Vespasian  69 - 79  A.D.

By clicking on the pictures you'll be linked to a more complete description of the coin. At the bottom of this page there is a more elaborate biography of the emperor.

	Obverse: IMP CAES VESP AVG PM
	Reverse: AVGVR TRI POT
	Fieldmarks: -
	Exergue: -

      Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on the 17th of November 9 AD at a small village called Falacrina . His father was Titus Flavius Sabinus a tax collector his mother was named Vespasia Polla, he had an older brother also named Titus Flavius Sabinus who was a senator. Vespasian was married to Flavia Domitilla and they had two sons Titus and Domitian and a daughter named Domitilla (who died at a young age) when Flavia died he got together with a woman named Caenis who had been his mistress, she became his wife in all but name. Suetonius describes Vespasian as "square-bodied with strong well-proportioned limbs, but always wearing a strained expression on his face".

      During his youth Vespasian was educated by his paternal grandmother Tertulla and eventually went on the path that would lead to senatorial rank. He served as a military tribune in Thrace and held the questorship of Crete and Cyrenaica then begot a aedileship and eventually a praetorship. When Claudius became emperor, Claudius' freedmen Narcissus gave Vespasian the command of legionis II Augustae with this legion he went to Brittania where he subjegated two tribes and conquered 22 towns and the entire isle of Vectis (the current Isle of Wight) these operations were conducted partly under Claudius and partly under Vespasian's commander, Aulus Plautius. For his victories he was awarded two priesthoods and triumphal decorations. At the end of 51 AD he became a consul after he served his term Vespasian disappeared from the political scene for a while only to re-appear when he became proconsul of Africa around 63-64 AD. His rule was marked by great justice and dignity and instead of the usual milking of a province Vespasian came out non the richer he even had to stafe off bankrupcy with the help of his brother. After his return as a senior senator he joined Nero on his tour of Greece . According to Suetonius he offeneded Nero deeply by either falling asleep or walking out on one of his song recitals and he was dismissed from the court and fled in fear for his life.

      In 66 AD a huge Jewish revolt had broken out in Palestinae they killed the governor and routed the governer of Syria who came to surpress the revolt. So the Romans had to send a strong army to surpress this revolt, a trusted commander who wasn't gonna abuse this power was required to command this army. The choice fell on Vespasian he gained command of three legions, eight cavalry squadrons and 10 auxiliary cohorts to join the forces already in Palestinae. In the spring of 67 AD Vespasian set out with his army taking his eldest son Titus with him to serve on his staff. Vespasian was very succesfull and quickly regained control of Galilee and he set out to besiege Hierosolyma (Jerusalem). Meanwhile the west was thrown into a civil war starting with the revolt of Galba and the subsequent suicide of Nero in June of 68 AD. Vespasian acknowledged Galba 's claim to the throne and continued with his war in Palestinae. In the beginning of 69 AD Galba was murdered and Vespasian started to consider a revolt of his own, he got immediate support from the governor of Syria , Mucianus, who held a grudge against Vespasian (because Vespasian got command of the legions instead of him) put his anger aside and promised him the legions of Syria. In april of 69 Otho (Galba's succesor) was defeated by Vitellius and commited suicide. Vitellius' ascension was acknowledged by Vespasian and Mucianus but they secretly started to make serious plans to take control of the empire. Then Vespasian got support from an unexpected source, the Danubian legions who had been on their way to re-inforce Otho had gotten as far as Aquileia when they heard of his defeat and suicide. Discipline broke down and the legions had started to plunder the region. When they realised that they could expect some serious trouble because of this they decided to set up their own emperor and after long deliberation they unanimously choose Vespasian. When this news leaked out Tiberius Julius Alexander the praefect of Egypt was the first who made his legions swear an oath of allegiance to Vespasian. Within two weeks the armies of Mucianus in Palestinae and Syria followed that example. They decided that Vespasian would become emperor because Mucianus had no sons who could succeed him and Alexander was Jewish and only of equestrian rank. Neither therefore could be considered as potential emperors. Vespasian however had two sons, Titus and Domitian, was of senatorial rank and had held the consulship. The plan was that Mucianus would lead twenty thousand men into Italia , while Vespasian would remain in the east, where he could control the all-important Egyptian grain supply to Rome . In the meanwhile the Danubian legions marched on Vitellius in Rome. Vitellius had a much stronger force at his command, but his forces were defeated at Cremona on the 24th of October 69 AD, a second force send to stop the Danubian legions defected and the road to Rome lay open. When Vitellius learned of this treachery he tried to abdicate and Vespasian's elder brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus who was the praefectus urbis of Rome at the time, attempted to take control of the city. But he and his supporters were attacked by Vitellius' soldiers and killed. Then on the 20th of December the Danubian legions attacked the city of Rome and defeated Vitellius soldiers and killed Vitellius. The senate recognised Vespasian as emperor and soon after Mucianus arrived in Rome and until Vespasians arrival he ruled together with Vespasians son Domitian (who had been in the city troughout all the troubles). Vespasian quickly moved to Rome from Alexandria leaving Titus to capture Hierosolyma when he arrived he took Mucianus as his personal advisor, but did not allow him to hold any office of power.

      Vespasian firmly took control of an empire stressed by civil war and immediately started to take make some desperately needed changes. He started by tightening the military discipline that had been slacking, to this end he punished large numbers of Vitellius man by not showing them any favors and being slow in paying them the rewards they were entitled to. He reduced several free cities and client kingdoms back to provincial status and shored up the defenses of the province of Cappadocia against the frequent barbarian raids. Vespasian also increased the number of legions in the East and continued the process of imperial expansion by the annexation of northern Brittania , the pacification of Wales , and by advances into Scotland and Agri Decumates between the Rhine and the Danube . Vespasian also restored the senatorial and equistrian orders weakened by murder and neglect, replacing unwanted members by the most eligible candidates from Italia and the provinces. He reduced the huge backlog of courtcases and took several measures to counteract the debauched and reckless style of living which had become commonplace. Every woman who had taken another person's slave as her lover would lose her own freedom and people who had lend money to minors would lose the money they had lend. He then turned his attention to Rome and the state of the empire itself. In Rome he started a huge building campaign restoring a neglected city. He restored the Capitol which had burned down during Nero's reign. He also started work on several new buildings, a new temple of peace, a temple to Claudius the God and more noteworthy he started the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre better known today as the Colosseum. It would be located on the site of the lake of Nero's Golden House thus returning the ground Nero had confiscated to the people of Rome. Ofcourse all this required a lot of money and Vespasians only fault was that he was greedy and didn't care to much where his money came from. He levied new and heavier taxes and doubled some of the tributes required from the provinces. He openly committed shady business deals cornering the market in a certain good and then selling it at largely inflated prices, he thought nothing of exacting fees from candidates for public office and selling pardons to guilty and innocent people alike. According to Suetonius he even raised his most greedy procurators to positions which enabled them to fill their purses and when they had fattened them satisfactorily he accused them of extortion and squeezed them dry earning them the nickname of Vespasian's sponges. To his credit Vespasian spend most of the money gained this way for the public good and the huge building campaigns. Vespasian was the first emperor to pay teachers of Latin and Greek rhetoric an annual salary and he revived the arts by awarding large prices to poets and artists. He also threw a large number of enormous dinners to support the trade of food, despite these huge banquets Vespasian led a very modest live.

      Unlike most emperor's Vespasian died peacefully after a short illness in his summer retreat, making his famous death-bed joke "Dear me! I must be turning into a god." On the 23th of June 79 AD at the age of sixty-nine, seven months and seven days Vespasian came out of his sick bed muttering that an emperor should die on his feet and collapsed. He was succeeded by his eldest son Titus.