The emperor Vespasian (AD69-79) is universally regarded as one of the better Roman emperors. Coming to the throne after the demise of Nero and the bitterness of a year-long civil war, he restored the empire's finances and inaugurated a period of peace and prosperity. Tacitus, Pliny and Josephus had a high regard for Vespasian, portraying him as an astute commander and an excellent emperor. In comparison with the comments of these contemporary or near-contemporary writers, Suetonius' biography, produced some fifty years after the emperor's death, is quite detailed. He too admired Vespasian....

Nero's suicide in AD 68 was followed by a disastrous civil war that left the empire in a parlous state and saw the demise, in quick succession, of another three emperors (Galba, Otho and Vitellius). Normality returned with Vespasian and his sons, Titus and Domitian who ruled from 69 to 96. They changed the face of Rome, with massive public works such as the Flavian amphitheatre (later called the Colosseum) and the palace-complex on the Palatine, which provided much-needed employment whilst at the same time enhancing the city's status as the capital of the Mediterranean. The most detailed...