Vitellius the Younger

Denarius of the emperor Vitellius, on the reverse portraits of his children Vitellius and Vitellia

Vitellius Germanicus ( junior ; * 62/63; † December 69 in Rome ) was the designated heir to the throne of the Roman emperor Vitellius of the same name .

Life

The younger Vitellius was a son of Vitellius from his second marriage to Galeria Fundana . He had a sister, Vitellia . His father presented the boy to the Roman troops as presumptive successor in Lugdunum at the end of April or beginning of May 69 and decorated him with the imperial insignia. Due to opportunistic considerations towards the Senate , Vitellius decided not to give the six-year-old boy - who is said to have suffered from a severe language disorder - the nickname or title of Caesar , but instead gave him the title Germanicus, which he had chosen for himself .

After the fall of his father on December 20, 69, Vitellius junior was executed at the instigation of Gaius Licinius Mucianus before the end of the year.

swell

• Suetonius , Vitellius 6 ; 18th
• Tacitus , Historiae 2, 59 ; 4, 80

literature

• Ulrich Huttner : Recusatio imperii. A political ritual between ethics and tactics (= Spudasmata . Volume 93). Olms, Hildesheim 2004, ISBN 3-487-12563-3 .