Year of the Four Emperors — Vitellius and the Crisis of 69 CE
Vitellius was the third of the four emperors of 69 and held the throne for eight months. Nero's death in 68 had ended the Julio-Claudian line and demonstrated what Tacitus called the secret of empire, that an emperor could be made somewhere other than Rome. Galba came from Spain and was murdered by the praetorians in January 69 after refusing to pay them. Otho, who had bribed them, held Rome for three months. Vitellius was proclaimed by the Rhine legions, who had never sworn to Galba, and his generals beat Otho at the first battle of Bedriacum in April; Otho killed himself to avoid a longer civil war, which is the one action of his that the sources admire. Vitellius was a man of substantial appetites and no particular ability, best known before this for having been a companion of Caligula, Claudius and Nero in turn, which required a certain flexibility. He entered Rome, disbanded the praetorians who had backed Otho, and installed his own. Within weeks the eastern legions proclaimed Vespasian, who had an army in Judaea and the grain of Egypt. The Danube legions declared for him too and invaded Italy without waiting, and beat Vitellius at the second battle of Bedriacum in October, sacking Cremona for four days. Vitellius negotiated an abdication, and his own supporters would not let him carry it out; the Capitol burned in the fighting. He was dragged through the streets and killed in December. Vespasian then reigned for ten years and founded a dynasty, and the crisis produced a set of practical rules about the succession that held for a century. The provincial armies had learned what they could do, and did it again in 193.
- Year: 69 CE
- Category: Political
