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Domitian
Early Career
Domitian was born in Rome on 24 October A.D. 51, the youngest son of Vespasian,
Roman emperor (A.D. 69-79) and Domitilla I, a treasury clerk's daughter.[[1]] Despite a
literary tradition that associated Domitian with Flavian poverty, the family's status
remained high throughout his early years: Vespasian was appointed to the prestigious
proconsulship of North Africa in A.D. 59, and seven years later was granted a special
command in the East by the emperor Nero (A.D. 54-69) to settle a revolt in Judaea;
Titus, Domitian's older brother by at least ten years and Vespasian's eventual successor
as emperor, had married well in the 60's and was chosen as a legionary legate under
Vespasian in the East.[[2]]
Domitian was not educated at the emperor's court, yet he received sound training in
Rome in the same way as any member of the senatorial elite of his day. The imperial
biographer Suetonius records that Domitian gave public recitals of his works, conversed
elegantly, and produced memorable comments; as emperor, he would write and publish a
book on baldness.[[3]] Domitian's adolescence was also marked by isolation. His mother
had long been dead, he was considerably younger than his brother, and his father was
away for much of his teenage years, first in Africa and then in Judaea.[[4]] An obvious
outcome of all of this was his preference for solitude, a trait that would contribute
significantly to his difficulties with various constituents as emperor.[[5]]
Domitian represented the family in the senate and suggested that other issues be
postponed until Vespasian's arrival from the East. Eager for military glory himself,
Domitian soon led reinforcements to Germany, where the Batavian auxiliaries of the
Rhine legions had revolted. The uprising failed before he could arrive, however, and the
literary accounts of his achievements are not to be trusted.[[7]]
Administration
As emperor, Domitian was to become one of Rome's foremost micromanagers, especially
concerning the economy. Shortly after taking office, he raised the silver content of the
denarius by about 12% (to the earlier level of Augustus), only to devaluate it in A.D. 85,
when the imperial income must have proved insufficient to meet military and public
expenses.[[10]] Confiscations and the rigorous collection of taxes soon became
necessary. On another front, he sought to promote grain production by calling for empirewide limitations on viticulture, but the edict met with immediate opposition and was
never implemented.[[11]] On the other hand, there were notable successes. The great fire
of A.D. 64, the civil wars of A.D 68-69, and another devastating fire in A.D. 80 had left
Rome badly in need of repair. Domitian responded by erecting, restoring, or completing
some 50 structures, including the restored Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol and a
magnificent palace on the Palatine. The building program, ambitious and spectacular, was
matched by hardly any other emperor.[[12]] He was also able to maintain the debased
currency standard of A.D. 85, which was still higher than the Vespasianic one, until the
end of his reign. The economy, therefore, offered a ready outlet for Domitian's autocratic
tendencies. There were failures, but he also left the treasury with a surplus, perhaps the
best proof of a financially sound administration.
Domitian's reach extended well beyond the economy. Late in A.D. 85 he made himself
censor perpetuus, censor for life, with a general supervision of conduct and morals. The
move was without precedent and, although largely symbolic, it nevertheless revealed
Domitian's obsessive interest in all aspects of Roman life. An ardent supporter of
traditional Roman religion, he also closely identified himself with Minerva and Jupiter,
publicly linking the latter divinity to his regime through the Ludi Capitolini, the
Capitoline Games, begun in A.D.86. Held every four years in the early summer, the
Games consisted of chariot races, athletics and gymnastics, and music, oratory and
poetry. Contestants came from many nations, and no expense was spared; the emperor
himself awarded the prizes.[[13]] In the same manner, Domitian offered frequent and
elaborate public shows, always with an emphasis on the innovative: gladiator contests
held at night; female combatants and dwarves; food showered down upon the public from
ropes stretched across the top of the Amphitheater.[[14]] Thus did the emperor seek to
underscore not only Rome's importance but also his own and that of the Flavian regime.
Beyond Rome, Domitian taxed provincials rigorously and was not afraid to impose his
will on officials of every rank. Consistent with his concern for the details of
administration, he also made essential changes in the organization of several provinces
and established the office of curator to investigate financial mismanagement in the cities.
Other evidence points to a concern with civic improvements of all kinds, from road
building in Asia Minor, Sardinia and near the Danube to building and defensive
improvements in North Africa.[[15]] Less easy to gauge is Domitian's attitude toward
Christians and Jews, since reliable evidence for their persecution is difficult to find.
Christians may have been among those banished or executed from time to time during the
90's, but the testimony falls short of confirming any organized program of persecution
under Domitian's reign. On the other hand, there is clear evidence that Jews were made to
feel uneasy under Domitian, who scrupulously collected the Jewish tax and harassed
Jewish tax dodgers during much of his rule. As with Christians, such policies did not
amount to persecution, but it does help to explain the Jewish fears of expulsion present in
the sources.[[16]] On balance, the tradition of Domitian as persecutor has been greatly
overstated, yet given his autocratic tendencies and devotion to Roman pagan religion, it is
easy to see how such stories could have evolved and multiplied.
Military Affairs
While the military abilities of Vespasian and Titus were genuine, those of Domitian
were not. Partly as an attempt to remedy this deficiency, Domitian frequently became
involved in his own military exploits outside of Rome. He claimed a triumph in A.D. 83
for subduing the Chatti in Gaul, but the conquest was illusory. Final victory did not really
come until A.D. 89. In Britain, similar propaganda masked the withdrawal of Roman
forces from the northern borders to positions farther south, a clear sign of Domitian's
rejection of expansionist warfare in the province.[[17]] The greatest threat, however,
remained on the Danube. The emperor visited Moesia in A.D. 85 after Oppius Sabinus,
the Moesian governor, had been killed by invading Dacians. In the First Dacian War,
initial success against the aggressors by Domitian's praetorian prefect, Cornelius Fuscus,
allowed the emperor to celebrate his second triumph at Rome in A.D. 86. Fuscus was
subsequently killed trying to avenge Sabinus' death, however, and Domitian soon
returned to the Danube, where Roman forces, under the newly appointed governor of
Upper Moesia, Tettius Julianus, defeated the Dacians at Tapae in the Second Dacian War,
most likely in A.D. 88. Matters remained far from settled. In January, A.D. 89, the
governor of Upper Germany, L. Antonius Saturninus, mutinied at Mainz. The revolt was
promptly suppressed and the rebel leaders brutally punished. Later that same year,
Domitian attacked the Suebian Marcomanni and Quadi in the First Pannonian War, while
offering the Dacian king Decebalus a settlement to avoid conflicts on two fronts.
Compelled to return to the Danube three years later, Domitian fought the combined
forces of the Suebi and the Sarmatians in the Second Pannonian War. Few other details
are available beyond the fact that a Roman legion was destroyed in a campaign that lasted
about eight months. By January, A.D. 93, Domitian was back in Rome, not to accept a
full triumph but the lesser ovatio, a sign perhaps of unfinished business along the
Danube. In fact, during the final years of Domitian's reign, the buildup of forces on the
middle Danube and the appointment and transfer of key senior officials suggest that a
third Pannonian campaign directed against the Suebi and Sarmatians may have been
underway. Even so, there is no testimony of actual conflicts and the evidence does not
extend beyond A.D. 97.[[18]]
The Emperor's Court and His Relationship with the Aristocracy
Domitian's autocratic tendencies meant that the real seat of power during his reign
resided with his court. The features typically associated with later courts - a small band of
favored courtiers, a keen interest in the bizarre and the unusual (e.g., wrestlers, jesters,
and dwarves), and a highly mannered, if somewhat artificial atmosphere, characterized
Domitian's palace too, whether at Rome or at his Alban villa, some 20 kilometers outside
of the capital.[[19]] Courtiers included family members and freedmen, as well as friends
(amici), a group of politicians, generals, and praetorian prefects who offered input on
important matters.[[20]] Reliance upon amici was not new, yet the arrangement
underscored Domitian's mistrust of the aristocracy, most notably the senate, whose role
suffered as Domitian deliberately concentrated power in the hands of few senators while
expanding the duties of the equestrian class. Senatorial grievances were not without
basis: at least 11 senators of consular rank were executed and many others exiled, ample
attestation of the emperor's contempt for the body and its membership.[[21]] The senate's
enthusiastic support for the damning of Domitian's memory, therefore, came as no
surprise. Nevertheless, the situation must be placed in its proper context. By comparison,
the emperor Claudius(A.D. 41-54) executed 35 senators and upwards of 300 equestrians,
yet he was still deified by the senate![[22]] Domitian's mistake was that he made no
attempt to mask his feelings about the senate. Inclined neither by nature nor by
conviction to include the body in his emperorship, he treated the group no differently
than any other. Revenge would come in the form of an aristocratically based literary
tradition that would miss no opportunity to vilify thoroughly both emperor and his rule.
Death and Assessment
On 18 September, A.D. 96, Domitian was assassinated and was succeeded on the very
same day by M. Cocceius Nerva, a senator and one of his amici. The sources are
unanimous in stressing that this was a palace plot, yet it is difficult to determine the level
of culpability among the various potential conspirators.[[23]]
In many ways, Domitian is still a mystery - a lazy and licentious ruler by some accounts,
an ambitious administrator and keeper of traditional Roman religion by others.[[24]] As
many of his economic, provincial, and military policies reveal, he was efficient and
practical in much that he undertook, yet he also did nothing to hide the harsher despotic
realities of his rule. This fact, combined with his solitary personality and frequent
absences from Rome, guaranteed a harsh portrayal of his rule. The ultimate truths of his
reign remain difficult to know