestants were offered him, handed them over for their inspection. It is even said that inquiring into the horoscope of each of them, he declared that danger threatened them both, but at some future time and from another, as turned out to be the case. Although his brother never ceased plotting against him, but almost openly stirred up the armies to revolt and meditated flight to them, he had not the heart to put him to death or banish him from the court, or even to hold him in less honour than before. On the contrary, as he had done from the very first day of his rule, he continued to declare that he was his partner and successor, and sometimes he privately begged him with tears and prayers to be willing at least to return his affection.
11 - - 10. In the meantime he was cut off by death, to the loss of mankind rather than to his own. After finishing the public games, at the close of which he wept bitterly in the presence of the people, he went down to the [[Sabine]] territory, somewhat cast down because a victim had escaped as he was sacrificing and because it had thundered from a clear sky. Then at the very first stopping place he was seized with a fever, and as he was being carried on from there in a litter, it is said that he pushed back the curtains, looked up to heaven, and lamented bitterly that his life was being taken from him contrary to his deserts; for he said that there was no act of his life of which he had cause to repent, save one only. What this was he did not himself disclose at the time, nor could anyone easily divine. Some think that he recalled the intimacy which he had with his brother's wife; but [[Domitia]] swore most solemnly that this did not exist, although she would not have denied it if it had been in the least true, but on the contrary would have boasted of it, as she was most ready to do of all her scandalous actions.
11 - - 11. He died in the same farmhouse as his father, on the Ides of September, two years, two months and twenty days after succeeding [[Vespasian]], in the forty-second year of his age. When his death was made known, the whole populace mourned as they would for a loss in their own families, the senate hastened to the House before it was summoned by proclamation, and with the doors still shut, and then with them open, rendered such thanks to him and heaped such praise on him after death as they had never done even when he was alive and present.

Vespasian (sources)

2011-12-18T10:38:19Z

Roccasam:

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Vespasian]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Vespasian]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category:[[Vespasian]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Vespasian]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Vespasian]], the tenth book of the Lives of the Twelve [[Caesar]]s. [[Tacitus]] dedicated the third, fourth, and fifth books of the Historiae to the early years of the reign of [[Vespasian]]. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 65 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Vespasian]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, [[Vespasian]] ====
10 - - 1. The empire, which for a long time had been unsettled and, as it were, drifting, through the usurpation and violent death of three emperors, was at last taken in hand and given stability by the [[Flavian]] family. This house was, it is true, obscure and without family portraits, yet it was one of which our country had no reason whatever to be ashamed, even though it is the general opinion that the penalty which [[Domitian]] paid for his avarice and cruelty was fully merited. [[Titus Flavius Petro]], a burgher of [[Reate]] and during the civil war a centurion or a volunteer veteran on [[Pompey]]'s side, fled from the field of [[Pharsalus]] and went home, where after a last obtaining pardon and an honourable discharge, he carried on the business of a collector of moneys. His son, surnamed [[Sabinus]] (although some say that he was an ex-centurion of the first grade; others that while still in command of a cohort he was retired because of ill-health) took no part in military life, but farmed the public tax of a fortieth in [[Asia]]. And there existed for some time statues erected in his honour by the cities of [[Asia]], inscribed "To an honest tax-gatherer." Later he carried on a banking business in the Helvetian country and there he died, survived by his wife, [[Vespasia Polla]], and by two of her children, of whom the elder, Sabinus, rose to the rank of prefect of Rome, and the younger, [[Vespasian]], even to that of emperor. [[Polla]], who was born of an honourable family at Nursia, had for father [[Vespasius Pollio]], thrice tribune of the soldiers and prefect of the camp, while her brother became a senator with the rank of praetor. There is moreover on the top of a mountain, near the sixth milestone on the road from Nursia to Spoletium, a place called Vespasiae, where many monuments of the Vespasii are to be seen, affording strong proof of the renown and antiquity of the house. I ought to add that some have bandied about the report, that [[Petro]]'s father came from the region beyond the Po and was a contractor for the day-labourers who come regularly every year from Umbria to the [[Sabine]] district, to till the fields; but that he settled in the town of [[Reate]] and there married. Personally I have found no evidence whatever of this, in spite of rather careful investigation.
10 - - 2. [[Vespasian]] was born in the Sabine country, in a small village beyond [[Reate]], called Falacrina, on the evening of the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulate of Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before the death of [[Augustus]]. He was brought up under the care of his paternal grandmother Tertulla on her estates at Cosa. Therefore even after he became emperor he used constantly to visit the home of his infancy, where the manor house was kept in its original condition, since he did not wish to miss anything which he was wont to see there; and he was so devoted to his grandmother's memory that on religious and festival days he always drank from a little silver cup that had belonged to her. After assuming the garb of manhood he for a long time made no attempt to win the broad stripe of senator, though his brother had gained it, and only his mother could finally induce him to sue for it. She at length drove him to it, but rather by sarcasm than by entreaties or parental authority, since she constantly taunted him with being his brother's footman. He served in [[Thrace]] as tribune of the soldiers; as quaestor was assigned by lot to the province of [[Crete]] and [[Cyrene]]; became a candidate for the aedileship and then for the praetorship, attaining the former only after one defeat and then barely landing in the sixth place, but the latter on his canvass and among the foremost. In his praetorship, to lose no opportunity of winning the favour of [[Gaius]], who was at odds with the senate, he asked for special games because of the emperor's victory in [[Germany]] and recommended as an additional punishment of the conspirators that they be cast out unburied. He also thanked the emperor before that illustrious body because he had deigned to honour him with an invitation to dinner.
10 - - 3. Meanwhile he took to wife [[Flavia Domitilla]], formerly the mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sabrata in [[Africa]], a woman originally only of Latin rank, but afterwards declared a freeborn citizen of Rome in a suit before arbiters, brought by her father Flavius Liberalis, a native of Ferentum and merely a quaestor's clerk. By her he had three children, [[Titus]], [[Domitian]], and [[Domitilla]]. He outlived his wife and daughter; in fact lost them both before he became emperor. After the death of his wife he resumed his relations with [[Caenis]], freedwoman and amanuensis of [[Antonia]], and formerly his mistress; and even after he became emperor he treated her almost as a lawful wife.
10 - - 4. In the reign of [[Claudius]] he was sent in command of a legion to [[Germany]], through the influence of [[Narcissus]]; from there he was transferred to [[Britain]], where he fought thirty battles with the enemy. He reduced to subjugation two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis, near [[Britain]], partly under the leadership of [[Aulus Plautius]], the consular governor, and partly under that of [[Claudius]] himself. For this he received the triumphal regalia, and shortly after two priesthoods, besides the consulship, which he held for the last two months of the year. The rest of the time up to his proconsulate he spent in rest and retirement, through fear of [[Agrippina]], who still had a strong influence over her son and hated any friend of [[Narcissus]], even after the latter's death. The chance of the lot then gave him [[Africa]], which he governed with great justice and high honour, save that in a riot at Hadrumentum he was pelted with turnips. Certain it is that he came back none the richer, for his credit was so nearly gone that he mortgaged all his estates to his brother, and had to resort to trading in mules to keep up his position; whence he was commonly known as "the Muleteer." He is also said to have been found guilty of squeezing two hundred thousand sesterces out of a young man for whom he obtained the broad stripe against his father's wish, and to have been severely rebuked in consequence. On the tour through [[Greece]], among the companions of [[Nero]], he bitterly offended the emperor by either going out often while [[Nero]] was singing, or falling asleep, if he remained. Being in consequence banished, not only from intimacy with the emperor but even with his public receptions, he withdrew to a little out-of-the-way town, until a province and an army were offered him while he was in hiding and in fear of his life. There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from [[Judaea]] to rule the world. This prediction, referring to the emperor of Rome, as afterwards appeared from the event, the people of [[Judaea]] took to themselves; accordingly they revolted and after killing their governor, they routed the consular ruler of [[Syria]] as well, when he came to the rescue, and took one of his eagles. Since to put down this rebellion required a considerable army with a leader of no little enterprise, yet one to whom so great power could be entrusted without risk, [[Vespasian]] was chosen for the task, both as a man of tried energy and as one in no wise to be feared because of the obscurity of his family and name. Therefore there were added to the forces in [[Judaea]] two legions with eight divisions of cavalry and ten cohorts. He took his elder son as one of his lieutenants, and as soon as he reached his province he attracted the attention of the neighbouring provinces also; for he at once reformed the discipline of the army and fought one or two battles with such daring, that in the storming of a fortress he was wounded in the knee with a stone and received several arrows in his shield.
10 - - 5. While [[Otho]] and [[Vitellius]] were fighting for the throne after the death of [[Nero]] and [[Galba]], he began to cherish the hope of imperial dignity, which he had long since conceived because of the following portents. On the suburban estate of the [[Flavii]] an old oak tree, which was sacred to Mars, on each of the three occasions when [[Vespasia]] was delivered suddenly put forth a branch from its trunk, obvious indications of the destiny of each child. The first was slender and quickly withered, and so too the girl that was born died within the year; the second was very strong and long and portended great success, but the third was the image of a tree. Therefore their father [[Sabinus]], so they say, being further encouraged by an inspection of victims, announced to his mother that a grandson had been born to her would be a [[Caesar]]. But she only laughed, marvelling that her son should already be in his dotage, while she was still of strong mind. Later, when [[Vespasian]] was aedile, [[Gaius Caesar]], incensed at his neglect of duty of cleaning the streets, ordered that he be covered with mud, which the soldiers accordingly heaped into the bosom of his purple-bordered toga; this some interpreted as an omen that one day in some civil commotion his country, trampled under foot and forsaken, would come under his protection and as it were into his embrace. Once when he was making breakfast, a stray dog brought in a human hand from the cross-roads and dropped it under the table. Again, when he was dining, an ox that was ploughing shook off its yoke, burst into the dining-room, and after scattering the servants, fell at the very feet of [[Vespasian]] as he reclined at table, and bowed his neck as if suddenly tired out. A cypress tree, also, on his grandfather's farm was torn up by the roots, and on the following day rose again greener and stronger than before. He dreamed in [[Greece]] that the beginning of good fortune for himself and his family would come as soon as [[Nero]] had a tooth extracted; and on the next day it came to pass that a physician walked into the hall and showed him a tooth which he had just then taken out. When he consulted the oracle of the god of [[Carmel]] in [[Judaea]], the lots were highly encouraging, promising that whatever he planned or wished however great it might be, would come to pass; and one of his high-born prisoners, [[Josephus]] by name, as he was being put in chains, declared most confidently that he would soon be released by the same man, who would then, however, be emperor. Omens were also reported from Rome: [[Nero]] in his latter days was admonished in a dream to take the sacred chariot of [[Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] from its shrine to the house of [[Vespasian]] and from there to the [[Circus]]. Not long after this, too, when [[Galba]] was on his way to the elections which gave him his second consulship, a statue of the [[Deified Julius]] of its own accord turned towards the East; and on the field of [[Betriacum]], before the battle began, two eagles fought in sight of all, and when one was vanquished, a third came from the direction of the rising sun and drove off the victor.
10 - - 6. Yet he made no move, although his followers were quite ready and even urgent, until he was roused to it by the accidental support of men unknown to him and at a distance. Two thousand soldiers of the three legions that made up the army in [[Moesia]] had been sent to help [[Otho]]. When word came to them after they had begun their march that he had been defeated and had taken his own life, they none the less kept on as far as [[Aquileia]], because they did not believe the report. There, taking advantage of the lawless state of the times, they indulged in every kind of pillage; then, fearing that if they went back, they would have to give an account and suffer punishment, they took it into their heads to select and appoint an emperor, saying that they were just as good as the Spanish army which had appointed [[Galba]], or the praetorian guard which had elected [[Otho]], or the German army which had chosen [[Vitellius]]. Accordingly the names of all the consular governors who were serving anywhere were taken up, and since objection was made to the rest for one reason or another, while some members of the third legion, which had been transferred from [[Syria]] to [[Moesia]] just before the death of [[Nero]], highly commended [[Vespasian]], they unanimously agreed on him and forthwith inscribed his name on all their banners. At the time, however, the movement was checked and the soldiers recalled to their allegiance for a season. But when their action became known, [[Tiberius Alexander]], prefect of [[Egypt]], was the first to compel his legions to take the oath for [[Vespasian]] on the Kalends of July, the day which was afterwards celebrated as that of his accession; then the army in [[Judaea]] swore allegiance to him personally on the fifth day before the Ides of July. The enterprise was greatly forwarded by the circulation of a copy of a letter of the late emperor [[Otho]] to [[Vespasian]], whether genuine or forged, urging him with the utmost earnestness to vengeance and expressing the hope that he would come to the aid of his country; further, by a rumour which spread abroad that [[Vitellius]] had planned, after his victory, to change the winter quarters of the legions and to transfer those in [[Germany]] to the Orient, to a safer and milder service; and finally, among the governors of provinces, by the support of [[Licinius Mucianus]], and among the kings, by that of [[Vologaesus]], the [[Parthian]]. The former, laying aside the hostility with which up to that time jealousy had obviously inspired him, promised the Syrian army; and the latter forty thousand bowmen.
10 - - 7. Therefore beginning a civil war and sending ahead generals with troops to [[Italy]], he crossed meanwhile to [[Alexandria]], to take possession of the key to [[Egypt]]. There he dismissed all his attendants and entered the temple of [[Serapis]] alone, to consult the auspices as to the duration of his power. And when after many propitiatory offerings to the god he at length turned about, it seemed to him that his freedman [[Basilides]] offered him sacred boughs, garlands, and loaves, as is the custom there; and yet he knew well that no one had let him in, and that for some time he had been hardly able to walk by reason of rheumatism, and was besides far away. And immediately letters came with the news that [[Vitellius]] had been routed at [[Cremona]] and the emperor himself slain at Rome. [[Vespasian]] as yet lacked prestige and a certain divinity, so to speak, since he was an unexpected and still new-made emperor; but these also were given him. A man of the people who was blind, and another who was lame, came to him together as he sat on the tribunal, begging for the help for their disorders which [[Serapis]] had promised in a dream; for the god declared that [[Vespasian]] would restore the eyes, if he would spit upon them, and give strength to the leg, if he would deign to touch it with his heel. Though he had hardly any faith that this could possibly succeed, he was at last prevailed upon by his friends and tried both things in public before a large crowd; and with success. At this same time, by the direction of certain soothsayers, some vases of antique workmanship were dug up in a consecrated spot at Tegea in Arcadia and on them was an image very like [[Vespasian]].
10 - - 8. Returning to [[Rome]] under such auspices and attended by so great renown, after celebrating a triumph over the [[Jews]], he added eight consulships to his former one; he also assumed the censorship and during the whole period of his rule he considered nothing more essential than first to strengthen the State, which was tottering and almost overthrown, and then to embellish it as well. The soldiery, some emboldened by their victory and some resenting their humiliating defeat, had abandoned themselves to every form of licence and recklessness; the provinces, too, and the free cities, as well as some of the kingdoms, were in a state of internal dissension. Therefore he discharged many of the soldiers of [[Vitellius]] and punished many; but so far from showing any special indulgence to those who had shared in his victory, he was even tardy in paying them their lawful rewards. To let slip no opportunity of improving military discipline, when a young man reeking with perfumes came to thank him for a commission which had been given him, [[Vespasian]] drew back his head in disgust, adding the stern reprimand: "I would rather you had smelt of garlic"; and he revoked the appointment. When the marines who march on foot by turns from [[Ostia]] and [[Puteoli]] to [[Rome]], asked that an alliance be made them under the head of shoe money, not content with sending them away without a reply, he ordered that in future they should make the run barefooted; and they have done so ever since. He made provinces of [[Achaia]], [[Lycia]], [[Rhodes]], [[Byzantium]] and [[Samos]], taking away their freedom, and likewise of [[Trachian Cilicia]] and [[Commagene]], which up to that time had been ruled by kings. He sent additional legions to [[Cappadocia]] because of the constant inroads of the barbarians, and gave it a consular governor in place of a Roman knight. As the city was unsightly from former fires and fallen buildings, he allowed anyone to take possession of vacant sites and build upon them, in case the owners failed to do so. He began the restoration of the [[Capitol]] in person, was the first to lend a hand in clearing away the debris, and carried some of it off on his own head. He undertook to restore the three thousand bronze tablets which were destroyed with the temple, making a thorough search for copies: priceless and most ancient records of the empire, containing the decrees of the senate and the acts of the commons almost from the foundation of the city, regarding alliances, treaties, and special privileges granted to individuals.
10 - - 9. He also undertook new works, the temple of Peace hard by the Forum and one to the [[Deified Claudius]] on the Caelian mount, which was begun by [[Agrippina]], but almost utterly destroyed by [[Nero]]; also an amphitheatre in the heart of the city, a plan which he learned that [[Augustus]] had cherished. He reformed the two great orders, reduced by a series of murders and sullied by long standing neglect, and added to their numbers, holding a review of the senate and the knights, expelling those who least deserved the honour and enrolling the most distinguished of the Italians and provincials. Furthermore, to let it be known that the two orders differed from each other not so much in their privileges as in their rank, in the case of an altercation between a senator and a Roman knight, he rendered his decision: "Unseemly language should not be used toward senators, but to return their insults in kind is proper and lawful."
10 - - 10. Lawsuit upon lawsuit had accumulated in all the courts to an excessive degree, since those of long standing were left unsettled through the interruption of court business and new ones had arisen through the disorder of the times. He therefore chose commissoners by lot to restore what had been seized in time of war, and to make special decisions in the court of the Hundred, reducing the cases to the smallest number, since it was clear that the lifetime of the litigants would not suffice for the regular proceedings.
10 - - 11. Licentiousness and extravagance had flourished without restraint; hence he induced the senate to vote that any woman who formed a connection with the slave of another person should herself be treated as a bond-woman; also that those who lend money to minors should never have a legal right to enforce payment, that is to say, not even after the death of the fathers.
10 - - 12. In other matters he was unassuming and lenient from the very beginning of his reign until its end, never trying to conceal his former lowly condition, but often even parading it. Indeed, when certain men tried to trace the origin of the [[Flavian]] family to the founders of [[Reate]] and a companion of Hercules whose tomb still stands on the [[Via Salaria]], he laughed at them for their pains. So far was he from a desire for pomp and show, that on the day of his triumph, he did not hesitate to say: "It serves me right for being such a fool as to want a triumph in mythology old age, as if it were due to my ancestors or had ever been among my own ambitions." He did not even assume the tribunician power at once nor the title of Father of his Country until late. As for the custom of searching those who came to pay their morning calls, he gave that up before the civil war was over.
10 - - 13. He bore the frank language of his friends, the quips of pleaders, and the impudence of the philosophers with the greatest patience. Though [[Licinius Mucianus]], a man of notorious unchastity, presumed upon his services to treat [[Vespasian]] with scant respect, he never had the heart to criticize him except privately and then only to the extent of adding to a complaint made to a common friend, the significant words: "I at least am a man." When Salvius Liberalis ventured to say while defending a rich client, "What is it to [[Caesar]] if Hipparchus had a hundred millions," he personally commended him. When the Cynic [[Demetrius]] met him abroad after being condemned to banishment, and without deigning to rise in his presence or to salute him, even snarled out some insult, he merely called him "cur."
10 - - 14. He was not inclined to remember or to avenge affronts or enmities, but made a brilliant match for the daughter of his enemy [[Vitellius]], and even provided her with a dowry and a house-keeping outfit. When he was in terror at being forbidden [[Nero]]'s court, and asked what on earth he was to do or where he was to go, one of the ushers put him out and told him to "go to Morbovia"; but when the man later begged for forgiveness, [[Vespasian]] confined his resentment to words, and those of about the same number and purport. Indeed, so far was he from being led by any suspicion or fear to cause anyone's death, that when his friends warned him that he must keep an eye on Mettius Pompusianus, since it was commonly believed that he had an imperial horoscope, he even made him consul, guaranteeing that he would one day be mindful of the favour.
10 - - 15. It cannot readily be shown that any innocent person was punished save in [[Vespasian]]'s absence and without his knowledge, or at any rate against his will and by misleading him. Although [[Helvidius Priscus]] was the only one who greeted him on his return from [[Syria]] by his private name of "[[ Vespasian]]," and moreover in his praetorship left the emperor unhonoured and unmentioned in all his edicts. He did not show anger until by the extravagance of his railing [[Helvidius]] had all but degraded him. But even in his case, though he did banish him and later order his death, he was most anxious for any means of saving him, and sent messengers to recall those who were to slay him; and he would have saved him, but for a false report that [[Helvidius]] had already been done to death. Certainly he never took pleasure in the death of anyone, but even wept and sighed over those who suffered merited punishment.
10 - - 16. The only thing for which he can fairly be censured was his love of money. For not content with reviving the imposts which had been repealed under [[Galba]], he added new and heavy burdens, in some cases actually doubling it, and quite openly carrying on traffic which would be shameful even for a man in private life; for he would buy up certain commodities merely in order to distribute them at a profit. He made no bones of selling offices to candidates and acquittals to men under prosecution, whether innocent or guilty. He is even believed to have had the habit of designedly advancing the most rapacious of his procurators to higher posts, that they might be the richer when he later condemned them; in fact, it was common talk that he used these men as sponges, because he, so to speak, soaked them when they were dry and squeezed them when they were wet. Some say that he was naturally covetous and was taunted with it by an old herdsman of his, who on being forced to pay for the freedom for which he earnestly begged [[Vespasian]] when he became emperor, cried: "The fox changes his fur, but not his nature." Others on the contrary believe that he was driven by necessity to raised money by spoliation and robbery because of the desperate state of the treasury and the privy purse; to which he bore witness at the very beginning of his reign by declaring that forty thousand millions were needed to set the State upright. This latter view seems the more probable, since he made the best use of his gains, ill-gotten though they were.
10 - - 17. He was most generous to all classes, making up the requisite estate for senators, giving needy ex-consuls an annual stipend of five hundred thousand sesterces, restoring to a better condition many cities throughout the empire which had suffered from earthquakes or fires, and in particular encouraging men of talent and the arts.
10 - - 18. He was the first to establish a regular salary of a hundred thousand sesterces for Latin and Greek teachers of rhetoric, paid from the privy purse. He also presented eminent poets with princely largess and great rewards, and artists, too, such as the restorer of the Venus of Cos and of the [[Colossus]]. To a mechanical engineer, who promised to transport some heavy columns to the [[Capitol]] at small expense, he gave no mean reward of his invention, but refused to make use of it, saying: "You must let me feed my poor commons."
10 - - 19. At the plays with which he dedicated the new stage of the theatre of Marcellus he revived the old musical entertainments. To [[Apelles]], the tragic actor, he gave four hundred thousand sesterces; to Terpnus and Diodorus, the lyre-players, two hundred thousand each; of several a hundred thousand; while those who received least were paid forty thousand, and numerous golden crowns were awarded besides. He gave constant dinner-parties, too, usually formally and sumptuously, to help the marketmen. He gave gifts to women on the Kalends of March, as he did to the men on the [[Saturnalia]]. Yet even so he could not be rid of his former ill-repute for covetousness. The Alexandrians persisted in calling him Cybiosactes, the surname of one of their kings who was scandalously stingy. Even at his funeral, Favor, a leading actor of mimes, who wore his mask and, according to the usual custom, imitated the actions and words of the deceased during his lifetime, having asked procurators in a loud voice how much his funeral procession would cost, and hearing the reply "Ten million sesterces," cried out: "Give me a hundred thousand and fling me even into the Tiber."
10 - - 20. He was well built, with strong, sturdy limbs, and the expression of one who was straining. Apropos of which a witty fellow, when [[Vespasian]] asked him to make a joke on him also, replied rather cleverly: "I will, when you have finished relieving yourself." He enjoyed excellent health, though he did nothing to keep it up except to rub his throat and the other parts of his body a certain number of times in the tennis court, and to fast one day in every month.
10 - - 21. This was in general his manner of life. While emperor, he always rose very early, in fact before delight; then after reading his letters and the reports of all the officials, he admitted his friends, and while he was receiving their greetings, he put on his own shoes and dressed himself. After despatching any business that came up, he took time for a drive and then for a nap, lying with one of his concubines, of whom he had taken several after the death of [[Caenis]]. After his siesta he went to the bath and the dining-room; and it is said that at no time was he more good-natured or indulgent, so that the members of his household eagerly watched for these opportunities of making requests.
10 - - 22. Not only at dinner but on all other occasions he was most affable, and he turned off many matters with a jest; for he was very ready with sharp sayings, albeit of a low and buffoonish kind, so that he did not even refrain from obscene expressions. Yet many of his remarks are still remembered which are full of fine wit, and among them the following. When an ex-consul called Mestrius Florus called his attention to the fact that the proper pronunciation was plaustra rather than plostra, he greeted him next day as "Flaurus." When he was importuned by a woman, who said that she was dying for love for him, he took her to his bed and gave her four hundred thousand sesterces for her favours. Being asked by his steward how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he replied: "To a passion for [[Vespasian]]."
10 - - 23. He also quoted Greek verses with great timeliness, saying of a man of tall stature and monstrous parts: "Striding along and waving a lance that casts a long shadow," and of the freedman Cerylus, who was very rich, and to cheat the privy purse of its dues at his death had begun to give himself out as freeborn, changing his name to Laches: "O Laches, Laches, When you are dead, you'll change your name at once
To Cerylus again." But he particularly resorted to witticisms about his unseemly means of gain, seeking to diminish their odium by some jocose saying and to turn them into a jest. Having put off one of his favourite attendants, who asked for a stewardship for a pretended brother, he summoned the candidate himself, and after compelling him to pay him as much money as he had agreed to give his advocate, appointed him to the position without delay. On his attendant's taking up the matter again, he said: "Find yourself another brother; the man that you thought was yours is mine." On a journey, suspecting that his muleteer had got down to shoe the mules merely to make delay and give time for a man with a lawsuit to approach the emperor, he asked how much he was paid for shoeing the mules and insisted on a share of the money. When [[Titus]] found fault with him for contriving a tax upon public conveniences, he held a piece of money from the first payment to his son's nose, asking whether its odour was offensive to him. When [[Titus]] said "No," he replied, "Yet it comes from urine." On the report of a deputation that a colossal statue of great cost had been voted him at public expense, he demanded to have it set up at once, and holding out his open hand, said that the base was ready. He did not cease his jokes even when in apprehension of death and in extreme danger; for when among other portents the Mausoleum opened on a sudden and a comet appeared in the heavens, he declared that the former applied to Junia Calvina of the family of [[Augustus]], and the latter to the king of the [[Parthians]], who wore his hair long; and as death drew near, he said: "Woe's me. Methinks I'm turning into a god."
10 - - 24. In his ninth consulship he had a slight illness in [[Campania]], and returning at once to the city, he left for Cutiliae and the country about [[Reate]], where he spent the summer every year. There, in addition to an increase in his illness, having contracted a bowel complaint by too free use of the cold waters, he nevertheless continued to perform his duties as emperor, even receiving embassies as he lay in bed. Taken on a sudden with such an attack of diarhoea that he all but swooned, he said: "An emperor ought to die standing," and while he was struggling to get on his feet, he died in the arms of those who tried to help him, on the ninth day before the Kalends of July, at the age of sixty-nine years, seven months and seven days.
10 - - 25. All agree that he had so much faith in his own horoscope and those of his family, that even after constant conspiracies were made against him he had the assurance to say to the senate that either his sons would succeed him or he would have no successor. It is also said that he once dreamed that he saw a balance with its beam on a level placed in the middle of the vestibule of the [[Palace]], in one pan of which stood [[Claudius]] and [[Nero]] and in the other himself and his sons. And the dream came true, since both houses reigned for the same space of time and the same term of years.

Vespasian (sources)

2011-12-18T10:36:13Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *DICTIONARY: see Vesp[[Asian]] *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Vesp[[Asian]] (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Catego..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category:[[ Vesp[[Asia]]n]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]], the tenth book of the Lives of the Twelve [[Caesar]]s. [[Tacitus]] dedicated the third, fourth, and fifth books of the Historiae to the early years of the reign of [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]]. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 65 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the [[Caesar]]s, [[Vesp[[Asia]]n]] ====
10 - - 1. The empire, which for a long time had been unsettled and, as it were, drifting, through the usurpation and violent death of three emperors, was at last taken in hand and given stability by the [[Flavian]] family. This house was, it is true, obscure and without family portraits, yet it was one of which our country had no reason whatever to be ashamed, even though it is the general opinion that the penalty which [[Domitian]] paid for his avarice and cruelty was fully merited. [[Titus Flavius Petro]], a burgher of [[Reate]] and during the civil war a centurion or a volunteer veteran on [[Pompey]]'s side, fled from the field of [[Pharsalus]] and went home, where after a last obtaining pardon and an honourable discharge, he carried on the business of a collector of moneys. His son, surnamed [[Sabinus]] (although some say that he was an ex-centurion of the first grade; others that while still in command of a cohort he was retired because of ill-health) took no part in military life, but farmed the public tax of a fortieth in [[Asia]]. And there existed for some time statues erected in his honour by the cities of [[Asia]], inscribed "To an honest tax-gatherer." Later he carried on a banking business in the Helvetian country and there he died, survived by his wife, [[Vespasia Polla]], and by two of her children, of whom the elder, Sabinus, rose to the rank of prefect of Rome, and the younger, [[Vespasian]], even to that of emperor. [[Polla]], who was born of an honourable family at Nursia, had for father [[Vespasius Pollio]], thrice tribune of the soldiers and prefect of the camp, while her brother became a senator with the rank of praetor. There is moreover on the top of a mountain, near the sixth milestone on the road from Nursia to Spoletium, a place called Vespasiae, where many monuments of the Vespasii are to be seen, affording strong proof of the renown and antiquity of the house. I ought to add that some have bandied about the report, that [[Petro]]'s father came from the region beyond the Po and was a contractor for the day-labourers who come regularly every year from Umbria to the [[Sabine]] district, to till the fields; but that he settled in the town of [[Reate]] and there married. Personally I have found no evidence whatever of this, in spite of rather careful investigation.
10 - - 2. [[Vespasian]] was born in the Sabine country, in a small village beyond [[Reate]], called Falacrina, on the evening of the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulate of Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before the death of [[Augustus]]. He was brought up under the care of his paternal grandmother Tertulla on her estates at Cosa. Therefore even after he became emperor he used constantly to visit the home of his infancy, where the manor house was kept in its original condition, since he did not wish to miss anything which he was wont to see there; and he was so devoted to his grandmother's memory that on religious and festival days he always drank from a little silver cup that had belonged to her. After assuming the garb of manhood he for a long time made no attempt to win the broad stripe of senator, though his brother had gained it, and only his mother could finally induce him to sue for it. She at length drove him to it, but rather by sarcasm than by entreaties or parental authority, since she constantly taunted him with being his brother's footman. He served in [[Thrace]] as tribune of the soldiers; as quaestor was assigned by lot to the province of [[Crete]] and [[Cyrene]]; became a candidate for the aedileship and then for the praetorship, attaining the former only after one defeat and then barely landing in the sixth place, but the latter on his canvass and among the foremost. In his praetorship, to lose no opportunity of winning the favour of [[Gaius]], who was at odds with the senate, he asked for special games because of the emperor's victory in [[Germany]] and recommended as an additional punishment of the conspirators that they be cast out unburied. He also thanked the emperor before that illustrious body because he had deigned to honour him with an invitation to dinner.
10 - - 3. Meanwhile he took to wife [[Flavia Domitilla]], formerly the mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sabrata in [[Africa]], a woman originally only of Latin rank, but afterwards declared a freeborn citizen of Rome in a suit before arbiters, brought by her father Flavius Liberalis, a native of Ferentum and merely a quaestor's clerk. By her he had three children, [[Titus]], [[Domitian]], and [[Domitilla]]. He outlived his wife and daughter; in fact lost them both before he became emperor. After the death of his wife he resumed his relations with [[Caenis]], freedwoman and amanuensis of [[Antonia]], and formerly his mistress; and even after he became emperor he treated her almost as a lawful wife.
10 - - 4. In the reign of [[Claudius]] he was sent in command of a legion to [[Germany]], through the influence of [[Narcissus]]; from there he was transferred to [[Britain]], where he fought thirty battles with the enemy. He reduced to subjugation two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis, near [[Britain]], partly under the leadership of [[Aulus Plautius]], the consular governor, and partly under that of [[Claudius]] himself. For this he received the triumphal regalia, and shortly after two priesthoods, besides the consulship, which he held for the last two months of the year. The rest of the time up to his proconsulate he spent in rest and retirement, through fear of [[Agrippina]], who still had a strong influence over her son and hated any friend of [[Narcissus]], even after the latter's death. The chance of the lot then gave him [[Africa]], which he governed with great justice and high honour, save that in a riot at Hadrumentum he was pelted with turnips. Certain it is that he came back none the richer, for his credit was so nearly gone that he mortgaged all his estates to his brother, and had to resort to trading in mules to keep up his position; whence he was commonly known as "the Muleteer." He is also said to have been found guilty of squeezing two hundred thousand sesterces out of a young man for whom he obtained the broad stripe against his father's wish, and to have been severely rebuked in consequence. On the tour through [[Greece]], among the companions of [[Nero]], he bitterly offended the emperor by either going out often while [[Nero]] was singing, or falling asleep, if he remained. Being in consequence banished, not only from intimacy with the emperor but even with his public receptions, he withdrew to a little out-of-the-way town, until a province and an army were offered him while he was in hiding and in fear of his life. There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from [[Judaea]] to rule the world. This prediction, referring to the emperor of Rome, as afterwards appeared from the event, the people of [[Judaea]] took to themselves; accordingly they revolted and after killing their governor, they routed the consular ruler of [[Syria]] as well, when he came to the rescue, and took one of his eagles. Since to put down this rebellion required a considerable army with a leader of no little enterprise, yet one to whom so great power could be entrusted without risk, [[Vespasian]] was chosen for the task, both as a man of tried energy and as one in no wise to be feared because of the obscurity of his family and name. Therefore there were added to the forces in [[Judaea]] two legions with eight divisions of cavalry and ten cohorts. He took his elder son as one of his lieutenants, and as soon as he reached his province he attracted the attention of the neighbouring provinces also; for he at once reformed the discipline of the army and fought one or two battles with such daring, that in the storming of a fortress he was wounded in the knee with a stone and received several arrows in his shield.
10 - - 5. While [[Otho]] and [[Vitellius]] were fighting for the throne after the death of [[Nero]] and [[Galba]], he began to cherish the hope of imperial dignity, which he had long since conceived because of the following portents. On the suburban estate of the [[Flavii]] an old oak tree, which was sacred to Mars, on each of the three occasions when [[Vespasia]] was delivered suddenly put forth a branch from its trunk, obvious indications of the destiny of each child. The first was slender and quickly withered, and so too the girl that was born died within the year; the second was very strong and long and portended great success, but the third was the image of a tree. Therefore their father [[Sabinus]], so they say, being further encouraged by an inspection of victims, announced to his mother that a grandson had been born to her would be a [[Caesar]]. But she only laughed, marvelling that her son should already be in his dotage, while she was still of strong mind. Later, when [[Vespasian]] was aedile, [[Gaius Caesar]], incensed at his neglect of duty of cleaning the streets, ordered that he be covered with mud, which the soldiers accordingly heaped into the bosom of his purple-bordered toga; this some interpreted as an omen that one day in some civil commotion his country, trampled under foot and forsaken, would come under his protection and as it were into his embrace. Once when he was making breakfast, a stray dog brought in a human hand from the cross-roads and dropped it under the table. Again, when he was dining, an ox that was ploughing shook off its yoke, burst into the dining-room, and after scattering the servants, fell at the very feet of [[Vespasian]] as he reclined at table, and bowed his neck as if suddenly tired out. A cypress tree, also, on his grandfather's farm was torn up by the roots, and on the following day rose again greener and stronger than before. He dreamed in [[Greece]] that the beginning of good fortune for himself and his family would come as soon as [[Nero]] had a tooth extracted; and on the next day it came to pass that a physician walked into the hall and showed him a tooth which he had just then taken out. When he consulted the oracle of the god of [[Carmel]] in [[Judaea]], the lots were highly encouraging, promising that whatever he planned or wished however great it might be, would come to pass; and one of his high-born prisoners, [[Josephus]] by name, as he was being put in chains, declared most confidently that he would soon be released by the same man, who would then, however, be emperor. Omens were also reported from Rome: [[Nero]] in his latter days was admonished in a dream to take the sacred chariot of [[Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] from its shrine to the house of [[Vespasian]] and from there to the [[Circus]]. Not long after this, too, when [[Galba]] was on his way to the elections which gave him his second consulship, a statue of the [[Deified Julius]] of its own accord turned towards the East; and on the field of [[Betriacum]], before the battle began, two eagles fought in sight of all, and when one was vanquished, a third came from the direction of the rising sun and drove off the victor.
10 - - 6. Yet he made no move, although his followers were quite ready and even urgent, until he was roused to it by the accidental support of men unknown to him and at a distance. Two thousand soldiers of the three legions that made up the army in [[Moesia]] had been sent to help [[Otho]]. When word came to them after they had begun their march that he had been defeated and had taken his own life, they none the less kept on as far as [[Aquileia]], because they did not believe the report. There, taking advantage of the lawless state of the times, they indulged in every kind of pillage; then, fearing that if they went back, they would have to give an account and suffer punishment, they took it into their heads to select and appoint an emperor, saying that they were just as good as the Spanish army which had appointed [[Galba]], or the praetorian guard which had elected [[Otho]], or the German army which had chosen [[Vitellius]]. Accordingly the names of all the consular governors who were serving anywhere were taken up, and since objection was made to the rest for one reason or another, while some members of the third legion, which had been transferred from [[Syria]] to [[Moesia]] just before the death of [[Nero]], highly commended [[Vespasian]], they unanimously agreed on him and forthwith inscribed his name on all their banners. At the time, however, the movement was checked and the soldiers recalled to their allegiance for a season. But when their action became known, [[Tiberius Alexander]], prefect of [[Egypt]], was the first to compel his legions to take the oath for [[Vespasian]] on the Kalends of July, the day which was afterwards celebrated as that of his accession; then the army in [[Judaea]] swore allegiance to him personally on the fifth day before the Ides of July. The enterprise was greatly forwarded by the circulation of a copy of a letter of the late emperor [[Otho]] to [[Vespasian]], whether genuine or forged, urging him with the utmost earnestness to vengeance and expressing the hope that he would come to the aid of his country; further, by a rumour which spread abroad that [[Vitellius]] had planned, after his victory, to change the winter quarters of the legions and to transfer those in [[Germany]] to the Orient, to a safer and milder service; and finally, among the governors of provinces, by the support of [[Licinius Mucianus]], and among the kings, by that of [[Vologaesus]], the [[Parthian]]. The former, laying aside the hostility with which up to that time jealousy had obviously inspired him, promised the Syrian army; and the latter forty thousand bowmen.
10 - - 7. Therefore beginning a civil war and sending ahead generals with troops to [[Italy]], he crossed meanwhile to [[Alexandria]], to take possession of the key to [[Egypt]]. There he dismissed all his attendants and entered the temple of [[Serapis]] alone, to consult the auspices as to the duration of his power. And when after many propitiatory offerings to the god he at length turned about, it seemed to him that his freedman [[Basilides]] offered him sacred boughs, garlands, and loaves, as is the custom there; and yet he knew well that no one had let him in, and that for some time he had been hardly able to walk by reason of rheumatism, and was besides far away. And immediately letters came with the news that [[Vitellius]] had been routed at [[Cremona]] and the emperor himself slain at Rome. [[Vespasian]] as yet lacked prestige and a certain divinity, so to speak, since he was an unexpected and still new-made emperor; but these also were given him. A man of the people who was blind, and another who was lame, came to him together as he sat on the tribunal, begging for the help for their disorders which [[Serapis]] had promised in a dream; for the god declared that [[Vespasian]] would restore the eyes, if he would spit upon them, and give strength to the leg, if he would deign to touch it with his heel. Though he had hardly any faith that this could possibly succeed, he was at last prevailed upon by his friends and tried both things in public before a large crowd; and with success. At this same time, by the direction of certain soothsayers, some vases of antique workmanship were dug up in a consecrated spot at Tegea in Arcadia and on them was an image very like [[Vespasian]].
10 - - 8. Returning to [[Rome]] under such auspices and attended by so great renown, after celebrating a triumph over the [[Jews]], he added eight consulships to his former one; he also assumed the censorship and during the whole period of his rule he considered nothing more essential than first to strengthen the State, which was tottering and almost overthrown, and then to embellish it as well. The soldiery, some emboldened by their victory and some resenting their humiliating defeat, had abandoned themselves to every form of licence and recklessness; the provinces, too, and the free cities, as well as some of the kingdoms, were in a state of internal dissension. Therefore he discharged many of the soldiers of [[Vitellius]] and punished many; but so far from showing any special indulgence to those who had shared in his victory, he was even tardy in paying them their lawful rewards. To let slip no opportunity of improving military discipline, when a young man reeking with perfumes came to thank him for a commission which had been given him, [[Vespasian]] drew back his head in disgust, adding the stern reprimand: "I would rather you had smelt of garlic"; and he revoked the appointment. When the marines who march on foot by turns from [[Ostia]] and [[Puteoli]] to [[Rome]], asked that an alliance be made them under the head of shoe money, not content with sending them away without a reply, he ordered that in future they should make the run barefooted; and they have done so ever since. He made provinces of [[Achaia]], [[Lycia]], [[Rhodes]], [[Byzantium]] and [[Samos]], taking away their freedom, and likewise of [[Trachian Cilicia]] and [[Commagene]], which up to that time had been ruled by kings. He sent additional legions to [[Cappadocia]] because of the constant inroads of the barbarians, and gave it a consular governor in place of a Roman knight. As the city was unsightly from former fires and fallen buildings, he allowed anyone to take possession of vacant sites and build upon them, in case the owners failed to do so. He began the restoration of the [[Capitol]] in person, was the first to lend a hand in clearing away the debris, and carried some of it off on his own head. He undertook to restore the three thousand bronze tablets which were destroyed with the temple, making a thorough search for copies: priceless and most ancient records of the empire, containing the decrees of the senate and the acts of the commons almost from the foundation of the city, regarding alliances, treaties, and special privileges granted to individuals.
10 - - 9. He also undertook new works, the temple of Peace hard by the Forum and one to the [[Deified Claudius]] on the Caelian mount, which was begun by [[Agrippina]], but almost utterly destroyed by [[Nero]]; also an amphitheatre in the heart of the city, a plan which he learned that [[Augustus]] had cherished. He reformed the two great orders, reduced by a series of murders and sullied by long standing neglect, and added to their numbers, holding a review of the senate and the knights, expelling those who least deserved the honour and enrolling the most distinguished of the Italians and provincials. Furthermore, to let it be known that the two orders differed from each other not so much in their privileges as in their rank, in the case of an altercation between a senator and a Roman knight, he rendered his decision: "Unseemly language should not be used toward senators, but to return their insults in kind is proper and lawful."
10 - - 10. Lawsuit upon lawsuit had accumulated in all the courts to an excessive degree, since those of long standing were left unsettled through the interruption of court business and new ones had arisen through the disorder of the times. He therefore chose commissoners by lot to restore what had been seized in time of war, and to make special decisions in the court of the Hundred, reducing the cases to the smallest number, since it was clear that the lifetime of the litigants would not suffice for the regular proceedings.
10 - - 11. Licentiousness and extravagance had flourished without restraint; hence he induced the senate to vote that any woman who formed a connection with the slave of another person should herself be treated as a bond-woman; also that those who lend money to minors should never have a legal right to enforce payment, that is to say, not even after the death of the fathers.
10 - - 12. In other matters he was unassuming and lenient from the very beginning of his reign until its end, never trying to conceal his former lowly condition, but often even parading it. Indeed, when certain men tried to trace the origin of the [[Flavian]] family to the founders of [[Reate]] and a companion of Hercules whose tomb still stands on the [[Via Salaria]], he laughed at them for their pains. So far was he from a desire for pomp and show, that on the day of his triumph, he did not hesitate to say: "It serves me right for being such a fool as to want a triumph in mythology old age, as if it were due to my ancestors or had ever been among my own ambitions." He did not even assume the tribunician power at once nor the title of Father of his Country until late. As for the custom of searching those who came to pay their morning calls, he gave that up before the civil war was over.
10 - - 13. He bore the frank language of his friends, the quips of pleaders, and the impudence of the philosophers with the greatest patience. Though [[Licinius Mucianus]], a man of notorious unchastity, presumed upon his services to treat [[Vespasian]] with scant respect, he never had the heart to criticize him except privately and then only to the extent of adding to a complaint made to a common friend, the significant words: "I at least am a man." When Salvius Liberalis ventured to say while defending a rich client, "What is it to [[Caesar]] if Hipparchus had a hundred millions," he personally commended him. When the Cynic [[Demetrius]] met him abroad after being condemned to banishment, and without deigning to rise in his presence or to salute him, even snarled out some insult, he merely called him "cur."
10 - - 14. He was not inclined to remember or to avenge affronts or enmities, but made a brilliant match for the daughter of his enemy [[Vitellius]], and even provided her with a dowry and a house-keeping outfit. When he was in terror at being forbidden [[Nero]]'s court, and asked what on earth he was to do or where he was to go, one of the ushers put him out and told him to "go to Morbovia"; but when the man later begged for forgiveness, [[Vespasian]] confined his resentment to words, and those of about the same number and purport. Indeed, so far was he from being led by any suspicion or fear to cause anyone's death, that when his friends warned him that he must keep an eye on Mettius Pompusianus, since it was commonly believed that he had an imperial horoscope, he even made him consul, guaranteeing that he would one day be mindful of the favour.
10 - - 15. It cannot readily be shown that any innocent person was punished save in [[Vespasian]]'s absence and without his knowledge, or at any rate against his will and by misleading him. Although [[Helvidius Priscus]] was the only one who greeted him on his return from [[Syria]] by his private name of "[[ Vespasian]]," and moreover in his praetorship left the emperor unhonoured and unmentioned in all his edicts. He did not show anger until by the extravagance of his railing [[Helvidius]] had all but degraded him. But even in his case, though he did banish him and later order his death, he was most anxious for any means of saving him, and sent messengers to recall those who were to slay him; and he would have saved him, but for a false report that [[Helvidius]] had already been done to death. Certainly he never took pleasure in the death of anyone, but even wept and sighed over those who suffered merited punishment.
10 - - 16. The only thing for which he can fairly be censured was his love of money. For not content with reviving the imposts which had been repealed under [[Galba]], he added new and heavy burdens, in some cases actually doubling it, and quite openly carrying on traffic which would be shameful even for a man in private life; for he would buy up certain commodities merely in order to distribute them at a profit. He made no bones of selling offices to candidates and acquittals to men under prosecution, whether innocent or guilty. He is even believed to have had the habit of designedly advancing the most rapacious of his procurators to higher posts, that they might be the richer when he later condemned them; in fact, it was common talk that he used these men as sponges, because he, so to speak, soaked them when they were dry and squeezed them when they were wet. Some say that he was naturally covetous and was taunted with it by an old herdsman of his, who on being forced to pay for the freedom for which he earnestly begged [[Vespasian]] when he became emperor, cried: "The fox changes his fur, but not his nature." Others on the contrary believe that he was driven by necessity to raised money by spoliation and robbery because of the desperate state of the treasury and the privy purse; to which he bore witness at the very beginning of his reign by declaring that forty thousand millions were needed to set the State upright. This latter view seems the more probable, since he made the best use of his gains, ill-gotten though they were.
10 - - 17. He was most generous to all classes, making up the requisite estate for senators, giving needy ex-consuls an annual stipend of five hundred thousand sesterces, restoring to a better condition many cities throughout the empire which had suffered from earthquakes or fires, and in particular encouraging men of talent and the arts.
10 - - 18. He was the first to establish a regular salary of a hundred thousand sesterces for Latin and Greek teachers of rhetoric, paid from the privy purse. He also presented eminent poets with princely largess and great rewards, and artists, too, such as the restorer of the Venus of Cos and of the [[Colossus]]. To a mechanical engineer, who promised to transport some heavy columns to the [[Capitol]] at small expense, he gave no mean reward of his invention, but refused to make use of it, saying: "You must let me feed my poor commons."
10 - - 19. At the plays with which he dedicated the new stage of the theatre of Marcellus he revived the old musical entertainments. To [[Apelles]], the tragic actor, he gave four hundred thousand sesterces; to Terpnus and Diodorus, the lyre-players, two hundred thousand each; of several a hundred thousand; while those who received least were paid forty thousand, and numerous golden crowns were awarded besides. He gave constant dinner-parties, too, usually formally and sumptuously, to help the marketmen. He gave gifts to women on the Kalends of March, as he did to the men on the [[Saturnalia]]. Yet even so he could not be rid of his former ill-repute for covetousness. The Alexandrians persisted in calling him Cybiosactes, the surname of one of their kings who was scandalously stingy. Even at his funeral, Favor, a leading actor of mimes, who wore his mask and, according to the usual custom, imitated the actions and words of the deceased during his lifetime, having asked procurators in a loud voice how much his funeral procession would cost, and hearing the reply "Ten million sesterces," cried out: "Give me a hundred thousand and fling me even into the Tiber."
10 - - 20. He was well built, with strong, sturdy limbs, and the expression of one who was straining. Apropos of which a witty fellow, when [[Vespasian]] asked him to make a joke on him also, replied rather cleverly: "I will, when you have finished relieving yourself." He enjoyed excellent health, though he did nothing to keep it up except to rub his throat and the other parts of his body a certain number of times in the tennis court, and to fast one day in every month.
10 - - 21. This was in general his manner of life. While emperor, he always rose very early, in fact before delight; then after reading his letters and the reports of all the officials, he admitted his friends, and while he was receiving their greetings, he put on his own shoes and dressed himself. After despatching any business that came up, he took time for a drive and then for a nap, lying with one of his concubines, of whom he had taken several after the death of [[Caenis]]. After his siesta he went to the bath and the dining-room; and it is said that at no time was he more good-natured or indulgent, so that the members of his household eagerly watched for these opportunities of making requests.
10 - - 22. Not only at dinner but on all other occasions he was most affable, and he turned off many matters with a jest; for he was very ready with sharp sayings, albeit of a low and buffoonish kind, so that he did not even refrain from obscene expressions. Yet many of his remarks are still remembered which are full of fine wit, and among them the following. When an ex-consul called Mestrius Florus called his attention to the fact that the proper pronunciation was plaustra rather than plostra, he greeted him next day as "Flaurus." When he was importuned by a woman, who said that she was dying for love for him, he took her to his bed and gave her four hundred thousand sesterces for her favours. Being asked by his steward how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he replied: "To a passion for [[Vespasian]]."
10 - - 23. He also quoted Greek verses with great timeliness, saying of a man of tall stature and monstrous parts: "Striding along and waving a lance that casts a long shadow," and of the freedman Cerylus, who was very rich, and to cheat the privy purse of its dues at his death had begun to give himself out as freeborn, changing his name to Laches: "O Laches, Laches, When you are dead, you'll change your name at once
To Cerylus again." But he particularly resorted to witticisms about his unseemly means of gain, seeking to diminish their odium by some jocose saying and to turn them into a jest. Having put off one of his favourite attendants, who asked for a stewardship for a pretended brother, he summoned the candidate himself, and after compelling him to pay him as much money as he had agreed to give his advocate, appointed him to the position without delay. On his attendant's taking up the matter again, he said: "Find yourself another brother; the man that you thought was yours is mine." On a journey, suspecting that his muleteer had got down to shoe the mules merely to make delay and give time for a man with a lawsuit to approach the emperor, he asked how much he was paid for shoeing the mules and insisted on a share of the money. When [[Titus]] found fault with him for contriving a tax upon public conveniences, he held a piece of money from the first payment to his son's nose, asking whether its odour was offensive to him. When [[Titus]] said "No," he replied, "Yet it comes from urine." On the report of a deputation that a colossal statue of great cost had been voted him at public expense, he demanded to have it set up at once, and holding out his open hand, said that the base was ready. He did not cease his jokes even when in apprehension of death and in extreme danger; for when among other portents the Mausoleum opened on a sudden and a comet appeared in the heavens, he declared that the former applied to Junia Calvina of the family of [[Augustus]], and the latter to the king of the [[Parthians]], who wore his hair long; and as death drew near, he said: "Woe's me. Methinks I'm turning into a god."
10 - - 24. In his ninth consulship he had a slight illness in [[Campania]], and returning at once to the city, he left for Cutiliae and the country about [[Reate]], where he spent the summer every year. There, in addition to an increase in his illness, having contracted a bowel complaint by too free use of the cold waters, he nevertheless continued to perform his duties as emperor, even receiving embassies as he lay in bed. Taken on a sudden with such an attack of diarhoea that he all but swooned, he said: "An emperor ought to die standing," and while he was struggling to get on his feet, he died in the arms of those who tried to help him, on the ninth day before the Kalends of July, at the age of sixty-nine years, seven months and seven days.
10 - - 25. All agree that he had so much faith in his own horoscope and those of his family, that even after constant conspiracies were made against him he had the assurance to say to the senate that either his sons would succeed him or he would have no successor. It is also said that he once dreamed that he saw a balance with its beam on a level placed in the middle of the vestibule of the [[Palace]], in one pan of which stood [[Claudius]] and [[Nero]] and in the other himself and his sons. And the dream came true, since both houses reigned for the same space of time and the same term of years.

Vitellius (sources)

2011-12-18T09:34:24Z

Roccasam: Created page with "*This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel *DICTIONARY: see Vitellius *ANCIENT SOURCES: see Vitellius (sources) *SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category:[[ Vi..."

*This page is edited by [[Samuele Rocca]], Israel
*DICTIONARY: see [[Vitellius]]
*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Vitellius]] (sources)
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see: Category:[[ Vitellius]] (subject)

This page includes ancient sources dealing with the character of the Roman Emperor [[Vitellius]].

===Overview===

The Latin writer [[Suetonius]] wrote a biography of [[Vitellius]], the ninth book of the Lives of the Twelve Caesars. [[Tacitus]] dedicated part of the second and third books of the Historiae to the reign of [[Vitellius]]. The Greek Historian [[Dio Cassius]] dedicated book 64 of his Roman History to the reign of [[Vitellius]].

===Latin Sources===

====Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, [[Vitellius]] ====
9 - - 1. Of the origin of the [[Vitellii]] different and widely varying accounts are given, some saying that the family was ancient and noble, others that it was new and obscure, if not of mean extraction. I should believe that these came respectively from the flatterers and detractors of the emperor, were it not for a difference of opinion about the standing of the family at a considerably earlier date. We have a book of Quintus Elgoius addressed to [[Quintus Vitellius]], quaestor of the Deified [[Augustus]], in which it was written that the Vitellii were sprung from Faunus, king of the Aborigines, and Vitellia, who was worshipped as a goddess in many places; and that they ruled in all Latium. That the surviving members of the family moved from the Sabine district to Rome and were enrolled among the patricians. That traces of this stock endured long afterwards in the Vitellian Road, running from the Janiculum all the way to the sea, as well as in a colony of the same name, which in ancient days the family had asked the privilege of defending against the Aequicoli with troops raised from their own line. That when afterwards a force was sent into Apulia at the time of the Samnite war, some of the Vitellii settled at Nuceria, and that after a long time their descendants returned to the city and resumed their place in the senatorial order.
9 - - 2. On the other hand several have written that the founder of the family was a freedman, while Cassius Severus and others as well say further that he was a cobbler, and that his son, after making a considerable fortune from the sale of confiscated estates and the profession of informer, married a common strumpet, daughter of one Antiochus who kept a bakery, and became the father of a Roman knight. But this difference of opinion may be left unsettled. In any event [[Publius Vitellius]] of Nuceria, whether of ancient stock or of parents and forefathers in whom he could take no pride, unquestionably a Roman knight and a steward of [[Augustus]]' property, left four sons of high rank with the same name and differing only in their forenames: Aulus, Quintus, Publius and Lucius. Aulus, who was given to luxury and especially notorious for the magnificence of his feasts, died a consul, appointed to the office with Domitius, father of the emperor [[Nero]]. Quintus lost his rank at the time when it was resolved, under the suggestion of [[Tiberius]], to depose and get rid of undesirable senators. Publius, a member of [[Germanicus]]' staff, arraigned [[Gnaeus Piso]], the enemy and murderer of his commander, and secured his condemnation. Arrested among the accomplices of [[Sejanus]], after holding the praetorship, and handed over to his own brother to be kept in confinement, he opened his veins with a penknife, but allowed himself to be bandaged and restored, not so much from unwillingness to die, as because of the entreaties of his friends; and he met a natural death while still in confinement. Lucius attained the consulate and then was made governor of [[Syria]], where with supreme diplomacy having not only induced [[Artabanus]], king of the [[Parthians]], to hold a conference with him, but even to do obeisance to the standards of the legion. Later he held, with the emperor [[Claudius]], two more regular consulships and the censorship. He also bore the charge of the empire while [[Claudius]] was away on his expedition to [[Britain]]. He was an honest and active man, but of very ill repute because of his passion for a freedwoman, which went so far that he used her spittle mixed with honey to rub on his throat and jaws as a medicine, not secretly nor seldom, but openly and every day. He had also a wonderful gift for flattery and was the first to begin to worship [[Gaius Caesar]] as a god; for on his return from [[Syria]] he did not presume to approach the emperor except with veiled head, turning himself about and then prostrating himself. To neglect no means of gaining the favour of [[Claudius]], who was a slave to his wives and freedmen, he begged of [[Messalina]] as the highest possible favour that she would allow him to take off her shoes; and when he had taken off her right slipper, he constantly carried it about between his toga and his tunic, and sometimes kissed it. [[Narcissus]] also and [[Pallas]] he honoured by cherishing their golden images among his household gods. It was he who made the famous remark, "May you often do it," when he was congratulating [[Claudius]] at the celebration of the Secular games.
9 - - 3. He died of a paralytic stroke on the second day after he was seized, leaving two sons, begotten of Sestilia, a most worthy woman and of no mean family, and having lived to see them consuls both in the same year, and for the whole year, since the younger succeeded the elder for six months. On his decease the senate honoured him with a public funeral and with a statue on the rostra with this inscription: "Of unwavering loyalty to his emperor." The emperor [[Aulus Vitellius]], son of Lucius, was born on the eighth day before the Kalends of October, or according to some, on the seventh day before the Ides of September, in the consulship of [[Drusus Caesar]] and Norbanus Flaccus. His parents were so aghast at his horoscope as announced by the astrologers, that his father tries his utmost, while he lived, to prevent the assignment of any province to his son; and when he was sent to the legions and hailed as emperor, his mother immediately mourned over him as lost. He spent his boyhood and early youth at [[Capreae]] among the wantons of [[Tiberius]], being branded for all time with the nickname Spintria and suspected of having been the cause of his father's first advancement at the expense of his own chastity.
9 - - 4. Stained by every sort of baseness as he advanced in years, he held a prominent place at court, winning the intimacy of [[Gaius]] by his devotion to driving and of [[Claudius]] by his passion for dice. But he was still dearer to [[Nero]], not only because of these same qualities, but because of a special service besides; for when he was presiding at the contests of the [[Neronia]] and [[Nero]] wished to compete among the lyre-players, but did not venture to do so although there was a general demand for him and accordingly left the theatre, [[Vitellius]] called him back, alleging that he came as an envoy from the insistent people, and thus gave [[Nero]] a chance to yield to their entreaties.
9 - - 5. Having in this way through the favour of three emperors been honoured not only with political positions but with distinguished priesthoods as well, he afterwards governed [[Africa]] as proconsul and served as curator of public works, but with varying purpose and reputation. In his province he showed exceptional integrity for two successive years, for he served as deputy to his brother, who succeeded him; but in his city offices he was said to have stolen some of the offerings and ornaments from the temples and changed others, substituting tin and brass for gold and silver.
9 - - 6. He had to wife Petronia, daughter of an ex-consul, and by her a son Petronianus, who was blind in one eye. Since this son was named as his mother's heir on condition of being freed from his father's authority, he manumitted him, but shortly afterwards killed him, according to the general belief, charging him besides with attempted parricide, and alleging that his guilty conscience had led him to drink the poison which he had mixed for his intended crime. Soon afterwards he married Galeria Fundana, daughter of an ex-praetor, and from her too he had a son and a daughter, but the former stammered so, that he was all but dumb and tongue-tied.
9 - - 7. [[Galba]] surprised everyone by sending him to [[Lower Germany]]. Some think that it was due to Titus Vinius, who had great influence at the time, and whose friendship [[Vitellius]] had long since won through their common support of the Blues. But since [[Galba]] openly declared that no men were less to be feared than those who thought of nothing but eating, and that [[Vitellius]]' bottomless gullet might be filled from the resources of the province, it is clear to anyone that he was chosen rather through contempt than favour. It is notorious that when he was about to start, he lacked means for his travelling expenses, and that his need of funds was such, that after consigning his wife and children, whom he left in Rome, to a hired garret, he let his house for the rest of the year; and that he took a valuable pearl from his mother's ear and pawned it, to defray the expenses of his journey. He had to resort to false accusation to get rid of the throng of creditors that lay in wait for him and tried to detain him, including the people of Sinuessa and of Formiae, whose public revenues he had embezzeled; for he brought an action for damages against a freedman who was somewhat persistent in demanding what was due to him, alleging that he had been kicked by him, and would not let him off until he had squeezed him to the tune of fifty thousand sesterces. On his arrival the army, which was disaffected towards the emperor and inclined to mutiny, received him gladly with open arms, as if he had come to them as a gift from the gods; since he was the son of a man who had thrice been consul, in the prime of life, and of an easy-going and lavish disposition. This earlier good opinion [[Vitellius]] had also strengthened by recent acts, for throughout the march he kissed even the common soldiers whom he met, and at the posthouses and inns he was unusually affable to the mule drivers and travellers, asking each of them in the morning whether they had breakfasted and even showing by belching that he had done so.
9 - - 8. As soon as he had entered the camp, he granted every request that anyone made and even of his own accord freed those in disgrace from their penalties, defendants of suits from their mourning, and the convicted from punishment. Therefore hardly a month had passed, when the soldiers, regardless of the hour, for it was already evening, hastily took him from his bedroom, just as he was, in his common house-clothes, and hailed him as emperor. Then he was carried about the most populous villages, holding a drawn sword of the Deified [[Julius]], which someone had taken from a shrine of Mars and handed him during the first congratulations. He did not return to headquarters until the dining-room caught fire from the stove and was ablaze; and then, when all were shocked and troubled at what seemed a bad omen, he said: "Be of good cheer; to us light is given"; and this was his only address to the soldiers. When he presently received the support of the army of the upper province too, which had previously transferred its allegiance for [[Galba]] to the senate, he eagerly accepted the surname of Germanicus, which was unanimously offered him, put off accepting the title of [[Augustus]], and forever refused that of [[Caesar]].
9 - - 9. Then hearing of the murder of [[Galba]], he settled affairs in [[Germany]] and made two divisions of his forces, one to send on against [[Otho]], and the other to lead in person. The former was greeted with a lucky omen at the start, for an eagle suddenly flew towards them from the right and after hovering about the standards, slowly proceeded in their line of march. But, on the contrary, when he himself began to advance, the equestrian statues which were being set up everywhere in his honour on a sudden all collapsed with broken legs, and the laurel crown which he had put on with due ceremony fell into a running stream. Later, as he was sitting in judgment on the tribunal at Vienna, a cock perched on his shoulder and then on his head. And the outcome corresponded with these omens; for he was not by his own efforts able to retain the power which his lieutenants secured for him.
9 - - 10. He heard of the victory at [[Betriacum]] and of the death of [[Otho]] while he was still in [[Gaul]], and without delay by a single edict he disbanded all the praetorian cohorts, as having set a pernicious example, and bade them hand over their arms to their tribunes. Furthermore, he gave orders that one hundred and twenty of them should be hunted up and punished, having found petitions which they had written to [[Otho]], asking for a reward for services rendered in connection with [[Galba]]'s murder. These acts were altogether admirable and notable, and such as to give hope that he would be a great prince, had it not been that the rest of his conduct was more in harmony with his natural disposition and his former habits of life than with imperial dignity. For when he had begun his march, he rode through the middle of the cities like a triumphing general, and on the rivers he sailed in most exquisite craft wreathed with various kinds of garlands, amid lavish entertainments, with no discipline among his household or the soldiers, making a jest of the pillage and wantonness of all his followers. For not content with the banquets which were furnished them everywhere at public expense, they set free whatever slaves they pleased, promptly paying those who remonstrated with blows and stripes, often with wounds, and sometimes with death. When he came to the plains where the battle was fought and some shuddered with horror at the mouldering corpses, he had the audacity to encourage them by the abominable saying, that the odour of a dead enemy was sweet and that of a fellow-citizen sweeter still. But nevertheless, the better to bear the awful stench, gazing upon the stone inscribed to the memory of [[Otho]], he declared that he deserved such a Mausoleum, and sent the dagger with which his rival had killed himself to the Colony of [[Agrippina]], to be dedicated to Mars. He also held an all-night festival on the heights of the Apennines.
9 - - 11. Finally he entered the city to the sound of the trumpet, wearing a general's mantle and a sword at his side, amid standards and banners, with his staff in military cloaks and his troops with drawn swords. Then showing greater and greater disregard for the laws of gods and men, he assumed the office of high priest on the day of [[Allia]], held elections for ten years to come, and made himself consul for life. And to leave no doubt in anyone's mind what model he chose for the government of the State, he made funerary offerings to [[Nero]] in the middle of the [[Campus Martius]], attended by a great throng of the official priests; and when at the accompanying banquet a flute-player was received with applause, he openly urged him "to render something from the Master's Book as well"; and when he began the songs of [[Nero]], [[Vitellius]] was the first to applaud him and even jumped for joy.
9 - - 12. Beginning in this way, he regulated the greater part of his rule wholly according to the advice and whims of the commonest of actors and chariot-drivers, and in particular of his freedman Asiaticus. This fellow had immoral relations with [[Vitellius]] in his youth, but later grew weary of him and ran away. When [[Vitellius]] came upon him selling posca at [[Puteoli]], he put him in irons, but at once freed him again and made him his favourite. His vexation was renewed by the man's excessive insolence and thievishness, and he sold him to an itinerant keeper of gladiators. When, however, he was once reserved for the end of a gladiatorial show, [[Vitellius]] suddenly spirited him away, and finally on getting his province set him free. On the first day of his reign he presented him with the golden ring at a banquet, although in the morning, when there was a general demand that Asiaticus be given that honour, he had deprecated in the strongest terms such a blot on the equestrian order.
9 - - 13. But his besetting sins were luxury and cruelty. He divided his feasts into three, sometimes into four a day, breakfast, luncheon, dinner, and a drinking bout; and he was readily able to do justice to all of them through his habit of taking emetics. Moreover, he had himself invited to each of these meals by different men on the same day, and the materials for any one of them never cost less than four hundred thousand sesterces. Most notorious of all was the dinner given by his brother to celebrate the emperor's arrival in Rome, at which two thousand of the choicest fishes and seven thousand birds are said to have been starved. He himself eclipsed even this at the dedication of a platter, which on account of its enormous size he called the "Shield of Minerva, Defender of the City." In this he mingled the livers of pike, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes and the milt of lampreys, brought by his captains and triremes from the whole empire, from [[Parthia]] to the Spanish strait. Being besides a man of an appetite that was not only boundless, but also regardless of time or decency, he could never refrain, even when he was sacrificing or making a journey, from snatching bits of meat and cakes amid the altars, almost from the very fire, and devouring them on the spot; and in the cookshops along the road, viands smoking hot or even those left over from the day before and partly consumed.
9 - - 14. He delighted in inflicting death and torture on anyone whatsoever and for any cause whatever, putting to death several men of rank, fellow students and comrades of his, whom he had solicited to come to court by every kind of deception, all but offering them a share in the rule. This he did in various treacherous ways, even giving poison to one of them with his own hand in a glass of cold water, for which the man had called when ill of a fever. Besides he spared hardly one of the money-lenders, contractors, and tax-gatherers who had ever demanded of him the payment of a debt at Rome or of a toll on a journey. When one of these had been handed over for execution just as he was paying his morning call and at once recalled, as all were praising the emperor's mercy, [[Vitellius]] gave orders to have him killed in his presence, saying that he wished to feast his eyes. In another case he had two sons who attempted to intercede for their father put to death with him. A Roman knight also, who cried as he was being taken off to execution, "You are my heir," he compelled to show his will; and reading the one of the man's freedmen was put down as joint-heir with himself, he ordered the death both of the knight and the freedman. He even killed some of the common people, merely because they had openly spoke ill of the Blue faction, handing that they had ventured to do this from contempt of himself and the anticipation of a change of rulers. But he was especially hostile to writers of lampoons and to astrologers, and whenever any one of them was accused, he put him to death without trial, particularly incensed because after a proclamation of his in which he ordered the astrologers to leave the city and Italy before the Kalends of October, a placard was at once posted, reading: "By proclamation of the Chaldeans, God bless the State! Before the same day and date let [[Vitellius]] [[Germanicus]] have ceased to live." Moreover, when his mother died, he was suspected of having forbidden her being given food when she was ill, because a woman of the [[Chatti]], in whom he believed as he would in an oracle, prophesied that he would rule securely and for a long time, but only if he should survive his parent. Others say that through weariness of present evils and fear of those which threatened, she asked poison of her son, and obtained it with no great difficulty.
9 - - 15. In the eighth month of his reign the armies of the Moesian provinces and [[Pannonia]] revolted from him, and also in the provinces beyond the seas those of [[Judaea]] and [[Syria]], the former swearing allegiance to [[Vespasian]] in his absence and the latter in his presence. Therefore, to retain the devotion and favour of the rest of the people, there was nothing that he did not lavish publicly and privately, without any limit whatever. He also held a levy in the city, promising those who volunteered not only their discharge upon his victory but also the rewards and privileges given to veterans after their regular term of service. Later, when his enemies were pressing him hard by land and sea, he opposed to them in one quarter his brother with a fleet manned by raw recruits and a band of gladiators, and in another the forces and leaders who had fought at [[Betriacum]]. And after he was everywhere either worsted or betrayed, he made a bargain with [[Flavius Sabinus]], the brother of [[Vespasian]], that he should have his own life and a hundred million sesterces. Thereupon he immediately declared from the steps of the Palace before his assembled soldiers, that he withdrew from the rule which had been given him against his will; but when all cried out against this, he postponed the matter, and after a night had passed, went at daybreak to the rostra in mourning garb and with many tears made the same declaration, but from a written document. When the people and soldiers again interrupted him and besought him not to lose heart, vying with one another in promising him all their efforts in his behalf, he again took courage and by a sudden onslaught drove [[Sabinus]] and the rest of the [[Flavians]], who no longer feared an attack, into the [[Capitol]]. Then he set fire to the [[temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus]] and destroyed them, viewing the battle and the fire from the house of [[Tiberius]], where he was feasting. Not long afterwards he repented of his action and throwing the blame upon others, called an assembly and took oath, compelling the rest to do the same, that there was nothing for which he would strive more earnestly than for the public peace. Then he took a dagger from his side and offered it first to the consul, and where he refused it, to the magistrates, and then to the senators, one by one. When no one would take it, he went off as if he would place it in the [[temple of Concord]]; but when some cried out that he would not only retain the steel but would also adopt the surname Concordia.
9 - - 16. He also persuaded the senate to send envoys with the Vestal virgins, to sue for peace or at least to gain time for conference. The following day, as he was waiting for a reply, word was brought by a scout that the enemy were drawing near. Then he was at once hurried into a sedan with only two companions, a baker and a cook, and secretly went to his father's house on the [[Aventine]], intending to flee from there to [[Campania]]. Presently, on a slight and dubious rumour that peace had been granted, he allowed himself to be taken back to the Palace. Finding everything abandoned there, and that even those who were with him were making off, he put on a girdle filled with gold pieces and took refuge in the lodge of the door-keeper, tying a dog before the door and putting a couch and a mattress against it.
9 - - 17. The foremost of the army had now forced their way in, and since no one opposed them, were ransacking everything in the usual way. They dragged [[Vitellius]] from his hiding-place and when they asked him his name (for they did not know him) and if he knew where [[Vitellius]] was, he attempted to escape them by a lie. Being soon recognised, he did not cease to beg that he be confined for a time, even in the prison, alleging that he had something to say of importance to the safety of [[Vespasian]]. But they bound his arms behind his back, put a noose about his neck, and dragged him with rent garments and half-naked to the Forum. All along the Sacred Way he was greeted with mockery and abuse, his head held back by the hair, as is common with criminals, and even the point of a sword placed under his chin, so that he could not look down but must let his face be seen. Some pelted him with dung and ordure, others called him incendiary and glutton, and some of the mob even taunted him with his bodily defects. He was in fact abnormally tall, with a face usually flushed from hard drinking, a huge belly, and one thigh crippled from being struck once upon a time by a four-horse chariot, when he was in attendance on Gaius as he was driving. At last on the Stairs of Wailing he was tortured for a long time and then despatched and dragged off with a hook to the [[Tiber]].
9 - - 18. He met his death, along with his brother and his son, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, fulfilling the prediction of those who had declared from an omen which befell him at [[Vienna]], as we have stated, that he was destined to fall into the power of some man of [[Gaul]]. For he was slain by [[Antonius Primus]], a leader of the opposing faction, who was born at Tolosa and in his youth bore the surname Becco, which means a rooster's beak.