Roman Emperor from 69-79AD
His full name was
Titus Flavius Vespasianus, his father was a
tax collector, and Vespasian
retained many of his common
sensibilities during his
reign as emperor. He was
reputedly low-class in his
accent and
behavior, having worked for a brief
period as a
mule-driver in the army, but
presided over a period of
prosperity in the Roman empire. He
supposedly wept for
condemned
criminals, and showed great
leniency towards old
soldiers. He
managed to offend
Nero by falling
asleep during one of the emperor's
performances, getting himself
banished from court. Later Nero appointed him to put down a
rebellion in
Judea (this was a job no one in their right mind wanted). He
emerged from the chaos of Nero's death with the
emperorship, after his troops
proclaimed him emperor during the reign of
Vitellius, and he
arrrived in
Rome to find Vitellius already
dead. His son,
Titus ended the rebellion in Judea with the destruction of the
temple.
Vespasian's only real
fault seems to be that he was a bit
greedy, and
levied heavy taxes on the empire to pay for his
building projects. The most famous of these works, the
Colosseum (
Flavian Amphitheater) still stands today.
Vespasian was slow to accept the
honors and
titles of emperorship, and reputedly said on his death bed "
Oh my, I fear I am about to become a god!" (the Romans would declare good emperors to be gods after they died). His
prediction came true, and he was eventually
deified. As was a common
pattern in the empire, a good emperor like Vespasian died and left the empire in the hands of his
worthless sons,
Titus and
Domitian.
See
Roman Emperors