Titus (Latin:IMPERATOR•TITVS•CAESAR•VESPASIANVS•AVGVSTVS) (December 30, 39 – September 13, 81), belonging to the Flavian dynasty, was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 79 to 81. He remained famous for taking of Jerusalem, in 70. To commemorate this victory, his brother Domitian, who had become emperor, had the Arch of Titus erected, which is still in good condition.
The portrait of Titus
Born in Aquae Cutiliae in Sabina or in Rome according to the historian Suetonius, he is the son of Vespasian. He comes from a family of municipal notables:his grandfather was part of the equestrian order in the Rieti region. It was after the birth of Titus that the Flavians took a notable place in the imperial circle thanks to the accession of the Emperor Claudius, who allowed their protection by the freedman Narcissus. Titus was thus raised in the imperial court alongside Claudius' son, Britannicus1. He benefited from a refined education in a luxurious environment, learning Greek and Latin letters taught by his tutor Sosibius.
His father's helper
The political careers of father and son experienced a simultaneous impetus and followed a parallel evolution.
The political role of the young man begins in 56 or 57 (that is to say at seventeen or eighteen years old) when he becomes a military tribune first in Germany then in Brittany, but his ascent does not really begin until '67, two years before his father's coronation. On this date, he became legate of the Legio XV Apollinaris in Judea under the command of his father, to suppress the insurrection, marked by the First Judeo-Roman War1. At the time of the military intervention, which is exceptional given that he had not yet exercised his praetorship, he was very young; he was then only twenty-eight. His military and diplomatic education will come in handy.
Suetonius affirms that Titus is a true "supporter of the emperor". Indeed, during the year 68, the young man was engaged by his father in diplomatic approaches2. As the revolt of Vindex looms and Nero has taken his own life, Titus is responsible for calming the rivalries between his father and Mucien who has joined the province of Syria. It is a fundamental role that he exercises in order to allow his father to access power by carrying out joint action with Mucien. In February or March 69, Titus put to good use his talents as a statesman, undeniable and promising, by bringing fresh news on the state of mind of the armies and the provinces to his father and by convincing him to pretend to the empire.
Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman legions led by Titus.
Until July 69 when Vespasian was hailed emperor, Titus carried out diplomatic negotiations which rallied Roman officials from Syria and Egypt to Vespasian's cause. After the rallying of all the East in July, he became chief officer of the Judean War.
In 70, he led the Roman legions and reconquered the city of Jerusalem after a long siege, the details of which are reported by Flavius Josephus. During street fighting, the city is destroyed and the Second Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Herod's Temple, is set on fire.
The functions of Titus
From October 70 to June 71, when he returned to Rome to find his father, Titus celebrated his victory in Judea by celebrating a triumph in Rome. He distributes money to the people in his name and that of his father. The commemorative arch erected by Domitian (triumphal arch of Titus) represents his chariot drawn by a quadriga. It also depicts the procession with the spoils looted from the Second Temple in Jerusalem, including the seven-branched candlestick, the table of showbread and the sacred trumpets.
Titus now plays the role of vice-emperor because he becomes, according to Suetonius, "partner of power and even guardian of the empire". Vespasian manifests the desire to associate his son with the empire as Augustus had done with Tiberius. In 69 he was named together with his brother prince of youth.
Associated with the government of Vespasian, he acquired tribunician power and proconsular imperium. In 73-74, he was a censor, that is to say, he was responsible for registering the citizens and drawing up the list of senators.
He will also exercise 7 consulates in 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79. He will be able to judge the knights and senators guilty of political offenses and professional errors.
Titus replaces his father when writing official letters or reading official acts before the senate. He thus directly assumes the management of affairs.
In 72, he was appointed prefect of the praetorium, whereas the office was usually assigned to a knight.
After barely two years in power, Titus died of a fever on September 13, 81. He was deified by the Roman Senate and replaced by his younger brother Domitian.
A second Nero?
A despotic Praetorian Prefect
The Praetorian Prefect is the head of the Imperial Guard. He belongs to the equestrian order and represents the emperor when he is absent. Titus is not a knight, so this is an unusual appointment. A hidden side of his character then appears:to kill the men whose ambitions he suspects, he organizes formidable secret services responsible for spreading derogatory rumors about the men who threaten him. Encouraged by the people, who openly demanded their execution, Titus pretended to obey them and easily liquidated his enemies.
Aulus Caecina was one of the victims of this method. He had betrayed Vitellius in 69 to join the Flavian armies. In the eyes of Titus, this man is dangerous, so he has him killed. These actions promote Titus' bad reputation in the senate and sow fear.
The culture of vices
Before his accession as emperor, Titus displayed intemperance, rapacity and unparalleled cruelty which boded ill for the behavior of the future emperor.
His education at the imperial court gave the young man a very keen taste for all forms of pleasure and licentiousness. He was a libertine like Nero who had a certain taste for eunuchs. He had a tendency to debauchery.
The Roman people also likened him to Nero because he loved the entertainment world by showering largesse on the singers and actors who made up his entourage. During his father's reign he coined judgments and tried to make a dubious profit from the affairs he was in charge of, all in order to live in luxury and give lavish and expensive parties.
What aroused in the Romans a hatred towards Titus was his "famous love for Queen Berenice".
Forbidden love
This love is not only the symbol of the cruel destiny that strikes two lovers:behind this appearance hides a political implication.
Berenice is the great-granddaughter of Herod the Great and daughter of Herod Agrippa I. She belongs to the royal family that ruled Judea in the 1st century BCE.
It was in 67 during Vespasian's campaign in Galilee that she met Titus when she was trying to maneuver in order to help her brother Herod Agrippa II to obtain a political rapprochement with the Romans. She is very beautiful and her political actions impress Titus, who falls under the spell of the Jewish queen.
From the imperial accession of Vespasian, their liaison is official. But faced with the disapproval of the Roman people, Berenice remains in Judea when Titus returns to Rome. Vespasian persuaded him that she would jeopardize the lasting establishment of their dynasty. However, in 75, Berenice comes to Rome with her brother, and officially becomes the wife while cohabiting with Titus. They become the target of criticism, as the people of Rome have always been suspicious of the city's Jewish community. They are also afraid that Bérénice embodies the new Cleopatra of which they have kept a pale and bad memory. And they feel that Titus is getting dangerously close to the East.
This is why Titus' reputation was tarnished when his father died in June 79. Everyone expected the worst. The death of Vespasian on June 24, 79 radically changed his personality and the perception that the Roman people had of him. During his short reign of two years, Titus proved to be an ideal prince both in his methods of government and with his subjects.
A good emperor
A respectful man
He is probably deeply marked by the death of his father because overnight his faults are erased before "the rarest virtues". Perhaps he grasped the importance of the Flavian dynasty.
Out of respect for the will of his people, he sends Berenice back “in spite of himself and in spite of her” to Judea.
From then on he separates from his favourites, forbids himself to attend performances and renounces pleasures.
He chooses his advisers from among the most respectable men in Rome. He abandons his orgy nights for official meals aimed more at the enjoyment of the guests than the display of luxury.
This displayed simplicity, the work of the traditional imitatio Augusti among the emperors (imitation of the Emperor Augustus), did not prevent Titus from inaugurating with great pomp in the year 80, the largest gaming site in Antiquity, the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum. Thousands of beasts are sacrificed during the inaugural games to the delight of the people of Rome.
A good man
This radical change in behavior is unfortunately concomitant with a series of disasters which will, in two years, highlight the exemplary character of the emperor.
The eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79 buried Pompeii and Herculaneum under ashes. Thousands of people, including Pliny the Elder, a friend of Titus, died. The emperor then entrusted the task of supervising disaster relief to two consuls and had subsidies paid to the survivors. He granted them the property of those who perished without leaving an heir, unlike his predecessors who, in similar circumstances, had appropriated the property of the victims.
During an epidemic of plague, which caused the death of thousands of people, Titus intervened in person to help the population. He sent for help and came to comfort the survivors "bringing the solicitude of an emperor and the tenderness of a father".
Titus did not agree to a criminal trial.
The conjunction between these dramatic events and the generous and devoted attention lavished by Titus on people in need explains the unequaled reputation enjoyed by the emperor.
Tradition lends him this word:"Diem perdidi" (I lost my day), pronounced when he ended a day without having brought a particular benefit.
A reign darkened by disasters and prematurely terminated
In addition to the eruption of Vesuvius described above, the reign of Titus is also marked by the serious fire of Rome in 80, comparable in magnitude to that known under Nero in 64, and by the epidemic of "plague" which carries the 'emperor himself.
He died of the plague on September 13, 81, barely two years after his enthronement. His enigmatic last words are “I only made one mistake”. They are still the subject of speculation by historians today.
A unanimous mourning greeted his disappearance, and the title of "delights of the human race" was awarded to him and remains attached to him. This memory has definitively erased from the collective memory the first Titus, capable of debauchery, cruelty and despotic arbitrariness. Posterity will especially remember the matured and metamorphosed Titus by his function.
Family
Titus had a daughter, Julia Titi or Julia Flavia, by his wife Marcia Furnilla.