Vespasian by Barbara Levick

An accomplished yet dry biography of a pivotal figure in the Roman Empire

Photo by mdcassano

Levick is nothing if not knowledgeable. She provides a complete picture of Vespasian’s life from birth to death, and tries to pin down his origins and family history. This latter task is not easy with someone who, unlike many other emperors, rose from a relatively obscure background to become arguably the most powerful man in the world.

Vespasian’s time in Britain, his leadership of the Roman forces during the Great Jewish Revolt and his actions during the Year of Four Emperors were the most dramatic periods of his life, and so inevitably receive the most attention. It is here though that Levick’s writing is at its worst, as it becomes barely more than a list of legions, dates and places. The reader has to frequently refer to the maps (which thankfully are plentiful) to keep abreast of things. Levick doesn’t do much to help with remembering or picturing the people involved in the events either. Names are introduced with little or no description, so it really becomes quite a task to recall who people are.

We learn about Vespasian’s reign after his bid for power in 69 A.D, but Levick is unable to make anything during this period of stabilisation stick in the mind. The one obviously fascinating part of this time, the building of the Colosseum, Levick skips over in a few paragraphs. The book picks up towards the end in the chapter about Vespasian’s sons. Levick does a good job of keeping the focus on Vespasian while briefly discussing the short reign of Titus, and that of the last of the dynasty, Domitian.

Levick seems to have great respect for Vespasian. While she points out that he was by no means the perfect emperor, she does credit him with ending the chaos caused by the Year of Four Emperors and paving the way for Trajan, who was to usher in Rome’s golden age.

I found Vespasian to be a better work than one of Levick’s other biographies Claudius in that it organises events chronologically. Claudius is such as difficult read because in choosing to write about themes such as “Law, Justice and the Stable Society”, Levick flits backwards and forwards, from one year to another. Thankfully with Vespasian the reader is able to get a much better sense of the shape of the reign. Despite this the book could hardly be described as enjoyable, with Levick seemingly going out of her way to make the text dense and awkward. One example of this is during her description of the Great Jewish Revolt, much of which is confused by her insistence on using the Jewish names of months; you are forced to break away from the prose and refer to a table in order to understand.

This biography is an important work as it is the only one available in English on Vespasian. Until someone with a more fluid style comes along to write another, I’m afraid that you’ll have to put up with Levick. If you have a strong interest in the Roman Empire, then Vespasian is worth a read but don’t expect to enjoy it very much.

Tiberius by Robin Seager

As part of the research for the novel I am working on, I’ve been re-reading selected parts of a wonderful biography of the Roman Emperor Tiberius by Robin Seager.

Seager does amazingly well with his subject which is now almost two thousand years old. As with many biographers of Roman figures, Seager is obviously challenged by the scarcity of material available to him but manages to construct a pretty complete narrative.

For many, Tiberius is not the most interesting of the Emperors, especially when compared Caligula or Nero. Seager however, manages to make Tiberius a fascinating figure. He shows Tiberius possessing high ideals, succumbing to paranoia and cruelty, and eventually damaging the political structure of the Empire he did much to protect as a younger man.

In particular I’ve been re-reading the section on Sejanus; the praetorian prefect who climbed almost to the pinnacle of the Roman world through deception and murder, before finally being strangled and thrown to the mob. Seager pulls together all the threads of the Sejanus narrative wonderfully. Admitting that there are no extant sources for the crucial year 30 AD, when Sejanus fell from power, he nevertheless tries to speculate on likely events. Seager is forced to do this at other points too, such as the death of Germanicus, and in each case he helps you to contemplate for yourself what actually happened.

While the prose lags at times and Seager’s style is not always the most readable, this is still a great book for anyone interested in the Roman Empire.