Lucius Vitellius (died December 69) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

who lived in the 1st century. He was the second son of

Lucius Vitellius Lucius Vitellius (before 7 BC – AD 51) was the youngest of four sons of procurator Publius Vitellius and the only one who did not die through politics. He was consul three times, which was unusual during the Roman empire for someone who was ...

and Sextilia, and younger brother of emperor

Aulus Vitellius The gens Vitellia was a family of ancient Rome, which rose from obscurity in imperial times, and briefly held the Empire itself in AD 69. The first of this gens to obtain the consulship was Aulus Vitellius, uncle of the emperor Vitellius, in AD ...

. Lucius was

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

in the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' of July-December 48 with

Gaius Vipstanus Messalla Gallus (Gaius) Vipstanus Messalla Gallus (c. 10 BC – aft. 60) was a Roman senator. Life He was ''consul suffectus'' in the ''nundinium'' of July-December 48 as the colleague of Lucius Vitellius. J. Devrecker has offered the argument that the elemen ...

as his colleague. His first wife in 46 or 47 was

Junia Calvina Junia Calvina was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the 1st century AD. Biography The daughter of Aemilia Lepida and Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, consul in 19, Calvina belonged to two patrician houses: the ''gens Aemilia'' and ''gens Junia'' ...

, a descendant of the Emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

, but they divorced before 49. The Empress

Agrippina the Younger Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius. Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claud ...

, hoping to secure Octavia as bride for her son

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

and also to eliminate a potential threat to Nero's prospects, falsely charged Junia's brother

Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus Two noblemen, an uncle and nephew, who shared the name Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus and were descendants of the Roman Emperor Augustus, lived during the 1st century AD. Elder Silanus Silanus (died 49), was the third born son to Aemilia Lepi ...

with open affection toward his sister

. This was carried out through the agency of Lucius Vitellius, who was Junia's husband.The second wife of Vitellius was

Triaria In On Famous Women Triaria (1st-century) was a Roman woman, the second wife of Lucius Vitellius the Younger (the brother of emperor Aulus Vitellius). She is mentioned on the funeral monument of her favourite slavewoman, Tyrannis, in Tibur: Ac ...

. He had no issue from either of his marriages.

Life

According to

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

, Lucius was the favorite of three emperors, thus winning "public offices and important priesthoods"; these public offices included

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the public works. He was

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, where Suetonius writes he behaved with exceptional honesty for two years, acting part of the time in place of his brother. The emperors who favored him are most likely

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

, and lastly his brother. The best documented portion of his life was his last months, during the

Year of Four Emperors A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...

. Suetonius records that he celebrated the entrance of his brother Aulus into Rome with a feast that included 2,000 choice fish and 7,000 game birds.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

records that he denounced

Junius Blaesus Quintus Junius Blaesus (died AD 31) was a Roman ''novus homo'' ("new man," that is, the first member of his family to gain entrance to the Roman nobility) who lived during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. He was the maternal uncle of Lucius Ael ...

to his brother, who had just returned to Rome from his governorship of

Gallia Lugdunensis Gallia Lugdunensis ( French: ''Gaule Lyonnaise'') was a province of the Roman Empire in what is now the modern country of France, part of the Celtic territory of Gaul formerly known as Celtica. It is named after its capital Lugdunum (today's Lyon ...

Caecina Tuscus Gaius Caecina Tuscus (Greek ''Gaius Kokina'') was a 1st-century Roman politician and governor of Egypt during the reign of Nero, and is mentioned by Tacitus. Tuscus was a member of the Caecinia gens, Caecinae, an Etruscan family of Volaterrae, one ...

had thrown a banquet in Blaesus' honor, and when his brother the emperor noticed the mansion lit up, he compelled his brother to have Blaesus killed, claiming he was courting both the army and the urban mob. The emperor Vitellius eliminated Blaesus by poisoning. When troops supporting

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

entered Rome, Lucius was in

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

with six cohorts and 500 cavalry crushing an insurgency of Vespasian's supporters. He had occupied Feronia and had captured

Tarracina Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anci ...

through treachery when his brother surrendered. Lucius himself surrendered at

Bovillae Bovillae was an ancient Latin town in Lazio, central Italy, currently part of Frattocchie ''frazione'' in the municipality of Marino. Overview Bovillae was a station on the Via Appia (which in 293 BC was already paved up to this point), located ...

, and was treacherously executed after negotiating with his captors for his safety.Tacitus, ''Histories'', III.76f; IV.2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitellius, Lucius 69 deaths Year of birth unknown People of the Year of the Four Emperors Roman governors of Africa Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

1st-century Romans Executed ancient Roman people People executed by the Roman Empire 1st-century executions People executed by hanging