Flavian Rome

After Nero's suicide in 68 CE Rome was plunged into civil war again, as successive military commanders were declared emperor. The victor was Flavius Vespasian, who managed to found a new (Flavian) dynasty. Vespasian oversaw the building of the Colosseum, and both he and his son, Titus, remained popular. However, the third Flavian, Domitian, is depicted as one of the most sinister, paranoid and tyrannical of all Roman emperors, and his murder in 96 brought an end to Rome's second dynasty. Copyright 2013 La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.