Vitellius

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• ANCIENT SOURCES: see Vitellius (sources)
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Aulus Vitellius Germanicus (24 – 69 CE) was the third emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors.

Overview

Vitellius, the governor of Germania Inferior, succeeded to Otho as emperor in 69 CE during the Year of the Four Emperors. Defeated he was succeeded by Vespasian, who inaugurated the Flavian dinasty.

Early Career

Aulus Vitellius Germanicus was born in 24 CE. According to Suetonius, his family descended from ancient rulers of Latium. Vitellius married twice, first in 40 CE Petronia, with whom he fathered Aulus Vitellius Petronianus, and ten years afterwards Galeria Fundana, with whom he had two children, a son Germanicus and a daughter. Vitellius’s cursus honorum included his elevation to the consulate in 48 CE, under Claudius, and perhaps once more in 60-61 CE, under Nero, the governorship of the province of Africa as proconsul, and in 68 CE, the governorship of the province of Germania Inferior.

Imperial Succession

At the beginning of 69 CE, his subordinates Caecina and Valens, proclaimed him emperor of the armies of Germania Inferior and Germania Superior, refusing their allegiance to Galba, at Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). The legions of Gaul, Brittania and Raetia shortly afterwards decided to take his side. Vitellius soon marched to Rome, and was faced in northern Italy by the army of Otho, which was defeated at the first battle of Bedriacum. Vitellius’s army marched to Rome, where he was instated as emperor in the spring of 69 CE, with the acknowledgment of the Senate. Vitellius’s conquest of Rome was followed by various riots and massacres of his opponents, gladiatorial games, held to quell the populace, and the disbandment of the praetorian guard, which had till then supported Otho. In the summer of 69 CE, Vitellius was informed that the armies of the East had proclaimed Vespasian emperor, then the supreme commander sent by Nero to quell the Revolt in Judaea. Soon Dalmatia and Illyricum joined in the support of Vespasian. By the end of the year, Vitellius’s army had to face an army led by Marcus Antonius Primus, the commander of the sixth legion serving in Pannonia, who had joined Vespasian. The decisive clash was fought at the second battle of Bedriacum in the winter of 69 CE. Vitellius was defeated. In the wake of the battle the Roman colony of Cremona was sacked and set afire. Back in Rome, Vitellius tried to abdicate peacefully in favor of Vespasian, but he was murdered.

Related categories

• Roman Emperors

External links

• Wikipedia