1. He purified the senatorian and equestrian orders, which had been much reduced by the havoc made amongst them at several times, and was fallen into disrepute by neglect.
1.1. chose in their room the most honourable persons in Italy and the provinces
1.1.1. let it be known that those two orders differed not so much in privileges as in dignity, he declared publicly, when some altercation passed between a senator and a Roman knight that senators ought not to be treated with scurrilous language, unless they were the aggressors, and then it was fair and lawful to return it."
2. Vitellius entered Rome in July, Vespasian's forces murdered Vitellius on december 20th.
2.1. Vitellius's troops had been defeated at Cremona, and he himself slain at Rome.
3. He likewise erected several new public buildings
3.1. Temple of Peace
3.2. Colosseum
4. Military and Advancement in the Empire
4.1. He served as military tribune in Thrace.
4.1.1. Made quaestor.
4.1.1.1. the province of Crete and Cyrene fell to him by lot.
4.2. Candidate for the aedileship, and soon after for the praetorship.
4.2.1. met with a pull back in the former case, but he came in sixth on the poll-books.
4.2.1.1. In the office of praetor he carried upon his first canvass, standing amongst the highest at the poll.
4.3. Hated the senate and desired to gain.
4.3.1. he obtained leave to exhibit extraordinary games for the emperor's victory in Germany.
4.3.1.1. advised them to increase the punishment of the conspirators against his life, by exposing their corpses unburied.
4.3.1.1.1. He likewise gave him thanks in that august assembly for the honour of being admitted to his table.
4.4. In the reign of Claudius, by the interest of Narcissus, he was sent to Germany, in command of a legion.
4.4.1. removed into Britain, he engaged the enemy in thirty several battles. He reduced under subjection to the Romans two very powerful tribes, and above twenty great towns, with the Isle of Wight.
4.4.1.1. For this success he received the triumphal ornaments, and in a short time after two priesthoods, besides the consulship, which he held during the two last months of the year.
4.5. proconsulship
4.5.1. he got by lot the province of Africa, which he governed with great reputation
4.5.1.1. returned no richer; credit was so low, that he was obliged to mortgage his whole property to his brother, and was reduced to the necessity of dealing in mules, for the support of his rank; for which reason he was commonly called "the Muleteer."
4.5.1.1.1. convicted of extorting from a young man of fashion two hundred thousand sesterces.
4.6. General in charge of quelling a rebellion in Judaea.
4.6.1. The civil war ended when Vespasian received the senates formal recognition as emperor after death of Vitellius.
4.6.1.1. hailed as emperor by the armies of Egypt, Judaea,and Syria.
4.6.2. commander of the roman legions in Judaea in July 69.
4.6.2.1. was chosen in preference to all others, both for his known activity, and on account of the obscurity of his origin and name, being a person of whom would not show jealousy.
4.6.2.2. Two legions, therefore, eight squadrons of horse, and ten cohorts, being added to the former troops in Judaea, and taking with him his eldest son as lieutenant.
4.7. After death of Nero and Galba
4.7.1. he entertained hopes of obtaining the empire.
4.7.1.1. estate belonging to the Flavian family in Rome, there was an old oak sacred to Mars, which, at the three several deliveries of Vespasia, put out each time a new branch; evident intimations of the future fortune of each child.
4.7.1.1.1. The first was but a slender one, which quickly withered away; and accordingly, the girl that was born did not live long. The second became vigorous, which portended great good fortune; but the third grew like a tree.
4.8. Afterwards in aedileship
4.8.1. Caius Caesar, being enraged at his not taking care to have the streets kept clean, ordered the soldiers to fill the bosom of his gown with dirt
4.8.2. when Caius Caesar, being enraged at his not taking care to have the streets kept clean, ordered the soldiers to fill the bosom of his gown with dirt, some thought of this as a sign that the government, being trampled under foot and deserted in some civil commotion, would fall under his protection and as it were into his lap.
4.8.2.1. A cypress-tree likewise, in a field belonging to the family, was torn up by the roots, and laid flat upon the ground, when there was no violent wind; but next day it rose again fresher and stronger than before.
4.8.2.2. Once while he was at dinner a strange dog, that wandered about the streets, brought a man's hand, and laid it under the table. And another time, while he was at supper, a plough-ox throwing the yoke off his neck, broke into the room, and after he had frightened away all the attendants, on a sudden, as if he was tired, fell down at his feet, as he lay still upon his couch, and hung down his neck.
4.8.3. He dreamt in Achaia that the good fortune of himself and his family would begin when Nero had a tooth drawn; and it happened that the day after, a surgeon coming into the hall, showed him a tooth which he had just extracted from Nero.
4.8.3.1. In Judaea, upon his consulting the oracle of the divinity at Carmel, the answer was so encouraging as to assure him of success in anything he projected, however great or important it might be.
4.9. Otho was humiliated by Vitellius's army on battlefield, so he committed suicide.
4.9.1. Two thousand men, drawn out of three legions in the Moesian army, had been sent to the assistance of Otho.
4.9.1.1. some of the third legion, which a little before Nero's death had been removed out of Syria into Moesia, extolled Vespasian in high terms; and all the rest assenting, his name was immediately inscribed on their standards.
4.9.1.1.1. Tiberius Alexander, governor of Egypt, first had his army go under the command of Vespasian as their emperor, on the 1st of July. which was observed ever after as the day of his accession to the empire; and upon the fifth of the ides of the same month [the 28th July], the army in Judaea, where he then was, also swore allegiance to him.
4.9.1.1.2. Licinius Mucianus dropping the grudge from jealousy,promised to join him with the Syrian army and among the allied kings, Volugesus, king of the Parthians, offered him a reinforcement of forty thousand archers.
4.10. After death of Nero and Galba
4.11. Vespasian's forces reached Rome on Dec 20th and defeated the Vitellians.
4.11.1. Dragged the emperor through the city and killed him.
5. Reign as emperor
5.1. Eastern Armies proclaimed Vespasian as emperor.
5.2. Returning now to Rome and actions made towards restoration of the empire after enjoying a triumph for victories over the Jews
5.2.1. he added eight consulships to his former one.
5.2.2. assumed the censorship, and made it his principal concern, during the whole of his government was to first to restore order in the state, which had been almost ruined, and was in bad condition, but then to improve it.
5.2.3. disbanded many of Vitellius's soldiers, and punished others.
5.2.3.1. he ordered them for the future to run barefooted
5.2.4. deprived of their liberties, he took Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, and Samos; and reduced them into the form of provinces; Thrace and Cilicia as well as Comagene, which until that time had been under the government of kings.
5.2.5. stationed some legions in Cappadocia on account of the frequent inroads of the barbarians, and, instead of a Roman knight, appointed as governor of it a man of consular rank.
5.2.6. Over ruin of burnt down homes, he gave leave to any one who would, to take possession of the void ground and build upon it, if the proprietors should hesitate to perform the work themselves.
5.2.7. He resolved upon rebuilding the Capitol, and was the foremost to put his hand to clearing the ground of the rubbish, and removed some of it upon his own shoulder.
5.2.8. undertook to restore the three thousand tables of brass which had been destroyed in the fire which consumed the Capitol; searching in all quarters for copies of those curious and ancient records, in which were contained the decrees of the senate, almost from the building of the city, as well as the acts of the people, relative to alliances, treaties, and privileges granted to any person.
5.3. Restoring the empire
5.4. Inherited a bankrupt treasury from Nero.
5.4.1. Replenished the treasury while undertaking ambitious architectural program in Rome through prudent fiscal administration.
5.5. Longer tenure as emperor and deified after his death.
5.6. succeeded in establishing a new dynasty.
5.6.1. The Flavian.
5.6.1.1. Italian gentry, not Roman aristocracy.
5.6.1.2. They restored stability to Rome following the reign of Nero (r. 54–68 A.D.) and the civil wars that had wreaked havoc on the empire, and particularly on Italy itself.
5.7. Anti-Nero
5.7.1. A career military officer concerned not for his own pleasure but for the welfare of the Roman people, the security of the Empire,and the solvency of the treasury.
5.8. Ruled for a decade.
5.8.1. Was 60 when he assumed power and 70 when he died.
6. Important People
6.1. Domitian (son)
6.2. Titus (son)
6.3. Domitilla (daughter)
6.3.1. He outlived his wife and daughter, and lost them both before he became emperor.
6.4. Flavia Domitilla (wife)
6.4.1. formerly been the mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sabrata in Africa.
6.4.1.1. Gained Latin rights and was declared a citizen of Rome on a trial before the court of Recovery.
6.4.1.1.1. brought by her father Flavius Liberalis, a native of Ferentum, but no more than secretary to a quaestor.
6.4.2. Mother of Domitian, Titus,and Domitilla.
6.5. Caenis
6.5.1. renewed his union with his former concubine Caenis after the death of his wife.
6.5.2. the freedwoman of Antonia.
6.5.3. his amanuensis.
6.5.4. treated her, even after he was emperor, almost as if she had been his lawful wife.
6.5.5. the freedwoman of Antonia.
6.6. Flavius Sabinus
6.6.1. brother
7. Sculpture Style
7.1. Portraiture
7.1.1. His sons continued to commission portraits of their father during their principates.
7.1.2. All portraits (like Galba) present him as an older, serious, and unpretentious man.
7.1.2.1. anti-Nero
7.1.3. Head of Vespasian, ca. 75-79, marble, Copenhagen.
7.1.3.1. Deeply receding hairline.
7.1.3.2. Leathery skin.
7.1.3.3. etched lines in his face and neck.
7.1.3.4. thin lips disguising the apparent loss of some of his teeth.
8. Family Life
8.1. Born in the country of the Sabines, beyond Reate, in a little country-seat called Phalacrine.
8.1.1. educated under the care of Tertulla, his grandmother by the father's side, upon an estate belonging to the family, at Cosa 728
8.1.1.1. great regard towards the memory of his grandmother, that, upon solemn occasions and festival days, he constantly drank out of a silver cup which she had been accustomed to use
8.1.2. strong distaste for the senatorian toga, though his brother had obtained it.
8.1.2.1. mother persuaded to sue for that badge of honour. She drove him to it with taunts and reproaches, than by humble request and authority, calling him now and then, by way of reproach, his brother's footman.
8.2. Two sons: Titus and Domitian.
8.2.1. Vespasian passed on his power to them.
8.2.2. Emperors in succession from 79 until 96.
8.3. Vespasian's family name was Flavius.
8.4. Tertulla (grandmother)
8.5. Sabinus (Father)
9. Major Works
9.1. Architecture
9.1.1. Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater),Rome,ca. 70-80
9.1.1.1. Financed with the profits of Vespasian's war against the Jews.
9.1.1.2. this stadium was built on the site of Nero's private lake
9.1.1.3. a huge amphitheatre in the valley between the Palatine, Esquiline and Caelian hills that had formerly been the centre of Nero’s Domus Aurea
9.2. Public Buildings
9.2.1. the temple of Peace
9.2.1.1. near the Forum, that of Claudius on the Coelian mount, which had been begun by Agrippina, but almost entirely demolished by Nero
9.2.2. the temple of Peace
9.2.3. the temple of Peace