v13_0185 - VESPASIAN As, (MB, Æ 27)

VESPASIAN

(1/07/69-24/06/79)

Vespasien was born in 9. In 66, Néron entrusts to him, with a proconsulate and three legions, the care of repressing the revolt of Judea which has just burst. The war will last four years and will end with the capture and destruction of Jerusalem. Proclaimed august on July 1, 69 in Alexandria and sole holder of the title after the assassination of Vitellius on December 20, he did not arrive in Rome until October 70. The first of the Flavians was a great emperor who undertook numerous political reforms, administrative and economic. For the record, he is the creator of the vespasiennes, ancestor of public toilets. He would have made the remark about them that "money has no smell" because the collected urine was sold to the fullers of Rome.