Vespasian the Younger

Vespasian junior (full name probably Titus Flavius Vespasian ; * 88 probably in Rome , † after May 95) was in the year 95, together with his younger brother Domitian adopted son and presumptive heir of the Roman Emperor Domitian .

Life

Vespasianus - his birth name is unknown - was a son of Titus Flavius Clemens , a cousin of Emperor Domitian and consul of the year 95, and of Domitilla . After a biological son of Domitian died in 82 and the emperor was subsequently denied a family owner, the sons of Clemens were entrusted to the education of the rhetor Quintilian around 92 at the imperial court and officially adopted in early 95 at the latest. Coins minted in Asia Minor for Vespasianus junior (νεότερος) could indicate that he was given priority in the succession order. It is not known whether the two boys were also given the nickname or title Caesar .

Clemens fell from grace in May 95 and was executed, perhaps because of sympathy with Christianity . After that, the trace of his sons, who were no longer considered as heir to the throne, is lost. A few months later, Domitian himself fell victim to an assassination attempt, and with him his adopted sons are likely to have fallen victim to the damnatio memoriae .

swell

Quintilian : Institutio Oratoria 4, Praefatio 2 f. .
Suetonius : Domitian 15.1 .

literature

Dietmar Kienast : Diva Domitilla. In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy . Volume 76, 1989, pp. 141-147 ( PDF .).
Wolfgang Kuhoff : Flavius Clemens, T (itus). In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Nordhausen 2002, ISBN 3-88309-091-3 , Sp. 503-519. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Coin of Vespasianus junior

Remarks

↑ Kienast: Diva Domitilla , p. 145 (PDF; 168 kB).
↑ Dietrich OA Klose : The coinage of Smyrna in the Roman Empire (= ancient coins and cut stones. Vol. 10). de Gruyter, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-11-010620-5 , p. 11 f. , (At the same time: Saarbrücken, University, dissertation, 1983).

personal data
SURNAME	Vespasian the Younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Flavius Vespasianus, Titus; Vespasianus junior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Adopted son of the Roman emperor Domitian
DATE OF BIRTH	at 88
PLACE OF BIRTH	uncertain: Rome
DATE OF DEATH	after May 95

[1] Kienast: Diva Domitilla , p. 145 (PDF; 168 kB).

[2] Dietrich OA Klose : The coinage of Smyrna in the Roman Empire (= ancient coins and cut stones. Vol. 10). de Gruyter, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-11-010620-5 , p. 11 f. , (At the same time: Saarbrücken, University, dissertation, 1983).