You forgot about the bravery of Sempronius Densus, a praetorian centurion who tried to protect Galba

When I wrote my two-part novel series on the Year of the Four Emperors, I admit my bias was heavily skewed in favour of Vespasian, who had featured in some of my earlier works. That said, I still tried my best to present all the other emperors in as balanced a light as possible, including Nero. Through my research, I came to greatly sympathise with Otho, who I think would have proven a very capable ruler, and to whom Vespasian had sworn allegiance. Even Vitellius I came to view as more of a tragic character; one who I could not help but take pity on. With Galba, however, I honestly could not find anything positive to write about him. Though his career had been filled with many successes, his personal life had been wrought with tragedy. His wife, Aemilia, was the granddaughter of the Triumvir, Marcus Lepidus, and while she did manage to bear him two sons, she died after they'd been married for just ten years. Galba's two sons also died young; the eldest during a horse-riding accident when just fourteen, and the other of a bowel infection at the age of thirty. I believe these events broke Galba, as he never remarried or had any additional children. Nor did he have any grandchildren. By the time he came into my story, he was a bitter, hateful old man, with an almost casual view towards abject cruelty. He used decimation of the newly-raised Legio I, Adiutrix, under arguably frivolous pretexts, which likely helped seal his fate. Unlike what you see in Hollywood, decimation was extremely rare, and had not been used in generations. Even Emperor Tiberius, known to be a harsh disciplinarian, refused to consider it during the revolt along the Rhine early in his reign.

@otavianiluciano7397

2 жыл бұрын

Have you ever read Suetonius? Vitellius was hardly a tragic figure and he deserved to die like that because of his cruelty.

@alanpennie8013

2 жыл бұрын

The Buffed Novelist. I reckon you've called it. There should probably have been a maximum age for new emperors. Maybe 50.

@alanpennie8013

2 жыл бұрын

Antoninus was 50 when he was inaugurated, and I suspect he was already too old

@nothisispatrick4644

2 жыл бұрын

Im interested to read you novel about Rome where could I find them?

@armygrunt13

2 жыл бұрын

@@nothisispatrick4644 they're all on Amazon. If you look up James Mace, you'll find me. :) If you're specifically interested in Vespasian, I'd recommend starting with Soldier of Rome: Rebellion in Judea. It's the first of a trilogy about the Great Jewish Revolt. There's also a two-parter called "The Year of the Four Emperors" that chronologically fits between books two and three of the Jewish Revolt series. I should have just made it one series from the start (not the best prior planning on my part!).

This is lovely! Nicely done!

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@AIRRAID2

Жыл бұрын

@Flash Point History Subbed with all bells and whistles.

Dude, I love your channel! You truly deserve more views, those animations are top-notch. Don't let the views and subs let you down because one day all your great work will pay off! I'm in the same boat as you with my youtube channel about the Ottomans :D

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I will keep working on it :)

@thomasranjit7781

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian please do a documentary on different Indian kings and their dynasty...did you know the first University of the world was nalanda University in Bihar state of India ???

@purplepunch4904

2 жыл бұрын

I love both these channels

@AIRRAID2

Жыл бұрын

@ Ottoman History Hub Subbed with all bells and whistles.

@user-rb6dv4xf6h

Жыл бұрын

كلبا؛

Speaking of Galba, it has always amused me that, in the movie "Quo Vadis", the protagonist Marcus Vinicius says all the time that Galba is the Empire's only hope against Nero's madness, when we all know how disastrous and short Galba's reign was. Just imagining Marcus Vinicius' face while watching how "great" Galba was makes me laugh 🤣🤣🤣

@louthegiantcookie

Жыл бұрын

Galba's a great example of a man having the credentials to rule, but not the character. A man may, on paper, seem a good fit for power, but be undone by their own flaws.

"To hell with you soldiers expecting to get paid, you OWE me your allegiance" Famous last words.

I just watched Domina. Speaking of the oldest emperor, Livia living to 86 is amazing. I cannot wait for series two. It was like watching a third season of Rome for me

galba and piso were literally charged down by praetorians in the streets of rome which is a scene that only happened once i think

@optimusprinceps3526

Жыл бұрын

Vittellius got what was coming

@tenarmurk

Жыл бұрын

@@optimusprinceps3526 fr

What a great series, the videos are perfect. You spoke a little too fast in the earlier ones, but they’re much easier to understand now.

Great series, focused and very helpful; the visuals are great, too! Please keep them coming.

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Sam, will do 😉

This is the most indepth video I've come across on galba

Great channel! Thanks very much for the hard work! 🤓

Love your series man!

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks you!

These are great bideos! 😄

Watched your whole series and learned a lot. Subscribed and already looking forward to your next video. Cheers!

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it and thanks for the sub :)

@franciscomm7675

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian i am still waiting for the next emperor of the year of the four emperor

Outstanding! Gratias...

These videos are great 👍

I watched this one and gave it a like. I am already subscribed to your channel. There was a time when I decided that there were so many Roman emperors that life was to short to really learn much about the time when there were for of them in a year, and I just skipped from Nero to Vespasian. But I really enjoyed this little video, thank you.

@Retro77691

6 ай бұрын

Galba Was American 🇺🇸

So good. Can you please keep putting the link to the next emperor in the comments?

Harry Sidebottoms books about Ballista has the best narration of any audio book I've ever listened to. Here on KZread. Warrior of Rome is the series name.

The roman emperor that has the same birthday as me

Terracina was named Suessa Aurunca and was a place were Agrippa got most of his recruits in the army

Overly harsh, severe (often quite cruel) military man, for many years & then, (once on the throne) Mr Galba withholds bonuses from Praetorian Guards!? New Emperor was quite up in years, but probably less prudent than most teenagers back then.

جالباء مدير كبير

When will you release your next video?

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Hoping to finish it this week

@franciscomm7675

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian nice

Hard to understand some of the Words heavy accent

Check out this video on Galba's successor: kzread.info/dash/bejne/l2Zpz6WkncuZcto.html

Don't forget to check out our video on Galbas predecessor Nero: kzread.info/dash/bejne/aZag1paIaanceKg.html

معروفة 🇱🇾 🔥 ليبيا وأهلها من تاريخ زمان

Born December 24th 3BC? Very close to the age of you know who... PS I know Christmas was chosen much later on a pretty arbitrary basis.

The title can't be true. Augustus was older than Galba when he died. Gordian I and Tacitus were also older in terms of their age at the start of their reign.

Why didn't Galba name Piso governor of Lower Germania instead of Vitellius? Piso could have returned to Rome as head of the Rhine legions, pushed Otho and the Praetorians aside, and avenged Galba. Galba must have hated Vitellius and figured the troops would hate him too. That's not the right way to pick someone for a top job. Galba's other big mistake was not finding a job for Otho that would keep him busy and out of the way.

@armygrunt13

2 жыл бұрын

I personally think Galba was too trusting of Otho, in part due to their lengthy history. Galba had previously served as consul in 33 A.D. along with Otho's father, Lucius, and may very well have known Otho his entire life. Placing Vitellius in Germania is a rather bizarre choice, and I agree Piso would have made more sense from Galba's position. After all, the largest concentration of imperial soldiers was in the two Germania provinces; seven legions plus likely even greater numbers of auxilia regiments. One would think he'd choose a governor both loyal and capable of controlling such a massive force. Vitellius was neither of these, and it would prove to be both their undoing.

My fiance was Galba in is past life. My fiance is a very good man in this life.

Please explain your accent. Thank you.

@TheSPQRHistorian

3 жыл бұрын

Swedish - I know it's distracting, so we have a better narrator in later videos 😉

@johna.4334

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian No...no. Your command of the English language is excellent. As a world traveller I was only curious as to what country you call home. Call it the 'curiosity factor' if you will.

@kimberlyperrotis8962

2 жыл бұрын

@@johna.4334 I agree, your English is excellent, you just have a little accent, it’s fine when you speak more slowly, as in these later videos.

@rorschach1985ify

Жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian I think if you just put official subtitles on your videos they would fix a lot of problems for people trying to understand what you are saying.

كم سعر عملة كلبا؛

Emperor Galba had no Machiavellian thinking abilities. He was not adaptable.

the greatest tragedy here is your ACCENT im afraid, i know is not politically correct to say this, but i can barely follow what you are saying and english is my first language and the recording could have been done LOUDER too

امهيرستاء

بنصير ة اكراتسي اطو سليانة

The most paranoid occupation is to rule rome.

Hey Joe Biden is emperor Galba!!

Just to think, without the mess of 69 AD, we would have never gotten "Jesus" from Vespasian and Sons.

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

Vespasian was one of the good ones for sure, but his sons... Titus was probably decent as well but he didn't get the chance to rule for very long and his brother, Domitian, was a real disaster. When we think of Rome's worst Emperors we think of Nero, Caligula, Caracalla and so on, but in ancient times, Domitian was seen as the absolute worst... But that led to Nerva and Rome's '5 Good Emperors' :)

@Mr72Dolphins

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian Vespasian, Titus and Josephius wrote the New Testament

@TheSPQRHistorian

4 жыл бұрын

@@Mr72Dolphins You are mistaken, while Josephus mentions Jesus and he acknowledges that he excited, he is by no means a Christian or has anything to do with the New Testament. And when it comes to Titus; you probably mix Titus the Roman Emperor with Saint Titus? Saint Titus was a friend of Paul the Apostle, who actually wrote the New Testament (Atleast partly)

@Mr72Dolphins

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian Suetonious. Read it again.

@tenarmurk

4 жыл бұрын

@@TheSPQRHistorian domitian was not a bad emperor sure he killed some senators but his policies were solid he got a bad reputation by historians since these came mostly out of the senatorial class and wanted to put him into bad light

This narrator mubbles to the extent that as much as I love these subjects. It is impossible to understand and comprehend what's going on.

@Transilvanian90

2 жыл бұрын

It's easy to understand what he says, wtf are you even talking about.