Latest / The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History / The Year of the Four Emperors: Rome's Civil War After Nero
Transcript
- Lucas: If you've been following our journey through Roman history, you'll remember how Nero's reign ended in chaos—his suicide in 68 AD left the empire without a clear successor. And that's when things got really messy. Luna: The infamous Year of the Four Emperors. Lucas: Exactly. 69 AD is one of those years that feels almost fictional. Four men claimed the throne in quick succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and finally Vespasian. And each one seized power through a combination of military muscle and political maneuvering—and each one, except the last, met a violent end. Lucas: Let's start with Galba. He was an elderly senator from a patrician family, already in his seventies when he was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Hispania. He wasn't Nero's choice—he was the choice of the provincial armies who'd grown tired of Nero's mismanagement. Luna: So he wasn't exactly popular with everyone from the start. Lucas: He had a reputation for strictness and frugality—which sounds good in theory, but in practice it meant he alienated both the Praetorian Guard and the urban mob. He refused to pay the donatives—the cash bonuses—that emperors traditionally gave to the guard upon accession. That was a fatal mistake. Lucas: But before Galba even reached Rome, there was a conspiracy. A man named Nymphidius Sabinus, who was the praetorian prefect, tried to seize power for himself. He claimed to be the son of the emperor Caligula. But the guard didn't buy it—they killed him. Luna: So the first challenger didn't even last a month. Lucas: Galba then entered Rome, but his popularity quickly evaporated. He surrounded himself with corrupt advisors—the historian Tacitus calls them 'the three pedagogues'—and he refused to pay anyone. When the legions on the Rhine frontier declared for a new emperor, Vitellius, Galba panicked. Lucas: He tried to secure his position by adopting a young senator named Piso Licinianus as his heir. That was meant to shore up support, but it backfired spectacularly. One of Galba's former supporters, Otho, had expected to be adopted himself. When he wasn't, he turned against Galba. Luna: Otho was a friend of Nero's, right? More of a party boy than a soldier? Lucas: That's the traditional picture. But Otho was also ambitious. He bribed the Praetorian Guard—the very men Galba had stiffed—and on January 15, 69 AD, the guard murdered Galba in the Roman Forum. Piso was killed too. Otho was proclaimed emperor. Lucas: So Otho lasted only about three months. His problem was that Vitellius, the commander of the legions on the Rhine, had already been declared emperor by his troops. And Vitellius had a powerful army marching south. Luna: So it came down to a battle. Lucas: The first Battle of Bedriacum—fought near the town of Bedriacum in northern Italy. Otho's forces were outnumbered and outgeneraled. The Vitellian commanders, led by Aulus Caecina Alienus and Fabius Valens, crushed them. Otho, rather than prolong the civil war, committed suicide. He was only emperor for about three months. Luna: That's almost noble, considering how most emperors died fighting to the end. Lucas: Tacitus actually praises Otho for that. But then Vitellius entered Rome—and he was a disaster. He was notorious for his gluttony—there are stories of banquets with thousands of fish and birds. But more importantly, he couldn't control his troops. The Vitellian soldiers terrorized Rome, and he did nothing. Lucas: Meanwhile, the legions in the East had declared for their own candidate: Titus Flavius Vespasianus—Vespasian. He was a seasoned general who had commanded the Roman forces in Judea during the Jewish revolt. He had the support of the Syrian legions and the Egyptian prefect, Tiberius Julius Alexander. Luna: And wasn't there a prophecy that said the next ruler would come from Judea? Lucas: Yes, the historian Josephus—who was actually a Jewish commander captured by the Romans—later claimed he had prophesied to Vespasian that he would become emperor. Whether true or not, the story spread and bolstered Vespasian's legitimacy. Lucas: Vespasian left his son Titus to finish the war in Judea, while he himself headed to Egypt to secure the grain supply. His general, Marcus Antonius Primus, invaded Italy with the Danubian legions. They met Vitellius's forces at the second Battle of Bedriacum—or actually near Cremona. Luna: So another battle near the same place? Lucas: The Vitellian army was entrenched at Cremona. Primus's troops stormed the city after a brutal night battle—the historian Tacitus gives a vivid account of the chaos. Cremona was sacked and burned. Vitellius's support collapsed. He tried to abdicate, but his own soldiers forced him to fight. Luna: How did he end up dying? Lucas: He was dragged out of the palace, through the streets of Rome, and killed by the mob. His body was thrown into the Tiber. Vespasian arrived in Rome later that year and was formally recognized by the Senate. He founded the Flavian dynasty, which would rule for the next 27 years. Lucas: And that's the remarkable thing—out of this chaos came a stable, competent emperor. Vespasian restored the economy, started building the Colosseum, and reasserted imperial authority. But the Year of the Four Emperors also showed how fragile the principate was. The empire depended entirely on the loyalty of the armies. Luna: It's amazing it survived at all. Lucas: It did, but at a cost. The civil wars of 69 AD set a precedent: any general with enough legions could claim the throne. That's a pattern that would repeat itself many times in later centuries. Lucas: Speaking of patterns, one thing we really appreciate about history podcasts like ours is that we can dig into these stories without interruption. We deliberately don't run ads on these shows, and that's a choice we've made because we want the narrative to flow. If you'd like to support that approach, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a simple way to help keep things going. Even a small contribution makes a difference. Lucas: So back to Vespasian. One of his first acts was to disband the German legions that had supported Vitellius, and he reorganized the Praetorian Guard—replacing them with men from his own Danubian and Eastern units. He also imposed new taxes, famously including a tax on urine collected from public latrines for use in fulling cloth. Luna: Wait, that's the famous line about money not smelling, right? Lucas: Exactly—when his son Titus complained about the tax, Vespasian held a coin from the first payment and said 'Pecunia non olet'—money does not stink. It's a great example of his practical, no-nonsense approach to governance. Lucas: So the Year of the Four Emperors ended with the establishment of a new dynasty, but it also exposed the fundamental weakness of the imperial system. From Augustus onward, the emperor was supposed to be chosen by merit and adoption, but in practice, it was the army that decided. And that would only get worse. Luna: It sets the stage for the Crisis of the Third Century, which we've covered before. Lucas: Exactly. The precedent set in 69 AD—that a successful general could seize the throne—became a recurring pattern. But for now, at least, Rome had a stable ruler, and the empire would enjoy a period of relative peace under the Flavians.