Vitellius - Wikipedia Vitellius From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Roman emperor in AD 69 Roman emperor Vitellius Denarius depicting Vitellius. The inscription reads a vitellivs german imp tr p. Roman emperor Reign 19 April – 20 December 69 Predecessor Otho Successor Vespasian Born 24 September 15[2] Rome, Italy, Roman Empire Died 20 December 69(69-12-20) (aged 54)[3] Rome, Italy, Roman Empire Spouse Petronia Galeria Fundana Issue Detail Aulus Vitellius Petronianus Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Vitellia Names Aulus Vitellius Regnal name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus Father Lucius Vitellius Mother Sextilia Roman imperial dynasties Year of the Four Emperors Chronology Galba 68–69 Otho 69 Vitellius 69 Vespasian69–79 Succession Preceded by Julio-Claudian dynasty Followed by Flavian dynasty v t e Vitellius' denarius, minted in AD 69 during the Year of the Four Emperors. Obverse: A. VITTELIVS GERMANICVS IMP. Reverse: victory seated left holding patera and palm branch. Aulus Vitellius (/vɪˈtɛliəs/; Latin: [ˈau̯lʊs wɪˈtɛlːijʊs]; 24 September 15 – 20 December AD 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Vitellius was the first to add the honorific cognomen Germanicus to his name instead of Caesar upon his accession. Like his direct predecessor, Otho, Vitellius attempted to rally public support to his cause by honoring and imitating Nero who remained widely popular in the empire. His claim to the throne was soon challenged by legions stationed in the eastern provinces, who proclaimed their commander Vespasian emperor instead. War ensued, leading to a crushing defeat for Vitellius at the Second Battle of Bedriacum in northern Italy. Once he realised his support was wavering, Vitellius prepared to abdicate in favor of Vespasian. He was not allowed to do so by his supporters, resulting in a brutal battle for Rome between Vitellius' forces and the armies of Vespasian. He was executed in Rome by Vespasian's soldiers on 20 December 69. Contents 1 Family 2 Public service 2.1 Political and military career 2.2 Bid for power 3 Emperor 3.1 Administration 3.2 Challenges 3.3 Abdication and death 4 Portrayals in art 5 Fictional portrayals 6 References 7 External links 7.1 Primary sources 7.2 Secondary sources Family[edit] He was the son of Lucius Vitellius and his wife Sextilia, and had one brother, who was also named Lucius Vitellius. Suetonius recorded two different accounts of the origins of the gens Vitellia, one making them descendants of past rulers of Latium, the other describing their origins as lowly. Suetonius makes the sensible remark that both accounts might have been made by either flatterers or enemies of Vitellius—except that both were in circulation before Vitellius became emperor.[4] Since his father was a member of the equestrian class and achieved the senatorial rank only later in his lifetime, Vitellius became the first emperor not to be born in the senatorial family. Suetonius also recorded that when Vitellius was born his horoscope so horrified his parents that his father tried to prevent Aulus from becoming a consul.[5] In his youth he was one of the noble companions of Tiberius' retirement on Capri and there befriended Caligula, whose favour he won, according to Suetonius, by sharing in his passion for chariot racing and games of dice.[6] He married firstly before the year 40 a woman named Petronia with whom he had a son, Aulus Vitellius Petronianus, the universal heir of his mother and grandfather, whom Vitellius had killed in 69 in order to inherit his fortune. He married secondly, around the year 50, a woman named Galeria Fundana, perhaps the granddaughter of Gaius Galerius, Prefect of Egypt in 23.[citation needed] They had two children, a son called Aulus Vitellius Germanicus or Novis, the Younger, and a daughter, Vitellia, who married Decimus Valerius Asiaticus.[7] Public service[edit] Political and military career[edit] He was consul in 48, and proconsular governor of Africa in either 60 or 61, in which capacity he is said to have acquitted himself with credit. At the end of 68, Galba, to the general astonishment, selected him to command the army of Germania Inferior, and here Vitellius made himself popular with his subalterns and with the soldiers by outrageous prodigality and excessive good nature, which soon proved fatal to order and discipline.[1] Bid for power[edit] He owed his elevation to the throne to Caecina and Fabius Valens, commanders of two legions on the Rhine. Through these two men a military revolution was speedily accomplished; they refused to renew their vows of allegiance to Emperor Galba on 1 January 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor at Cologne on the following day, and then again on the day after.[8] More accurately, he was proclaimed emperor of the armies of Germania Inferior and Superior.[1] The armies of Gaul, Britannia and Raetia sided with them shortly afterwards. By the time that they marched on Rome, however, it was Otho, and not Galba, whom they had to confront. In fact, he was never acknowledged as emperor by the entire Roman world, though at Rome the Senate accepted him and decreed to him the usual Imperial honours on April 19.[9] He advanced into Italy at the head of a licentious and rough soldiery, and Rome became the scene of riot and massacre, gladiatorial shows and extravagant feasting.[1] To reward his victorious legionaries, Vitellius expanded the existing Praetorian Guard and installed his own men from his Rhine army.[10] Emperor[edit] Administration[edit] Vitellius on a coin. Laureate head right. Caption: A. VITELLIVS GERMAN. IMP. AVG. P. M., TR. Suetonius, whose father had fought for Otho at Bedriacum, gives an unfavourable account of Vitellius' brief administration: he describes him as unambitious and notes that Vitellius showed indications of a desire to govern wisely, but that Valens and Caecina encouraged him in a course of vicious excesses which threw his better qualities into the background.[1] Vitellius is described as lazy and self-indulgent, fond of eating and drinking, and an obese glutton, eating banquets four times a day and feasting on rare foods he would send the Roman navy to procure.[11][12] For these banquets, he had himself invited over to a different noble's house for each one. He is even reported to have starved his own mother to death—to fulfill a prophecy that he would rule longer if his mother died first; alternatively there is a report that his mother asked for poison to commit suicide—a request he granted.[13] Suetonius additionally remarks that Vitellius' besetting sins were luxury and cruelty.[14] Other writers, namely Tacitus and Cassius Dio, disagree with some of Suetonius' assertions, even though their own accounts of Vitellius are scarcely positive ones. Despite his short reign he made two important contributions to Roman government which outlasted him. Tacitus describes them both in his Histories: Vitellius ended the practice of centurions selling furloughs and exemptions of duty to their men, a change Tacitus describes as being adopted by 'all good emperors'. He also expanded the offices of the Imperial administration beyond the imperial pool of freedmen, allowing those of the Equites to take up positions in the Imperial civil service. Vitellius also banned astrologers from Rome and Italy on 1 October 69. Some astrologers responded to his decree by anonymously publishing a decree of their own: "Decreed by all astrologers in blessing on our State Vitellius will be no more on the appointed date." In response, Vitellius executed any astrologers he came across.[15] Furthermore, Vitellius continued Otho's policies in regard to Nero's memory, in that he honored the dead emperor and sacrificed to his spirit. He also had Nero's songs performed in public, and attempted to imitate Nero who remained extremely popular among the lower classes of the Roman Empire.[16] Challenges[edit] In July 69, Vitellius learned that the armies of the eastern provinces had proclaimed a rival emperor: their commander, Titus Flavius Vespasianus. As soon as it was known that the armies of the East, Dalmatia, and Illyricum had declared for Vespasianus, Vitellius sent several legions under Caecina to prevent the Eastern armies from entering Italy, but Caecina, dissatisfied with Vitellius's poor administration, attempted without success to defect to Vespasian. This undermined the morale of the Vitellian legions, and they were decisively defeated at the Second Battle of Bedriacum. Fabius Valens was then sent by Vitellius to rally supporting armies in Gaul, but forces loyal to Vespasian captured and executed him soon after. Vitellius, now deserted by many of his adherents, prepared to abdicate the title of emperor.[1] Abdication and death[edit] Vitellius dragged through the streets of Rome by the populace, Georges Rochegrosse (1883) Tacitus' Histories state that Vitellius awaited Vespasian's army at Mevania. The terms of abdication had actually been agreed upon with Marcus Antonius Primus, the commander of the sixth legion serving in Pannonia and one of Vespasian's chief supporters. However, as he was on his way to deposit the insignia of empire in the Temple of Concord, the Praetorian Guard refused to allow him to carry out the agreement, and forced him to return to the palace.[1] On the entrance of Vespasian's troops into Rome, Vitellius' supporters (mostly civilians) organized heavy resistance, resulting in a brutal battle. Entrenched on the city's buildings, they threw stones, javelins, and tiles on Vespasian's soldiers who consequently suffered heavy casualties in the urban fighting. Cassius Dio claims that 50,000 people died in the battle for Rome.[17] Large parts of the city were destroyed, including the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.[18] Vitellius was eventually dragged out of a hiding-place (according to Tacitus a door-keeper's lodge), driven to the fatal Gemonian stairs, and there struck down by Vespasian's supporters. "Yet I was once your emperor," were his last words. His body was thrown into the Tiber according to Suetonius; Cassius Dio's account is that Vitellius was beheaded and his head paraded around Rome, and his wife attended to his burial. His brother and son were also killed. Suetonius, in writing of Vitellius' execution, offers his physical description: "...He was in fact abnormally tall, with a face usually flushed from hard drinking, a huge belly, and one thigh crippled from being struck once by a four-horse chariot, when he was in attendance on Gaius as he was driving..."[19] Years before there was a prediction that he would fall into the power of a man from Gaul; the man who slew him was Antonius Primus of Tolosa and whose nickname was Becco which means "rooster's beak" (Gallus means both "a cock" and "a Gaul").[20] Portrayals in art[edit] The Romans in their Decadence by Thomas Couture. Vitellius is also shown in the painting The Romans in their Decadence by Thomas Couture. Fictional portrayals[edit] Vitellius is a minor character in Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel Quo Vadis, set in AD 64-68. Vitellius is a character in Kate Quinn's novel Daughters of Rome (2011), set in AD 68–79.[21] He is also a prominent character in Simon Scarrow's Eagles of the Empire series, where he is introduced as a rival to Vespasian and an adversary to the main characters, Macro and Cato, during the Roman invasion of Britain. Vitellius is a character in M C Scott's novel Rome, The Art of War (2013). Although emperor in the novel, his brother Lucius is portrayed as being the more powerful and skilled in intrigue and ruthlessness.[citation needed] He is also introduced in chapter XX of Henry Venmore-Rowland's novel The Last Caesar (2012),[22] as the newly appointed Governor of Lower Germania at the beginning of AD 69. Lindsey Davis' crime novel The Silver Pigs, the first in her series featuring Marcus Didius Falco, notes that a recipe for mushy peas was named after Vitellius. (Chapter XX, p. 3).[23] Steven Saylor devotes a chapter to Vitellius in his novel Empire. The oldest surviving manuscript of the Old English epic poem Beowulf is named "Cotton Vitellius A.XV.", since it was kept in Sir Robert Cotton's library, placed on the first shelf (A) as the 15th manuscript (XV) of the bookcase that had a bust of the Roman Emperor. References[edit] ^ a b c d e f g Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vitellius, Aulus" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ^ Suetonius 3: "was born on the eighth day before the Kalends of October [24 September], or according to some, on the seventh day before the Ides of September [7 September]". 24 September is generally the most accepted date.[1] ^ Tacitus (III) records the defection of his troops on December 18 and the taking of the capitol the following day. Cassius Dio (64.22) indicates that he died a day later, although his calculations indicate that he died on the 22nd, not 20. ^ Suetonius. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: The Life of Vitellius. Chapter 1. ^ Suetonius. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: The Life of Vitellius. Chapter 3, part 2. ^ Suetonius, Vitellius, 3.2; 4.1. ^ Cite error: The named reference o was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Tacitus, Histories 1.56–57. "In the course of the night of the 1st of January [...] the 4th and 18th legions had thrown down the images of Galba... [Fabius Valens] in the course of the following day entered the Colonia Agrippinensis with the cavalry of the legion and of the auxiliaries, and together with them saluted Vitellius as emperor. All the legions belonging to the same province followed his example with prodigious zeal, and the army of Upper Germany abandoned the specious names of the Senate and people of Rome, and on the 3rd of January declared for Vitellius." ^ CIL 2051: XIII K. Mai(as) ^ "Praetorian Guard". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19 February 2019. ^ Suetonius "Vitellius" Chapter 13 ^ See also Cassius Dio Book 64. ^ Suetonius "Vitellius" Chapter 14 ^ Suetonius "Vitellius" Chapters 13–14 ^ Tamsyn Barton, Ancient Astrology, p. 47-48. ^ Varner (2017), p. 238. ^ Kelly (2007), pp. 169, 171. ^ Varner (2017), p. 250. ^ Suetonius "Vitellius" Chapter 17 ^ Suetonius "Vitellius" Chapter 18 ^ Quinn, Kate (2011). Daughters of Rome. Headline Review. ^ Venmore-Rowland, Henry (2012). The Last Caesar. Bantam Press (an imprint of Transworld Publishers). ^ "Vitellian Peas". Big Oven. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vitellius. Primary sources[edit] Life of Vitellius (Suetonius; English translation and Latin original) Cassius Dio, Book 64 Secondary sources[edit] Kelly, Benjamin (2007). "Riot Control and Imperial Ideology in the Roman Empire". Phoenix. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Classical Association of Canada. 61 (1/2): 150–176. JSTOR 20304642. Varner, Eric (2017). "Nero's Memory in Flavian Rome". In Bartsch, Shadi; Freudenberg, Kirik; Littlewood, Cedric (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 238–258. ISBN 978-1107669239. Biography at Livius Biography at De Imperatoribus Romanis Aulus Vitellius entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith Political offices Preceded by Gnaeus Hosidius Geta, and Gaius Volasenna Severus as Suffect consuls Consul of the Roman Empire 48 with Lucius Vipstanus Publicola Messalla Succeeded by Quintus Veranius Nepos, and Gaius Pompeius Longus Gallus as Suffect consuls Preceded by Otho Roman emperor 69 Succeeded by Vespasian v t e Roman and Byzantine emperors and ruling empresses Principate 27 BC – AD 235 Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius Lucius Verus Commodus Pertinax Didius Julianus (Pescennius Niger) (Clodius Albinus) Septimius Severus Caracalla Geta Macrinus Diadumenian Elagabalus Severus Alexander Crisis 235–285 Maximinus Thrax Gordian I Gordian II Pupienus Balbinus Gordian III Philip the Arab Philip II Decius Herennius Etruscus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus Volusianus Aemilianus Valerian Gallienus Saloninus Claudius Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Ulpia Severina Tacitus Florian Probus Carus Carinus Numerian Gallic emperors Postumus (Laelianus) Marius Victorinus (Domitianus II) Tetricus I with Tetricus II as caesar Palmyrene emperors Vaballathus Zenobia Septimius Antiochus Dominate 284–395 Diocletian Maximian Galerius Constantius I Severus Constantine the Great Maxentius Licinius Maximinus Daza (Valerius Valens) (Martinian) Constantine II Constantius II Constans I Magnentius Vetranio Julian Jovian Valentinian I (west) Valens (east) Gratian (west) Valentinian II (west) Theodosius I Magnus Maximus Victor (Eugenius) Western Empire 395–480 Honorius Constantine III with son Constans II Constantius III Joannes Valentinian III Petronius Maximus Avitus Majorian Libius Severus Anthemius Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos Romulus Augustulus Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 395–1204 Arcadius Theodosius II Marcian Leo I Leo II Zeno Basiliscus Marcus Anastasius I Dicorus Justin I Justinian I Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice with son Theodosius as co-emperor Phocas Heraclius Constantine III Heraklonas Constans II Constantine IV with brothers Heraclius and Tiberius and then Justinian II as co-emperors Justinian II (first reign) Leontios Tiberius III Justinian II (second reign) with son Tiberius as co-emperor Philippikos Anastasios II Theodosius III Leo III the Isaurian Constantine V Artabasdos Leo IV the Khazar Constantine VI Irene Nikephoros I Staurakios Michael I Rangabe with son Theophylact as co-emperor Leo V the Armenian with Symbatios-Constantine as junior emperor Michael II the Amorian Theophilos Michael III Basil I the Macedonian Leo VI the Wise Alexander Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Romanos I Lekapenos with sons Christopher, Stephen and Constantine as junior co-emperors Romanos II Nikephoros II Phokas John I Tzimiskes Basil II Constantine VIII Zoë (first reign) and Romanos III Argyros Zoë (first reign) and Michael IV the Paphlagonian Michael V Kalaphates Zoë (second reign) with Theodora Zoë (second reign) and Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (sole emperor) Theodora Michael VI Bringas Isaac I Komnenos Constantine X Doukas Romanos IV Diogenes Michael VII Doukas with brothers Andronikos and Konstantios and son Constantine Nikephoros III Botaneiates Alexios I Komnenos John II Komnenos with Alexios Komnenos as co-emperor Manuel I Komnenos Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos with John Komnenos as co-emperor Isaac II Angelos Alexios III Angelos Alexios IV Angelos Nicholas Kanabos (chosen by the Senate) Alexios V Doukas Empire of Nicaea 1204–1261 Constantine Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris John III Doukas Vatatzes Theodore II Laskaris John IV Laskaris Byzantine Empire 1261–1453 Michael VIII Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos with Michael IX Palaiologos as co-emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos John V Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos with John V Palaiologos and Matthew Kantakouzenos as co-emperors John V Palaiologos Andronikos IV Palaiologos John VII Palaiologos Andronikos V Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaiologos Italics indicates a junior co-emperor, while underlining indicates a usurper. Authority control General Integrated Authority File ISNI 1 VIAF 1 2 WorldCat National libraries France (data) United States Czech Republic Israel Croatia Netherlands Poland Sweden Vatican Art research institutes Artist Names (Getty) Other Faceted Application of Subject Terminology Historical Dictionary of Switzerland SUDOC (France) 1 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vitellius&oldid=1028129227" Categories: 15 births 69 deaths 1st-century executions 1st-century murdered monarchs 1st-century Roman emperors Executed Roman emperors Filicides Imperial Roman consuls People executed by the Roman Empire People of the Year of the Four Emperors Roman governors of Africa Roman governors of Germania Inferior Vitellii Hidden categories: Pages with reference errors Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference Pages with broken reference names Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use dmy dates from December 2019 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2020 Articles with unsourced statements from December 2015 Commons link from Wikidata Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NSK identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with VcBA identifiers Wikipedia articles with ULAN identifiers Wikipedia articles with FAST identifiers Wikipedia articles with HDS identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Afrikaans አማርኛ العربية Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Bân-lâm-gú Беларуская Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Gaeilge Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית ქართული Kiswahili Kongo Kurdî Latina Latviešu Lietuvių Magyar Македонски मराठी مصرى Nederlands 日本語 Norsk bokmål Norsk nynorsk Occitan Piemontèis Polski Português Română Русский Sicilianu Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Winaray 吴语 Yorùbá 粵語 Zazaki 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 12 June 2021, at 01:49 (UTC). 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