The Untold Story Of Emperor Vespasian | Vespasian | Odyssey

[Music] by the middle of the 1st century a.d roman civilization had spread to engulf the whole of the mediterranean and beyond it was the greatest empire the world had ever seen and it seemed unshakable but it wasn't in 1869 the roman empire founded and very nearly fell it was the year of four emperors and rome's dark side came to the fore as ambition turned to rivalry rivalry to murder and civil war from the chaos an unlikely hero emerged to pull rome back from the abyss a simple man known to his friends as the mule breeder known to the senate as titus flavius vespasianus and to history as vespasian the empire's savior the year is a.d 68. the legions of spain and france under the command of sulpicius galba are marching on rome between them and the capital is the army of the rhine loyal to the emperor this is rome versus rome [Music] at stake was the throne of the young emperor nero divorced dissolute murderous a descendant of the emperor augustus for a hundred years his family had ruled rome now nero had bankrupted it it was time for ambitious men to make their move [Music] nero consulted the delphic oracle [Music] asking how long he might expect to live the reply cryptic and ironic as ever was beware the age of 73. being 31 nero rejoiced that he had 42 years to live meanwhile the governor of spain sold piccius galba was drilling his soldiers to march on rome galba's age was 73 in june that year galba unleashed his forces against rome it was a domino effect mutiny in spain and gaul and on the rhine each bringing the end a step closer then someone bribed the praetorian guard and they deserted emboldening the senate to declare nero deposed another sentence of death abandoned by all except a few servants nero hid in a humble house on the edge of rome and there he stabbed himself in the throat [Music] the julio claudian dynasty which had ruled for 95 years was now extinct and the world held its breath galba was still in spain when on the 8th of june he was proclaimed emperor it was the first time an emperor had been created outside of rome powerful men paid attention [Applause] at the opposite end of the empire in judea the commander vespasian was involved in a bitter war when he heard of the successful coup with a practiced instinct for his own survival he dispatched his eldest son titus to swear allegiance to the new emperor it would prove a wasted journey it's difficult now to recapture the uncertainty of the world then if you think of the roman empire from one end to the other as being two months wide in summer three months wide in winter that's the amount of time that it takes for messages to go in one direction even sometimes to go there and back and they can never be complete information so people are marching in the dark in rome events were unfolding faster than titus could travel titus is sent off to offer congratulations to galba and in fact titus never gets to rome because before he gets there caliber is murdered and uh he goes back again but um this is when people people began to think anything could happen in his grab for power galba had not only split the army he had divided rome never a safe place the dark recesses of the forum were now more perilous than the battlefield rome's armies had followed the eagles on many a front and yet most dangerous of all was the inner front the home front where plots were hatched and scores were settled where soldiers meddled in politics where the praetorian guard the spoiled brats of the roman army traded their support for gold within months of his arrival in rome galba was dead murdered by his praetorian guards they had switched their allegiance to salvius otho a friend and some say lover of the late nero otho proclaimed himself emperor on the 15th of january he also would last but a few months the storm clouds of civil war had finally broken the bloody clash that ensued brought thugs and mercenaries from all the dark corners of the empire [Applause] the victor this time was the despised owless vitellius his ragtag army brought chaos to the very heart of the empire vitellius had arrived from germany dragging along with his army a vast mob of hangars on he turned the whole city into a camp and filled every house with armed men unused to the site of roman wealth they could hardly restrain their covetous desires but turned to plunder and the murder of any who got in their way vespasian having crushed all opposition in the neighborhood of jerusalem went back to caesarea there he heard of the upheavals in rome and the news angered him [Music] the empire vespasian had served all his life was in meltdown now was the time to act he enlisted the support of legions to the north and to the south they proclaimed him emperor and he ordered them to march on rome on the 20th of december 69 a.d they entered the capital in triumph vitellius already on the run was hunted down and slaughtered his corpse dragged through the forum and hurled into the tiber [Music] the year of four emperors was over and it was rome's luck that the fourth proved to be roman to the core [Music] someone said to nero you can kill everyone caesar except your successor the great question was who would be near her successor few dreamt that before a year was out the laurel crown would adorn the brow of a mule breeder even less that this country bumpkin would pull rome back from the brink and restore the world to sanity vespasian inherited an empire that was on the point of collapse her people were in a state of shock her armies fragmented and demoralized the empire that was the dream of augustus had become a nightmare in the hands of his successors but this was never meant to be something had gone wrong [Music] there are many misconceptions about rome and a very popular one is that it was ruled by a series of sadistic lunatics now that is a gross distortion this was the greatest empire the world has ever seen and it flourished for well over six centuries to do this it needed men of outstanding caliber vespasian may not be a household name but he encapsulated more than any other the true virtues of a roman emperor his path to power is an astonishing story no one could have been more astonished than vespasian emperors were born not made so how could this ordinary man qualify for such a lofty purge the answer can be found by retracing his career a life's journey that took him to all of the corners of the roman empire vespasian never dreamed he would become emperor lest that he would be called upon to save the empire in a heroic age he was an unlikely hero short and thick set bald with a residue of coarse and crinkly hair shrewd eyes brightened by a twinkle hooked nose receding mouth and nutcracker jaw a face italians of a later age would caricature as punchinello and the english would call punch so for looks one would have to award vespasian rather low marks for polish and social graces zero for imagination and innovative thinking nothing very memorable but for realism for common sense ten out of ten a rock-like man steady reliable and roman this patient was born in nine a.d in riyetti a quiet little town that lies in the folds of the sebine hills 60 miles from rome for many romans vespasian must have really formed the ideal roman a roman from the past almost an old fashioned roman from old stock from up in the mountains a man who'd been brought up with the old roman virtues of thoroughness courage magnaminity and victory a natural soldier and a natural farmer this sort of countryside is classic roman army countryside where citizen soldiers are born and bred all the country values are here of the soldier farmer one minute killing this land looking after his beasts cutting down trees the next minute joining up to fight in the campaign and then finally retiring or returning back here afterwards riyetti's claim to fame was and still is as a center for mule breeding men here were the car traders of ancient rome the haulage contractors and vespasian would be known as the mueller tear an association he was rather proud of on his mother's side he was fairly respectable put it like that local gentry but his father's family was distinctly peasant origins his grandfather some people said had been a centurion which made it sound a bit better it probably was only a common soldier his dad had a job working in the tax collecting system but not at the top level and then went into money lending in switzerland so you could call that being a banker if you like respectfully and and made a bit of money vespasian's father died when he was just 10. it was his ambitious mother who made sure he got the education and grooming that with luck and money might one day result in election to the senate here just off rietty's quiet square is her totally unexpected payoff nothing about the teatro flavio vespasiano says small town italy the magnificent ceiling commemorates her boy's moment of triumph a procession through the streets of rome shared with his eldest son titus he is seen returning as emperor victorious from crushing the jewish revolt exceeding his mother's wildest dreams and it wouldn't stop here in time vespasian would go on to rebuild the roman empire but first it was the empire that would build vespasian vespasian's first step on the ladder to the roman senate was in the army as a tribune he would begin to see how the empire was run but he would be far from rome it was a humble start and not a cheap one to enter a career as a top politician to try and enter the senate you had to have friends you had to have powerful and influential friends and you had to have money it was a minimum entrance requirement of a million zestes how much is that worth well soldiers got something like um 900 a year so if you've got capital worth a million that sounds a lot his mother's wealth had bought the 18 year old vespasian a stake in the senatorial steeplechase but her money guaranteed nothing except a run at the fences at any stage he could fall the career hurdles were clearly marked and progress in the hands of the senate the emperor and the gods barely a handful would complete the course the really wealthy aristocrats never see the army because if they get military experience they become rivals to the emperor the relatively poor not-so-well-connected would-be politicians always gets into the army the roman society is still a military society its strength depends upon having people at the top who can command armies defend the frontiers and so all young parish guys would be politicians have to have military experience and so young vespasian was sent out first of all to do military service in northern greece in thrace [Music] in thrace vespasian was at one of the empire's outposts here he would learn something of the precarious relationship between the army mostly stationed out on the frontiers and rome itself the seat of imperial power the roman empire was was beautifully conceived a wonderful architecture of stability i mean for a hundred years there had been peace and that's a fantastically difficult thing for a pre-industrial society to achieve the reason was that the army was stretched over the along the frontiers of the empire along the rhine along the danube in syria miles months away from central realm and the commands of this army were split between different aristocrats no one was allowed to stay in post for more than three years and the people who were most skilled had to spend periods not in command as well as periods in command vespasian was 23 before he experienced the capital for himself he was appointed to rome as triumvira capitalis [Music] a very small cog in a complex machine that was always threatening to break down rome was the largest city in the known world by far probably over a million people perhaps even one and a half million people it was an enormously cosmopolitan city it had been the center of a great mediterranean empire for over 200 years people of every race color and creed would have been here hustling dealing looking for political favors trading making money it was a poisonous cockpit of cosmopolitan and interracial strife in many ways but it was still terribly vibrant this was the center of the known world if you wish to get on you had to come here it was also a ginormous parasitical city it produced nothing and therefore it had to be fed in this huge flower mill at the mouth of the tiber corn most of it imported was ground night and day to feed rome's constantly hungry masses this relatively humble looking building of course is really the engine room of rome one thinks of roma's circuses and theaters and temples but this is really the most important thing because this is where the food is made the roman poor were given this amazing dough they didn't have to find any food the emperor provided that free he also watered them or provided wine for them they were also entertained there's never been a society that pampered its poor to such an extent as the romans did [Music] this was not altruism rome was a powder cave government was about keeping the lid on it besides feeding everyone they were the problems of housing and sanitation the romans were the first to use concrete to build huge apartment blocks the needs of the city constantly drove forward such innovations as triumvira vespasian would have seen the expansion of the most spectacular of all the vast aqueduct system marching into the heart of rome from all directions [Music] it was an extraordinary system if you can imagine if you were a provincial living in a society that had hardly had any water to see something like this striding across the countryside towards you supplying you with non-stop water 24 hours a day this act product has been bringing water for 50 miles to this city now that is an immense project no pump system involved here everything is done on gravity so the romans have had to survey the correct height to pick up the water then survey 50 miles of building this enormous structure it's almost the skeleton of a great empire the ruins of aqueducts everywhere the management of water was one of the technological triumphs of rome and one that she was able to export with spectacular results this was hygiene but it was more it was recreation a vital distraction for the city's masses along with their theaters and circuses but all of this had to be paid for rome was as big as london was in 1800 it was a huge population it maintained itself because it taxed its subjects why the empire was vital was because all the money it collected in taxes poured into a into rome and b out to the armies on the frontier so rome was probably the most expensive in the army probably took somewhat less than half the total imperial budget but the taxes that the subjects paid were absolutely fundamental to all the lavish luxury of the city of rome [Music] from his time in the city vespasian learned that in order to continue in peace and prosperity rome needed the empire more than the empire needed rome [Music] his next appointment would make that all too clear as coista to crete and cyrene in north africa the young vespasian would get a close look at how rome collected her money why easter ships they were 20 were dished out by the senate 10 according to status and the rest by lottery vespasian needless to say got his by lottery he had drawn just about the bottom job in the packing order i mean there were 20 jobs going each year for quiz stores the 10 most favored stayed in rome they didn't want to go to the provinces and at the top of the ten were the ones who were attached to the emperor or you could be attached to the consuls or you had various other duties in rome the other ten would go to the provinces the pro-consul of crete and cyrene i mean they're most of them are totally unknown david when vespasian arrives in cyrene as a young man of about 26 to assume the role of quiestership what is he letting himself in for well the questions ship's a junior position for someone who's embarking on a senatorial career and it's to give people experience of provincial government um starting at that at the sort of nuts and bolts end of how you extract money out of the provinces clearly coming to to a settled province like cyrene from someone like thrace is stepping from one world into another he's coming into a well-established urban civilization based around sedentary agriculture that's already tied into mediterranean trade and exchange networks and as a tax collector's son he must have instantly latched on to the economic potential of settled peaceful relatively peaceful regions like like cyrene and and the potential contribution that those sort of areas could make both the economy the empire but also to the political life and social life of the empire because these are very well developed civilizations been around for hundreds of years this was not rome here was evidence of civilizations that predated the romans greek minoan suggestions of egypt and carthage obviously those extremely civilized countries cyrene had been first colonized by the greeks in the 7th century bc so they had these wonderful greek cities and yeah they um they were very civilized at the time when the romans were very very primitive but now rome had overtaken them all roman civilization had left the iron age behind and was taking the rest of the world with it this was an empire of inclusion not exclusion the sirenians weren't roman citizens by right that privilege could be earned through military or public service roman citizenship meant you were really in the first division in ancient society everybody who wasn't a roman citizen was aspiring to become a roman citizen if they could it was more prevalent i might say in the west than in the east where the greeks were still slightly sniffy about it for a roman itself it meant that really here you were an inheritor of the earth there were obligations but there were also many legal privileges that went with being a roman citizen and a whole way of life and a whole conduct of morals and military affairs and your political ideas and who you really thought you were so to become a roman was to really enter the top team vespasian was in the top team and on his return to rome he was eligible for promotion at the age of 26 he had seen the workings of empire at first hand but as yet he knew nothing of palace politics he was about to learn roman aristocrats were upper-class rumors who wanted to enter politics secure election at the age of 25 or so and there are 20 people who make it every year at the next rung five years later there are 12 to 16 posts so a quarter to two fifths don't make it so there's a there's competition there's chance it's a lottery also um the emperor's mistress change changes a favored ex-slave drops out of favor and your career goes up in smoke you have to wait until your chance comes again vespasian had to apply twice for his next promotion his first application having been refused the hurdles were becoming a bit more difficult between applications the emperor tiberius had died when he finally made the next rung he may have wished he hadn't the job he gets next is edile and among the duties of the ediles were to keep the streets clean and he happened to have this job during the reign of the eccentric emperor caligula who who noticed that the streets were covered in mud and uh heaped quantities onto onto vespasian more than mud the emperor had his guards filled vespasian's toga with all the filth and excrement of the street to be known to the emperor was not always good for one's career especially when the emperor was mad the chap is in charge has to be responsible in the case of the emperor caligula obviously he noticed that the streets weren't as clean they should be in and blame vespers yeah rome is a very lively place then um particularly lively in the reign of caligula obviously people were petrified basically what he was going to do next this was a crash course in the unwritten rules of roman power the higher you rose the more dangerous your situation became it was during his time in rome that vespasian married and his son titus was born little could he have realized what an asset his son would become but in the meantime he had acquired another asset a patron and from a highly improbable source at first sight the roman empire's run by an emperor omnipotent powerful at the top and aristocrats and he uses aristocrats as the people to whom he delegates power but aristocrats are the rivals of the emperor they threaten him so the emperors create alternative mechanisms for executing commands palace slaves they free them but they give them administrative responsibility and these are executives of the emperor of the empire who undermine and parallel the power of senators it's quite extraordinary from our point of view that slaves ex-layers freed slaves should exercise power which equals the power of aristocratic senators vespasian's patron was a slave narcissus not the slave of the emperor but of claudius the emperor's uncle his influence landed vespasian in the job of his dreams commander of his own legion to augusta stationed in germany [Music] and then it got better caligula was murdered claudius was the new emperor and at his right hand was vespasian's patron what's more vespasian was to be part of the emperor's personal ambition claudia's the new emperor a slobbering fool according to some or sly and devious you might describe him needed military glory and a fairly innocent expedition to britain claudius could maintain himself in the background lead from calais win glory say that he'd conquered britain and report his victory to rome so it was a politically dictated military adventure for somebody like this bayesian this was the absolute chance of a lifetime there were only 27 legionary commanders at this stage in the roman army and vespasian was one of the lucky four who was being picked for this and this was a chance for him to show off his military talent and achieve what all romans hankered after more than anything else which was military glory but there was a problem for the army this was a leap in the dark rumors of the venture caused mutiny in the ranks a british invasion had one serious snag rome's redoubtable soldiers trembled at the site of the sea truly had been transported across the mediterranean on occasion it was the ocean they feared not wind and waves so much as the supernatural and the spooky the ancients saw the world as three continents surrounded by a dark and dreadful moat called oceanus where repulsive sea monsters fear some spirits and all manner of dark dangers had their abode the invasion was stalled on the beaches of france but after months of persuasion and possibly bribery the commanders were able to go ahead as luck would have it the romans hesitation had given them an unexpected advantage the roman delays at bulani persuaded the britons that the invasion had been cancelled and they dispersed the romans were able to land unopposed the britons had gone back to their farms this is always the problem in that sort of society that if you get to gather a collection of people who would rather be farming their land and say hey guys you've got to defend the motherland or fatherland and nothing happens for a fortnight well they begin to drift away and i mean this only reinforces the point that they they weren't primarily a warlike people that if they were required to do they could assemble but not in any not in a professional way not in any way to be a match for the roman army [Music] so unopposed the romans headed north the largest invasion force the country would ever see progress was swift and inexorable until they reached the first major river crossing here they encountered signs of resistance [Music] the britons had been alerted and the bickering tribes united behind keraticus their best fighter he was the son of king sino bellinas shakespeare's symbol in to whom shakespeare gave the lines britain is a world unto itself and we will nothing pay for wearing our own noses but this was the roman army the rent collectors for an empire they had reached the river medway on the northern banks the british tribes masked to stage their defense clearly thinking the river to be an obstacle to the roman advance vespasian saw only his first chance for glory [Music] this is a perfect battle to illustrate the flexibility of the roman army there is a popular misconception that the roman army was a sort of inflexible military machine that could only really fight one type of war that is absolutely totally untrue in fact the romans were equipped perfectly for a battle of this sort alongside the regular legions was a dutch amphibious assault troop men who could swim with their horses in full armor if necessary this is where the britons thought they were invulnerable they thought the romans would not be able to get across the river and effectively they were defeated in detail in a major engagement whilst vespasian confronted the britons his amphibious troops crossed the river downstream and began to encircle the enemy this was his first enemy engagement as commander he particularly distinguished himself in this battle by leading his legion across the river when the tide was probably low and establishing a fortified bridgehead on the other side effectively destroying the britain's position and outflanking them with masterly timing he launched simultaneous attacks from front and rear [Applause] vespasian's first blood was a military success the spazian's rule was pivotal swimming the river and outflanking the defenders the britons took big losses and the medway victory proved to be the key to southeastern england generally after medway the route was clear all the way to the capital at colchester at the thames the roman forces split three legions went north whilst vespasian was given sole responsibility for the southwest to pacify the natives and secure the harbors but between him and the sea lay some of the most formidable obstacles of the ancient world the british hill forts were especially massive and numerous in the west stretching in an arc from wiltshire up to the welsh border vespasian's master stroke was to see that these citadels of soil might fall to artillery inside these mighty earthworks lay flimsy villages of thatch and timber the trick would be prefabricated observation towers or high platforms which his engineers could quickly assemble spotters could then see over the ramparts and direct the fire onto the houses pounding them with stones and fire darts the britons will never have seen anything like roman artillery they will have probably assumed that roman missile weapons such as slings or bows and arrows could virtually fire the same distance as theirs when they suddenly heard and saw these enormous catapults hurling large rocks effectively considerable distances up to three or four hundred yards they will have been horrified it would have been rather like a stone age tribe today coming up against a machine gun one by one the fortresses fell or surrendered on the highest the romans built their own fort to see and be seen for miles around as a power statement this is an absolute must and he'll have come straight here to stamp his name on it and the power of rim or a great huge 50 acre beast like this rearing up out of the plane you just don't ignore that you are going to go and conquer it you're going to get on top of it this is a man who's conquering ten thousand square miles of southwest britain with his own battle group of about eight to ten thousand men a wonderful independent command he celebrates as far as we know 20 captures of oprah like this 20 times he will put up a trophy celebrating his and the second augusta legion's fiction but it's all part of this process of we are on the winning side and one needs symbolism someone has to visually try and create something that people will remember the bones of the vanquished excavated from one of the biggest of the hill forts their wounds still visible the survivors would certainly have remembered the day vespasian came in pacifying the southwest and subduing the warlords vespasian had done well but the job wasn't finished rome needed to put in place a leader one the people could respect but more importantly one who would respect rome coghidnos was just such a man one of the ways the romans conquered besides obviously direct military action was the use of puppet kings or client kings that was introducing what we might call actually a quizzling figure into the society now we know that the romans arrived and probably in their baggage almost they had this chap called coggy dubness the romans then installed him as a sort of puppet king in the chichester area and then built him an enormous palace the palace the romans built for coggi dabnis at fishbourne was breathtaking the largest villa outside of rome here he received the other chiefs as they came to visit from their mud huts the message was clear so was his authority [Music] the advent of rome brought good news and bad news first the bad resistance would be crushed arms confiscated roman law enforced and finally biggest bogeyman of all the roman tax collector then the good news [Music] peace roads towns clean water sanitation commerce encouraged and housing improved baths theaters entertainments tacitus puts it beautifully rude nations would be coaxed toward peaceful paths through comfort temples markets and houses built the sons of chieftains educated in the liberal arts those who had spurned roman speech would aspire to rhetoric and adopt the toga and he concludes mockingly so by slow degrees the britons were seduced by pleasant pastimes till finally the gullible natives came to call their slavery culture [Music] if you're vespasian in britain first thing you do if you have we've got some south western british chieftain is go along and say look old boy would you like to join the club terrific benefits and membership and if he absolutely refuses well then you have to take his hillthought [Music] vespasian returned from britain triumphant but in the emperor's court a triumphant man is a dangerous man the roman sword he discovered is double-edged [Music] military adventures if they're successful they're always going to be a career opportunity here's a big army which is going to take a reasonable amount of time to conquer the whole prison but they gave plenty of opportunities for battles vespasian is said to have participated in 30 battles and it must have added to his prestige the difficulty about prestige in the roman army is if you get too big for your boots you are seen by the emperor as a potential rival from the emperor's point of view you promote someone to success you then leave him in the wilderness you leave a gap of time five years ten years between the holding of a consulship and the next plum job in vespasian's case they would follow 15 years in the wilderness hero or no hero his patron narcissus couldn't help the emperor claudius had married agrippina sister of caligula she was a good hater narcissus was out and so was vespasian vespasian had returned from britain a hero but that did nothing for his career so long as agrippina disliked him he was going nowhere and when in 54 a.d claudius died and her young son nero became emperor his enemy became the most powerful woman in the world but this was rome where change was swift and often bloody within five years nero had murdered his own mother vespasian's career was back on track [Music] the next job proved to be worth the wait pro consul governor of africa the highest rank on the senatorial ladder as governor of this vast and rich province vespasian would represent the emperor in person he had the power of life and death and more importantly from a personal perspective he had the power to raise taxes not just for rome but for himself he's definitely drawn one of the big ones i mean they all wanted to be pro coaster of africa or asia on the whole i think asia had much more prestige but they were paid the same rate and they were paid a million sister sees for the 12 months which is good good money only only 12 months but even so handy because the posting was for one year only it was understood that the governor would line his own pockets before retiring gracefully to rome there were certainly rich pickings here north africa generated 500 million seas a year trading daily with rome we have a very good description from pliny describing the great sailing ships which they were coming up the campanian coast having made the crossing from alexandria with their sails billowing as they sail northwards towards rome there will have been a scene of untold beaverish type activity cargoes sold deals made would have been a scene of yes continuous hustle and bustle noise 24 hours a day [Music] lepkus magna in today's libya was one of the cities in vespasian's jurisdiction the marketplace is now silent the surrounding alleyway is deserted but 2000 years ago it would have been a bustling source of revenue the north african seacoast i mean nowadays we think of it as being relatively desert but in roman times it was relatively fertile it was wheat exporting olive oil exporting and was important bread basket for the city of rome in some ways in ancient conditions the city of rome is closer to tunis than it is to milan because of the cheapness of sea transport africa was more than just the breadbasket on the shore outside of the city are the magnificent baths of the hunters here the hunters guild enjoyed the privilege of their commerce with rome the baths sumptuous even by roman standards are an indication of the high value placed on their service or it was they who provided an endless supply of exotic and dangerous animals to the public arenas on the italian mainland not only did africa provide the bread that kept the people of rome fed they also stopped the circuses that kept them quiet vespasian had the supply line that kept rome alive and he saw how it worked and he saw something else africa's desert frontier required only a small military presence rome's rule was exercised here not through force but through persuasion the roman empire has a population of 50-60 million people it's governed by an extraordinarily small aristocratic cut what other 150 roman aristocrats out in the provinces that's one for every 350 400 000 people it is very difficult to control 400 thousand people with one one aristocratic administrator so basically the roman governmental system in the provinces depends upon collaborators it depends on winning the support of local administrators local bigwigs local rich men and the system of government is one of cooperation between provincials who want to be roman and romans who wish to control and be enriched by provincials with the least possible trouble what vespasian should have learned he would have already known when he went to carthage is this is a place in which i must keep my nose clean and if possible collaborate with the local provincials the important local provincials again a lot of opportunities for for for corruption but it is emphasized that he was surprisingly um uncorrupt and and conscientious as pro-consul people and i hadn't really expected that in fact vespasian earned a reputation for fiscal prudence touching on meanness far from lining his pockets by applying what he thought of as good roman values he seems to have impoverished himself i think that is very clear from the fact that he does come back in really in financial difficulties at the end of his of his governorship um you know far from enriching himself he's actually reduced his his fortune and ends up having to borrow money from his brother um so then again you know this is characteristic of other things we know about his career that he was scrupulously honest um but he also had this deep interest in the financial state of the empire and its provinces after a year vespasian's governorship was over in the time that he was supposed to make money he had made friends instead but it was to be a canny investment where others earned systems perspection and respect he was rather hard up when he gets back to terrain he has to go back to to making money as a transport contractor with with mule trains which was very much traditional in his part of italy um it was it was famous for its mules and you know the opportunities were there there were there was plenty of work but it was rather undignified for a senator to go into that sort of thing they weren't expected to do that they were expected to live off their of their landed estates [Music] so it was back to the hills back to his roots vespasian had flown high that he came back to earth with a bump this was when he became known as the mueller tear he would have done well to stay with his mules against all the odds nero took him up the young emperor seemed to appreciate the company of the curmudgeonly old soldier and invited him along on a cultural tour of greece [Music] since nero was a psychopath his invitations were rarely refused nero went on a tour of greece the land which most appealed to his artistic temperament there he gave a series of musical recitals he would sing all day and far into the night no one dared leave the theater some greeks hit upon a way to escape by pretending to swoon with pleasure and be carried out in a state of feigned unconsciousness [Music] present on one of these occasions was vespasian then as nero smote the liar and burst into song perhaps for the hundredth time he noticed that vespasian had nodded off a moment's lapse but it would change vespasian's life indeed had he not been a national hero it would have cost him it dismissed from court he fled back to italy and hid deep in the country the weeks in hiding could easily have been vespasian's last as it was they were to be his last in the backwaters of political life suddenly nero needed a general more than he needed a friend [Applause] in 1866 the jews ever the misfits of rome's pagan empire seething with righteous rage and fired with a holy zeal revolted against the profane and scandalous tyranny of nero falling upon a roman legion and annihilating it now defiant within their walled cities they reviled rome and all her works clearly revenge must follow the natural choice the roman general who had the greatest reputation at that time and particularly for fighting in the east was a man called corbilier now with nero's immaculate timing he had actually asked kobulu to commit suicide one month before the jewish revolt broke out and when nero made a request like that one had to obey so rome had killed off its premier commander corpule and a month later the news arrives at the jewish revolt this war would be deadly rome's revenge was seldom swift but it was inexorable roman soldiers even worshipped a god of revenge mars ultor meaning mars who has the last word romans had built an empire which is circled around the mediterranean sea in fact they called the mediterranean sea mara nostrum our sea the main idea was that you had to have the entire sea encircled by proper roman territory and judea was situated exactly in that position where it is actually the connecting point between europe on the one hand and africa on the other and romans couldn't allow this part of the mediterranean circle to slip out of their hole and it was very very important therefore to put down any hint of rebellion in that area vespasian moved first against the cities of galilee at jotapata he laid siege for 40 days and 40 nights without lead unleashing massive force against the jewish rebels it was a ferocious battle that resulted in the annihilation of all forty thousand inhabitants all that is except one the general in charge of the defending forces josephus survived and underwent a miraculous conversion to emerge as the great scholar and historian jude sue this is an extraordinary figure of course he's the primary jewish historian but he started off as being a as a jewish gentleman in judea and he so in court in his own history he advises people not to fight against rome that's crazy but he was forced to become a leader of a jewish group and was in his own account a successful very successful leader of the jewish fight against the romans but once surrounded by the romans the last few survivors enter into suicide pact josephus is the person who organizes in which order they draw the straws he draws the longest straw and when they're down to two people he says to the other guy hey why do we keep on killing ourselves the other guy stabs himself to death and josephus walks out what's charming about the story is he himself tells it that he betrays his own cause surrenders offers his services to vespasian and titus and gets accepted josephus went on to chronicle the adventures of vespasian and to write a history of the jewish war after joe departer he was never far from the roman general side and it is because of josephus that we see another darker side of vespasian a man who was perfectly capable of delivering roman vengeance in full measure [Applause] after the battle vespasian held a court martial making a distinction between the residents and the newcomers whom he considered responsible for the war meanwhile the romans lined the road all the way to tiberias so that no one could leave it and shut them up in the city vespasian followed and herded them all into the stadium [Applause] the aged and useless 1200 of them were disposed of by his orders the rest of the people to the number of 30 400 he auctioned except those whom he presented to herod agrippa the men who came from his kingdom vespasian allowed him to deal with as he pleased and the king put them too under the hammer [Music] every city that he eventually brought down he um he did the the sort of the normal procedure would be to kill the man who had for fought in battle and to sell the rest of the population into slavery vespasian does everything that a roman commander is expected to do including win he is going around there encouraging sending out reconnaissance patrols maintaining morale he's totally and utterly involved he also put up with many of the privations of his army he was a soldier soldier as well as being supreme commander the romans swept through galilee clearing the towns and driving the rebels into the mountains it was here in the town of gamla that vespasian within months of becoming emperor would come within inches of being dead [Music] [Applause] as vespasian's forces swept through galilee the fleeing rebels took to the hills gamla so named because of its resemblance to a camel was considered unassailable two thousand years ago this was a steep densely built town surrounded by sheer cliffs and packed on the day vespasian came with refugees and extremists his job was to flush them out before he dared head south to jerusalem the rebels thought they were safe vespasian knew [Music] otherwise the lessons he had learned in britain would serve him well he was the world's best artillery officer and he was in no hurry by the eastern wall he built earth platforms from which to launch his assault from there his artillery could provide covering fire for his massive battering rams his masons fashioned missiles from the rocks around them you can see here one of the ballista balls that was found the size fairly heavy 15 pounds or so yes quite like your ice water that hit you and uh this was produced or manufactured um in situ at the same time i mean it's basil it's a local stone it's very heavy and just imagine something like that chasing you and a few hundred miles per hour i'm you wouldn't like to be the target beneath a hail of artillery cover vespasian began his assault on the walls of gamla then the romans brought up the rams at three points and battering their way through the wall poured in through the breaches with a great blare of trumpets and din of weapons the most crucial part is to get as many soldiers possible in the shortest time through the breach in the city so they start just to pump the soldier very quickly into the boundaries of the cities his troops poured through the breaches and piled into the narrow streets hacking their way up the steep hill crammed into the maze of alleyways there was only slaughter and confusion but the rebels had the high ground happened the jews were retreating towards the peak or the summit of the city of the site but then turning their face and starting to fight with the romans in the chaos they saw the possibility of a counter-attack now the first line okay was fighting but the rest was still pushing from the back and the rovers had nowhere to go effectively exactly for the romans the only escape was over the rooftops they climbed onto the roofs of the houses where they rested on the slope crowded with men and unequal to the weight these quickly collapsed the effect on the romans was devastating the first assault on gambler had failed vespasian's troops were stunned by their defeat then suddenly they realized their leader was no longer with them vespasian was somewhere at the top of the town in trouble the men who were with him covered him with their shields and pulled him to safety [Music] [Applause] [Music] it had been a close call for the 58 year old warrior but fate was not finished with him within days a second assault was successful this time the rebels were driven to the highest shearest rock above the city where many chose to jump rather than face the avenging romans [Music] galilee thus pacified vespasian headed for caesarea and some remarkable news nero had been toppled so vespasian far from rome and close to the protection of loyal and devoted soldiers could watch and wait while others scrambled for the throne with nero dead vespasia knew that the empire was in peril fornero had no successor and many enemies the headlong dash for the vacant throne would plunge rome into civil war the year is 68 a.d when vespasian hears of near his death probably in late june 68 he's actually in caesarea that is the capital the roman capital of judea he's in fact just about to start the 68 campaign in earnest now when this tremendous news comes through that nero has finally taken his own life obviously there's going to be a bit of a hiatus he doesn't really know exactly what he's going to do initially so as far as hostilities against the jews go they're almost halted immediately whilst he sits and waits to find out what will happen which way the empire is going to go the power struggle that ensued disposed of the emperors with terrifying rapidity galba replaced by otho ortho replaced by vitellius fate was driving events in vespasian's direction vespasian was far from rome and the empire he loved was disintegrating the book of rules by which he had played had been torn up with a battle-hardened army under his direct command and the loyalty of five more legions to the north and south with two grown sons as military commanders and loyal friends in key positions throughout the empire it was time to make his own play and he played like a master he didn't head for rome he had learned well in his tour of the empire he left titus to watch the jews he sent his army towards rome and he went for rome's lifeline the grain supply in north africa he knew the army on the danube was loyal so while it drove towards the heart of the empire he simply put his foot on the artery at a stroke vespasian made rome ungovernable without bread riots in rome were inevitable vitelius's grip on power began to slip [Music] i think perhaps that vespasian was in an unassailable position in the east in other words he could have fragmented that part of the roman empire off that's what happens 300 years later what was really difficult for him to achieve was to move out of the east and capture the center but luckily he didn't have to do that for himself the danubian forces did it for him [Music] the danubian forces entered rome on december the 20th 69 a.d the boy from the hills was emperor it would be almost a year before he would arrive in person but new laws drafted by him gave him full powers backdated to the day of his victory when he was a boy becoming emperor was not a competition but now it was and he had won and could write the rules as he saw fit in conferring on himself the right to act in all things divine human public and private he combined all the powers of augustus tiberius and claudius into one and now he could return to unfinished business they have never forgotten the jewish rebellion once the civil war is over thoroughness pragmatism destruction will follow a vicious final assault on jerusalem conducted by titus resulted in the defeat of all but a few isolated pockets of rebellion [Music] across the dead sea in nabateer today's jordan there is a harrowing site by the state highway recently looted graves have cast up ancient bones the fabric that still clings to them tells us they are the two thousand-year-old remains of refugees jews that fled the vengeance of rome as the last of their rebels cornered at masada chose suicide over slavery this was a journey's end especially returned to rome in october 1870 his triumphal procession recorded on the arch of titus a monument to the humiliation of the jews riches planted from the jewish temples became the starter capital for a new rome fire and civil war had devastated the city now the enormous wealth of judea would fill her empty coffers vespasian was back there was much to do war and rebellion had seriously undermined the foundations of the empire the ruling classes were demoralized the army was running wild the city's infrastructure was in disrepair but this empire had built vespasian he knew what to do he mended the aqueduct system at his own expense and made sure the citizens knew it he rebuilt the temples father afield throughout the empire provincial cities became roman cities by his gift and their citizens roman citizens the empire he loved was now his and he took it all into his embrace the greatest legacy of vespasian is that he finds a metropolitan empire based on the city of rome and he leaves a cosmopolitan empire which is based on a much broader network of elite families elite groups around the province of the empire who have a really enhanced commitment economic and political and economic and political commitment to the empire but vespasian didn't forget the lesson he had learned in rome as a young clerk [Music] the people of rome were still the basis of the empire their happiness the rock on which it stood at the heart of the old city in the grands of nero's vast golden palace he built an amphitheater the biggest in the world and he built it with money he had brought from jerusalem this was his gift to the people he called it the flavian amphitheater but the world knows it as the coliseum by bringing peace by steadying the state vespasian gave the empire a second chance the best was still to come rome had 150 good years left the centuries ahead the second century a.d will in many ways be her happiest vespasian rescued rome put her back on course plucked the purple toga from the mud allowed classical civilization to recover and before long to enter what will be the golden afternoon of rome's 12th century history vespasian was emperor for only 10 years but he had served rome faithfully for fifty he never dreamed he would be emperor and as he lay dying the first emperor to die a peaceful death since augustus 65 years earlier he made a joke of his improbable career woes me he said he thinks i'm turning into a god [Music] you

Channel: Odyssey - Ancient History Documentaries

Views: 1,312,205

Keywords: ancient history, classical history, ancient civilisations, classical antiquity, history documentary, classical documentary, vespasian, roman history, ancient rome, roman documentary, caesar documentary, caesar, roman emperor, emperor nero

Id: bUdotxA0ws8

Length: 76min 5sec (4565 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 01 2021