69 A.D.: The Year of Four Emperors

Description

The Year of Four Emperors, so the ancient sources assure us, was one of the most chaotic, violent, and frightening periods in all Roman history. It was a time of assassinations and civil war, of armies so out of control that they had no qualms about occupying the city of Rome, and of ambitious men who ruthlessly seized power only to have it wrenched from their grasps.
In 69 AD, Gwyn Morgan offers a fresh look at this period, based on two considerations to which insufficient attention has been paid in the past. First, that we need to unravel rather than cherry-pick between the conflicting accounts of Tacitus, Plutarch and Suetonius, our three main sources of information. And second, that the role of the armies, as distinct from that of their commanders, has too often been exaggerated. The result is a remarkably accurate and insightful narrative history, filled with colorful portraits of the leading participants and new insights into the nature of the Roman military.
A strikingly vivid account of ancient Rome, 69 AD is an original and compelling account of one of the best known but perhaps least understood periods in all Roman history. It will engage and enlighten all readers with a love for the tumultuous soap opera that was Roman political life.

Reviews

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-06-05
Summary: "A SOUND AND SOBER ACCOUNT OF A CRITICAL BUT LITTLE KNOWN PERIOD IN ROMAN HISTORY"

69 A.D. was not the happiest year for the Roman Empire. Nero had committed suicide the previous June, and was succeeded by Galba. But Galba was assassinated on the fifteenth of January. Then came Otho, and Vitellius at the same time, and once Otho had killed himself, Vitellius alone from April on. But from May or June, Vitellius was opposed by Vespasian, who became the fourth emperor that year in December, when Vitellius was captured and murdered on December 20. The principal evidence for these events is the histories of Tacitus, and Morgan, professor of Classics and History at the University of Texas in Austin, is an acknowledged expert on Tacitus. The result is a detailed and complicated ride through the contradictory and often tantalizingly incomplete pages of the commentaries of Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio, and Josephus, among others. It's not an easy ride but it's worth it to get an understanding of a crucial period of the Roman Empire's long history. It is hard to fault Morgan's judgment that the events of 69 A.D. did not show that subsequent emperors feared the legions' disloyalty nor paved the way for the breakdown of government and civil order signaled by the assassination of Commodus in 192 and the nearly fifty years of civil war that began with the assassination of Severus Alexander 43 years later. Morgan argues for the reign of Galba as "the last gasp of the republican aristocracy" (a judgment on Ronald Syme?) and doesn't much mourn its passing. And Vespasian? "He became emperor because he was the last man standing, and he was the last man standing because so few took him seriously beforehand." Though not an easy book to follow, this is very good history, and the period it describes is one few people know enough about.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-03-13
Summary: "- 1 RE: Severely Lacking in Maps"

Wonderful and excellently written book. Heavy on detailed troop movements which makes maps almost an essential. At times the dearth of maps became aggravating and I felt the need to sketch some out myself to better follow the course of armies and key figures and to keep tabs on their placements in relation to other forces. This made reading a laborious task. It would certainly be worth rereading with a Barrington's Atlas as a companion.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-12-06
Summary: "Five stars for 69 AD."


Mr. Morgan delivers a stellar account of a unique year in the Roman Empire, 69 AD. Not merely relying on a single source, Mr. Morgan conflates a plethora of sources, Tacitus, Suetonius, Plutarch, Josephus, among others. Mr. Morgan does his best to give an unbiased account of all the principle actors. However, Mr. Morgan tends to rely a good amount on Tacitus (not a bad thing though). One point that I found impressive about the book is the detail Mr. Morgan goes into recounting the battles. For example, Mr. Morgan recounts an interesting story; "...they (Vitellian's forces) hauled a gigantic rock-throwing ballista onto the causeway, and began leveling the Flavian line. The results would have been catastrophic, had not two Flavian soliders picked up Vitellian shields, slipped in unnoticed among the enemy artillerymen, and managed somehow to put the ballista out of action," pg. 207. Such detail is indeed worthy of praise. Furthermore, this is just one of several fascinating little stories that Mr. Morgan relates in his book. Also, in appendix one, Mr. Morgan gives short biographies about the men whose works he used to write his book; Tacitus and Plutarch, for example. Another interesting part is in appendix three, in which Mr. Morgan gives short biographies of the legions of that time. In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in the Roman Empire. It is superbly written, very well researched and very interesting. If Mr. Morgan ever does a book on the year of the five emperors (193 AD) or year of the six emperors (238 AD), I shall be first in line to purchase it.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2009-04-11
Summary: "First-class history."

In "69 A.D.,the year of the four emperors" Professor Morgan gives a comprehensive, detailed narrative of a year which in most histories of the period is usually treated briefly, as a confused and confusing interlude between the extravagances of Nero and the stability of Vespasian. His book combines clarity and readability with interesting and convincing analyses of many disputed questions,all based on a deep knowledge of his subject. Anyone interested in Roman history will enjoy this book.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2008-01-18
Summary: "Scholarly yet very readable."

Gwyn Morgan gives life to ancient texts and really shows what happened in 69 A.D. This book is must reading for students of ancient history.