Why Vespasian Was Rome's Most Liked Emperor (Roman Empire Documentary) | Timeline

by the middle of the first century AD 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 Emperor's and drones darkside came to the poor as ambition turned to rivalry rivalry to murder and civil war [Music] from the chaos an unlikely hero emerged to pull Rome back from the abyss a simple man known to his friends of the mule breeder known to the Senate as titus flavius specified be honest and to history as best agent [Music] the Empire's Savior [Music] the year is AD 68 the legions of Spain and France under the command of su freakiest Galba are marching on Rome between them and the capital is the Army of the Rhine loyal to the Emperor this is Rome's versus Rome 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 has moved rome now Nero had bankrupted it it was time for ambitious men to make them Neera consulted the Delphic Oracle asking how long he might expect to live the reply a 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 saw pickles Gelber was drilling his soldiers to march on realm galvez 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 Ryan each bringing the end a step closer then someone bribed the praetorian guard and they deserted embolden in the Senate to declare Nero deposed and under sentence of death abandoned by all except a few servants narrow head in a humble house on the edge of Rome and there he stabbed himself in her throat the Giulio Claudian dynasty which had ruled for 95 years was now extinguished 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 at the opposite end of the Empire in Judea the command of East Asian 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 difficult now to recapture the uncertainty of the world and who think of their own empire from one end to the other as being two months wide in some 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 gelda and in fact Titus never gets to round because before yes sir calibre is murdered and he goes back again but this is when people people began to think anything could happen in his graph 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 linear front and yet most dangerous of all was the inner front the whole site where plots were hatched and scores were settled where soldiers meddled in politics with a praetorian guard the spoke breaths 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 salvias offer a friend and some say lover of the lake mirror author who 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 flags and mercenaries from all the dark corners of the Empire the victor this time was the despised Paulus Vitellius his ragtag army brought chaos to the very heart of the empire Vitellius had arrived from Germany dragging along with his army and vast mother [ __ ] Azov 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 turn to plunder and the murder of anything 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 m5s Bayesian 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 ad 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 time [Music] the year of four Emperor's was over and it was Rome's lust that the force proved to be Roman to the core [Music] someone said to mirror you can kill everyone Caesar except your successor the great question was who would be nearer successor few dreamt that before a year was art 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 best Bayesian inherited an empire that was on the point of collapse the people were in a state of shock her armies fragmented and demoralized the empire that was the dream of august's 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 room 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 about standing caliber for space it may not be a household name but he encapsulated more than any other the true virtues of a Roman Emperor his past apart is an astonishing story no one could have been more astonished than best Asian Emperor's were born not made so how could this ordinary man qualify for such a lofty perch 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 [Music] their station 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 course and quickly hair shrewd eyes brightened by a twinkle hooked nose receding mouth and nutcracker jaw a face battalions of a later age would caricature as Punchinello and the english would call punch so for looks one would have to award the persuasion rather low marks for Polish and social graces zero for imagination and innovative thinking nothing very memorable but for realism for common sense 10 out of 10 a rock-like man steady reliable and Roman this vision was born in 9 ad in rillette ii a quiet little town that lies in the folds of the Sabin Hills 60 miles from Rome but 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 fairness courage magnanimity and Viktor 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 tilling this land looking after his beets cutting down trees the next minute joining up to fight in the campaign and then finally retiring or returning back here afterwards Yeti'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 best basian would be known as the mule attea 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's some people said had been a Centurion which made it sound just better what 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 of you like respected 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 lack and money might one day without an election to the Senate here just off rillette ease quiet square is her totally unexpected pail nothing about the Teatro Flavio Vespasiano says small-town Italy the Magnificent ceiling commemorates her boys 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 the station would go on to rebuild the Roman Empire but first it was the Empire that would build best station what gelato in turn died 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 and too powerful and influential friends and you had to have money it was a minimum entrance requirement of a million sesterces how much is that worth well soldiers got something like 900 a year so if you've got capital worth a million that sounds a lot his mother's wealth had bought the eighteen-year-old best Asian a stake in the senatorial steeplechase but her money guaranteed nothing except a run of 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 a really wealthy Harris fast you 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 get sent to the army the Roman society's doom a military society its strength depends upon having people at the top who can command commies defend the frontiers and so all young arscott would be politicians have to have military experience and so youngest person was sent out first of all to do military service in northern Greece and Thrace [Music] increase verse Bayesian 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 early numbers was beautifully conceived a wonderful architectural stability I mean 400 years that had been peace and that's a fantastic a difficult thing of a pre-industrial society to achieve the reason was that the army was stretched so worthy along the frontiers of the Empire longer I along the Danube in Syria miles months away from central rim and the commands of his army the split between different air Scouts no one was allowed to stay and 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 best version was 23 before he experienced the capital for himself he was appointed to Rome as triumvir capitalist [Music] a very small cog in a complex machine that was always threatening to break down [Music] the room was the largest city in the known world by far probably over a million people perhaps even one of the half million people it was an enormously cosmopolitan city it may have been the center of a great Mediterranean empire for over 200 years people 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 is the center of the new world who wish to get on you had to come here [Music] it was also a giant normal how physical city it produced nothing and therefore it had to be said in this huge flour mill at the mouth of the Tiber corn most of it imported was grande 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 theatres 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 M provided that free he also watered them all 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 this was not altruism Rome was a powder keg 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 flocks the needs of the city constantly grow forward such innovations as triumvir 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 it was an extraordinary system who can imagine if you were a provincial living in a society that has hardly had any water to see something like this striving across the countryside towards you supplying you with non-stop water 24 hours a day this accident has been bringing water 450 miles to this city now that is an immense project mail pumps system involved here everything is done on gravity so the rivers have had to survey the correct height to pick up the water then today 50 miles of building this enormous structure so it's the skeleton of a great Empire the ruins of aqueducts everywhere the management of water was one of the technological triumph 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 theatres and services but all of this had to be paid for Rome was as big as London was in eighteen hundreds there is a huge population it maintained itself because it taxed its subjects why the Empire was Mike was because all the money collected in taxes poured into a into Rome and be out to the armies on the frontier so Rome was probably the most expensive in the army probably took somewhat less than half of the total Imperial budget but the taxes that the subjects paid were absolutely fundamental to all the lavish luxury of the city of Rome from his time in the city Vespasian land that in order to continue in peace and prosperity Rome needed the empire more than the empire needed Rome his next appointment would make that all too clear as Christ a Tikrit and Cyrenian North Africa the youngest Asian would get a close look at how Rome collected and money-wise the ships there were 20 were dished out by the Senate 10 according to status and the rest by lottery best station needless to say God his by lottery he had drawn just about the bottom job in the pecking order and we know 20 jobs gained each year for crystals the ten most favored stayed in Rome and they didn't didn't want to go out 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 proconsul of Crete and Cyrene II I mean their most of not totally unknown David when they're facing arrived since Irena is a young man of about 26 to assume the role of Christ ership what is he letting himself in for Mike worships at a junior position for someone who's embarking on a senatorial career and has to give people experience of provincial government starting at that episode nuts and bolts end of how you extract money out of the provinces clearly coming to a settled province like Cyrene II from someone like face is stepping from one world into another he's coming into a well established urban civilization based around sudden for agriculture has already tied into Mediterranean trade and exchange networks and as a tax collector son he must have instantly latched on to the economic potential of settled peaceful relatively peaceful regions like like Serena 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 could either 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 Karpin obviously there's extremely civilized countries cerini had been first colonized by the Greeks in the 7th century BC so they had these wonderful Greek cities and yeah they they were very civilized at a time when I look at the Romans work work work 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 siren Ian's 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 driven citizen was aspiring to the comer in think if they could more prevalent I might say in the West than in the East where the Greeks are still slightly sniffy abided for a Roman itself invented really here you were an inheritor of the earth there were obligations but there were also many legal privileges that went with giving a Roman citizen and a whole way of life and a whole combat of morals and military affairs and your political ideas and who you really thought you were so to become a Roman what's really into the top team best version 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 era schedule upper-class robots who wanted to enter politics secure election at the age of 25 and there are 20 people who make it every year at the next run 5 years later there are 12 to 16 posts so a quarter could to 5th don't make it so those are those competition there's chance it's a lottery also on 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 to your chance comes again red station 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 run he may have wished he hadn't the job gets Nexus IDO and among the duties of the e dials were to keep the streets clean and he happened to had this job during the reign of the eccentric Emperor Caligula who engages the streets with covered in mud and heat quantities on tanto Vespasian more than mud the Emperor had his guard spell 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 chiapas in charge has to ask be responsible in the case of the Emperor Caligula obviously he noticed that the streets was too efficient being and blameless busy yeah Rome is a very lively place then particularly live in the ray 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 best Asian married and his son Titus was born little could he have realized was an asset his son would become but in the meantime he had acquired another asset a patron and from a highly improbable source at Versailles the Roman Empire run Don Embry omnipotent powerful at the top and heiress grants and used his arrows grats as the people to whom a delegate power but arrogance of the rivals of the Emperor they threaten them so the Emperor's create alternative mechanisms for executing commands color slaves they free them but they give them administrative responsibilities and these are executives of the Emperor of the Empire who undermine and parallel the power of Senators it's quite extraordinary interview the slaves x---rays freed slaves should exercise power which equals the power of aristocratic senators ass patient's patron was a slave narcissus not the slave of the emperor but of Claudius the Emperor's uncle [Music] his influence landed best Bayesian in the job of his dreams commander of his own legion to Augusta stationed in Germany 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 towards the new emperor are a slobbering fool according to some Oh 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 conquered Britain and report his victory to Rome so it was a politically dictated military adventure something like their season this is the absolute chance for lifetime there are any 27 legionary commandos at this stage in the roman army and their phase room was one of the lucky for who's been picked for them and this was a chance for him to show off his military talents and achieve what all Raylan's 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 romans redoubtable soldiers trembled at the sight of the sea who they had been transported across the Mediterranean on occasion it was the ocean they feared not wind and wave so much as the supernatural and the spooky ancients saw the world as three continents surrounded by a dark and dreadful moat called Oceanos where repulsive sea monsters fearsome spirits and all manner of dark dangers had removed 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 that through life persuaded the Britons that the invasion had been cancelled and they dispersed the Romans were able to land on approach the Britons have 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 hi hey guys who've got to defend motherland or fatherland and nothing happens for a fortnight well they begin to drift away and I mean there's 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 the Britons have been alerted the bickering tribes united behind carracticus their best fighter it was the son of Kings sino Bolinas Shakespeare's Cymbeline to whom Shakespeare gave the Lions 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 declares clearly thinking the river to be an obstacle to the Roman advance best Asian saw only his first chance for glory this is a perfect battle to illustrate the flexibility of the Roman army there is a popular misconception that the Roman army was also an inflexible military machine that could only really fight one type of war that is actually totally untrue in fact the Romans were equipped perfectly for a battle of this sort alongside the regular legions were the - amphibious assault troop men who could swim with their horses in full armor if necessary 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 best version 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 Britons position and up flanking them with masterly timing we launched simultaneous attacks from front and rear test Asians first plant was a military success thus paesan's role was pivotal swimming the river and out flanking the defenders the Britons took big losses and the Medway victory proved to be the key to southeastern England generally [Music] after Midway the route was clear all the way to the capital at Colchester at the Thames the Roman forces split three legions went north was fest Asian was given sole responsibility for the Southwest to pacify the natives and secure the harbours 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 Wiltjer up to the Welsh border the spasms masterstroke was to see that these Citadel's of soil might fall to artillery [Music] inside these mighty earthworks they flimsy villages of thatch and timber a 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 under the houses pounding them with stones and fire dies [Music] the Britons will have never seen anything like Roman artillery they will probably be assumed that Roman Missal weapons such as slings or bows and arrows could virtually fired the same distance in verse 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 intervene robbed like a Stone Age scribe today coming up against the machine gun [Applause] 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 need had gone straight here to stamp his name on it hand the power of rim or great huge fifty acre beast like this rearing up out of the plain you just did ignore that you again ago in Congress we're going to get on top of it this is a man in whose 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 may 20 captures of Papa Don like there's 20 times you will have put up a trophy celebrating his and the second or gust allegiance fiction but it's all part of this process of we are on the winning side and one needs similar so one 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 best Asian came in pacifying the Southwest and subduing the warhorse best Asian have 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 kaga gladness 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 equivalent figure into the society now we know that the Romans arrived and probably in their baggage willness they had this chap called kaki Douglas the Romans then installed him as a puppet king in the church ester area and then built him an enormous palace the palace the Romans built for cocky darkness at Fishbourne was breathtaking the largest villa outside of Rome here he received the other Chiefs as they came to visit from their mad hands the message was clear so was his authority the advent of Rome brought good news and bad news first the bad resistance with the crushed arms confiscated Roman law enforce and finally biggest bogeyman of all the Roman tax collector then the good news piece roads talons clean water sanitation Commerce encouraged and housing improved baths theatres 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 your Vespasian in Britain first thing you do if you have we've got some southwestern British chieftains go along and say look oh boy would you like to join the club terrific benefits in membership and if he absolutely refuses well then you have to take his hill fort [Music] best Asian 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 military adventures if they're successful I'm always going to be a career opportunity here's a bigger army because it's going to take a reasonable amount of time to conquer the risen but they gave plenty of opportunities battles that Faisal is said to participate is in 30 matters and it must have added to his prestige the difficulty by 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 here then leave him in the wilderness you leave a gap of time five years 10 years between the holding of the consulship and the next plum job invest patience case they would follow 15 years in the wilderness hero or no his patron narcissus couldn't help the Emperor Claudius had married Agra tena sister of Caligula he was a good hater narcissus was out and so was the station that station had returned from Britain a hero but that did nothing for his career so long as Agra Pina disliked him he was going nowhere and when in 54 ad Claudius died and her young son Mero 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 the next job proved to be worth the wait proconsul governor of Africa the highest rung on the senatorial ladder as governor of this vast and rich province persuasion 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 gone well big ones and we all wanted to be Prairie coast 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 sesterces 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 sesterces a year trading daily was Rome we have a very good description from Pliny describing the great sailing ships which they were coming up the companion Coast having made the crossing from Alexandra with their sails billowing as they sailed northward towards room there will it be the scene of untold feverish type activity targets Oh deals made would have been acetyl yes continuous tough Mombasa noise 24 hours a day [Music] lettuce magna in today's Libya was one of the cities in the station's jurisdiction the marketplace is now silent the surrounding alleyways deserted but 2,000 years ago it would have been a bustling source of revenue the north african seeker salmon nowadays we think of it as being relatively desert but in roman times it was relatively fertilized with wheat exporting olive oil exporting and was important breadbasket for the city run in some ways in ancient conditions the city of rome is closer to tunis entities to milan because of seek 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 fine best Asian 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 5060 million people it's governed by an extraordinary small Paris aquatic cart what are the 150 Roman arrows to grant out in the provinces dad's one for every three hundred and fifty four hundred thousand people it is very difficult to control four hundred thousand people with one y meritocratic administrator so basically the Roman governmental system in the provinces depends upon collaborators it depends of winning the support of local administrators local bigwigs Fogel rich men and the system of government is one of cooperation between provincials who want to be Roman and Romans who wish to control they 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 provincial still important local provincials again a lot of opportunities for further corruption but it is emphasized that he was surprising the uncorrupt and conscientious as proconsul people hadn't really expected that in fact West Asian and 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 and really and financial difficulties at the end of his of his governorship in a far from enriching himself is that he's actually reduced is his fortune and ends up having to borrow money from his brother so and again you know this is characteristic of other things we know about his career but he was scrupulously honest 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 earn cesta C's at station earned respect he was rather hot up when he gets back to terrain he has to go back to making money as a transport contractor with good mule trains which was very much traditional in his part of Italy it was it was famous for its mules and the opportunities were there there was plenty of work but it was rather undignified for the Senators again for that sort of thing they weren't expected to do that they expected to live off their off their land his estate so it was back to the hills act of his mum persuasion had flown high that he came back to earth with a bump this was when he became known as the mule appear [Music] he would have done well to stay with his mules against all the odds Nero - the math the young Emperor's seem to appreciate the company of the commonly old soldier and invited him along in a cultural tour of Greece since Nero was a psychopath his invitations were rarely refused Nero went on a tour of Greece the language most appealed to his artistic temperament there he gave a series of musical recycles 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 present on one of these occasions was miss Bayesian then as Nero smote the lyre and burst into song perhaps for hundredth time who noticed that Vespasian had noted 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 hate 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 back waters of political life suddenly Nero needed a general more than he needed a friend [Music] 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 religion and annihilating it now defiant within their walled cities the reviled Rome and all her works clearly revenge must follow the natural choice the Roman general who had the greatest reputation at that time particularly for fighting in the east of the man called corbelling now with Nero's Immaculate timing he had actually asked corps Villa to commit suicide one month before the Jewish revolt broke out and when Nero made a request like that one had to obey say Roman killed off its premier commander korcula and a month later the news arrives in 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 Roman had built an empire which is circled around the Mediterranean Sea in fact they called the Mediterranean Sea Malin Ostrom 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 one hand and Africa on the other and the Romans couldn't allow this part of the Mediterranean Circle to slip out of their hole and was very very important therefore to put down any hint of rebellion in that area best version first against the cities of Galilee at Jota FATA he laid siege for 40 days and 40 nights without let unleashing massive force against the Jewish rebels it was a ferocious battle that resulted in the annihilation of all 40,000 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 josephus is an extraordinary thing of course is the primary Jewish historian but he started off as being a nice Pleasant Jewish gentleman in Judea and he so in courting his own history advises people not to fight against Robb it'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 Romans but once surrounded by the Romans the last few survivors enter into a 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 said 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 as he himself tells it and that he betrays his own cause surrenders offers his services to restoration and Titus and gets accepted Josephus went on to chronicle the adventures of West Asia and to write a history of the Jewish war after Joe two-parter 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 after the battle Vespasian held the court-martial making a distinction between the residents and the newcomers who he considered responsible for the war meanwhile the Romans lined the road all the way to Tiberius so that no one could leave it and shut them up in the city this Bayesian followed and herded them all into the stadium the aged and useless 1,200 of them were disposed of by his orders the rest of the people - the number of 30,400 he auctioned except those who be presented to Herod Agrippa the man who came from his kingdom the station allowed him to deal with as he pleased and the king put them two under the hammer every city that he eventually brought down he he did the the sort of the normal procedure would be to kill the man who had fought forth in battle and to sell the rest of the population into slavery this phasing does everything that a Roman commander is expected to do including win he is going round there encouraging sending out reconnaissance patrols maintaining morale he's totally enough ly involved he also put up but many deprivations of his army he was a soldier soldier as well as being Supreme Commander the Romans swept through Galilee clearing the towns and grabbing 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 as Vespasian's horses swept through Galilee the fleeing rebels took to the hills Gamla so named because of its resemblance to a camel was considered unassailable 2,000 years ago this was a steep densely built town surrounded by sheer cliffs and packed on the day best Asian 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 that station knew 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 beliefs booths it was founded as I said early heavy 15 pounds of the earth my Tiger Eyes water vet agility and this was produced or manufacture in situ add to say my family's castle it's a local stone it's very heavy and just imagine something like they're chasing you in 300 miles per hour and you wouldn't like to be the target beneath a hail of artillery cover Vespasian began his assault on the walls of gambler then the Romans brought up the Rams of three points and battering their way through the wall poured in through the breaches with a great blare of trumpets and did weapons [Music] the most crucial part is to get as many soldier possible in the shortest time through the richly as I said so this star just come to soldier very quickly into his boundaries of the city his crews fought through the beaches and piled into the narrow streets hacking their way up the steep hill brand into the maze of alleyways there was only slaughter and confusion but the rebels had the high ground having juice we're restricting toward the peak or summit of the city of the site but then turned their face and starting to side with a woman in the chaos they saw the possibility of a counter-attack now the first line that he was fighting but the rest was still pushing from was back in the road ahead they were to go at it to live exactly or the Romans the only Escape was over the rooftops they climbed onto the roofs and the houses where they rested on the slope [Music] crowded with men and unequal to the wait these complete collapse the effect on the Romans was devastating the first assault on gamla had failed Vespasian's troops were stunned by their defeat then suddenly they realized their leader was no longer with them the station 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 [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 sheerest rock above the city where many chose to jump rather than face the avenging Romans [Music] Galilee the specified that station 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 Vespasian knew that the Empire was in peril for Nero had no successor and many enemies the headlong Dash for the vacant throne would plunge Rome into civil war the year is 68 AD when the Bayesian hears of Nero's death pole 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 68th 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 there almost halted immediately whilst he sits waits to find out what will happen which way the Empire is going to go the power struggle that ensued disposed of the Emperor's with terrifying rapidity galva replaced by author author replaced by battalions late was driving events in best Asian's Direction best Asian was far from Rome and the Empire he loved was disintegrating the book of rules by which he had played had been torn up [Music] with a battle-hardened army under his direct command under 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 large line 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 Roman governor bull without red riots in Rome were inevitable the Talia's grip on power began to slip I think that the best bedroom was in an unassailable position in the east here was he could have fragmented that part of the Roman Empire off that's what happens 300 years later what was really difficult thing 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 the Danubian forces entered Rome on December the 20th 69 AD 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 back dated 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 Fairless magmatism de structure 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 nabbit ear 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 [Music] this was a journey's end best Asian returned to Rome in October AD 70 his triumphal procession recorded on the arch of Titus a monument to the humiliation of the Jews Richard's plundered 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 their empty coffins the station was back [Music] 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 West Asian he knew what to do amended the aqueduct system at his own expense and made sure the citizens knew it'd be 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 here and he took it all into his embrace the greatest legacy of Beijing 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 family delete groups around the province of the Empire who have a really enhanced commitment economic and political economic and political commitment to the Empire but best Bayesian didn't forget the lesson he had learned in Rome as a young clown the people of Rome was still the basis of the Empire their happiness the rock on which it stood at the heart of the old city in the ground 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 Colosseum by bringing peace by steadying the state Vespasian gave the Empire a second chance the best were still to come Rome had a hundred and fifty good years left the centuries ahead the second century AD will in many ways be her happiest this bayesian rescue grow put her back on course plucked the purple toga from the mud a loud classical civilization to recover and before long to enter what will be the golden afternoon of Rome's twelve century history West Asian was Emperor for only ten years but he had served Rome faithfully for 50 he never dreamed he will be Emperor and as he lay dying the first emperor to die a peaceful death since August as 65 years earlier he made a joke of his improbable career Rose me he said he thinks I'm turning into a god [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 2,243,841

Rating: 4.767066 out of 5

Keywords: roman empire, roman empire documentary, roman documentary, rome documentary, full documentary, full length documentaries, 2017 documentary, history documentary, tv shows - topic, documentary history, ancient rome documentary, shows topic, documentary movies topic, game of thrones, timeline documentary, roman emperors, documentary rome, roman history, ancient rome, rome empire, the roman empire

Id: r72X5oUPTwM

Length: 76min 15sec (4575 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Alkaladar]

Oh man, a not overly dramatised documentary with experts talking and a narrator that does not hyperbole everything. Count me in!

[u/Yogih]

For anyone enjoying the series, there's also a book series loosely based on Vespasian's life by Robert Fabbri. It's pretty entertaining and definitely worth a read.

[u/tommynoble6]

Thanks for posting! Looking forward to watching 🙂

[u/Mrpaperbackwriter]

I did not know these docs were on YouTube. Thanks for posting!

[u/Haeffound]

Remindme! 4 hours

[u/Jaws76]

The Flavian dynasty featured three related yet uniquely different emperors ; The 10 cent version is;

Vespasian - Dull yet competent

Titus - Benevolent and intelligent cut down by illness at early age.

Domitian - Josef Stalin