Titus reigned barely two years yet faced Vesuvius and a great fire
Titus became the first Roman emperor to follow his own biological father onto the throne, in June 79. Within months Mount Vesuvius erupted, and the next year fire swept Rome. His generous relief efforts, plus finishing the Colosseum, earned him glowing reviews before a fever killed him in September 81.
His family were newcomers. The Flavians climbed from obscurity in four generations: a great-grandfather who fled the field at Pharsalus in 48 BC, a grandfather enriched by tax collecting and banking, and a father, Vespasian, who reached the consulship in 51 and fought in the invasion of Britain. Titus, born in Rome probably on 30 December AD 39, grew up at the imperial court beside Britannicus, son of Claudius. A story even claimed he tasted the poison that killed his friend in 55. He was said to be a skilled poet and speaker in both Greek and Latin.
He served as a military tribune in Germania and in Britain, then joined his father when Nero sent Vespasian to crush the Jewish revolt that broke out in 66. The historian Josephus, captured early in the war, became the chief chronicler of the campaign. Titus proved himself a capable general in Galilee before Nero's death in 68 plunged Rome into the Year of the Four Emperors. Eastern armies proclaimed Vespasian on 1 July 69, and Titus was left to finish the war.
In AD 70 he besieged and took Jerusalem, destroying the city and the Second Temple. Rome awarded him a triumph, and the Arch of Titus that still stands was later built to mark it. Back in Rome under his father he commanded the Praetorian Guard and caused a stir through his relationship with the Jewish queen Berenice.
Vespasian died on 23 June 79, and Titus took power to wide approval. Suetonius and other ancient writers counted him a good emperor. After his death the Senate made him a god, and his younger brother Domitian took the throne. Coins struck during his short reign, including a gold aureus of 79, survive in museum collections today.
Source: Titus
