Mediterranean Southwest Europe (153–142 BCE): The Numantine Conflict and Renewed Celtiberian Resistance

The inaugural games last for a hundred days and are said to be extremely elaborate, including gladiatorial combat, fights between wild animals (elephants and cranes), mock naval battles for which the theater is flooded, horse races and chariot races.

During the games, wooden balls are dropped into the audience, inscribed with various prizes (clothing, gold, or even slaves), which could then be traded for the designated item.

At the closing of the games, Titus officially dedicates the amphitheater and the baths, which is to be his final recorded act as Emperor.

He sets out for the Sabine territories but falls ill at the first posting station where he dies of a fever, reportedly in the same farmhouse as his father.

Allegedly, the last words he uttered before passing away were: "I have made but one mistake".

(Cassius Dio, Roman History LXVI.26).

Titus had ruled the Roman Empire for just over two years, from the death of his father in 79 to his own on September 13, 81.

Historians have speculated on the exact nature of his death, and to which mistake Titus alluded in his final words.

Philostratus writes that he was poisoned by Domitian with a sea hare, and that his death had been foretold to him by Apollonius of Tyana.

Suetonius and Cassius Dio maintain he died of natural causes, but both accuse Domitian of having left the ailing Titus for dead.

Consequently, Dio believes Titus's mistake refers to his failure to have his brother executed when he was found to be openly plotting against him.

Titus's record among ancient historians stands as one of the most exemplary of any emperor.

All the surviving accounts from this period, many of them written by his own contemporaries, present a highly favorable view towards Titus.

His character has especially prospered in comparison with that of his brother Domitian.

Ancient authors have implicated Domitian in the death of his brother, either by directly accusing him of murder, or implying he left the ailing Titus for dead, even alleging that during his lifetime, Domitian was openly plotting against his brother.

It is difficult to assess the factual veracity of these statements given the known bias of the surviving sources.

Brotherly affection was likely at a minimum, but this was hardly surprising, considering that Domitian had barely seen Titus after the age of seven.

Whatever the nature of their relationship, Domitian seems to have displayed little sympathy when his brother lay dying, instead making for the Praetorian camp where he was proclaimed emperor.

Rome’s power brokers do not dispute Domitian’s claim to the throne, although the 30-year-old has held no important posts during the regimes of his father and his older brother.

The following day, 14 September, the Senate confirms Domitian's powers, granting tribunician power, the office of Pontifex Maximus, and the titles of Augustus, and Pater Patriae.

His first act as emperor is to deify his brother.

Domitian as Emperor quickly dispenses with the republican facade his father and brother had maintained during their reign.

By moving the center of government (more or less formally) to the imperial court, Domitian openly renders the Senate's powers obsolete.

In his view, the Roman Empire is to be governed as a divine monarchy with himself as the benevolent despot at its head.

In addition to exercising absolute political power, Domitian believes the Emperor's role encompasses every aspect of daily life, guiding the Roman people as a cultural and moral authority.

To usher in the new era, he embarks on ambitious economic, military and cultural programs with the intention of restoring the Empire to the splendor it had seen under the Emperor Augustus.

Despite these grand designs, Domitian is determined to govern the Empire conscientiously and scrupulously.

He becomes personally involved in all branches of the administration: edicts are issued governing the smallest details of everyday life and law, while taxation and public morals are rigidly enforced.

According to Suetonius, the imperial bureaucracy never ran more efficiently than under Domitian, whose exacting standards and suspicious nature maintained historically low corruption among provincial governors and elected officials.

Although he makes no pretense regarding the significance of the Senate under his absolute rule, those senators he deems unworthy are expelled from the Senate, and in the distribution of public offices he rarely favors family members; a policy which stands in contrast to the nepotism practiced by Vespasian and Titus.

Above all, however, Domitian values loyalty and malleability in those he assigns to strategic posts, qualities he finds more often in men of the equestrian order than in members of the Senate or his own family, whom he regards with suspicion, and promptly removes from office if they disagree with imperial policy.

The conquest of Britain continues under the command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, who expands the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia, or modern day Scotland.

Domitian also founds a new legion in 82, the Legio I Minervia, to fight against the Chatti.

Domitian commissions the elaborate triumphal Arch of Titus, a graphic glorification of Rome’s victories in the Judean War.

In rebuilding the destroyed Capitoline Hill temple, he adds gilded tiles and gold-plated doors to a richly decorated marble structure.