The Untold Story Of Emperor Vespasian | Vespasian | Odyssey

In the middle of the 1st century AD. Roman civilization had spread to encompass the entire Mediterranean and beyond it was the largest empire the world had ever seen and seemed unbreakable, but it was not in 1869 that the Roman Empire was founded and it almost fell. It was the year of the four

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s and the dark side of Rome came to light as ambition turned to rivalry, rivalry to murder and civil war. Out of the chaos emerged an unlikely hero to lead Rome back from the abyss, a simple man known to his friends as the mule. breeder known in the senate as titus flavius ​​

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as

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the savior of the empire the year is 68 AD.

The legions of Spain and France under the command of Sulpicius Galba are marching towards Rome between them and the capital is the Rhine army loyal to the

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This is Rome versus Rome at stake It was the throne of the young emperor Nero divorced dissolute murderer a descendant of the emperor Augustus for a hundred years his family had ruled Rome now Nero had gone bankrupt it was time for ambitious men to make their move Nero consulted the oracle at Delphi asking how long he would expect to live the cryptic and ironic answer as he was always careful at the age of 73.

Nero was 31 years old and was glad he had 42 years to live while the governor of Spain sold Piccius Galba was drilling. His soldiers marched on Rome Galba's age was 73 In June of that year Galba unleashed his forces against Rome It was a domino effect mutiny in Spain and Gaul and on the Rhine each bringing the end one step closer Then someone bribed the praetorian guard and deserted emboldening the senate to declare Nero deposed another death sentence abandoned by all but a few servants Nero hid in a humble house on the outskirts of Rome and there stabbed himself in the throat the Julius Claudius dynasty that had ruled for 95 years ago it was now extinct and the world held its breath Galba was still in Spain when on June 8 he was proclaimed emperor it was the first time that an emperor had been created outside of Rome powerful men paid attention at the opposite end of the empire in Judea the commander Vespasian was involved in a bitter war when he learned of the successful coup with a practiced instinct for his own survival he sent his eldest son Titus to swear allegiance to the new emperor it would be a trip in vain now it is difficult to recover the uncertainty of the world so if you think Since the Roman Empire from one end to the other is two months wide in summer and three months wide in winter, that is the amount of time it takes for messages to go in one direction, sometimes even going back and forth, and never there may be complete information, which is why people are marching in the dark in Rome.

Events unfolded faster than Tito could travel. Titus is sent to congratulate Galba and, in fact, Titus never makes it to Rome because before he gets there, Caliber is killed and, uh, he. He comes back again, but that's when people started thinking that anything could happen to him taking power. Galba had not only divided the army, he had divided Rome, it was never a safe place. The dark corners of the forum were now more dangerous than the battlefield of Rome. Armies had followed the eagles on many fronts, and yet the most dangerous of all was the home front, the home front, where plots were hatched and scores settled, where soldiers meddled in politics, where the guard praetorian, the spoiled brats of the roman army, exchanged their support for gold within a few months of their arrival in rome galba was killed by his praetorian guards had switched their allegiance to salvius otho a friend and some say lover of the late nero otho proclaimed himself emperor On January 15 he too would last a few months the storm clouds of the civil war had finally dissipated the bloody confrontation that followed brought in thugs and mercenaries from all the dark corners of the empire the victor this time was the despised and owlless Vitellius his motley army brought chaos to the very heart of the Vitellian empire had arrived from Germany dragging with its army a great multitude of hangars, turned the entire city into a camp and filled every house with armed men unaccustomed to the place of Roman wealth.

They could barely contain his greedy desires, but they turned to looting and murder. From anyone who stood in his way, Vespasian had crushed all opposition in the vicinity of Jerusalem. He returned to Caesarea. There he learned of the uprisings in Rome and the news angered him. The empire Vespasian had served all his life was in collapse. It was now At the time of In this act he gained the support of legions to the north and south, they proclaimed him emperor and ordered them to march on Rome on December 20, 69 AD. They triumphantly entered the capital, Vitellius, already on the run, was pursued and massacred.

His corpse was dragged through the forum and thrown into the Tiber. The year of the four emperors had ended and it was Rome's luck that the fourth turned out to be Roman to the core. Someone told him. Nero you can kill everyone Caesar except your successor the big question was who would make him close to his successor, few dreamed that within a year the laurel wreath would adorn the forehead of a mule breeder, and even fewer that this redneck would bring Rome back from the abyss and restore sanity to the world. Vespasian inherited an empire that was on the brink of the abyss. point of collapse his people were in a state of shock his armies fragmented and demoralized the empire that was Augustus' dream had become a nightmare in the hands of his successors but this was never meant to be something had gone wrong there are many misconceptions about Rome and a very popular one is that it was ruled by a series of sadistic lunatics.

That is a big distortion. This was the largest empire the world had ever seen and flourished for over six centuries. To achieve this, men of exceptional caliber were needed. Vespasian may not be a well-known name, but he encapsulated the true virtues of a Roman emperor more than any other. His path to power is an amazing

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. No one could have been more surprised that the Vespasian emperors were born, not made, so how could this common man qualify? For such a lofty purge, the answer can be found by retracing his career, the journey of his life that took him to every corner of the Roman Empire.

Vespasian never dreamed that he would become emperor for fear of being called upon to save the empire in a heroic manner. He was an unlikely hero, short and stout, bald with a residue of coarse, curly hair, shrewd eyes illuminated by a glow, aquiline nose, mouth sunken face and a nutcracker's jaw, a face that the Italians of a later era would caricature as punchinello and the English would call punch. From his appearance, one would have to give Vespasian fairly low marks for elegance and social grace, zero for his imagination and innovative thinking, nothing very memorable except for realism, for his common sense, ten out of ten, a man looking like rock, stable, reliable and Roman, this patient was born in nine. ad in Riyetti, a small and quiet town that lies in the folds of the Sebine hills, 60 miles from Rome, for many Romans, Vespasian must really have formed the ideal Roman, a Roman of the past, almost a Roman of the past. fashion, from an ancient lineage of the mountains. man who had been raised with the ancient Roman virtues of thoroughness, courage, magnaminity and victory, a natural soldier and a natural farmer, this type of field is the classic Roman army field where citizen soldiers are born and raised, all values of the country are here from the soldier. farmer one minute killing this land tending to his beasts cutting down trees the next minute joining together to fight the campaign and finally retiring or returning here later Riyetti's claim to fame was and still is as a center for mule breeders here were the car dealers of ancient rome the transport contractors and vespasian would be known as tumbar tear an association of which he was quite proud on his mother's side was quite respectable said so the local nobility but his father's family was clearly of origin peasant his grandfather some people said had been a centurion which made him sound a little better he was probably just a common soldier his father had a job in the tax collection system but not at the highest level and then He went into lending money in Switzerland, so you could call that being a banker, if you like, respectfully, and he made a little money.

Vespasian's father died when he was only 10 years old. It was his ambitious mother who ensured that he received the education and training that, with luck and money, could one day result in elections to the Senate. Here, right next to the quiet Rietty Square, is your totally unexpected reward Nothing about the theater Flavius ​​Vespasian says small city in Italy The magnificent roof commemorates the moment of triumph of his son A procession through the streets of Rome shared with his son elder titus is seen returning as victorious emperor to crush the jewish revolt he surpassed his mother's wildest dreams and would not stop here in time vespasian would continue to rebuild the roman empire but first it was the empire that vespasian would build vespasian's first step in The ladder to the Roman senate was in the army as a tribune I would begin to see how the empire was run but I would be far from Rome It was a humble and not cheap beginning to start a career as an important politician To try to get into the senate you had to have friends, you had to have powerful and influential friends and you had to have money, it was a minimum entry requirement of a million enthusiasms, how much is that worth?

Well, soldiers received something like 900 a year, so if you have capital worth a million, that seems like a lot, his mother's wealth had bought 18-year-old Vespasian a share in the senatorial steeplechase, but his money guaranteed nothing except running the fences at whatever stage he might fall. The obstacles to his career were clearly marked and progress was in the hands of the Senate. the emperor and the gods only a handful would complete the course the really rich aristocrats never see the army because if they acquire military experience they become rivals of the emperor the relatively poor and not so well connected aspiring politicians always enter the group army, society Roman is still a military society, its strength depends on having people at the top who can command armies, defend the borders, so all the young people of the parish would be politicians and must have military experience, so the young Vespasian was sent first of all to do military service in northern greece in thrace in thrace vespasian was in one of the outposts of the empire here he would learn something of the precarious relationship between the army stationed mainly on the borders and rome itself the seat of power imperial the Roman empire was it was beautiful it conceived a wonderful architecture of stability, I mean for a hundred years there had been peace and that is something incredibly difficult to achieve for a pre-industrial society, the reason was that the army spread across the borders of the empire, along the Rhine, along the Danube in Syria, miles away from the central kingdom and the commands of this army were divided between different aristocrats, no one was allowed to remain in office for more than three years and the most skilled people also had to spend periods out of command.

During periods in command, Vespasian was 23 years old before experiencing the capital for himself. He was appointed to Rome as the capital triumvira, a very small cog in a complex machine that always threatened to break down. Rome was the largest city in the known world by far probably over a million people maybe even a million and a half people it was a hugely cosmopolitan city it had been the center of a great Mediterranean empire for over 200 years people of all races, colors and creeds would have been here trafficking seeking political favors making business money it was a poisonous cabin of cosmopolitan and interracial strife in many ways but it was still terribly vibrant this was the center of the known world if you wanted to move on you had to come Here too it was a huge parasitic city, it produced nothing and therefore had to be fed in this huge flower mill at the mouth of the Tiber.

Corn, most of it imported, was ground day and night to feed the constantly hungry masses of Rome. This relatively humble-looking building, of course, is really the engine room of Rome that one thinks of. the circuses, theaters and temples of Rome, but this is really the most important thing because this is where the food is made. The poor Romans were given this incredible dough. They did not have to find any food that the emperor provided them. That was free, he also gave them water or provided them with it. wine for them they also entertained themselves there has never been a society that pampered its poor as much as the romans did this was not altruism rome was a den of gunpowder the governmenttried to keep it covered in addition to feeding everyone were the problems of housing and sanitation the Romans were the first to use concrete to build huge apartment blocks the needs of the city constantly promoted innovations such as the Vespasian triumvira that would have seen the expansion of the most spectacular of all the vast aqueduct systems that reached the heart of Rome from In every direction it was an extraordinary system, if you can imagine, if you were a provincial living in a society that had barely had water, seeing something like this walking through the field towards you, supplying you with water non-stop 24 hours a day.

The product has been bringing water for 50 miles to this city. That's a huge project, there's no pump system involved here. Everything is done by gravity, so the Romans had to inspect the correct height to collect the water and then inspect 50 miles of construction for this huge. structure is almost the skeleton of a great empire the ruins of aqueducts everywhere water management was one of Rome's technological triumphs and one that it knew how to export with spectacular results this was hygiene but it was more recreation a vital distraction for the masses of the city along with its theaters and circuses but all this had to be paid for because Rome was as big as London in 1800 it was a huge population that was maintained because it taxed its people.

The reason why the empire was vital was because all the money it collected in taxes went a to Rome and b to the armies on the border, so Rome was probably the most expensive army and probably took up a little less than half of the total imperial budget, but the taxes paid by the subjects were absolutely essential for the entire empire. luxurious luxury of the city of rome from his stay in the city, vespasian learned that to continue in peace and prosperity rome needed the empire more than the empire needed rome, his next appointment would make that very clear as he traveled to crete and Cyrene in North Africa the young Vespasian would see up close how Rome collected its money why the Easter ships were 20 they were distributed by the senate 10 according to status and the rest by lottery Vespasian Needless to say he got his by lottery .

He had taken almost last place in the packing order. I mean, there were 20 jobs every year for trivia stores. The 10 most favored stayed in Rome. They did not want to go to the provinces and the first of the ten were those who were attached to the emperor or you could be attached to the consuls or had other duties in Rome, the other ten would go to the provinces, the proconsul of Crete and Cyrene, I mean, them. Most of them are completely unknown to David when Vespasian arrives in Cyrene as a young man of about 26 years to assume the role of quietership.

What is he getting into? Well, the question boat is a junior position for someone who is embarking on a senatorial career and it is to give people experience of provincial government, uh, starting with that, at the end of how money is extracted from the provinces, clearly Coming to a settled province like Cyrene, from someone like Thrace, he is passing from one world to another, he comes. in a well-established urban civilization based on sedentary agriculture that is already linked to Mediterranean trade and exchange networks and, as the son of a tax collector, must have instantly latched onto the economic potential of relatively peaceful and peaceful regions such as Cyrene and the potential contribution. that those types of areas could make both the economy of the empire and the political and social life of the empire because these are very well developed civilizations they have existed for hundreds of years this was not Rome here there was evidence of civilizations before the Romans.

Minoan Greek suggestions from Egypt and Carthage, obviously those extremely civilized countries, Cyrene had first been colonized by the Greeks in the 7th century BC. C., so they had these wonderful Greek cities and yes, they were very civilized at the time when the Romans were very, very primitive. But now Rome had surpassed them all. Roman civilization had left the Iron Age behind and was taking the rest of the world with it. This was an empire of inclusion, not exclusion. The Sirenians were not Roman citizens by right. That privilege could be granted. gaining through the army or public service Roman citizenship meant that you really were in the first division in ancient society, everyone who was not a Roman citizen aspired to become a Roman citizen if they could, it was more common, I might say, in the west than in the east, where the Greeks were.

They were still a little dismissive about it, to be a Roman, it really meant that here you were an heir to the land, there were obligations but there were also many legal privileges that came with being a Roman citizen and a whole way of life and a whole conduct of the morals and military affairs and your political ideas and who you really thought you were, so to become a Roman was to really get into the top team. Vespasian was in the senior team and upon his return to Rome he was eligible for promotion at the age of 26.

He had seen the workings of the empire first hand, but still knew nothing of palace politics, he was about to learn that the Roman aristocrats were upper class rumors who wanted to enter politics, they secured elections at the age of 25 or so and there are 20 people who make it every year on the next step, five years later there are 12 to 16 places, so between a quarter and two fifths don't make it, so there is competition, there is the possibility that it will be a lottery, furthermore, the emperor's lover changes to a favorite former slave. He falls into disgrace and your career fizzles out You have to wait until your chance comes back Vespasian had to apply twice for his next promotion His first application was rejected The obstacles were getting a little more difficult between applications The Emperor Tiberius had died when he finally arrived to the next step, perhaps I wished I didn't have it.

The job he gets next is aedile and among the duties of aediles was keeping the streets clean and he just so happened to have this job during the reign of the eccentric Emperor Caligula. who noticed that the streets were covered in mud and uh heaped amounts on vespasian more than mud the emperor had his guards fill vespasian's toga with all the dirt and excrement from the street to be known by the emperor was not always good for the career Especially when the emperor was angry, the guy who is in charge has to be responsible in the case of emperor Caligula, he obviously noticed that the streets were not as clean as they should be and blamed the vespers, yes, Rome is a very lively place, then, particularly. animated in the reign of caligula obviously the people were petrified basically what he was going to do next this was a crash course in the unwritten rules of roman power the higher you rose the more dangerous your situation became it was during his stay in rome that vespasian He married and his son Titus was born, little could he imagine the value that his son would become, but in the meantime he had acquired another asset, a patron and from a very unlikely source at first glance, the Roman Empire ruled by an omnipotent and powerful emperor. on top. and aristocrats and uses the aristocrats as the people to whom he delegates power but the aristocrats are the rivals of the emperor they threaten him so the emperors create alternative mechanisms to execute orders palace slaves free them but give them administrative responsibility and these are executives of the emperor of the empire that undermines and parallels the power of the senators, it is quite extraordinary from our point of view that the slaves, former capes, the freed slaves must exercise a power that equals the power of the aristocratic senators, Vespasian's patron was a slave, Narcissus, not the emperor's slave. but from claudius, the emperor's uncle, his influence led vespasian to the position of his dreams, commander of his own legion in augusta stationed in germany and then everything got better, caligula was assassinated, claudius was the new emperor and to his right was the patron of vespasian, what is more, vespasian was to be part of the personal ambition of the emperor claudia the new emperor a slimy fool according to some or cunning and devious as one could describe he needed military glory and a rather innocent expedition to britain claudius could maintain in the background lead from calais gain glory let's say he had conquered britain and reported his victory to rome so it was a politically dictated military adventure for someone like this bayesian this was the absolute opportunity of a lifetime there were only 27 legionary commanders in this stage in the Roman army and Vespasian was one of the lucky four who were being chosen for this and this was an opportunity for him to show his military talent and achieve what all Romans longed for more than anything else, which was military glory. , but there was a problem for the army, this was a leap. in the dark rumors about the company they caused a mutiny in the ranks a British invasion had a serious problem the fearsome soldiers of Rome trembled in the place of the sea they had really been transported across the Mediterranean sometimes it was the ocean that they did not fear so much the wind and waves Like the supernatural and the spooky, the ancients saw the world as three continents surrounded by a dark and terrible moat called oceanus, where repulsive sea monsters fear some spirits and all kinds of dark dangers had their abode, invasion It stalled on the beaches of France, but after months of persuasion and possibly bribery the commanders were able to press on.

Luckily the Romans' hesitation had given them an unexpected advantage. The Roman delays at Bulani persuaded the British that the invasion had been cancelled. and they dispersed the Romans were able to land. Without opposition, the British had returned to their farms, this is always the problem in that type of society that if you get together a group of people who would prefer to farm their lands and say "hey guys, you have to defend the homeland or the homeland." and nothing happens for a fortnight, well, they start to drift away and I mean, this just reinforces the point that they were not primarily a warlike people who, if they were required to do so, they could gather together, but not in any way, no professionally, no.

Somehow being a match for the Roman army, so unopposed, the Romans headed north, the largest invasion force the country would ever see, progress was rapid and inexorable until they reached the first major river crossing, here They found signs of resistance, the British had been alerted. and the feuding tribes united behind keraticus their greatest fighter he was the king's son but bellinas the symbol of shakespeare to whom shakespeare gave the lines great britain is a world of its own and we will pay nothing to use our own noses but This was the Roman army the rent collectors of an empire had arrived at the River Medway on the northern banks the masked British tribes to organize their defense clearly thinking that the river was an obstacle to the Roman advance Vespasian saw only his first opportunity to glory this is a perfect battle to illustrate the flexibility of the Roman army there is a misconception that the Roman army was some kind of inflexible military machine that could only fight one type of war, which is totally false, in fact the Romans were Perfectly equipped for such a battle along with the regular legions were a Dutch amphibious assault troop, men who could swim with their horses in full armor if necessary.

This is where the British thought they were invulnerable, they thought the Romans couldn't cross the river and they were effectively defeated in detail. In a major engagement while Vespasian was facing the British, his amphibious troops crossed downstream and began to surround the enemy. This was his first enemy engagement as a commander. He particularly distinguished himself in this battle by leading his legion across the river when the tide was probably low. and he established a fortified bridgehead on the other side, effectively destroying Britain's position and masterfully outflanking them. He launched simultaneous attacks from the front and rear.

Vespasian's first blood was a military success. Spazian's government was fundamental. He swims the river and outflanks the defenders that the British take. Heavy losses and Medway's victory proved to be the key for South East England. Generally, after Medway the route was clear to the capital at Colchester on the Thames. The Roman forces were divided. Three legions headed north, while Vespasian was given sole responsibility for the southwest. pacify the natives and secure the ports, but between him and the sea lay some of the most formidable obstacles of the ancient world. British hillforts were especially large and numerous in the west, stretching in an arc from Wiltshire to the Welsh border.

The master strokeof Vespasian. It was to see that these earthen citadels could fall to artillery. Within these mighty earthworks were flimsy villages of straw and wood. The trick would be prefabricated observation towers or tall platforms that your engineers could quickly assemble. Observers could then see over the walls and direct fire. on the houses hitting them with stones and fire darts the British will have never seen anything like Roman artillery they will probably have assumed that Roman missile weapons like slings or bows and arrows could practically shoot at the same distance as theirs when they suddenly heard and they saw these huge catapults throwing large rocks at considerable distances, up to three or four hundred meters, they would have been horrified, it would have been like a stone age tribe today facing a machine gun, one by one the fortresses fell or surrendered in The Romans built their own fort to see and be seen for miles around as a statement of power.

This is absolutely essential and he will have come straight here to stamp his name on it and the power of Rim or a massive 50 acre beast like this. getting up from the plane you are not unaware that you are going to conquer it you are going to get on it this is a man who is conquering ten thousand square miles of south-west Britain with his own battle group of around eight to ten thousand men a wonderful independent command that celebrates As far as we know, 20 Oprah captures like this 20 times will raise a trophy celebrating her fiction and that of the Augusta Second Legion, but it's all part of this process we're in. the winning side and one needs symbolism someone has to try to visually create something that people remember the bones of the defeated excavated in one of the largest forts in the hills their wounds still visible the survivors would surely have remembered the day Vespasian came to Pacifying the southwest and subduing the warlords Vespasian had done well, but the job was not finished.

Rome needed to establish a leader that the people could respect but, more importantly, one who respected Rome. Coghidnos was such a man, one of the ways in which the Romans conquered apart from obviously direct military action was the use of puppet kings or client kings who were introducing what we might actually call an interrogating figure into society now that we know that the Romans came and probably in their luggage they almost had this guy called Coggy Dubness the Then the Romans installed him as a kind of puppet king in the Chichester area and then they built him a huge palace the palace that the Romans built for coggi dabnis in fishbourne was impressive the largest villa outside rome here he welcomed the other chiefs who came to visit from their mud huts the message was clear as was his authority the advent of rome brought good news and first the bad news, the bad resistance would be crushed, weapons confiscated, Roman law enforced, and finally the biggest boogeyman of all, the Roman tax collector, then the good news, peace, roads, cities, clean water, sanitation, trade and improved dwellings, baths, theaters, entertainments, Tacitus puts it beautifully, nations would be wonderfully rude. persuaded towards peaceful paths through temples comfortable markets and houses built the sons of chiefs educated in the liberal arts those who had despised Roman speech would aspire to rhetoric and adopt the toga and he mockingly concludes that, little by little, the British were seduced by pleasant pastimes until Finally, the gullible natives came to call their culture slavery.

If you're a Vespasian in Britain, the first thing you should do if you're a Vespasian, we've got a British boss from the southwest who goes and says, look, old man, would you like to join the club? Excellent benefits. and membership, and if he flatly refuses, then you have to accept his mountainous thinking. Vespasian returned triumphant from Britain, but in the emperor's court a triumphant man is a dangerous man. The Roman sword he discovered is double-edged. Military adventures if successful. There will always be a career opportunity. There is a large army here that will take a reasonable amount of time to conquer the entire prison, but they gave plenty of opportunities for battles.

Vespasian is said to have participated in 30 battles and must have added to his prestige. The difficulty of prestige in the Roman army is that if you become too big for your boots you are seen by the emperor as a potential rival from the emperor's point of view you promote someone to success then you leave him in the desert you leave a period of time five years ten years between the holding of a consulate and the next excellent job in the case of vespasiano 15 years would continue in the desert hero or not hero his employer narcissus could not help the emperor claudius had married agrippina sister of caligula she was a good enemy narcissus was away and so was vespasian vespasian had returned from britain as a hero but that did nothing for his career as long as agrippina didn't like him he wasn't going anywhere and when in 54 AD Claudius died and his young son Nero became emperor of hers.

The enemy became the most powerful woman in the world, but this was Rome, where change was rapid and often bloody in five years. Nero had murdered his own mother. Vespasian's career had returned to normal. The next job proved it was worth the wait. Pro Consul Governor of Africa. The highest rank on the senatorial scale as governor of this vast and wealthy province, Vespasian would represent the emperor himself. He had the power of life and death and, more importantly, from a personal perspective, he had the power to increase taxes not only for Rome but also for himself.

He has definitely attracted one of the greats, I mean everyone wanted to be a rollercoaster pro from Africa or Asia in general. I think Asia had a lot more prestige, but they were paid the same rate and paid a million sister visits over the 12 months. which is good money, only 12 months, but still useful because the position was only for one year, it was understood that the governor would line his pockets before retiring elegantly to Rome, there were certainly rich profits here, the north of Africa generated 500 million seas a year. year trading daily with Rome we have a very good description by Pliny describing the great sailing ships coming along the coast of Campania after having crossed from Alexandria with their sails flapping as they sailed north towards Rome, there will have been a scene of incalculable activity of beaver type Loads sold The agreements made would have been a scenario of yes, continuous hustle and bustle 24 hours a day.

Lepkus magna in modern-day Libya was one of the cities in Vespasian's jurisdiction. The market is now silent. The surrounding alley is deserted, but 2000 years ago. it would have been a bustling source of income on the North African coast, I mean today we think of it as relatively desert, but in Roman times it was relatively fertile, it exported wheat, it exported olive oil and it was an important breadbasket for the city of Rome in In some ways, under ancient conditions, the city of Rome is closer to Tunis than to Milan because of the cheapness of sea transportation.

Africa was more than just the granary on the coast outside the city. Here are the magnificent hunters' baths. This is the hunter's guild. Did they enjoy the privilege of their trade with Rome - the sumptuous baths even by Roman standards are an indication of the high value placed on their service - or were they the ones who provided an endless supply of exotic and dangerous animals to public places on the Italian mainland not only? Did Africa provide the bread that kept the people of Rome fed? They also stopped the circuses that kept them calm. Vespasian had the supply line that kept Rome alive and he saw how it worked and he saw something else.

Africa's desert frontier required only a small military presence. The rule of Rome was exercised here not through force but through persuasion. The Roman Empire has a population of 50 to 60 million people. It is governed by an extraordinarily small aristocratic group that excludes another 150 Roman aristocrats in the provinces. , that is, one for every 350,400,000 people. It is very difficult to control 400 thousand people with a single aristocratic administrator, so basically the Roman government system in the provinces depends on collaborators, it depends on gaining the support of local administrators, local bigwigs, local rich men and the system of government is one of cooperation between the provincials who want to be Roman and Romans who wish to control and be enriched by the provincials with the least possible problem what Vespasian should have learned he would have already known when he went to Carthage is this is a place where I must keep my nose clean and if it is possible to collaborate with the local provincials, the important local provincials again, many opportunities for corruption, but it is emphasized that he was surprisingly uncorrupt and conscientious as pro-consul people and I really did not expect that In fact, Vespasian obtained a reputation for fiscal prudence that touches on meanness.

Far from lining his pockets by applying what he considered good Roman values, he seems to have become poorer. I think this is very clear from the fact that in the end he actually returns with financial difficulties. of his governorship, um, you know, far from getting rich, he actually reduced his fortune and ends up having to borrow money from his brother, um, so, again, you know this is characteristic of other things we know about his career, which was scrupulously honest. um, but he also had a deep interest in the financial state of the empire and its provinces, after a year of Vespasian's governorship ending, at the time when he was supposed to make money, he had made friends, but It was going to be a shrewd investment where others gained the systems perspective and respect.

He was in a pretty difficult situation when he returns to the field where he has to go back to earning money as a transport contractor with mule trains, which was very traditional in his part of Italy. um, it was what he was famous for. They are mules and you know that the opportunities were there, there was a lot of work, but it was quite undignified for a senator to do those types of things that they were not expected to do and that they were expected to live off his property. So it was back to the hills Back to his roots Vespasian had flown high He came back to earth with a bang That's when he became known as Mueller's Tear He would have done well to stay with his mules against all the odds he took Nero The young emperor seemed to appreciate the company of the cantankerous old soldier and invited him on a cultural tour of Greece, since Nero was a psychopath.

His invitations were rarely refused. Nero toured Greece, the land that most attracted the artist to him. temperament there gave a series of musical recitals that he sang all day and until late at night no one dared to leave the theater, some Greeks found a way to escape by pretending to faint from pleasure and being carried away in a state of feigned unconsciousness present in one of On these occasions he was Vespasian and then when Nero struck the liar and burst into song, perhaps for the umpteenth time he realized that Vespasian had fallen asleep in the space of a moment, but that would change Vespasian's life, indeed.

If he had not been a national hero, he would have been thrown out of court, fled back to Italy and hid deep in the country. The weeks in hiding could easily have been Vespasian's last, as they were to be his last in the backwaters of political life. Suddenly, Nero needed a general more than he needed himself. a friend in 1866 the jews, ever misfits of the pagan empire of rome, seething with righteous anger and burning with a holy zeal, rebelled against the profane and scandalous tyranny of nero by falling upon a roman legion and annihilating it now defiantly within their walled cities , they vilified Rome and all their works clearly revenge must follow the natural choice the Roman general who had the greatest reputation at that time and particularly for fighting in the east was a man called corbilier now with the perfect timing of Nero he had asked Kobulu committed suicide a month before the Jewish revolt broke out and when Nero made a request like that one had to obey so Rome had killed its first corpulent commander and a month later the news reached the Jewish revolt this war would be deadly Rome's revenge was rarely swift but it was inexorable.

Roman soldiers even worshiped a god of revenge, Mars Ultor, meaning Mars, who has the last word. The Romans had built an empire revolving around the Mediterranean Sea, in fact, they called the Mediterranean Sea Mara Nostrum, our sea. The main idea was that the whole sea was surrounded by Roman territory and Judea was locatedexactly in that position where it is actually the connection point between Europe on the one hand and Africa on the other and the Romans could not allow this part of the Mediterranean circle to leave their territory. hole and it was very, very important, therefore, to quell any hint of rebellion in that area.

Vespasian moved first against the cities of Galilee at Jotapata, laid siege for 40 days and 40 nights without lead and unleashed a massive force against the Jewish rebels. It was a fierce battle. Battle that resulted in the annihilation of all forty thousand inhabitants, all but one, the general in charge of the defending forces, Josephus, survived and suffered a miraculous conversion to emerge as the great scholar and historian Jude Sue. This is an extraordinary figure, of course, he is the primary Jewish historian, but he started out as a Jewish knight in Judea and in the court of his own history he advises people not to fight against Rome, that is crazy, but he was forced to become a leader of a Jewish group and was in his own account a successful and very successful leader of the Jewish fight against the Romans, but once surrounded by the Romans, the last survivors enter into a suicide pact.

Josephus is the person who organizes what order they draw the straws in, he draws the longest straw and when we have two people left, he says to the other guy, hey, why are we still killing each other? The other boy stabs himself to death and Josephus leaves. The charming thing about the story is that he tells it himself, that he betrays his own cause, surrenders and offers his services to Vespasian and Titus and is accepted. Josephus went on to chronicle Vespasian's adventures and write a history of the war. jewish after joe departer was never far from the roman general side and it is thanks to josephus that we see another darker side of vespasian, a man who was perfectly capable of executing roman revenge to its fullest extent after the battle, vespasian held a war council in which he distinguished between the residents and the newcomers, whom he considered responsible for the war, while the romans lined the road to tiberias. so that no one could come out and lock them in the city Vespasian followed them and put them all in the stadium the old and useless 1200 of them were eliminated by his order the rest of the people up to the number of 30 400 that he auctioned except those who He presented to Herod Agrippa the men who came from his kingdom, Vespasian allowed him to deal with them as he pleased and the king also put them under the hammer.

Every city he finally took down, he did the normal kind of procedure. It would be to kill the man who had fought in the battle and sell the rest of the population into slavery. vespasian does everything a roman commander is expected to do, including winning, he goes around encouraging the sending of reconnaissance patrols maintaining morale, he is totally and completely involved he also endured many of the hardships of his army he was a soldier soldier as well as Being the supreme commander, the Romans swept Galilee, cleansing the cities and expelling the rebels to the mountains. It was here in the city of Gamla that Vespasian, a few months after becoming emperor, would be a few centimeters away from dying when Vespasian's forces devastated Galilee. fleeing rebels headed to the hills gamla named for its resemblance to a camel was considered impregnable two thousand years ago this was a steep, densely built city surrounded by sheer cliffs and filled with people the day Vespasian arrived with refugees and extremists his His job was to expel them before he dared to head south to Jerusalem.

The rebels thought they were safe. Vespasian knew that otherwise the lessons he had learned in Britain would serve him well. the best artillery officer in the world and was in no hurry to the eastern wall he built earthen platforms from which to launch his assault from there his artillery could provide covering fire for his massive battering rams, his masons created missiles from the rocks around them . You can see here one of the ballista balls that was found quite heavy in size, about 15 pounds, yeah, very similar to the ice water that hit you and, uh, this was produced or manufactured in situ at the same time I mean it's basil is a local stone it is very heavy and imagine something like that chasing you and at a few hundred miles per hour you wouldn't want to be the target under a hail of vespasian artillery he began his assault on the walls of gamla, then the romans raised the battering rams at three points and they forced their way through the wall and slipped through the breaches with a great roar of trumpets and clash of weapons.

The most crucial part is getting the most soldiers. possible in the shortest possible time through the gap in the city, so they begin to pump the soldier very quickly towards the city limits. His troops broke through the gaps and crowded into the narrow streets, making their way up the steep hill packed into the maze. of alleys there was only carnage and confusion but the rebels had passed through the high ground the Jews were retreating towards the top or summit of the city of the siege but then they turned their face and began to fight with the Romans in the chaos they saw the possibility from a counterattack now the first line was fighting, but the rest were still pushing from behind and the scouts had nowhere to go effectively exactly for the Romans, the only escape was through the roofs, they climbed to the roofs of the houses where they rested on the hillside crowded with men and unequal in weight they quickly collapsed the effect on the Romans was devastating the first assault on the player had failed Vespasian's troops were stunned by their defeat and suddenly realized that their leader was no longer with them Vespasian He was somewhere on top of the city, in trouble, the men who were with him covered him with their shields and brought him to safety.

It had been close for the 58-year-old warrior, but fate did not finish him off in a few days, a second assault ensued. This time successfully, the rebels were driven to the highest rock above the city, where many chose to jump rather than face the Roman avengers. Galilee pacified so Vespasian headed to Caesarea and some notable news Nero had been overthrown so Vespasian was far from Rome and close to the city. The protection of loyal and devoted soldiers could watch and wait while others fought for the throne with Nero dead. Vespasia knew the empire was in danger.

Forner had no successor and many enemies. The headlong rush toward the vacant throne would plunge Rome into civil war. year is 68 AD. When Vespasian finds out that he is close to his death, probably at the end of June 68, he is actually in Caesarean section, which is the capital, the Roman capital of Judea, in fact, he is about to begin the campaign of 68 in Seriously, now that this tremendous news is coming that Nero has finally taken his own life, obviously there will be a bit of a pause, he doesn't really know exactly what he's going to do initially, so as far as hostilities against the Jews are concerned, almost They stop immediately as he sits and waits to find out. what will happen, what direction the empire will take the power struggle that followed eliminated the emperors with terrifying speed galba replaced by otho ortho replaced by vitellius fate was driving events in the direction of vespasian vespasian was far from rome and the empire that he loved was disintegrating the rule book he had played by had been torn apart with a battle-hardened army under his direct command and the loyalty of five legions further north and south with two eldest sons as military commanders and loyal friends in positions key throughout the world. empire it was time to make his own move and he played like a master he didn't head to rome he had learned well on his tour of the empire he left titus to watch over the jews he sent his army to rome and went to rome to save the grain supply in north africa knew that the army on the danube was loyal so as he advanced towards the heart of the empire he simply put his foot in the artery with a stroke of the pen vespasian made rome ungovernable without bread riots in rome were inevitable vitellius control The power began to wane.

I think perhaps Vespasian was in an impregnable position in the east. In other words, he could have fragmented that part of the Roman Empire. That's what happens 300 years later. What was really difficult for him to achieve was getting out. from the east and capture the center, but fortunately he did not have to do it himself, the Danube forces did it for him. The Danube forces entered Rome on December 20, 69 AD. the boy of the hills was emperor. It would be almost a year. before he arrived in person, but the new laws written by him gave him full powers from the day of his victory when he was a child, becoming emperor was not a competition, but now it was and he had won and could write the rules as I saw apt to confer upon himself the right to act in all things divine, human, public and private, he combined all the powers of Augustus Tiberius and Claudius into one and now he could return to unfinished business.

They have never forgotten the Jewish rebellion once the civil war ends. thoroughness pragmatism the destruction will follow a ferocious final assault on Jerusalem carried out by Titus that resulted in the defeat of all but a few isolated pockets of rebellion across the Dead Sea in today's Nabataean Jordan there is a harrowing siege next to Recently looted state highway tombs have been discovered Ancient bones, the cloth still clinging to them tells us they are two thousand year old remains of Jewish refugees who fled the vengeance of Rome when the last of its rebels cornered at Masada He chose suicide over slavery.

This was the end of a particularly return trip. To Rome in October 1870, its triumphal procession registered in the Arch of Titus a monument to the humiliation of the Jews. The riches planted in the Jewish temples became the initial capital of a new Rome. The fire and civil war had devastated the city. Now the enormous wealth of Judea would fill its empty coffers. Vespasian had returned. There was much to do. The war and rebellion had seriously undermined the foundations of the empire. The ruling classes were demoralized. The army was going mad. The city's infrastructure was in disrepair.

But This empire Vespasian had built knew what to do. Did he repair the aqueduct system on his own and make sure the citizens knew about it? He rebuilt the father's temples throughout the empire. Provincial cities became Roman cities thanks to the gift of him and his citizens, Roman citizens, the empire he loved was now his and he took it. all in his embrace, Vespasian's greatest legacy is that he found a metropolitan empire based on the city of Rome and left a cosmopolitan empire that was based on a much wider network of elite families, elite groups around the province of the empire who have a It really improved the economic and political commitment and the economic and political commitment to the empire, but Vespasian did not forget the lesson he had learned in Rome as a young clerk.

The people of Rome remained the base of the empire. His happiness, the rock he stood on. In the heart of the old city, in Nero's great golden palace, he built an amphitheater, the largest in the world, and he built it with money that he had brought from Jerusalem. This was his gift to the people. He called it the Flavian Amphitheater, but the world knows it as the Colosseum. By bringing peace by stabilizing the Vespasian state, he gave the empire a second chance. The best was yet to come. Rome had 150 good years left. The centuries to come, the second century AD.

He will be in many ways his happiest Vespasian rescued Rome he put his turn on course he tore the purple toga from the mud he allowed classical civilization to recover and in a short time enter what will be the golden afternoon of the history of Rome in the 12th century . Vespasian was emperor for only 10 years, but he had faithfully served Rome for fifty, something he never dreamed of. he would be emperor and as he lay dying, the first emperor to die peacefully since Augustus, 65 years earlier, he made a joke about his unlikely career, woe is me, he said he thinks I'm becoming a god.