Otho

Otho was emperor for three months in the year of the four emperors and killed himself to end a civil war he could still have fought. Born in AD 32 into a family recently raised to the patriciate, he was a companion of Nero's youth and shared in its excesses. His wife Poppaea Sabina attracted the emperor's attention, and Otho was sent to govern Lusitania in AD 58 to get him out of the way — a posting he held for ten years and, unexpectedly, filled with moderation and competence. He joined Galba's revolt against Nero in AD 68 and expected to be adopted as his heir. Galba adopted Piso Licinianus instead in January AD 69. Otho, heavily in debt and passed over, spent four days buying the Praetorian Guard, which Galba had also refused to pay a promised donative. The guard killed Galba and Piso in the Forum and proclaimed him. He inherited a war he had not started: the Rhine legions had already declared for Vitellius, and their commanders Caecina and Valens were crossing the Alps. He offered to share power and was refused, and moved north with a hastily assembled army. His generals were beaten at Bedriacum in April, and it was one defeat rather than a decisive one — he had reserves, and the Danube legions were marching to him. He killed himself the next morning, saying it was better that one man should die than that all should perish. Tacitus, who despised his life, wrote that he ended it more nobly than he had lived.

• Lived: 32 CE – 69 CE
• Nationality: Roman
• Roles: ruler