Fantasma vitellius biography

The Year of the Four Emperors was marked by political instability, civil war, rebellion, murder and suicide. Nero left a power vacuum exposing underlying tensions within the empire and four different men were proclaimed emperors — Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian. It was only with the ascension of Vespasian that stability returned. This is the tale of the short and chaotic reign of Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus, commonly known simply as Vitellius.

His father was a consul under emperor Claudius and the governor of Syria under Tiberius. An engraving by P. In 48 AD, Aulus Vitellius was appointed consul, and later — around 60 AD or 61 AD — he was designated as proconsul, or governor-general, of the Roman province of Africa, a role in which it was said he performed with credit. Throughout this period Vitellius retained an unflattering reputation, and was generally seen as having an insatiable appetite for gambling and gluttony.

Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Roman empress in 69 AD. Biography [ edit ]. Taracco produced much more coins than Lugdunum, which might have not even struck bronze coinage. These two mints closed at the beginning of summer 69, by which time the mint of Rome had taken over.

Every coin of Vitellius features the title "Germanicus", referring to the legions of the Rhine that supported his bid for power. Regardless of the mint, this title was progressively shortened to "Germ" on the coins. Numismatist C. Sutherland notes that the prevalence of the title indicates that Vitellius used it almost like a cognomen. The coins Vitellius minted before his official proclamation as Emperor on 19 April do not bear the title "Augustus", while the title "Pontifex Maximus" appears on coins minted after his election at this title on 18 July.

The last type of coin minted by Vitellius were aurei and denarii with the goddess Victory building a trophy, likely alluding to his hopeful victory against the incoming armies of Vespasian. Busts from the time of Vitellius, particularly the one in the Capitoline Museums[ 32 ] represent him as broad-faced with several double chins, and it is this type which informs paintings of the emperor from the Renaissance on.

There were once other ancient busts claimed to be of Vitellius which later scholarship has proved to be of someone else. The features of the Grimani Vitellius particularly, according to Mary Beardwere once used by painters to suggest that the character who bears them is destined to come to a bleak end. The Grimani portrait bust also served as the model for one by Giovanni Battista and Nicola Bonanome ca.

Several 19th-century French artists pictured the violent end of Vitellius. That by Georges Rochegrosse depicts him being dragged by the populace down the steep Gemonian stairsstretching from high on the canvas to its foot [see above]. There he appears bound and surrounded by a gesticulating mob with hooting ragamuffins at their head. The stairs are covered with the rubbish fantasma vitellius biography which the deposed emperor has been pelted and, as Suetonius describes the scene, a long blade is held at his throat so that he cannot look down.

Much as the appearance of Vitellius prefigured approaching doom in earlier centuries, Thomas Couture pictures him in shadow to the left of centre in the painting The Romans in their Decadence This was shown prophetically at the Paris Salon in the year before the French Revolution of toppled the July Monarchy. The earliest fictional appearance of a Vitellius was of the Roman Consul in Syria, Lucius Vitellius the father of Auluswho intervened in Judaean affairs in the time of Pontius Pilate.

Although he survived as a character in the Broadway production, [ 47 ] and in the Italian films based on it of andhe disappeared from later adaptations. But some later novels deal with incidents in the military career of this Vitellius. Naturally Vitellius is a fantasma vitellius biography in the rash of recent novels dealing with the Year of the Four Emperors.

Several busts have been thought to depict Vitellius, but these identifications are usually based on vague resemblances with coin portraits. In reality it's almost impossible to identify most busts with any particular emperor, specially with one as short-lived as Vitellius. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history.

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. Roman emperor in AD Aureus of Vitellius minted in January—April Early life [ edit ]. Denarii of Vitellius, with a portrait of his father Lucius Vitellius top and his son and daughter bottom. Public service [ edit ]. Political and military career [ edit ].

Bid for power [ edit ]. Emperor [ edit ]. Administration [ edit ]. Reputation [ edit ]. Challenges [ edit ]. Abdication and death [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Portrayals [ edit ]. In coinage [ edit ]. He then became a praetor when he was 45 years old. Both times he was younger than most who achieved the rank.

Fantasma vitellius biography

His friendships with Caligula and then Claudius helped him in his endeavors. Perhaps due to his limited military track record, Halba gave him the title of governor of Lower Germany in AD Galba was unable to foresee the popularity of Vitellius in Lower Germany with his generous feasts, winning him supporters. This was ultimately his downfall as the Praetorian Guard betrayed him in favor of Otho, who later on fell to Vitellius.

Vitellius was able to take the throne due to the commanders Aulus Caecina Severus and Fabius Valens of the Rhine legions. They used Aulus Vitellius as their figurehead, rejecting Galba as their emperor and naming Vitellius as the emperor of Germania. Otho then committed suicide to lessen the bloodshed.