Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Year of the Four Emperors

Episode Date: January 23, 2021

As long as the Roman empire lasted, they never created a set method of choosing successors to emperors. This inability to have an idea of who would be next in line caused numbers problems during the history of the empire. The first major succession crisis occurred in the year 69. One emperor died, and there was no clear replacement. The result was chaos. Learn more about the Year of the Four Emperors on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For as long as the Roman Empire lasted, they never created a set method of choosing successors to emperors. This inability to have an idea of who would be next in line caused numerous problems throughout the history of the empire. The first major secession crisis occurred in the year 69. One emperor died, and there was no clear replacement. The result was chaos. Learn more about the year of the four emperors on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past, were wrong. Throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story

that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thurline podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by the Travel Photography Academy. In 2007, I sold my home to travel around the world. I bought an expensive camera that I didn't know how to use and took a bunch of terrible photos. Several years, 100 countries, and tens of thousands of photos later, I'd improve my photography to the point where I was winning national awards, being named Travel Photographer of the year three times in North America. I created the Travel Photography Academy, so you don't have to spend the many years that I did to improve your photography. Even though we can't easily travel

right now, you can still work on improving your photography at home and in your own community. Just go to travel photography academy.com or click on the link in the show notes to start improving your photography today. To understand the events of the year 69 in Rome, we first have to understand what happened the year before in 68, which set the groundwork for this most unusual year. The year 68 began with Nero as the emperor of Rome. Many of the stories attributed to Nero, like him playing the fiddle while Rome burned down, are probably apocryphal. Nonetheless, he is widely considered a horrible emperor. You won't find many people in history who have had good things to say about Nero. While he may not have caused the great fire in Rome, he certainly took advantage of it.

He built a palace which was the largest building ever built in the ancient world. He also raised taxes to pay for this extravagance. A revolt in Gaul took place with the intent of installing Lusis Livia Axela Soplius Galba, the governor of Hispania Terakinosus as emperor. The Gallic revolt wasn't successful, and Galba wasn't even the leader of the revolt. The Senate denounced Galba as a public enemy. However, that wasn't the end of the insurrection. It was just the beginning.

The head of Nero's Praetorian Guard, Nymphinius Sabinus, led a plot to transfer allegiance from Nero to Galba. Despite being declared a public enemy, support for Galba grew. Nero fled the city, and while he was away, the Senate tried him in absentia. Knowing the end was near, Nero killed himself, or, according to the city, According to legend, he had a servant to it because he was too much of a coward. He died on June 8th in the year 68. Galba then entered Rome with one of his legions and was proclaimed emperor by the Senate. This was a pretty significant moment in the history of Rome.

Nero was the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. This was the family of Augustus and Julius Caesar. This family were the only rulers that Rome knew for the last 100 years. With Galba, they were in new territory. Not only was he not a member of the Julio Claudian family, but he was also old. He was 69 when he became emperor, and he had no children of his own. Galba was also the first military leader who was proclaimed emperor by his troops, something which would become the norm later in the history of the empire.

As we enter the year 69, Galba was emperor, and he was the first of the four emperors that year. As you can probably guess from the phrase, the year of the four emperors, a Galba wasn't going to be there very long. On his way to Rome, he increased taxes on towns that wouldn't recognize him as emperor. He overturned many of the popular reforms of Nero. Most importantly, he didn't pay the Praetorian guards the money which was promised to them by the leader of the revolt, a lesson which future emperors would pay heed to. On January 1st, he found out that the legions in Germania refused to recognize him as emperor,

and instead acclaimed their leader, Alas Vitellius, as emperor. A member of the nobility, Marcus Salvius Otho wanted to become an emperor, emperor himself. So he did what Galba wouldn't. He paid the Praetorian Guard. On January 15th, Galba was assassinated by his guard in the forum, and on that day, the Senate recognized Otho as Emperor No. 2 for the year. Otho came to power via bribery and skullduggery. Where Galbo was 70 when he died, Otho was only 36 when he came to power. It wouldn't even have been old enough to have been a consul during the Republican period. Otho wasn't necessarily a bad guy. During his time in power, he was just, showed mercy, and was relatively popular with the people of Rome.

However, he had one massive problem. Vitellius, the guy that the legions up in Germania declared his emperor, was still claiming to be emperor and was coming to Rome to take it. Otho went up to meet Vitellius. He offered to marry Vitellius's daughter and come to a peaceful solution to the matter, but Vitellius, who commanded the best, most experienced legions in the Roman army, wanted to decide the matter on the battlefield. Otho and Vitellius met at the Battle of Bidreicum, the first battle between Roman forces in over a century. Vitellius won, 40,000 Romans died, and Otho took his own life. This all went down on April 14th, and Vatelius was now Emperor number three in the year 69. The Senate cleared Vitellius Emperor,

but he was unpopular from the beginning. He spent money lavishly on useless extravagances. He held three banquets a day, one for each meal. He held triumphs and games. He was draining the treasury quickly and going into death. he would summarily execute anyone who questioned his decisions, and he would kill anyone who named him in their will. As everything I've described so far this year had been happening, way over in the east, another general had been acclaimed emperor by his troops. The legions in Africa, Egypt, Judea, and Syria had all thrown their support behind Titus, Flavius Vespasianus, known to history as Vespasian. Vitellius was simply closer to Rome and was able to confront Otho immediately. Vespasian was much farther away, and it took more time to get to Rome, but what he controlled

was far more important. The East was where the money was made. Egypt was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire. Without control of the East, Rome would starve and go broke. Legions from Judea and Syria began the march to Rome. Along the way, more legions who were stationed along the Danube Danube legions, through their support behind Vespasian. The Danube legions, being much closer, began to march on Rome as well. Vespasian himself was in Alexandria, which was the second most important city in the empire. His forces, led by Marcus Antonius Primus, met Vitellius's legion once again at the Battle of Bidriacum, for the second battle there this year. This time, Vespasian's forces were victorious, and Vitellius returned to Rome. The walls were closing in around him. He began frantically throwing around bribes

and promotions to win support. It didn't work. The people were against him. When Vespasian's forces entered the city. The populace reigned objects down from the windows on Vitellius's men. According to legend, Vitellius was found hiding, brought to the Gimonian stairs, which was a popular spot for executions, and killed by the mob. He was beheaded, and his head paraded around the city. The next day, December 21st, Vespasian was declared emperor by the Senate, the fourth emperor in the year 69. There were no further threats to Vespasian's rule. He remained emperor for the next 10 years and established a dynasty that would last for 27. Vespasian was responsible for the construction of the Colosseum in Rome.

Historians have rated him rather favorably as an emperor. He was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, who was considered an okay emperor, and Titus was then replaced by Vespasian's younger son, Domitian, who was considered one of the worst emperors in history. While there would always be intrigue surrounding the Roman imperial throne, it wouldn't be for another 124 years until Rome encountered another year like this one. That was the year 193, known to history as the year of the five emperors. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James Mackle.

The associate producer is Thor Thompson. Today's five-star review comes from listener Savio over on Apple Podcasts in Canada. They write, Fun and Fantastic. This is a fun and fantastic podcast, and I have listened to every single episode since its inception. Each of them is only seven to eight minutes long and deals with a wide range of topics. A few fun facts that I learned recently. One, even though Octo is the prefects for 8, why October is not the 10th month of the year. Two, the history and rituals for the inauguration.

And three, why you can't find the McRib on the menu. I recommend this podcast to all my teacher friends because it's a great resource. And if you have an inquisitive mind, you'll definitely enjoy it as well. Well, thank you very much, Savio, and thanks to all of you who've left reviews. Remember, if you leave a five-star review, you two can have it read on the show.