Otho

Marcus Otho Caesar Augustus (/ˈoʊθoʊ/; born Marcus Salvius

Otho; 28 April 32 – 16 April 69) was Roman emperor for three
Otho
months, from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second
emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.

A member of a noble Etruscan family, Otho was initially a friend

and courtier of the young emperor Nero until he was effectively
banished to the governorship of the remote province of Lusitania in
58 following his wife Poppaea Sabina's affair with Nero. After a
period of moderate rule in the province, he allied himself with
Galba, the governor of neighbouring Hispania Tarraconensis,
during the revolts of 68. He accompanied Galba on his march to
Rome, but revolted and murdered Galba at the start of the next year.

Inheriting the problem of the rebellion of Vitellius, commander of

the army in Germania Inferior, Otho led a sizeable force which met
Vitellius' army at the Battle of Bedriacum. After initial fighting
resulted in 40,000 casualties, and a retreat of his forces, Otho
Roman emperor
committed suicide rather than fight on and Vitellius was proclaimed
emperor. Reign 15 January 69 – 16
April 69
Predecessor Galba
Contents Successor Vitellius

Early life Born Marcus Salvius Otho

Overthrow of Emperor Galba 28 April 32
Decline and fall Ferentium, Italy
War with Vitellius Died 16 April 69 (aged 36)
Death Brescello
Reasons for suicide Spouse Poppaea Sabina
Physical appearance (forced by Nero to
divorce her)
Notes
Regnal name
References
Imperator Marcus Otho Caesar
Sources
Augustus[1]
External links
Primary sources Father Lucius Salvius Otho
Secondary material Mother Terentia Albia

Early life
Otho was born on 28 April AD 32. His grandfather had been a senator, and Claudius granted Otho's father
patrician status.[2][3] Greenhalgh writes that "he was addicted to luxury and pleasure to a degree remarkable
even in a Roman". An aged freedwoman brought him into the company of the emperor Nero. Otho married
the emperor's mistress Poppaea Sabina; Nero forced Otho to divorce Poppaea so that he himself could marry
her. He exiled Otho to the province Lusitania[3] in 58 or 59 by appointing him to be its governor.[2]

Otho proved to be capable as governor of Lusitania. Yet, he never forgave Nero for marrying Poppaea. He
allied himself with Galba, governor of neighboring Hispania Tarraconensis, in the latter's rebellion against
Nero in 68.[3] Nero committed suicide later that year and Galba was proclaimed emperor by the Senate. Otho
accompanied the new emperor to Rome in October 68. Before they entered the city, Galba's army fought
against a legion that Nero had organized.[4]

Overthrow of Emperor Galba

On 1 January 69, the day Galba took the office of consul alongside Titus Vinius,[5] the fourth and twenty-
second legions of Upper Germany refused to swear loyalty to the emperor. They toppled the statues of Galba
and demanded that a new emperor be chosen. On the following day, the soldiers of Lower Germany also
refused to swear their loyalty and proclaimed the governor of the province, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. Galba
tried to ensure his authority as emperor was recognized by adopting the nobleman Lucius Calpurnius Piso
Licinianus as his successor,[6] an action that gained resentment from Otho.[2] Galba was killed by the
Praetorians on 15 January, followed shortly by Vinius and Piso. Their heads were placed on poles and Otho
was proclaimed emperor.[6]

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 whom Nero had taken in marriage and Otho also would live intimately with[7][8]), and the intended
completion of the Golden House announced.

At the same time, the fears of the more sober and respectable citizens were relieved by Otho's liberal
professions of his intention to govern equitably, and by his judicious clemency towards Aulus Marius Celsus, a
consul-designate and devoted adherent of Galba. Otho soon realized that it was much easier to overthrow an
emperor than rule as one: according to Suetonius[9] Otho once remarked that "playing the Long Pipes is hardly
my trade" (i.e., undertaking something beyond one's ability to do so).

War with Vitellius

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 quietly accepted 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 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. However, 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 by Robert Van Voerst
after Titian.
Dalmatia would naturally arrive.
Otho remained behind with a considerable reserve force at Brixellum on the
southern bank of the Po. When this decision was taken, Otho's army already
had 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

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 finally were 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.

Death

Otho was still in command of a formidable force: the Dalmatian legions had reached Aquileia and the spirit of
his soldiers and their officers was unbroken. He was resolved to accept the verdict of the battle that his own
impatience had hastened. In speech, he bade farewell to those about him, declaring: "It is far more just to
perish one for all, than many for one",[10] 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 three months. His funeral was
celebrated at once as he had wished. A plain tomb was erected in his honour at Brixellum, with the inscription
Diis Manibus Marci Othonis. His 91-day reign[15] would be the shortest until that of Pertinax, whose reign
lasted 87 days in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors.

Reasons for suicide

It has been thought that Otho's suicide was committed in order to steer his country away 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. Tacitus wrote that some of the
soldiers committed suicide beside his funeral pyre "because they loved their emperor and wished to share his
glory".[16]

Writing during the reign of the Emperor Domitian (AD 81–96), 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 Caesar himself;
In his death was he greater than Otho?[17]

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 Statue of the Emperor Otho
have a beard. in the Louvre museum
(Paris)

Juvenal, in a passage in the Satire II ridiculing male homosexuality,

specifically mentions Otho as being vain and effeminate, looking at himself in the mirror before going into
battle, and "plaster[ing] his face with dough" in order to look good.[18]

Notes
1. According to Dio, Augustus died after a rule of "forty-four years lacking thirteen days". If we
subtract 13 days to 2 September, we have 20 August. The very same chapter precisely dates
Augustus' death on "the nineteenth day of August". Caligula ascended to the throne at "twenty-
five years of age, lacking five months and four days". This gives us 27 March; Dio (wrongly)
dates Tiberius' death on 26 March. Therefore, Otho died on 16 April, not 17, as the calculation
may suggest.

References
1. Cooley, p. 490.
2. Grant 2002, p. 188.
3. Greenhalgh 1975, pp. 33–35.
4. Donahue 1999.
5. Wellesley 1989, p. 1.
6. Greenhalgh 1975, pp. 30, 37, 45, 47–54.
7. Smith 1849, pp. 897, 2012.
8. Champlin 2005, pp. 147–148.
9. "Suetonius • Life of Otho" (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12
Caesars/Otho*.html). penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
10. "Cassius Dio — Epitome of Book 63" (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/C
assius_Dio/63*.html#64-13.2). penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
11. Josephus, The Jewish War IV, 9 (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm):
"Three months and two days". 92 days including the end date, just as he did for Claudius' and
Nero's dates.
12. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata: "Otho, five [three] months, one day". [91 days]
13. Suetonius, Otho 11 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesa
rs/Otho*.html#11): "On the ninety-fifth day of his reign". Suetonius probably assumed Otho died
on 19 April, the day in which Vitellius was formally installed as emperor.
14. Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus III.27 (http://www.logoslibrary.org/theophilus/autolycus/32
7.html). "Otho, 3 months 5 days" [95 days].
15. Cassius Dio 63.15 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/63*.html#
14): "He had lived thirty-seven years, lacking eleven days, and had reigned ninety days". This
seems to give 15 April as Otho's date of death. However, "thirty-seven years lacking eleven
days" actually gives 16 April.[n. 1] This can be explained by placing Otho's ascension on 16
January. Other historians give similar dates.[11][12][13][14]
16. Tacitus, Cornelius. "Otho's Suicide : The Histories [of Ancient Rome] by Tacitus" (http://www.our
civilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/histries/chap6.htm). www.ourcivilisation.com.
Retrieved 29 September 2017.
17. Martial, Epigrams VI.32, translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey (https://books.google.co.uk/book
s?id=lnt1AAAAIAAJ&q=%22soft+otho+had+perhaps%22&dq=%22soft+otho+had+perhaps%2
2&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLnrm4v5HaAhXBmLQKHZumAB4Q6AEIKTAA)
18. "Juvenal | Roman poet" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Juvenal). Encyclopedia
Britannica. Retrieved 2019-12-02.

Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911). "Otho, Marcus Salvius". Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press. pp. 365–366.
Champlin, Edward (2005). Nero (https://books.google.com/books?id=30Wa-l9B5IoC&q=sporus
+sabina). Harvard University Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-0-674-01822-8.
Cooley, Alison E. (2012). The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy (https://books.google.com/
books?id=VlghAwAAQBAJ). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-84026-2.
Otho (69 A.D.) (https://www.roman-emperors.org/othox.htm) in De Imperatoribus Romanis.
Grant, Michael (2002). The twelve Caesars. London: Phoenix Press. ISBN 9781842126370.
Greenhalgh, P. A. L. (1975). The Year of the Four Emperors (https://archive.org/details/yearoffo
urempero0000gree). London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 9780297768760.
Smith, William (1849). Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology (https://books.
google.com/books?id=2ek_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA897). 3. C. C. Little and J. Brown; [etc., etc. ].
pp. 897, 2012. LCCN 07038839 (https://lccn.loc.gov/07038839).

External links

Primary sources
Life of Otho (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Otho
*.html) (Suetonius; English translation and Latin original)
 Life of Otho (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Otho*.html)
(Plutarch; English translation)
Cassius Dio, Book 63 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/63*.
html)
Tacitus, Histories (esp. 1.12 (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Hist.+1.1
2), 1.21 (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Hist.+1.21)–90 (https://www.p
erseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Hist.+1.90))

Secondary material
Biography on De Imperatoribus Romanis (http://www.roman-empire.net/emperors/otho.html)
Otho by Plutarch (http://www.worldhistoryblog.com/2005/10/otho-by-plutarch.html)
Juvenal; Satire II (https://web.archive.org/web/20090220184654/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/th
emes/booklibrary/books/bibliographie/J/Juvenal/juv-sat2lateng.html)

Political offices
Preceded by Roman emperor Succeeded by
Galba 69 Vitellius

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