VESPASIAN (Flavius Vespasianus Augustus), Roman Emperor. - Born on 17 November 9 A.D. at Falacrinae, near Rieti, died at Aquae Cutiliae on 24 June 79 A.D. (on the identification of the places, v. E. Evans, The Cults of the Sabine territory, in Amer. Academy in Rome, 1939, pp. 95, 89) from a family likewise originally from the Sabina.
A "tribunus militum" under Tiberius, he passed through the career of honors until Nero sent him as imperial legate to Syria with the task of quelling the insurrection of the Jews. During the first military operations, after the capture of Jotapata, he took prisoner one of the leaders of the revolt, Josephus, who later, having been pardoned, became the historian of the Jewish war. In the troubled period that followed the assassination of Galba, the legions of the East, later followed by those stationed in the Danubian region, proclaimed emperor V., who swept away the last resistance of his rival Vitellius in the phases of an atrocious civil struggle, which took place even in the heart of Rome.
As soon as he assumed power, V. had to confront with energy grave problems, such as the sense of bewilderment that possessed the Empire and the consequent diminution of imperial prestige, economic hardship, etc. Having quelled the Batavian rebellion and pacified the Rhine region, and having brought the war in Judaea to a successful conclusion through the merit of his son Titus (v.), V. restored the imperial dignity (he assumed the praenomen of "imperator"), reformed the Senate, eliminating those who could cast a shadow over him and admitting new senators drawn from the equestrian order and representatives of the Italian bourgeoisie. His prudent practical sense made the administration more efficient both in Italy and in the various provinces of the Empire. V. strengthened the "limes" of the latter and increased the number of the legions, yet excluding Italians from legionary recruitment and reserving for them only service in the praetorian and urban cohorts, in order to prevent the army from being tainted by the urban proletariat. In literature too there occurred a return to the great models of the past with Pliny the Elder, Quintilian, Valerius Flaccus and Silius Italicus. In the fervent building activity in Rome, notable monuments are owed to V., among them the "Forum Pacis" and the "Templum Sacrae Urbis", transformed into a church under the title of Sts. Cosmas and Damian by Pope Felix IV. Under V. the construction of the Flavian Amphitheatre was begun, later inaugurated by Titus in 80 and completed by Domitian.