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Vespasian

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Vespasian (; Latin: Vespasianus [wɛspasiˈaːnus]; 17 November 9 AD – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolidation of the empire brought political stability and an extensive building program.

After Vitellius Vespasian was the second emperor from an equestrian family and the first emperor who rose later in his lifetime into the senatorial rank as the first member of his family to do so. He rose to prominence through military achievement: he served as legate of Legio II Augusta during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43, and later led the suppression of the Jewish rebellion of 66–70.

While he was engaged in the campaign in Judaea, Emperor Nero died by suicide in June 68, plunging Rome into a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. After two, Galba and Otho, died in quick succession, Vitellius became emperor in April 69. The Roman legions of Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, emperor on 1 July 69. Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus, a general in Pannonia. They led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt. On 20 December 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day Vespasian was declared emperor by the Senate.

Little information survives about the government during Vespasian's ten-year rule. He reformed the financial system of the Roman Empire after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully, and initiated several ambitious construction projects, including the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known today as the Colosseum. Through his general Agricola, Vespasian increased imperial expansion in Britain. Vespasian is often credited with restoring political stability to Rome following the chaotic reigns of his predecessors. After he died in 79, he was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, thus becoming the first Roman emperor to be succeeded by his natural son and establishing the Flavian dynasty.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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This form of government is termed, by the Romans, interregnum. Nor yet could they, by this plausible and modest way of rule, escape suspicion and clamor of the vulgar, as though they were changing the form of government to an oligarchy, and designing to keep the supreme power in…
Plutarch, Plutarch
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And this, which was done for your benefit, will also serve the same purpose for others, so that any one may search for what he wishes, and may know where to find it. This has been already done among us by Valerius Soranus, in his work which he entitled "On Mysteries." The 1st book is the Preface of the Work, dedicated to Titus Vespasian Cæsar. The 2d is on the World, the Elements, and the Heavenly Bodies. The 3d…
the Elder Pliny, The Boys' and Girls' Pliny
The chapter “CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS TO HIS FRIEND TITUS VESPASIAN.” is titled for Vespasian; names Vespasian.
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The story may be seen in that fine historian[23]; where every circumstance seems to add weight to the testimony, and might be displayed at large with all the force of argument and eloquence, if any one were now concerned to enforce the evidence of that exploded and idolatrous superstition. The gravity, solidity, age, and probity of so great an emperor, who, through the whole course of his life, conversed in a…
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
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Vespasian

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