Vitellius

Vitellius was one of the four Roman emperors who ruled during the civil war of AD 69. Proclaimed by the Rhine armies, he defeated Otho’s forces and entered Rome, but his regime was soon challenged by Vespasian’s supporters. After fighting in the city, Vitellius was captured and killed, allowing the Flavian dynasty to take power.

Vitellius appears in Robert Fabbri’s Vespasian novels and in other fiction about the Year of the Four Emperors. He is often depicted through hostile ancient traditions as gluttonous and weak, although modern historical fiction sometimes gives greater attention to the military coalition and political circumstances behind his brief rule.

In L. J. Trafford’s Vitellius’ Feast, Vitellius occupies the imperial palace and treats victory as permission for appetite, humiliation and revenge. In Kate Quinn’s Daughters of Rome, Successive coups destroy those assumptions as Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian compete for the throne. Other novels featuring Vitellius include M.C. Scott’s Rome: The Art of War, L. J. Trafford’s Otho’s Regret, Robert Fabbri’s Emperor of Rome, Douglas Jackson’s Enemy of Rome, and Douglas Jackson’s Sword of Rome.

In non-fiction, Vitellius is discussed in L. J. Trafford’s Ancient Rome’s Worst Emperors and Mary Beard’s Twelve Caesars. In L. J. Trafford’s Ancient Rome’s Worst Emperors, the selected cases include notorious figures such as Caligula, Commodus and Elagabalus alongside less predictable choices including Galba, Vitellius, Nerva, Gordian I and Valentinian II.