Emperor Domitian: was he really the cruel tyrant of his reputation?

His ambition and treachery shines through in Those About To Die, a sword-and-sandals epic series on Prime Video, alongside his love of all manner of grisly spectacle.

But was Domitian actually the posthumous victim of a smear campaign? Roman writers like Tacitus, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius told his story, and they loathed him.

Only through modern scholarship is his reputation being reevaluated, so that beyond the tyrant we also see an effective if ruthless administrator who filled Rome’s coffers, commissioned mighty buildings, and arguably helped lead the empire into a new, glorious era.

Who was Domitian?

Titus Flavius Domitianus was born on 24 October AD 51, the second son of future emperor Vespasian – at the time, an able military commander and newly elected consul – and Flavia Domitilla Major. His mother died while sometime before Vespasian became emperor, as did his sister.

Domitian languished in the shadows of his father and older brother Titus during his youth. In AD 69, he looked on helpless as he got caught up in Vespasian’s struggle for the throne.

The death of Nero the previous year – the emperor who allegedly ‘fiddled while Rome burned’ – had hurled Rome into political chaos. The name ‘year of the four emperors’ gives some indication to the instability that Rome faced before Vespasian emerged on top.

Domitian had almost lost his life when his father’s rival Vitellius besieged Rome. Afterwards, however, he was hailed as ‘caesar’ and acted as family representative in the Senate. Under Vespasian’s rule, Domitian received honours and titles aplenty, but was given no clear responsibilities; it became clear that he was not intended to rule.

How did Domitian come to power?

In AD 79, Vespasian died and Titus took over as emperor. If Domitian hoped this would see him being handed some of the reins of power, he was mistaken.

Titus had a formidable reputation. As a military commander he led the capture of Jerusalem in AD 70, subsequently being awarded a triumph — a ceremony to mark his martial success — and more broadly he was given extensive responsibilities by Vespasian, sharing power with his father.

Yet Titus died just two years after his accession, in September AD 81, and in the aftermath Domitian was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorian Guard. Now out of the shadows, he wasted no time in dispensing with the idea that he would be anything but an absolute ruler.

Did Domitian marry?

A decade before he became emperor, Domitian married a noblewoman named, fittingly enough, Domitia Longina. His father had planned to marry him off to his own niece, Julia Flavia, but instead he fell in love with the wife of a senator, leading Domitia to get a hasty divorce.

The pair had a son in AD 80, but he died within a few years. Around that time, and now emperor, he exiled his wife – maybe as punishment for not giving him an heir – only to recall her.

Conflicting, and both spurious, claims were that either Domitia was unfaithful with an actor named Paris, or that Domitian was the one having an affair, and with his niece no less, who then died having an abortion.

What was Domitian’s relationships with Vespasian and Titus like?

Vespasian made his choice of heir clear: it wasn’t Domitian. Domitian was essentially left behind in his youth and during Vespasian’s rule. Not a military man either, he had literally been left behind when his father and brother went on campaign to Judea.

As Titus was around a dozen years older than Domitian, the brothers had only a meagre relationship too. No wonder that Domitian did not mourn Titus’s death before immediately getting himself proclaimed emperor.

Did Domitian kill Titus?

Stories have long swirled of Domitian being involved in Titus’s death, either directly by poisoning him or indirectly by leaving his sickly brother to die – but there is no evidence for this.

Fratricide was hardly unheard of in ancient Rome – the city’s foundation story centres around Romulus killing Remus – but these stories were likely part of the anti-Domitian propaganda that came after his death. Titus is thought to have died of a fever.

What was Domitian like as emperor?

From the beginning, Domitian sidelined the Senate and exercised absolute power. He supposedly took to calling himself ‘dominus et deus’ (master and god) and regarded himself as the moral authority of the empire.

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Something he had to prove was that he could be a military leader like his father and brother, so he personally led a campaign into Gaul and picked up enough victories to award himself a triumph.

His reign also saw the conquest of Britain continue apace, and the establishing of the Limes Germanicus, a series of forts and watchtowers along the Rhine. He kept the soldiers loyal and supportive by giving them a one-third raise.

Perhaps Domitian’s two greatest achievements were the immense building projects he ordered for Rome, which included temples, a stadium, a forum, a palace and adding a level to the Colosseum (then still known by its original name, the Flavian Amphitheatre), and his strengthening of the economy by revaluing the coinage and rigorously collecting tax.

But what Domitian’s reign will most be associated for was his attacks on the Senate. He expelled senators and imperial officers, seized their fortunes, and had dozens executed.

At first it was out of a distrust of the aristocracy, but as he grew increasingly paranoid he embarked on persecutions of any and all who he wished. Once, Domitian had the governor of Britain executed out of jealously when the man named a new type of lance after himself.

How long did Domitian reign, and how did he die?

Domitian held power for 15 years, but was assassinated on 18 September AD 96 at the age of 44. According to the writings of Suetonius, he was brought down by a conspiracy that included officials, prefects, his chamberlain and perhaps his own wife Domitia.

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Domitian had grown paranoid and fearful of his life, but his assassin, a freeman named Stephanus, managed to get close to him by pretending he had hurt his arm, which allowed him to wear a bandage with a knife concealed inside. Stephanus stabbed Domitian in the groin before a struggle ensued and other conspirators rushed in and struck several more fatal blows.

Despite its ignominious end, Domitian’s had been the longest reign in over half a century, since that of Tiberius (successor to the first of the Roman emperors, Augustus), who ruled for 23 years from AD 14-37.

Yet when news of the assassination spread, the Senate was overjoyed. Domitian’s death was not enough, however, as they subjected him to damnatio memoriae, the removal of his very existence from public record. Statues were ripped down, coins defaced, and his name scratched out from inscriptions.

Who succeeded Domitian?

Domitian’s death and the Senate’s proclamation of the new emperor, Nerva, signalled the end of the short-lived Flavian dynasty, which had begun with Vespasian. It was also the beginning of a run of rulers that became known as the ‘five good emperors’, who oversaw something of a golden age for Rome — the Pax Romana.

Yet as part of the re-evaluation of Domitian’s legacy, the argument has been made that it was the building projects that he initiated and his financial successes that served as the foundations of this return to glory.

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