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VESPASIAN VESPASIAN Barbara Levick London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Disclaimer: For copyright reasons, some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. © 1999 Barbara Levick The right of Barbara Levick to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Levick, Barbara. Vespasian/Barbara Levick. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Vespasian, Emperor of Rome, 9–79. 2. Emperors—Rome— Biography. 3. Rome—History—Vespasian, 69–79. I. Title. DG289.L48 1999 937′.06′092–dc21 98–52448 [b] CIP ISBN 0-203-06189-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-21372-6 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-16618-7 (Print Edition) To Marion Taylor and my other friends at St Hilda’s College CONTENTS List of plates ix List of maps xi Acknowledgements xii Abbreviations xiv Key dates xx Stemma I: The Flavians xxii Stemma II: The Arrecini and Julii xxiii Maps xxiv Introduction 1 1 A new man in politics 4 2 Vespasian and the aristocracy: the command in Britain 14 3 From Nero’s court to the walls of Jerusalem 23 Appendix: Josephus’ dates for the Jewish War 40 4 The bid for Empire 43 1 The year 69 43 2 Vespasian’s success 53 5 Ideology in action 65 6 A new Emperor and his opponents 79 7 Financial survival 95 8 Stabilization: the winning of peace 107 vii CONTENTS 9 Enhancement: the physical and moral restoration of the Roman world 124 1 Rome and Italy 124 2 Provinces west and east: gifts, status, Romanization, titles 134 10 Imperialism: Vespasian’s army and the extension of the Empire 152 11 Elites 170 12 Vespasian and his sons 184 13 Conclusion: ideology in the aftermath 196 Notes 210 Concordance 273 Bibliography 281 Index 290 viii PLATES (between pages 106 and 107) 1 Bronze coin c. 65, Nero 2 Bronze coin c. December 68, Galba 3 Gold coin c. mid-January–mid-April 69, Otho 4 Gold coin c. late April–20 December 69, Vitellius 5 Head of Vespasian 6 Portrait of Titus 7 Portrait of Domitian 8 Bronze coin of 68, Caesarea Judaea 9 Bronze coin of 71, Judaea Capta 10 Bronze coin of 71, Victoria Navalis 11 Bronze coin? July–ZAugust 69, Alexandria, Vespasian and Titus 12 Bronze text of the ‘Lex de imperio Vespasiani’ 13 Cancelleria relief showing Vespasian’s return, 70 14 Bronze coin of 71/2, Bithynia 15 Bronze coin of 70/1–72/3, Eprius Marcellus in Asia 16 Bronze coin of 70, Vespasian raising Rome 17 Bronze coin of 77–8, Temple of Jupiter 18 Bronze coin of January–June 72, Pax 19 Gold coin of ?70–1, triumphal procession 20 Bronze coin of 74/5, Agrippa II and Vespasian 21 Bronze coin of 71, Victory 22 Bronze coin of Lebedus, ‘Divine Senate’ 23 Inscription at Orange, January–June 77 24 Bronze coin of 77–8, grain supply 25 Commemorative inscription by Legio VI Victrix, Lower Rhine, April– June 73 26 Bronze coin of 69–70, Titus and Domitian Leaders of the Youth 27 Bronze coin of 77/8, Smyrna, Silius Italicus Governor 28 Silver coin of 74–5, Domitian as Leader of the Youth 29 Interior of the Colosseum 30 Bronze coin of 80–1, Colosseum ix PLATES 31 Bronze coin of 80–1, Domitilla and Carpentum 32 Gold coin of 79–80, Vespasian deified 33 Gold coin of 95–6, Domitianic temple 34 Bronze coin of 90–1, Julia and Carpentum x MAPS 1 Central and Southern Italy xxiv–xxv 2 Britain xxvi–xxvii 3 Palestine xxviii–xxix 4 The Rhine and the Danube xxx–xxxi 5 Northern Italy xxxii–xxxiii 6 Spain xxxiv–xxxv 7 North Africa xxxvi–xxxvii 8 Asia Minor xxxviii–xxxix 9 The Danube xl–xli xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First must come thanks to the publisher of Claudius (1990), Mr Peter Kemmis Betty, Managing Director of B.T.Batsford, Ltd, who entertained the idea of a Vespasian from me and encouraged the work from the beginning; more recently I have owed much to the forbearance of Dr Richard Stoneman, Senior Editor at Routledge. To colleagues and friends I owe as great a debt of gratitude as ever, for their generosity and patience in answering enquiries and reading draft text, and for gifts of their works. It is a pleasure to name, in alphabetical order, Dr R.Ash, Professor A.Barrett, Dr E.Bispham, Dr A.Cheung, Professor K.M. Coleman, Mr G.E.M.De Ste Croix, Ms B.Crutch and the Oxford University Computing Centre (much help with disks), Dr R.H.Darwall-Smith (who gave me permission to use Emperors and Architecture before publication), Dr J. Davidson, Professor W.Eck (who allowed me to read an illuminating paper on Vespasian’s exploitation of Judaean balsam before it was published), Dr C.F.Eilers, Dr A.T.Fear (who allowed me access to Rome and Baetica before publication), the late Professor W.G.Forrest, Dr K.A.Forsyth, Professor J.F.Gardner, Dr I.Gradel, Dr M.T.Griffin (who has allowed me to cite her chapters for the second edition of the Cambridge Ancient History 11), Dr R. Laurence, Mr J.Legg (admission to Nuffield College Library), Dr P.C.B. MacKinnon, Professor F.G.B.Millar, Mrs B.Mitchell (who read the entire text and notes), Mr R.B.Moberly, Mlle V.Naas, Professor J.Nicols (for help with the Four Emperors), Mrs G.Piddock (admission to Lincoln College Library), Dr J.Pigon (who read the section on Vespasian’s relations with the senate and gave me A.Kunisz’s work on Clodius Macer), Dr T.Rajak, Dr J. Rea, Mrs T.Ross (St Hilda’s College Computing Manager), Dr J.Rowlandson, Professor D.Saddington, Professor O.Salomies, Dr H.Sidebottom (who allowed me to read his paper on Dio of Prusa before publication), Dr M.G. Simpson, Dr P.R.Taylor (who allowed me to read her work on Valerius Flaccus before publication), and Professor T.Wiedemann. For many illustrations I am once again deeply indebted to the skill and discrimination of Dr C.J.Howgego of the Heberden Coin Room in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and to his good offices in securing prints xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS kindly supplied by the Museum and published by permission of the Visitors; Dr Andrew Burnett has done me the same kindness in selecting coins from the British Museum, and the prints are published by permission of the Trustees. The Administrators of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Preussischer Kulturbesitz Münzkabinett were particularly prompt and generous in sending photographs, and I am also much indebted to the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (for the photograph by L.Lilienthal); to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek; to The Centre Camille Jullian, Université de Provence—C.N.R.S., for permission to publish the photographs by Ph. Foliot of the Vespasianic inscription in the Musée Municipal d’Orange which they supplied through the good offices of the Conservateur, Mme Marise Woehl; to the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome; and to the Direzione Generale of the Monimenti, Musei, e Gallerie Ponteficie, Città del Vaticano, who have generously allowed me to publish the photographs that they have sent me. The cover illustration, The Emperor Vespasian by Peter Paul Rubens (1577– 1640) Noortman (London) Ltd, UK/Bridgeman Art Library, London/ New York, was obtained with the kind help of Ms Zoe Stollery of The Phaidon Press and Ms Charlotte Kelley of the Bridgeman Art Library. B.M.Levick St Hilda’s College Oxford xiii ABBREVIATIONS See also Bibliography. Dates are of the Christian era except where indicated. b. bar, ben (son of) cos. (ord.) consul (ordinarius, holding office first in the year and giving his name to it) HS sestertius, sesterce (money unit; purchasing power: B. Levick, The Government of the Roman Empire (London and Sydney, 1985) xvif.) m.p. (mille passuum) one Roman mile (1479m; 1618 yds) SC, SCC Senatus consultum, -a, decree(s) of the senate suff. suffect consul (substitute holding office for the later months of the year) V. (in notes) Vespasian AP Anthologia Palatina DC Dio Cassius, History of Rome DP Dio of Prusa (Dio Chrysostom), Discourses GI Gaius, Institutes JA; B; CA; V Josephus, Antiquitates Judaeorum; Bellum Judaicum; Contra Apionem; Vita PEp. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae PhVA Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana PhVS Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists PlG; PlO Plutarch, Lives of Galba; Otho PNH Pliny the Elder, Natural Histories PPan Pliny the Younger, Panegyric on Trajan QIO Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria RGDA Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Achievements of the Deified Augustus, EJ2 1) SHA Scriptores Historiae Augustae SD; G; N; O; T; V Suetonius, Domitianus; Galba; Nero; Otho; Divus Vespasianus (other biographies with fuller title) xiv ABBREVIATIONS TA; Agr.; D; H Tacitus, Annals; Agricola; Dialogus; Histories (ed.