Vespasian (Roman Imperial Biographies) (Routledge Key Guides) (Hardcover)

by Dr Barba Levick (Author) "Vespasian's career was a product of the social revolution that accompanied the change from Republic to Augustan Principate..." (more)
Key Phrases: triumphal ornaments, supreme pontificate, tribunician power, Asia Minor, Eprius Marcellus, Petillius Cerialis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Levick has produced a balanced, thoughtful and thoroughly comprehensive treatment of her subject. It will surely remain the standard work on Vespasian for years to come.' - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

'Levick has an enviable mastery of the ancient source material, including literature, inscriptions, and coins. The narrative is confident and readable … This volume will be an essential addition to the bookshelves of all those interested in the study and teaching of Roman history, and for those with a more casual interest it is thoroughly enjoyable to read.' - The Classical Review

'It is a scholarly work that fills a major gap in current English-language biography.' - Phoenix

Levick has produced a balanced, thoughtful and thoroughly comprehensive treatment of her subject. It will surely remain the standard work on Vespasian for years to come. - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Levick has an enviable mastery of the ancient source material, including literature, inscriptions, and coins. The narrative is confident and readable … This volume will be an essential addition to the bookshelves of all those interested in the study and teaching of Roman history, and for those with a more casual interest it is thoroughly enjoyable to read. - The Classical Review

It is a scholarly work that fills a major gap in current English-language biography. - Phoenix

Product Description
In AD 69 the Roman Empire seem endangered by civil war and rebellion. The plebeian and uncharasmatic Emperor Vespasian restored peace and confidence and ensured a smooth succession. His reputation in antiquity gained momentum in the medieval and modern era to present a universally acknowledged picture of an emperor who instigated economic advances and improved government which led to the "Golden Age" of the Empire in the second century.
Barbara Levick outlines how this able individual gained the necessary military experience and political skills that enabled him to stage his successful bid for empire in AD 69 and go on to consolidate his supremacy and that of his dynasty in the decade that followed. She explores how Vespasian managed to cope with the military, political and economic problems of his reign as well as the solutions to those problems. Finally, she examines Vespasian's posthumous reputation.
Vespasian presents a comprehensive, engaging and lavishly illustrated biography of an emperor who was credited with unsurpassed achievement and lauded as the bestower of peace and confidence within the empire.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415166187
• ISBN-13: 978-0415166188
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,510,484 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars History Not A Biography, October 17, 2001

By	D. A Wend (Buffalo Grove, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is better termed a history of the Flavians rather than a biography of Vespasian. Despite a glowing review (in the Bryn Mawr Classical Review), I have reservations about the achievement of Barbara Levick in writing this book.

I was looking forward "Vespasian" since, until now, there has been no biography in English about this emperor. Aside from a history of his reign, I was hoping this new book would provide some insight into Vespasian's personality and his relations with Titus and Domitian. To an extent, Professor Levick fulfilled this expectation but not on the level I was hoping. For example, I was interested in a broader assessment of the fortunes of the Flavians, particularly their rise under Caligula and Claudius and Vespasian's fall from grace. I would have liked more about Titus' education with Britannicus and his presumed presence at the poisoning of Claudius' son. I think the latter instance is pure Flavian propaganda.

The Judean War is related as a recitation of the facts with little elaboration. We do not get a full picture of Titus's role in the war. He was an inexperienced commander and showed this in more than a few mistakes he made. If Vespasian allowed him the glory of capturing Jerusalem he made sure that his son has a seasoned professional to advise him: Tiberius Julius Alexander. Titus' pivotal role was in handling the delicate negotiations between the parties involved in the Flavian rebellion met with scant attention. Without his traveling from person to person, Vespasian's rebellion would never have happened. The role Queen Berenice in these negotiations is not brought up. Since her brother, Agrippa II, was in Rome until after the Flavian rebellion began, and she was romantically involved with Titus it would have been interesting to have more insight into her role.

A discussion about Nerva from Professor Levick is sorely wanting. He is briefly mentioned, which I think is odd for such a pivotal Flavian supporter. I would like to know her ideas about his mysterious contribution to the Flavian cause that earned him an ordinary consulship with Vespasian, the only consulship he did not share with Titus.

The best parts of the book for me were the last two chapters (Vespasian and His Sons and Conclusion) where Professor Levick brilliantly sums up the Flavians and their impact on history. However, Vespasian does not emerge from this book as a flesh-and-blood personality. Some of the chapters, particularly Restoration of the Roman World, which deals with events in every part of the empire, would have benefited by adding headings in the text. This would provide easy access to the information. I was perturbed over Professor Levick's shorthand in referring to ancient sources. The Annals of Tacitus, for example, are abbreviated TA and the notes are crowded. The source is not immediately identifiable and I wish more intuitive abbreviations were used.

I cannot agree with other reviewers that Professor Levick selects "boring" emperors. Tiberius and Claudius were anything but boring, and their reigns were pivotal in the history of the principate. I think that there is room for another biography of Vespasian, written in the form of a true life of the subject, and including chapters dealing with the state of the empire, army, art and literature. Ms. Levick's book is not the last word on her subject.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Levick's Vespasian -- the only game in town., April 21, 2003

By	David J. Martz, Jr. (Vienna, VA USA) - See all my reviews

The previous half dozen reader reviews of this book (mostly lukewarm) have fallen into two catagories: quibbles by other period specialists and complaints from those who wish Levick would try to impart some readability to her scholarship. Of course the specialists beg to differ, that's what specialists do. No two would ever make the same choices in attempting to capture the same complex period. Those who assert that this book is very "dry" are right, but those who dub it "boring" have missed the point. Try to find another booklength biography of Vespasian in English! If one wants to learn about this man, this is an essential book and for that reason it deserves more than three stars. Levick is a scholar emerita. We can regret that she did not learn her craft in an era when some historians recognize the value of writing for a wider audience than the tiny circle of their fellow cognoscenti, but we do her wrong if we fail to credit her with writing a work that is the first of its kind.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great disappointment, June 5, 2001

By	jrmspnc (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

There is no fault to be had with Levick's attention to detail, or her painstaking research. Where Vespasian falls flat, however, is in style and organization. Levick eschews the narrative, and spurns a chronological approach to her subject. She chooses instead a subject-oriented organization; not bad in and of itself (Michael Grant largely pulls that off in The Severans), but her dry style and over-attention to obscure details and constant quarrels with other scholars make the absence of a narrative approach nearly fatal.

Levick also buries any hint of her own voice or feelings. Obviously, she must have a keen interest in Vespasian to have invested such a large amount of work in the book. Yet none of her interest comes through. Contrast that with historians such as Norwich, Tuchman, or Runciman - a passion for their subject shines through each of their works. The best historians set out with the mindset, "This is a fascinating era of history, and I'm going to show my readers why they should think so, too." Levick seems to have other priorities.

Perhaps academics can appreciate Levick's work (and perhaps the Italian translation is more gripping); for the amateur, however, looking for an enjoyable, educational foray into Imperial Rome, Levick's Vespasian is best avoided.