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Otho - Roman
Emperor: 15 January 69 16 April 69 A.D.
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Otho was Roman Emperor for three months, from 15
January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the
Four Emperors. All coins you purchase from his store are professionally
researched, photographed and provided with a lifetime guarantee of
authenticity.
Otho (Latin:
Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus;
28 April 32 16 April 69), was
Roman Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He
was the second emperor of the
Year of the Four Emperors.
Birth and lineage
Otho belonged to an ancient and noble
Etruscan family, descended from the princes of Etruria and settled
at Ferentinum (modern
Ferento, near
Viterbo)
in Etruria. His paternal grandfather, Marcus Salvius Otho, whose father
was a Roman knight but whose mother was of lowly origin and perhaps not
even free-born, was raised in
Livia's
household and rose to senatorial rank through her influence, although he
did not advance beyond the rank of praetor. His father was
Lucius Otho.
Early life
The future Emperor appears first as one of the most reckless and
extravagant of the young nobles who surrounded
Nero. This
friendship was brought to an end in 58 because of his wife, the
noblewoman
Poppaea Sabina. Otho introduced his beautiful wife to the Emperor
upon Poppaea's insistence, who then began an affair that would
eventually lead to her premature death. After securely establishing this
position as his mistress, she divorced Otho and had the Emperor send him
away to the remote province of
Lusitania (which is now parts of both modern
Portugal and
Extremadura).
Otho remained in Lusitania for the next ten years, administering the
province with a moderation unusual at the time. When in 68 his neighbor
the future Emperor
Galba,
the governor of
Hispania Tarraconensis, rose in revolt against Nero, Otho
accompanied him to
Rome.
Resentment at the treatment he had received from Nero may have impelled
him to this course, but to this motive was added before long that of
personal ambition.
Galba was childless and far advanced in years, and Otho, encouraged
by the predictions of
astrologers, aspired to succeed him. He came to a secret agreement
with Galba's
favourite,
Titus Vinius, agreeing to marry Vinius' daughter in exchange for his
support. However, in January 69, his hopes were dashed by Galba's formal
adoption of
Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus, whom Galba had previously named a
recipient in his will.
After this, Otho decided to strike a bold blow. Desperate as was the
state of his finances, thanks to his previous extravagance, he found the
money needed to purchase the services of some twenty-three soldiers of
the
Praetorian Guard. On the morning of 15 January, only five days after
Galba adopted Piso, Otho attended as usual to pay his respects to
Galba,
and then hastily excused himself on the score of private business
hurried from the
Palatine Hill to meet his accomplices. He was then escorted to the
Praetorian camp, where, after a few moments of surprise and indecision,
he was saluted as Imperator.
With an imposing force he returned to the
Roman Forum, and at the foot of the
Capitoline Hill encountered Galba, who, alarmed by rather vague
rumors of treachery, was making his way through a dense crowd of
wondering citizens towards the
barracks of the guard. The
cohort that was on duty at the Palatine, which had accompanied the
Emperor, instantly deserted him. Galba, his newly adopted son Piso and
others were brutally murdered by the Praetorians. The brief struggle
over, Otho returned in triumph to the camp, and on the same day was duly
invested by the
senators with the name of
Augustus, the tribunician power and the other dignities belonging to
the principate.
Otho had owed his own success to the resentment felt by the
Praetorian guards and the rest of the army at Galba's refusal to pay the
promised gold to the ones who supported his accession to the throne. The
population of the city was also unhappy with Galba and cherished the
memory of Nero. Otho's first acts as Emperor showed that he was not
unmindful of these facts.
Decline and fall
He accepted, or appeared to accept, the
cognomen of Nero conferred upon him by the shouts of the populace,
whom his comparative youth and the effeminacy of his appearance reminded
of their lost favourite. Nero's statues were again set up, his freedmen
and household officers reinstalled (including the young castrated boy
Sporus
who Nero had took marriage and Otho would also live intimately with[5][6]),
and the intended completion of the
Golden House announced. At the same time the fears of the more sober
and respectable citizens were allayed by Otho's liberal professions of
his intention to govern equitably, and by his judicious clemency towards
Marius Celsus, consul-designate, a devoted adherent of Galba. Otho
soon realized that it was much easier to overthrow an Emperor than rule
as one: according to
Suetonius Otho once remarked that "Playing the Long Pipes is hardly
my trade" (i.e. undertaking something beyond one's ability to do so).
But any further development of Otho's policy was checked once Otho
had read through Galba's private correspondence and realized the extent
of the revolution in
Germany,
where several legions had declared for
Vitellius, the commander of the legions on the lower
Rhine River, and were already advancing upon
Italy.
After a vain attempt to conciliate Vitellius by the offer of a share in
the Empire, Otho, with unexpected vigor, prepared for war. From the much
more remote provinces, which had acquiesced in his accession, little
help was to be expected; but the legions of
Dalmatia,
Pannonia and
Moesia
were eager in his cause, the Praetorian cohorts were in themselves a
formidable force and an efficient
fleet gave him the mastery of the Italian seas.
The fleet was at once dispatched to secure
Liguria,
and on 14 March Otho, undismayed by omens and prophecies, started
northwards at the head of his troops in the hopes of preventing the
entry of Vitellius' troops into Italy. But for this he was too late, and
all that could be done was to throw troops into
Placentia and hold the line of the
Po. Otho's advanced guard successfully defended Placentia against
Aulus Caecina Alienus, and compelled that general to fall back on
Cremona.
But the arrival of
Fabius Valens altered the aspect of affairs.
Vitellius' commanders now resolved to bring on a decisive battle, the
Battle of Bedriacum, and their designs were assisted by the divided
and irresolute counsels which prevailed in Otho's camp. The more
experienced officers urged the importance of avoiding a battle, until at
least the legions from
Dalmatia had arrived. But the rashness of the Emperor's brother
Titianus and of Proculus, prefect of the Praetorian Guards, added to
Otho's feverish impatience, overruled all opposition, and an immediate
advance was decided upon, Otho himself remaining behind with a
considerable reserve force at
Brixellum, on the southern bank of the Po. When this decision was
taken, Otho's army had already crossed the Po and were encamped at
Bedriacum (or Betriacum), a small village on the Via Postumia,
and on the route by which the legions from Dalmatia would naturally
arrive.
Leaving a strong detachment to hold the camp at Bedriacum, the
Othonian forces advanced along the Via Postumia in the direction
of Cremona. At a short distance from that city they unexpectedly
encountered the Vitellian troops. The Othonians, though taken at a
disadvantage, fought desperately, but were finally forced to fall back
in disorder upon their camp at Bedriacum. There on the next day the
victorious Vitellians followed them, but only to come to terms at once
with their disheartened enemy, and to be welcomed into the camp as
friends.
More unexpected still was the effect produced at Brixellum by the
news of the battle. Otho was still in command of a formidable force: the
Dalmatian legions had already reached
Aquileia and the spirit of his soldiers and their officers was
unbroken. But he was resolved to accept the verdict of the battle that
his own impatience had hastened. In a dignified speech he bade farewell
to those about him, declaring: "It is far more just to perish one for
all, than many for one", and then retiring to rest soundly for some
hours. Early in the morning he stabbed himself in the heart with a
dagger, which he had concealed under his pillow, and died as his
attendants entered the tent.
Otho's ashes were placed within a modest monument. He had reigned
only three months, but in this short time had shown more wisdom and
grace than anyone had expected. His funeral was celebrated at once, as
he had wished. A plain tomb was erected in his honour at Brixellum, with
the simple inscription Diis Manibus Marci Othonis.
Reasons for
suicide
It has been thought that Otho's
suicide
was committed in order to steer his country from the path to civil war.
Just as he had come to power, many Romans learned to respect Otho in his
death. Few could believe that a renowned former companion of
Nero had
chosen such an honourable end. The soldiers were so moved and impressed
that some even threw themselves on the funeral pyre to die with their
Emperor.
Writing during the reign of the Emperor
Domitian (AD 8196), the Roman poet
Martial
expressed his admiration for Otho's choice to spare the Empire from
civil war through sacrificing himself:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- "Although the goddess of civil
warfare was still in doubt,
- And soft Otho had perhaps still a
chance of winning,
- He renounced fighting that would
have cost much blood,
- And with sure hand pierced right
through his breast.
- By all means let
Cato in his life be greater than
Julius Caesar himself;
- In his death was he greater than
Otho?"
Physical
appearance
Suetonius, in The Lives of the Caesars, comments on Otho's
appearance and personal hygiene.
He is said to have been of moderate height, splay-footed and
bandy-legged, but almost feminine in his care of his person. He
had the hair of his body plucked out, and because of the
thinness of his locks wore a wig so carefully fashioned and
fitted to his head, that no one suspected it. Moreover, they say
that he used to shave every day and smear his face with moist
bread, beginning the practice with the appearance of the first
down, so as never to have a beard
Juvenal, in a passage in the
Satire II dealing with homosexuality, specifically mentions Otho as
being vain, looking at himself in the mirror prior to going into battle,
and "plaster[ing] his face with dough" in order to look good. | 
