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The Year of the Four Emperors: Tacitus's Histories Retold - Civil War, the Revolt of the Batavians, and the Fall of Jerusalem
Paperback
Ancient RomeGeneral Military HistoryHistoriography
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Sep 11 2026
Pages: 130
Weight: 0.70
Height: 0.28 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
The secret was out: an emperor could be made somewhere other than Rome.
In June of AD 68, the suicide of Nero extinguished the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ending a century of unbroken imperial succession. What followed was a catastrophe the Roman world had forgotten how to prevent: eighteen blood-soaked months in which four Caesars seized the purple, marched their legions against their own countrymen, and died by the sword, suicide, or the hands of a Roman street mob.
The Year of the Four Emperors brings the ferocious, psychological drama of Cornelius Tacitus's Histories to life in vivid, contemporary prose. Viewing the crisis from Rome's imperial center and the contested frontiers alike, this volume captures an empire on the brink of self-destruction:
Galba: The stern, seventy-one-year-old aristocrat whose refusal to bribe the Praetorian Guard sealed his bloody execution in the Roman Forum.
Otho: Nero's flamboyant former companion who bought a coup, marched an army to northern Italy, and chose suicide after defeat at Bedriacum to spare Rome further bloodshed.
Vitellius: The gluttonous commander crowned by the brutal Rhine legions, whose reign dissolved into drunkenness, the burning of the Capitoline Temple, and a humiliating death on the Gemonian Stairs.
Vespasian: The pragmatic soldier waging war in Judaea who let his rivals tear each other apart before his ruthless lieutenants secured Rome for the Flavian dynasty.
The Collapsing Frontiers: The explosive revolt of Civilis and the Batavians on the Rhine, and the brutal siege and fall of Jerusalem under Titus happening concurrently in the East.
Featuring dedicated Historical Depth sidebars, detailed timelines, character guides, and military maps, this narrative history unpacks the fragility of imperial power, the mechanics of legionary rebellion, and the terrifying speed with which civilization can fracture into civil war.
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