AD 68-69 The Year of Four Emperors
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The Year of the Four Emperors (A.D. 68–69) was a chaotic period of civil war that shattered the Roman Empire's stability following Nero's suicide. With the Julio-Claudian line extinct, power became a prize for the military. The crisis saw four successive leaders: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. Each rose to power backed by different legions, only to be violently deposed—except for the last. Galba was murdered by the Praetorian Guard, Otho committed suicide after a military defeat, and Vitellius was lynched by Vespasian’s forces. Order was finally restored when Vespasian founded the Flavian dynasty. This bloody year proved a dangerous precedent: emperors could now be made in the provinces by the "secret of empire"—the realization that the army, not the Senate, held the true keys to the throne. |
Galba
| Servius Sulpicius Galba’s brief reign from June 68 to January 69 AD marked a pivotal turning point in Roman history, as he was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. Rising to power after Nero’s suicide, Galba was an aristocratic traditionalist who sought to restore fiscal discipline to a bankrupt state. However, his reputation for "ruthless austerity" proved his undoing. By refusing to pay the customary donative to the Praetorian Guard—famously stating he "chose his soldiers, not bought them"—he alienated the very men responsible for his safety. His cold demeanor and execution of political rivals quickly eroded his support. His downfall was swift. After Galba adopted Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus as his heir, a slighted Otho organized a coup. Galba was brutally assassinated in the Roman Forum, ending the rule of a man whom the historian Tacitus described as "capax imperii nisi imperasset"—capable of ruling, had he never ruled. |
Vitellius
| AVLVS VITELLIVS was born in 15 AD to Sextilia and Lucius Vitellius, a favorite of Claudius. Vitellius served as consul in 48, and was proconsul of Africa from 61-63. In 68 Galba appointed him as Governor of Germania Inferior. The Rhine legions chose Vitellius to replace the unpopular Galba, but Otho had already deposed Galba in a coup in January of 69. Vitellius' legions marched against Otho, and on April 16 Otho killed himself. Vitellius' reign was short-lived, as the eastern legions under Vespasian rebelled against him in July. He was killed in Rome on December 20, 69 by the victorious troops of Vespasian. |
