Difference between revisions of "Vespasian"

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


[[Titus Flavius Vespasianus]] (17 – 79 CE) was the commander in chief sent by Nero to quell the [[Jewish Revolt]] and the first emperor of the Flavian dinasty.
==Overview==
[[Vespasian]], born in an Italic equestrian family from Reate. He followed the various steps of the Senatorial cursus honorum under [[Claudius]] and [[Nero]], ending in 66 CE as the commander of the army sent to quell the revolt in [[Judaea]]. Proclaimed emperor in 69 CE, at the end of the Year of the Four Emperors, [[Vespasian]] ruled till 79 CE. He was succeeded by his son [[Titus]]. 
====Early Career====
[[Titus Flavius Vespasianus]] was born in 17 CE at Reate. Although his father, [[Titus Flavius Sabinus]], was an equestrian, his mother [[Vespasia Polla]], was the daughter of a Senator. Both he and his older brother, [[Titus Flavius Sabinus]], followed a Senatorial career. In 36 CE he begun his cursus honorum as military tribune in [[Thrace]], in 37 he was appointed quaestor and served in [[Crete]] and [[Cyrene]], in 39 he was appointed aedilis and in 40 CE praetor. In 41 CE, [[Claudius]] appointed [[Vespasian]] legate of Legio II Augusta, stationed in [[Germania]]. From 41 till 43 CE [[Vespasian]] took part in the invasion of Britannia under the command of [[Aulus Plautius]]. On his return to Rome, [[Claudius]] awarded him the ornamenta triumphalia. In 51 CE, [[Vespasian]] was elected consul. He then withdrew from public life till 63 CE. [[Vespasian]] married Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of an equestrian. They had two sons, [[Titus Flavius Vespasianus]] and [[Titus Flavius Domitianus]], and a daughter, Domitilla. Flavia died before [[Vespasian]] became emperor. [[Vespasian]] then took a mistress [[Caenis]], a member of the household of [[Antonia Maior]], who lived together with him till her death in 74 CE. In 63 CE, [[Nero]] appointed him governor of the Province of [[Africa]]. Afterwards he followed the Emperor [[Nero]] in his travel to [[Greece]], although it seems that for a while Vespasian lost the Imperial favor. In 66 CE, [[Nero]] appointed [[Vespasian]] commander in chief in [[Judaea]]. [[Titus]], [[Vespasian]]’elder son served in the staff. [[Vespasian]]’s army was supported by the armies of various client - kings as [[Agrippa II]], [[Antiochus of Commagene]], [[Soaemus of Emesa]], and [[Malichus II of Nabatea]]. In 67 CE, [[Vespasian]], conduced a series of campaigns, which resulted in the fall of various Jewish strongholds in [[Galilee]], including [[Iotapata]], commanded by [[Joseph Ben Mattatihu]], and [[Gamla]]. The following year, in 68 CE, the Roman army conquered back Judaea, and surrounded [[Jerusalem]]. The death of [[Nero]] in 68 CE, was followed by the succession of short –lived emperors, [[Galba]], [[Otho]], and [[Vitellius]]. [[Vespasian]] supported [[Otho]], and once [[Otho]] was murdered, his supporters looked at [[Vespasian]] as their choice. [[Vespasian]] bid to the throne was supported by [[Mucianus]], the governor of [[Syria]], the army in Egypt under [[Tiberius Julius Alexander]], by his own army in Judaea, and the legions stationed in [[Moesia]], [[Pannonia]], and [[Illyricum]]. While [[Vespasian]] was in the East, [[M. Antonius Primus]] defeated [[Vitellius]]’s army at the second battle of [[Bedriacum]], and after the sack of [[Cremona]] entered in Rome. However during the civil war in Rome between the supporters of [[Vespasian]], including the praefectus urbis [[Flavius Sabinus]], [[Vespasian]]’s brother, and the supporters of [[Vitellius]], resulted in the death of [[Sabinus]] and in the burning down of the [[Capitol]].
====Imperial Succession====
[[Vespasian]] arrived at Rome in 70, leaving the conduct of the war in [[Judaea]] to his son [[Titus]]. The beginning of [[Vespasian]]’s rule was characterized by the stabilization of the Empire, after the troubled period which followed [[Nero]]’s suicide. He renewed old taxes and instituted new ones, most notably the [[Fiscus Iudaicus]], and increased the tribute from the provinces. As censor, [[Vespasian]] reformed the Senatorial and Equestrian orders. [[Vespasian]] also altered the constitution of the Praetorian Guard. The Jewish War was victoriously concluded by Titus with the conquest of Jerusalem. In the following year, in 71 CE, [[Vespasian]] and [[Titus]], hold a triumphal procession in Rome. The temple of [[Janus]] was closed. In fact the [[Jewish War]] ended only in 73 C.E. with the fall of [[Masada]]. [[Judaea]] in the aftermath of the war was made a Senatorial Province. The victory war was celebrated with the emission of various coins, the [[Judaea Capta]] series, minted under [[Vespasian]] and [[Titus]]. [[Agrippa II]] conserved his kingdom, which was probably extended during [[Domitian]]’s rule. At Rome [[Vespasian]] erected various monuments to celebrate the [[Jewish War]], as the [[Forum Pacis]], where the spoils of the [[Jerusalem Temple]] were deposited, including one of the Temple’s [[Menorah]]. The most well known project is the construction of the [[Amphitheatre Flavium]], better known as [[Colosseum]], with the money taken from the [[Temple of Jerusalem]]. In the West, the beginning of Vespasian ruler was dominated by a series of risings. Thus in 70 C.E., a formidable rising on the Lower Rhine, was headed by the Batavian allied chieftain [Gaius Julius Civilis. Later, in Northern Gaul, two chiefs of the Treveri, Iulius Classicus and Iulius Tutor, rebelled as well. The rebels conquered Moguntiacum and Vetera. The revolt was suppressed by [[Vespasian]]'s brother-in-law, [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]]. In Rome [[Vespasian]] had to face the so called Stoic opposition. In 71 C.E. [[Vespasian]] had the philosophers banished from Rome. In 72 C.E., the Stoic philosopher, [[Hevidius Priscus]] committed suicide. [[Vespasian]]’s reign was characterized by expansion in [[Germany]], where the Agri Decumati, the Neckar region, was annexed and in Britain. First Petilius Cerealis, then Sextus Frontinus, and from 78 C.E., Cn. Iulius Agricola extended and consolidated the Roman dominion in that province, after the battle of Mons Graupius in 84 C.E. pushing their way into Caledonia, or Scotland. In the East, the rulers of [[Lesser Armenia]] and [[Commagene]] were deposed. [[Cappadocia]] and [[Lesser Armenia]] were put under the administration of the governor of [[Galatia]]. During the rule of [[Vespasian]], Latin rights were extended to [[Spain]] in 73-74 C.E. [[Vespasian]] died in 79 CE, and was succeeded by his son [[Titus]].
====Vespasian the Jews and Judaea====
The Jewish War was the turning point in the life of [[Vespasian]], and resulted in his rise to the Imperial throne and the establishment of the [[Flavian]] dinasty. [[Vespasian]] is celebrated by [[Flavius Josephus]] in his [[Jewish War]]. Josephus wrote that he prophesized the Imperial throne to [[Vespasian]] soon after his capture at [[Iotapata]] in 67 CE. The episode is reported by Tacitus as well. A similar account is found in [[Rabbinic literature]], where [[Rabbi Jochanan Ben Zakkai]] prophesized to Vespasian the imperial succession, following his escape from besieged Jerusalem. [[Vespasian]] was sent as commander in chief to quell the [[Jewish Rebellion]] in 66 CE. From 67 till 69 CE, he directed the military operations in [[Galilee]], [[Peraea]], [[Idumaea]] and [[Judaea]]. He left the conduct of the end of the war to his son Titus. The revolt ended only in 73 CE, with the fall of [[Masada]] to [[Lucius Flavius Silva]], appointed by [[Vespasian]] as Senatorial governor of [[Judaea]]. In the aftermath of the revolt, which ended with the destruction of [[Jerusalem]] and the [[Temple]], [[Vespasian]] made [[Judaea]] a senatorial province, stationing there, in the ruins of Jerusalem the [[Legio X Fraetensis]]. The capital of the province remained at [[Caesarea Maritima]], which received the title of colonia, as it had supported [[Vespasian]] bid to the imperial throne in 69 CE. However, [[Vespasian]] continued to show his support for the Herodian king [[Agrippa II]], to who were reinstated his territories in Galilee and in the north. One of the consequences of the [[Jewish War]] for the Jews the reign of [[Vespasian]] was the levy of a poll-tax called the [[Fiscus Iudaicus]]. The [[Fiscus Iudaicus]] was a compulsory tax, which took the place of the [[Half-Sheqel]] that the Jews voluntarily contributed to the [[Temple in Jerusalem]], now destroyed. This tax was to be versed instead to the imperial aerarium, or imperial treasure, for the reconstruction of the [[Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus]]. The bounty ransacked from the [[Jewish War]], permitted to [[Vespasian]]] ambitious buildings projects such as the [[Colosseum]]. The [[Jewish War]] was celebrated through the erection of the [[Templum Pacis]], which hosted the spoils of the [[Temple of Jerusalem]], and by the minting of a series of coins in gold, silver, and bronze, the [[Judaea Capta]] series, which celebrated the victory in the [[Jewish War]].
==Vespasian in ancient sources==
==Vespasian in Scholarship==
==Vespasian in Fiction==
==Related categories==
*[[Roman Emperors]] / [[Titus]]
*[[Josephus]]
==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespasian Wikipedia]
*[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=64&letter=V Jewish Encyclopedia (1906)]


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Latest revision as of 07:24, 19 February 2012

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