A Thousand Years of Ancient Rome, The Flavian Dynasty of the Roman Empire1

Favitian Dynasty of the Roman Empire 1

(1) Vespasian, Emperor of the Flavian Dynasty of the Roman Empire

In 68, after the death of Nero, the last emperor of the Giulia Claudius dynasty of the Roman Empire, the provincial legions competed to appoint their commanders as emperors, and civil war broke out, resulting in Vespasian (Vespasian, Reeds) seizing the throne of the Roman Emperor and establishing the Flavi dynasty (69-96 years). He was the last emperor in the year of the Four Emperors (69), ending the 18 months of war and strife in the empire since the death of Emperor Nero. During his 10-year reign, he actively cooperated with the Roman Senate to reform internal affairs and re-establish economic order. Later generations generally had a positive evaluation of the emperor.

Vespasian's father, Titus Flavius Petro, belonged to the Roman knightly class and served as a centurion in Pompeii's camp during the Roman Civil War in the 1st century BC. In 48 BC, after the defeat at the Battle of Fasaro (Battle of Pharsalus), Titus fled home, where he was later pardoned and discharged from the army and engaged in commercial activities. His mother, Vespasia Pola, was of local origin in Nursia (present-day Nurcia, formerly a Sabin territory). They had two sons, the eldest son, Sabinus, and the second son, Titus (later Emperor Vespasian). In 9 AD, Wepaqian was born in the city of Leate in the Sabin region, and shortly after the death of His father, Wepaqian was raised by his grandmother.

After entering adulthood, Wei Paqian did not have a positive attitude towards his career, and after being reprimanded by his mother, he followed in the footsteps of his brother and began to participate in public life. He began his career in the military, serving as commander of the legions in Thrace in 36 years and later as a finance officer to the provinces of Cyrene and Crete. In 1938, he ran for construction officer and was barely elected as the last. During the reign of Emperor Caligula, he became a high court.

During the reign of Emperor Claudius (41 years), Vespasian served as adjutant general of the Germanic Legion. In 43 he was transferred to the Battle of Britain and became an adjutant general under the commander of the army, Plautius. He fought 30 battles with the enemy in the local area, conquering more than 20 towns and the island of Viktis (today's Isle of Wight). He received triumphal costumes for his military exploits. In the last two months of '51, he served as consul on an alternate basis. In 1963 he served as governor of the province of Afrikaner.

Legend has it that during the reign of Emperor Nero, he dozed off at a concert sung by the emperor himself and was expelled by the emperor. Fearing that he would be punished more severely, Vespasian retired to a remote town

In order to collect the provincial taxes owed by the localities, the Roman governors stationed in the Jewish provinces entered the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and offset the taxes on the contents of the temple. This move was a grave act of blasphemy in the Jewish view, and a widespread Jewish uprising broke out. In 66, the Roman Syrian legions, together with Agulliba II of the Jewish kingdom, entered the chaos, but were defeated. The morale of the radicals of the Jewish nation was greatly boosted, and the Jewish communities living in Alexandria, Egypt, and Damascus, Syria, also rioted.

In 67, Nero decided to deal with the Jewish revolt carefully, and he appointed Vespasian as commander of the legions (Suetonius thought Nero was jealous of having a general with a large army, so he appointed Vespasian, who had a low family background), and sent three more legions to Judea; Vespasian promoted his eldest son Titus to a deputy general. In 68, Vespasian pacified the Jewish North, and Josephus, one of the leaders of the Jewish rebel army, surrendered. The Roman army prepared to lay siege to Salousalen.

At the end of 68, there was unrest in the Roman capital, Nero committed suicide, and Garba became the new emperor. The Jewish campaign at Vespasian was halted for the time being. In early 69, Galba was killed by Otto, who became emperor. However, the Germanic legions were not convinced, and they proclaimed Vitellius emperor on their own. Vitellius marched into Rome and fought against Otto. At this time, Wei Paqian waited to see the situation change and did not express support for either side. In April 69, the First Battle of Bedriakum ended, the Vitrius faction was victorious, Otto committed suicide, and Vitellius was recognized by the Senate as Roman Emperor.

After the battle, the defeated Pannonia Legion was not satisfied, and they united the Army of Moesia, which had not yet participated in the first Bedriakum, and the commander of the Syrian Army in the east, Mukianus, to establish Vespasian of the Jewish Legion as emperor. Soon after, the Egyptian governor Tiberius Alexander also expressed his public support for Vespasian. On July 1, 69, Vespasian became emperor and entered the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

In September, the Eastern Army entered Italy, engaged the army that had captured Vitellius (also known as the "Second Battle of Bedriacombe") and captured Cremona. After that, the Eastern Legion was victorious and entered the city of Rome in December, while Vitellius was killed at the hands of the Roman rioters (Vespasian's brother who served as a protector was also killed in the rebellion). At this point, Vespasian became the only Roman emperor.

Before Reisbath ascended the throne, there were still two uprisings within the Empire, both ending in 70 AD. The Great Batavian Uprising, which sparked war throughout Gaul, was flattened by the regular army led by the Roman general Kylearis, and the Batavian leader Chiviris surrendered. On the other hand, the Jewish campaign, which had been postponed by the civil war, was resumed, and the Roman army led by the emperor's eldest son Titus invaded Jerusalem, and the Jewish campaign was largely over. The temple of Janus in Rome was closed, symbolizing the re-arrival of Roman peace.

When Vespasian ascended the throne, the empire faced crises: provincial uprisings, financial constraints, and poor military discipline. Vespasian was the first to brutally suppress uprisings everywhere. In the spring of 70 AD, Vespasian's son, Dido, led an army to besiege Jerusalem, the epicenter of the Jewish uprising. Most of the city's inhabitants died in the death-defying battle, and on the day of the fall of the city, 70,000 residents were sold into slavery, and the ancient city of Jerusalem, with 600,000 inhabitants, was ravaged and the temple treasures were looted. The people were slaughtered and so many were crucified that "there is no place to erect a cross, and there is no cross to be crucified again". The heroic Jewish uprising failed due to the betrayal of the great Jewish slave-owning class. Subsequently, Vespasian suppressed the uprising in gaul and other western provinces.

Vespasian also took a series of measures to strengthen imperial power and promote the romanization of the provinces. He forced the Senate to pass a "discretionary law" that allowed him to gain broad powers.

At the same time, a series of measures to rebuild the social order and consolidate finances were launched. As a result of the civil war throughout the year, the imperial hierarchy was depleted, so Reisbath appointed himself as an inspector, re-registered and censored the members of the senate of the noble and knightly classes, deposed corrupt elements among them, and selected prestige from the provinces to enter the center. In order to comply with the rules of property, he also made up the shortfall of the senators and generously gave allowances to poor consuls so that these elites could stabilize and restore their dignity.

In 73 AD, Vespasian reformed the Senate, widely recruiting upper-class slave owners from the provinces to participate in the Senate. At the same time, he moved more than a thousand rich families from Spain and Gaul to Rome, supplemented the ranks of Roman senators and knights, and granted Latin citizenship to all Spanish cities and many cities in the West, in order to expand the social basis of the empire and the politics of the Fuehrer. These policies were a continuation and expansion of the policies since Caesar and Claudius, indicating that the imperial regime had further gained the support of the slave owners in the provinces, and that the struggle of the peoples of the provinces was intensifying. An important purpose of expanding the social base of the ruling clique is to prevent and suppress uprisings everywhere. Since the provincial slave owners had participated extensively in politics and had become the backbone of the empire, the empire had truly become the ruling body of the slave-owning class in the entire Mediterranean world. Since then, the Roman Empire has not only won the support of Roman and Italian slave owners, but also the support of slave owners in various provinces. The Roman Empire truly became an instrument for the maintenance of the slave-owning class throughout the Mediterranean world. Wei Paqian tightened the palace's expenditure, broadened the source of taxation, and increased tax revenue. After several years of efforts by Vespasian, Rome's finances improved considerably.

In addition, Weipaqian also took a series of measures such as strengthening the military and improving finances. On the military side, it was stipulated that, with the exception of the Guards, which were still recruited among the Italians, the garrisons were recruited in the provinces and were stationed in cantons outside the province on a rotational basis in order to stop the separatist movement in the provinces. At the same time, military discipline was straightened out and a military communication avenue was built from the North Sea to the Black Sea. Wei Paqian also straightened out the discipline in the army, suppressing the arrogance of the soldiers by punishing and withholding silver.

In order to fill the empty treasury, Reissbath opened up as much wealth as possible. The expenses of the court were tightened, heavy taxes were collected, and even the toilets in the cemetery were taxed. He reinstated the auction tax, increased the taxes of the provinces, increased the charges for various project services, and did not hesitate to open up the purchase of official positions. However, he was also able to make full use of the money he collected, and in addition to improving the lives of the elite, he also rebuilt many cities damaged by natural disasters or wars, rewarded teachers of rhetoric and grammar, and generously subsidized various types of entertainment. In terms of finances,

In order to resolve the litigation cases that had been interrupted and accumulated as a result of the civil war, Reisbath did not stick to normal procedures, but selected a group of commissioners by drawing lots to resolve the cases of the court as soon as possible, especially the return of the property of the people who had been usurped during the war, so that social order could be restored immediately.

In the most influential works of later generations, Vespasian is often named "greedy for money" in the pens of Tacitus and Suetonius. However, in the Biography of the Twelve Caesars, the author also points out that after a state upheaval, "because the treasury and the emperor's treasury were empty, he had to levy harsh donations and extort money ... It seems that this view is close to the truth, because he has made good use of the ill-gotten gains. ”

Since Reiss was not from an aristocratic background, he was able to stabilize order and appease people's hearts in the fastest way in his administration, without being informal. He is approachable, keen on funny and low-grade fun, and does not even shy away from vulgar remarks (a famous example is when he is seriously ill and cannot afford to call "poor me, become a god"). Insults and hostility toward others are never angry or retaliatory. After Vitellius' death, Reisbath found a brilliant husband for his daughter and even paid her a dowry.

In 39 years, Vespasian married Flavia Domitera, a woman from Afrikanerica, and had three children: Titus, Domitian, and Domitera, but both her daughter and wife had died long ago, so he had only two sons in his life. After that, Wei Paqian did not marry again, but was accompanied by several lovers.

In 79 AD, Vespasian contracted a fever in Campania, and he returned to his ancestral manor to escape the summer, still handling government affairs and receiving emissaries there. On June 23, weak because of severe diarrhea, he still declared that "the emperor should die standing." "Died in the arms of the supporter as he persevered and struggled to stand up straight.

After Vespasian's death, his 40-year-old eldest son Titus successfully succeeded him to the throne.

These measures of Vespasian caused resentment among all sides, especially the revolt of the old senators and nobles. Born in the military, WeiPaqian was cruel and rough, unscrupulous in his dealings with the world, but shrewd and capable. Therefore, he was able to maintain the situation during his lifetime. This was not the case during the reign of Domitian (8l-96). Domitian was self-absorbed, presenting himself as "lord and god", scorned the senate, excommunicated the nobility, intensified personal tyranny, and the people's discontent grew day by day. In 85-89, he was forced to make peace with the defeated War of Dassia, which further shook his position and resulted in his death in a coup d'état. The Senate took the opportunity to declare Domitian an enemy of the people, elected Nerva (96-98), who was born of the old nobles, as emperor, and began the rule of the Antonian dynasty.

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