Vitellius (lived AD 15–⁠69; emperor AD 69)

Son of Lucius Vitellius, courtier of Caligula and Claudius. He frequented the courts of three emperors, was consul and an honest proconsul of Africa. At the end of AD 68 Galba sent him to Lower Germany; at the start of AD 69 the legions proclaimed him emperor. His commanders defeated Otho at Bedriacum, and in April the Senate recognized his rule.

He dissolved Otho’s Praetorian Guard and created a new one from the Rhine legionaries. The sources agree about his love of banquets; Tacitus and Cassius Dio put the cost at nine hundred million sesterces. From July the legions of the East and of the Danube went over to Vespasian. At Cremona his army was defeated, and on December 18 he tried to abdicate.

On December 19 the Capitol burned, and on December 20 the Flavian armies entered Rome. Vitellius died on the Gemonian Stairs. He was 54; Tacitus and Suetonius write of his 57th year. His image in the sources was shaped by the victors.