Year of Three Emperors

[Jona Lendering]

I have always been wondering where/how/why the expression "Year of the Three Emperors" was coined. Of course, there were five emperors in 69: Galba, Vitellius, Otho, Vespasian, and the little-known Sabinus. My theory is that it is a wink to the German Dreikaiserjahr. Does anybody have a reference to "Year of the Three Emperors" that predates 1888?

[SOCL]

I can't say I have a reference, but I've never heard it called "Year of the Three Emperors", but rather "Year of the Four Emperors", this being a reference to Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian... :?

[Jona Lendering]

I can't say I have a reference, but I've never heard it called "Year of the Three Emperors", but rather "Year of the Four Emperors", this being a reference to Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian... :?

I'm getting the impression that "three" is indeed a German custom, which the Dutch have adopted.

[Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs]

Jonah,
Could it be because Suetonius uses only three in book VII of his "12 Caesars?

[Jona Lendering]

Yep, that may be a contributing factor; the ancients consistently speak of "three", another example is Philostatus in his Life of Apollonius.

[D B Campbell]

I have always been wondering where/how/why the expression "Year of the Three Emperors" was coined.

I, too, have only ever heard it called the Vierkaiserjahr (as in Fuhrmann's 1960 article or Herbert Grassl's 1973 book).

Of course, in English, we always call it "The Year of the Four Emperors". (B.W. Henderson calls it this in 1908, but I don't know of anything prior to 1888, Jona.)

What did Mommsen call it?

[Natuspardo]

Jona -
I never heard of a Dreikaiserjahr relating to 69 AD, only a Vierkaiserjahr. Could you tell where you found the term Dreikaiserjahr?


Mommsen in his Römische Geschichte, Book 8 speaks of Vierkaiserjahr (Dreikaiserjahr he uses for 193 AD).

[Jona Lendering]

I never heard of a Dreikaiserjahr relating to 69 AD, only a Vierkaiserjahr. Could you tell where you found the term Dreikaiserjahr?

On many places, see, for instance here, here, and here.

Mommsen in his Römische Geschichte, Book 8 speaks of Vierkaiserjahr (Dreikaiserjahr he uses for 193 AD).

Funny, that's what I call the Year of the Five Emperors (Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Septimius Severus, Pescennius Niger, and Clodius Albinus).

And 238 is the Year of the Six Emperors: Maximinus, Gordian I, Gordian II, Pupienus, Balbinus, Gordian III.

[Crispvs]

"Could it be because Suetonius uses only three in book VII of his "12 Caesars"

Andy,

As far as I have always understood, Suetonius did not write a book entitled 'The Twelve Caesars'.

I believe it was actually something like: 'The lives of the Caesars' (the six Julio-Claudians); 'The lives of famous men' (Galba, Otho and Vitellius); and 'The lives of the later emperors' (the three Flavian emperors).

In the mid twentieth century, Penguin published these together as 'The Twelve Caesars'. The translation was by Robert Graves and when I was studying Roman history at university we were warned that it was such a poor translation, which owed as much to the creativity of Robert Graves as it did to Suetonius, we would be likely to lose marks and attract unfavourable comments if we used it in preference to the much better Loeb translation when doing our course reading and researching our essays.

I am certain that Jona can comment here.

Incidentally Jona, the writers of the third pice you linked to acknowledges the historical fact that Vespasian became emperor in 69 but does not include him with Galba, Otho and Vitellius, but his two sons Titus and Domitian, which allows the writers to talk erroneously of a year of three emperors, having sectioned Vespasian off into another catagory and thus not included him in the 'year'.


Crispvs

[Paullus Scipio]

...and what "year" are we talking about here? Christian years ( 1 Jan - 31 Dec ) or Roman Consular years (Mar 15-Mar 14 ) or some other "year"... and when was Vespasian actually raised to the purple? After his victory he had to return from Judaea/Egypt...... :? ? ? wink:

[Praefectusclassis]

It's may not really be the year that is important (iirc Galba was murdered mid January of 69, so to keep him in, you need the Christian/common calendar), but perhaps it's when Vespasian was emperor: when he was acclaimed by his troops (July 1st, 69) or formally acknowledged by the senate/became Consul?
Or it could simply be that since there's 193 AD, you might for clarity's sake speak of the year of the Four Emperors for 69?

[D B Campbell]

In the mid twentieth century, Penguin published these together as 'The Twelve Caesars'. The translation was by Robert Graves and when I was studying Roman history at university we were warned that it was such a poor translation, which owed as much to the creativity of Robert Graves as it did to Suetonius, we would be likely to lose marks and attract unfavourable comments if we used it in preference to the much better Loeb translation when doing our course reading and researching our essays.

That's interesting. Weren't you encouraged to use the Latin text? :wink:

Graves himself had warned that his translation (1957) was "no school crib" and that he had striven to capture the flavour rather than the literal word order (or even, in places, the sentence order!). Although it's not wildly inaccurate, it's certainly true that the late A.R. Burn (Professor of Classics here in Glasgow) rounded off his review with the advice that "Students are recommended to use this book with caution". And G B Townend (then Professor of Classics at Liverpool) listed about 20 significant inaccuracies in his review.

But Graves' translation was edited by Michael Grant in 1979, to bring it "inside the range of what is now generally regarded by readers of the Penguin Classics as a 'translation'." In other words, to help out those students with a crib!

[D B Campbell]

... and what "year" are we talking about here? Christian years ( 1 Jan - 31 Dec ) or Roman Consular years (Mar 15-Mar 14 ) or some other "year"

It seems to be a modern (probably German?) creation, so "1 Jan-31 Dec".

I'm inclined to agree with Jona, that it's a conscious scholarly nod to the Dreikaiserjahr of 1888. But who was the perpetrator? (My money's on Mommsen.)