Domitian ruled as Roman emperor between 81 and 96 AD. He was the second son of emperor Vespasian and the last of the Flavian Dynasty. A paranoid megalomaniac who once hosted a macabre party to embarrass his guests, he was assassinated in 96 AD. Here are 10 facts about emperor Domitian. Domitian was the son of emperor Vespasian He had ruled between 69 and 79 AD and achieved a reputation for shrewd management in contrast to his profligate predecessor Nero.
The Talmud, by contrast, includes a report that a gnat chewed on his brain, having flown up his nostril after Titus destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. Domitian was a paranoid bully with a reputation for sadism, said to torture flies with his pen.
Gleeful with arbitrary power, Suetonius records that Domitian used charges of treason to set up prominent men so that he could claim their estates. Where emperors often continued the charade that the Empire really was just like the Republic it had supplanted, Domitian eroded the traditions of the senate and ruled openly as a despot.
He claimed he was a living god and made sure priests worshipped the cults of his father and brother. He was married to Domitia Longina. Domitia was married to the Roman Senate but was forced to leave him and marry Domitian. He had a son with Domitia, but he died at the age of 3. Domitian belonged to the Flavian Dynasty which came into rising after the fall of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty. The dynasty began with loyal and professional army formation and the expansion of membership of the Senate, created by Vespasian.
Whereas, Domitian started with autocracy, focused on confiscations of costly shows, buildings, and games. Domitian spent most of his life living under the shadow of his brother and father.
However, he lacked the charisma to impress the people unlike his father and brother. He lacked enthusiasm and came out as a lazy person who loved to spend most of his time alone. Such characters did not show a good sign of an influential emperor. He had a self-deprecating sense of humour which would compel others to judge him. However, despite the drawbacks he managed and proved to be an emperor who would be liked by the people and military force of Rome.
Domitian stayed back at Rome when his father, Vespasian and brother, Titus travelled to places for campaigns. They took over the empire after defeating Judaea. During all these events, he was back in Rome as the representative of the Flavian Dynasty.
He had learned ways to deal with officials and the senatorial board. He gave a speech when he was just the age of 18 which happened to be the first step for his fame. The speech given in front of the Roman Senate was able to impress the Senate as well as the people of Rome. The time he ruled was filled with terror ,so he was known as the reign of terror. Despite the chaos and crisis caused due to the ongoing terror during his reign, he was known as Father of the country and venerable.
However, the period of his reign saw numerous developmental progress. He was involved in numerous good deeds since the time he was in power. Unfortunately, he was not liked by everyone, mainly the Senators. The hatred could not stop him from doing some good and bringing positive changes in Rome.
Tacitus, Agricola's son-in-law, writes that Agricola's recall in 84 was due to Domitian's jealousy, but more probably it reflected increasing concern with dangers on the Rhine-Danube frontier. In Germany, Domitian himself took the field, continuing and extending his father's policy of shortening the frontier by annexing the triangle between the Rhine and Danube. The latter part of the reign saw increasing trouble on the lower Danube from the Dacians, a tribe occupying approximately what is now Romania.
Led by an able king, Decebalus, the Dacians in 85 invaded the empire. The war ended in 88 in a compromise peace which left Decebalus as king and gave him Roman "foreign aid" in return for his promise to help protect the frontier chiefly against himself. One of the reasons Domitian failed to crush the Dacians was a revolt in Germany by the governor Antonius Saturninus. The revolt was quickly suppressed, but henceforth Domitian's always suspicious temper grew steadily worse. Domitian was not considered a military emperor, according to Suetonius, though he did embark on a successful campaign against the Germanic tribe, the Chatti, in upper Weser in AD 83 and was the first emperor since Augustus to give the army a pay rise.
He stripped the Senate of its power, executing senators and officers for trivial offences. On 18 September AD 96 he was hacked to death in his bed by a group of conspirators, which may have included his wife, Domitia.
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