Life of Emperor Vitellius #8 - The Gluttonous Emperor, Roman History Documentary Series

Described as a sluggard and a glutton Aulus Vitellius has been written of by history as a titular head of a rebellion without the command of his troops or the knowhow how to rule the Empire once he was elevated to the position of Emperor. He was the third Emperor of ‘The Year of the Four Emperors’.
On this channel we focus on Roman History and right now we're doing a video on every Roman Emperor, if you're interested in that subscribe or watch the playlist here:
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Sources and Suggested reading:
Annals and Histories - (Tacitus)
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The Twelve Caesars - (Suetonius)
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Dio's Roman history - (Cassius Dio)
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69 AD: The Year of Four Emperors - (Gwyn Morgan)
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From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68 - (H. H. Scullard)
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The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome - (Chris Scarre):
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Music:
No Copyright Music _ Fear _ Ambient _ 2018 _ Cinematic Sounds
Scott Buckley - 'Legionnaire' ( • Scott Buckley - 'Legio... )
Imaginary Love - INOSSI ( • Imaginary Love - INOSS... )
#Emperorsofrome #Romanemperors #SPQR #Romanhistory

[@hangoluanbisuk4299]

There was a story when caligula asked vitellius did he see a goddess approaching them, vitellius wisely said " only gods can see themselves"...he was a wise man under a wicked emperor...

[@rdf4315]

😂

[@Sharrrian]

dude that's so smart 🤣🤣

[@Joorum]

Great work. The 4 emperor civil war is one of my favorite things to read about. No matter how big an empire gets, all it takes is the death of one man to throw everything into chaos.

[@dazednotconfused1503]

This is just a guy from New Jersey

[@jamesmiller2521]

Vinny

[@edferr5241]

He does look familiar. perhaps the italian section of

[@DogFoxHybrid]

And there are people still somehow deny that Italians are by and large descendants of Romans, despite all the busts looking like inveterate gabagoolians.

[@MatteoAdler]

As a history fanatic im loving your channel a lot and im taking a lots of notes!! Cant wait for the Vespasian video! Keep up the great work! Your commentary in very clear and concise. Liked all the video i watched . Cheers from Italy!

[@andrewduncan7801]

Me too

[@gregputman]

Vitellius ended the practice of centurions selling furloughs and exemptions of duty to their men, a change Tacitus describes as being adopted by 'all good emperors'. No one ever mentions this

[@franciscomm7675]

First. I can't wait for your video about vespasian, the first emperor since nero to last more than a year

[@redjirachi1]

Also the first emperor who's position passed to his biological son

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

Yeah I cant wait either final some stabilty, 69 AD was a real mess. And yeah first Emperors whos son inherit the throne...kinda weird to think about since they all wanted to have a son inherit. Claudius probably came closest with Britannicus :)

[@num1sooner]

The mule breeder my favorite emperor 👍

[@michielevers5513]

I came here because I have a Vitellius coin. Nice to have learned more about him.

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

Wow cool! How did you get your hands on that? :)

[@michielevers5513]

SPQR History funny story actually. Do you know catawiki? It’s an online auction app. So I was playing around and decided to place a bid, thinking someone would probably outbid me. I was the only bidder in the end so now I’m the proud owner of the coin for €8. Never getting rid of it. Got it on display in the house.

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

Really awesome, I need to check Catawiki out, I would really like to get my hands on some Roman coins :D

[@Waffle143]

ayo that’s my ancestor

[@3John-Bishop]

do Galba

[@drusik]

I can't seem to understand why the Sack of Cremona. As I understand, it was a more wealthier area compared to others, with its residents living in moderate luxury. And Vespasian is considered by some as "being Roman to the core", so what prompted a 4 day sack of Cremona by the troops against their own people (especially since this was before the whole Christian - Pagan split and so-on). Even though Vespasian did not command the Danube Legion directly, didn't it look bad for the ursurper's troops to be sacking their own cities?

[@johnmiller8975]

my guess he lost control of his troops even Wellington had similar problems

[@dv5659]

It seems to be a moment that encapsulates the struggle in Rome that year. Barbaric tendencies could not be withheld. I imagine it was really difficult for Vespasian to settle his troops after their victory.

[@orryvanvaerenbergh6126]

Amazingly detailed. thank you for your work!

[@OttomanHistoryHub]

Everyone’s favorite jolly fat emperor!

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

I'm just glad he is dead, so we can start working on more intressting Emperors ;)

[@jasonsamson6172]

@@TheSPQRHistorian emperor vitellius is literally my favorite roman emperor though. all he did was party his entire time in power, and was to powerful for anyone in rome to do anything at the time. if that loser otho hadn't called for reinforcements, he would have remained emperor.

[@itsMe_TheHerpes]

he was indeed the best, a good jolly dude, who liked to party and to make people happy, and with no real intentions of war or other atrocities that the romans did at that time. he just liked chariots rides and dice games. i think it would have been a wonderful and flourishing period in roman history if he would have been emperor for a bit longer. i feel bad for otho, vitelius was not a bad sort, otho would have most likely reached an agreement with him.

[@MyHentaiGirlNeko]

@@itsMe_TheHerpes nah it would make the Empire going to shit faster

[@itsMe_TheHerpes]

@@MyHentaiGirlNeko i mean ok, i can see various scenarios and reasons why, but still, it's the same scenarios as for the others, so i think he would have been good.

[@MCorpReview]

Read the eagle series. They said he once served under Vespasian and was quite the jolly bum . Really looking to lesser known emperors like the ones who followed Aurelian. 😎

[@machillo501]

Great video!!!

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

Thank you Daniel!

[@erinaltstadt4234]

Thank you

[@videosdeecologia7468]

Vespasian was smart: waited for all emperor candidates to attack each other and after there was only one weakened emperor Vitellius left he attacked him...

[@mindfield9]

Great videos!!! I hope you can also make a video about the Batavians who rebelled during the year of the four emperors because of the troubles caused by this Roman civil war, this was called the Batavian Revolt.

[@theoldcavalier7451]

Will you do eastern Roman emperors Ivstinian

[@petersclafani4370]

Problem with rome they spent more time fighting eachother then advancing there territory.

[@jordanianchristian8387]

So he’s like Roman Santa?

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

Pretty much, except the gifts ;)

[@cultofthevoid5677]

I'd imagine him as a fat jolly fellow, someone anyone could be friends with. That's probably why he was able to make friends with people like Caligula and Nero, two guys I'd imagine would be hard to get along with.

[@longyu9336]

@@cultofthevoid5677 Pete Clemenza irl

[@thedrinkinggamemaker9749]

No, he was like Homer Simpson: fat and stupid

[@silkok6346]

I'm always intrested in what if Nero would had hold on to his trone

[@cennon]

Vitellius looks like one of those faces in Disney's haunted mansion.

[@revanius2213]

He might have lost to Vespasian in the Year of the Four Emperors but his bloodline outlasted the Flavians as he was the ancestor of Marcus Aurelius.

[@Steven-dt5nu]

Interesting twist i turns in this period of four emperors.

[@Retro77691]

Vitellius Was American 🇺🇸

[@syluxv2398]

A bit of me thinks that Emperor Calus from Destiny is loosely inspired by Vitellius

[@quintenbruggink1595]

Verrens :)

[@exposingproxystalkingorgan4164]

I would have prolonged the civil war to at least cause instability to the opposition.

[@alsawaeeralsawaeer]

for woord

[@franksmith6351]

Why didn't he just give up the throne? Don't understand the violence

[@mumblerapper1105]

If I was in his position I'd just be like "Ayo I step down, chill, let me just take a few hundred thousand denarii and be on my way"

[@TheSPQRHistorian]

Tbh I think he wanted to give up the throne, but the soliders who put him there didn't allow it because their cushier jobs in the capital instead on the frontier on the Rhine

[@MM22966]

At that level, retirement is rarely an option.

[@albertvitela4379]

I am his descendant

[@optimusprinceps3526]

Me too

[@jkmutendar8820]

Great content, however you need to work on your tone, your voice is too monotonous, which makes it difficult for one to maintain interest in what you are saying.

[@theironmarshmallowg3932]

He needs to work on his pronunciation too. I can’t understand a word he’s saying.

[@petersclafani4370]

The spelling was horrible if not pathetic

[@williamhagen2792]

Narrator's 1st language is NOT English. Hard to understand.

[@michelleandrade303]

It sounds pretty clear to me

[@JustinCage56]

No need to be a dick about.

[@gregputman]

This has got to be the worst narrator I have ever heard.

[@theironmarshmallowg3932]

I can barely understand you. If you’re going to narrate history in English it should be clear and concise.