Vespasian leading his forces against the Jewish revolt, a miniature in a 1470 illuminated manuscript version of the history of Josephus Military and political career Early career He rose through the ranks of Roman public office, being elected aedile on his second attempt in 39 and praetor on his first attempt in 40, taking the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Emperor Caligula. He was elected quaestor the following year and then served in Creta et Cyrenaica. Vespasian served in the army as a military tribune in Thrace in 36 AD. Д®arly in his life he was somewhat overshadowed by his older brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus, who had entered public life and pursued the cursus honorum, holding an important military command in the Danube. He was educated in the countryside, Cosa, near what is today Ansedonia, Italy, under the guidance of his paternal grandmother, so much so that even when he became emperor, he often returned to the places of his childhood, having left the former villa exactly as it had been. His mother, Vespasia Polla, also belonged to the equestrian order in society, with her father rising to the rank of prefect of the camp and her brother becoming a Senator. Vespasian was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus, a Roman moneylender, debt collector, and tax collector. His family was relatively undistinguished and lacking in pedigree. Vespasian (born Titus Flavius Vespasianus, pronounced ) was born in a village north-east of Rome called Falacrinae.

4.2 Arrival in Rome and gathering support.

After he died in 79, he was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, thus becoming the first Roman emperor to be succeeded by his natural son and establishing the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian is often credited with restoring political stability to Rome following the chaotic reigns of his predecessors. Through his general Agricola, Vespasian increased imperial expansion in Britain. He reformed the financial system of Rome after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully, and initiated several ambitious construction projects, including the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known today as the Roman Colosseum. Little information survives about the government during Vespasian's ten-year rule. On 20 December 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day Vespasian was declared emperor by the Senate.

Primus and Mucianus led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt.

In his bid for imperial power, Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus, a general in Pannonia, leaving his son Titus to command the besieging forces at Jerusalem. The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, the emperor on 1 July 69. After Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became emperor in April 69. While Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide and plunged Rome into a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Vespasian's renown came from his military success he was legate of Legio II Augusta during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 and subjugated Judaea during the Jewish rebellion of 66.

Vespasian was the first emperor from an equestrian family and only rose into the senatorial rank as the first member of his family later in his lifetime. His fiscal reforms and consolidation of the empire generated political stability and a vast Roman building program. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empire for 27 years. Vespasian ( / v Й› Л€ s p eЙЄ К’( i) Й™n, - z i Й™n/ Latin: Vespasianus 17 November AD 9 вЂ“ 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79.

Vespasian denarius