Roman History: Four Emperors in Twelve Months

The Roman Empire - then called the Principate - was standing at a crossroads in history. Emperor Nero has just been dragged from his palace and tied to a post - where more than half the city stood in orderly fashion awaiting its chance to beat him. Declaring the tragedy of it all that such an artist was dying with him, he took a razor and slit his throat - and as he lay dying, a strange new era was washing over the city as surely as Nero's red blood stained the concrete he lay on. It had been a century of firsts: the Republic had only just recently died, the first Emperor had passed on his powers to the first successor, the first undeclared successor had taken the throne in Claudius, the first city-wide revolt against an emperor had just taken place, and now, the first dynasty had just died.

Who was going to fill the gap?: A man by the name of Servius Sulpicius Galba.

He was something of a popular man, declared emperor after the forced execution of Nero. Because Rome was in a time of transition, several legions from Gaul to Germania flocked for his favor - but found themselves largely ignored by him, even after a series of brief, but bloody, civil wars.

One might expect an emperor as shakily chosen as Galba to tread carefully - but it appears that he took on his newfound position with zeal and earnest. Upon his march to Rome to take on the crown, he violently plundered towns and cities that showed hints of disloyalty toward him, or in some cases, even ignorance. When he actually got to the city, his coffers bursting now, he dismissed a majority of Nero's reforms, which carried with it the dubious pleasure of ending benefits granted to rich, powerful, and influential men throughout the city.

Galba was doing an excellent job of quickly making enemies, which was only compounded when he refused to carry through with his promises to pay legionaries who were loyal to him. With no mutual loyalty to be expected of the emperor and civil war on the horizon, the legions began to back the next challenger to the throne: Vitellius.

Vitellius easily crushed the Rhine Legions and prepared a march towards Rome. Galba hastily assigned a local senator the title of successor to the throne - which in turn drove a deeper wedge against Galba as Marcus Salvius Otho expected such an appointment. With a quick bribe, the Praetorian guard were quick to dispatch the unpopular Galba, and thus rose Emperor Otho (not to be confused with the fashion designer from Beetlejuice).

To be honest - no one really liked Otho. He was greedy and self-centered, but the Senate reasoned that at least he had no history of cruelty and tyranny. Nevertheless, Vitellius did not see the change of powers as reason enough to abandon his march towards the city - and so continued on. He tried to open diplomatic ties with Vitellius - whose command of one of the most elite legions in Rome was gaining him mass support with both the Senate and the People - but he would hear none of this.

Marching with what armies he could, Otho tried to meet the imminent emperor in battle, but was defeated soundly. As though simply giving up on life entirely, Otho committed suicide, abdicating to Vitellius.

As emperor, Vitellius showed many of the signs of the much hated Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Germanicus, otherwise known as Caligula. His love of lavish lifestyle resulted in triumphal parades, enormous banquets, parties - all the while running the state treasury utterly bankrupt. Like Julius Caesar of old, Vitellius turned to the money lenders to keep his escapades going - who grew increasingly impatient with his excuses for not paying them back.

When they would demand their pay in return for the money lending, Vitellius would often have them tortured.

This madness came with it a certain paranoia. He was constantly convinced anyone of any qualification was planning to usurp him - and he began a series of Stalinistic style purges, whereupon he would order someone of particular promise to show up to his palace with the promise that a promotion or nomination for succession was imminent. In fact, they were usually killed and maimed as a warning to others who sought to excel.

Between these ill practices and the already inauspicious standards upon which Vitellius had acceded the throne, the people - and especially the legions - had grown weary of their new emperor. With two down already, the removal of a third did not seem all that unrealistic - and the legions backed Vespasian.

Vespasian was a highly powerful and influential man. Responsible for putting down the Great Jewish Revolt of 67 A.D. and with the loyalty of the Egyptian Legions and Syrian Governor, he held the single most powerful strategic position in the Roman Empire. If necessary, he could cut off the grain supply, he could sway the Syrian legions, he could cut off trade to the East - and what's more, he was highly favored.

The people were enthused at his Fred Thompson style late announcement of candidacy for Emperor of 69 A.D. Even before he disembarked from Alexandria to Italy, many of the local European city-states were declaring their full-fledged support for Vespasian. By the time he landed, Vitellius was surrounded by a sea of enemies hostile to his tyrannical rule.

With legions closing in on every side, Vitellius planned to flee - but was captured and killed by Vespasian's men.

The Senate, for their fourth time that year, acknowledged Vespasian's claim to the throne - which, it would turn out, was in Rome's best interests. The patriarch of the Flavian Dynasty, Vespasian signified the end of the dark ages of Rome by planning to build a giant amphitheater on the remains of Nero's Colossal.

The amphitheater is today known as the Colosseum - a stern testament to the end of one crazy year in Rome.

The Twelve Caesar - Seutonius
Way of the Gladiator - Greg P. Mannix
The Twelve Caesars - Michael Grant
Wikipedia - The Year of the Four Emperors