We’ve all heard those sayings about Rome before. You know the ones:

“RoMe WaSn’T bUiLt In A dAy”

“AlL rOaDs LeAd To RoMe”

These sayings are cliché for a reason. They describe the greatness of the Eternal City. The legacy of Ancient Rome still lives in our hearts today, whether you feel it or not. Why? Because it lives in our systems of government, language, culture, roads, city names, etc.

With influential empires come influential people. Some of these people leave such a strong legacy that it’d be nice to rank them in a top 10 list.

So while everyone is busy making their top 10 list of GOAT NBA players, I’m too busy building my top 10 GOAT Roman Emperors list. For my first ever few Roman Memeoirs blog posts, I will be exploring the greatest Roman Emperors of all time. That is, based on my own idea of impact, influence, and legacy, where does each Roman Emperor stand?

For this series, I will be looking at only the Roman Empire as we know it from the year 27 BC when Augustus became the first emperor, to the fall of the Western Empire in 476 AD. This means that no Eastern Roman Emperors that reigned after 476 will make the list, but that is an excellent idea for a future post!

Today, we begin with Vespasian.

#10: Vespasian – 9 AD – 79 AD (ruled 69-79)

Everyone loves the Roman Colosseum, but I bet not very many of the millions who visit it every year can tell you who built it. For that reason, let’s get to know the man behind it!

Before Becoming a GOAT

Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born in a village near Rome. His father was a tax collector and his older brother was successful both as a soldier and as a politician. Despite having two role models in the family, Vespasian had to be pressured by his mother to follow in his brother’s footsteps.

He held several public and military positions before then-Emperor Claudius granted him a high-ranking position as the commander of a Roman Legion. Rome invaded and annexed the island of Britain in 43 AD, and Vespasian was one of the main commanders of that venture.

He held other public positions after his stint as a military commander. His most noteworthy position was serving as the provincial governor of Africa.

He was an advisor to Emperor Nero (ruled 54-68) for a brief period. However, when Vespasian fell asleep during one of Nero’s fiddle recitals, Nero booted him from his entourage, leaving him in political limbo.

As someone who fell asleep in a lot of college classes, I can relate to Vespasian. Sometimes it’s just hard to stay awake, shit happens!

However, Vespasian would later regain Nero’s favor because in 66, a violent revolt broke out in the province of Judaea. This revolt resulted in the deaths of many Roman soldiers and even the Roman governor of Judaea.

Nero appointed Vespasian to lead the charge against the revolting Jews. This war is known as the Great Jewish Revolt. During this time, Vespasian caught wind of a prophecy that said future rulers of the world would come from Judaea.

“Hmmm…” Vespasian must’ve thought, “I was chosen to put down this violent revolt because I’m the best commander Rome has to offer. Surely this prophecy is referring to me?” Shoot your shot playboy!

Rise to Power

Nero committed suicide in 68 AD after the Senate declared him an enemy of the state. He didn’t have a male successor, so a civil war for the throne broke out that lasted about a year. Thus, the year 69 (nice) is known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

Vespasian wanted to make a bid for the throne, but chose to bide his time in Jerusalem. Nero’s successor, Galba, was assassinated by Otho in January 69. Otho claimed the throne for himself but then Vitellius defeated him in battle three months later. Otho committed suicide after his defeat. Man, for an empire that lasted 1000 years the Romans sure were suicide-happy. Anyways, Vitellius became the third of the four emperors of 69.

Vespasian would shoot his shot for the throne that summer. He traveled to Alexandria, Egypt, where he had military support. Alexandria was the main food source for the empire; it was where grain was harvested and shipped all over the ancient world. So yes, Vitellius had secured the throne in Rome, but Vespasian had control of everyone’s food supply. Pretty hard to rule over a starving population. Your move, Vitellius!

Vespasian’s troops hailed him Emperor in July, but his main army was marching towards Rome under the command of one of his best generals, Marcus Antonius Primus. Primus’s men faced off against Vitellius’s army in northern Italy that October and defeated them. Vitellius attempted to flee the city but didn’t make it out alive. This left Vespasian as the winner of the Year of the Four Emperors sweepstakes. Congrats, big dawg!

The Tax-Collector Emperor

Vespasian didn’t return to Rome until almost a year after winning the throne. He left one of his other generals, Gaius Licinius Mucianus in charge of affairs in the capital. Vespasian’s youngest son, Domitian, was Mucianus’s right-hand man.

Vespasian’s first order of action was to tax that ass. He instituted and renewed many different taxes, including a urine tax on public toilets. The saying “money does not stink” originates from Vespasian’s urine tax. His taxes revitalized Rome’s depleted treasury; Nero had been quite the narcissistic spender.

So we’ve come full circle. Vespasian’s father was a tax collector, and he continued his father’s practice of taxation as emperor. Like father, like son!

During his reign, Vespasian was all about propaganda. He encouraged only positive stories about himself to circulate the empire and destroyed any dissenting writings from philosophers and historians. He once even put a philosopher to death for his anti-Vespasian teachings.

The main narrative pushed around the empire was that he was a supernatural being that brought peace to Rome and secured a stable future for it. And I mean, the guy wasn’t wrong; his reign was relatively stable, and he left the empire in great shape for his own two sons to rule it after him.

Vespasian also finished quelling the revolt in Judaea. His oldest son, Titus, laid siege to Jerusalem. He used the spoils of the Roman-Jewish War to fund and begin the construction of the Roman Colosseum in 72.

Finally, he followed up on Rome’s successful invasion of Britain in 78 by expanding further into the island and pushing his way up to modern-day Scotland.

Having emerged victorious from a civil war, it was crucial for Vespasian to name a successor. Otherwise, Rome may have had another Year of the Four (or more!) Emperors. Thus, his reign marks the beginning of the Flavian Dynasty. His two sons, Titus (ruled 79-81) and Domitian (ruled 81-96) would go on to become Emperors themselves and oversee the completion of the Colosseum.

Death and Legacy

The Romans had a practice of deifying emperors after their death. In other words, they held a ceremony granting the highest respects to their deceased leaders. So yes, the Romans pressed the biggest F to pay respects to their emperors.

When Vespasian fell ill in 79, he was humorous about his incoming death. He said he felt himself “becoming a god,” referring to the fact that it was almost time for his peers to deify him. Well played, Vespasian. F.

While Vespasian is a lesser-known name out of the emperors that will appear in this series, he certainly ticks many important boxes that make for a Top 10 one. A successful military commander? Check. Suppressing violent revolts to maintain his legitimacy? Check. Expanding the empire’s territory? Check. Establishing a clear line of succession to prevent another civil war? Check. Ascended to the throne in the year 69? NICE. And finally, giving us one of the Seven Wonders of the World? Che— well, that one’s not really required, but cool to have!