Rome 19: The Year of the Four Emperors

In the last lecture, we saw the rise and fall of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was the last in this line. His suicide was welcomed by the Roman elites, but it also created a new host of problems that would lead to civil war, the first civil war since the death of Antony some 80 years earlier. This civil war would be short lived, it would begin shortly after Nero’s death in 68 and continue until the rise of Vespasian in 69. Between this short period, just one year, four Romans would become emperor. Three would die shortly after and one, Vespasian, would usher in a new dynasty, the Flavians.