ABSTRACT

With the sudden death of Titus, Domitian emerged from his brother's shadow to become emperor. He had played an important role in Ad 69 when he had been the senior representative of the family in Rome, but had not enjoyed the same prominence as Titus during the reign of their father, nor had he come to the forefront of Roman political life with the accession of his brother. His reign was damned by tradition. Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius and Juvenal present extremely hostile portraits of the emperor. His personal behaviour, his handling of the senate and his conduct of military and administrative affairs drew ancient criticism. Any reconstruction of Domitian's reign is hampered by this almost universal hostility. It is also hampered by the absence of a full narrative account of the reign. As a result, the chronology of political and military events is somewhat confused. Of necessity, we take a thematic rather than a chronological approach to the reign.