Ancient World
Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69): Galba, Otho, Vitellius
Vespasian emerged victorious from the civil war and founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled Rome until AD 96.
Region
Europe
Ancient World
Colosseum (AD 70-80): Building Rome's Flavian Amphitheatre
Rome gained its largest amphitheatre, used for gladiatorial games and animal hunts for over four centuries and now one of the world's best-known monuments.
Ancient World
Fishbourne Roman Palace: Britain's Grandest Roman Villa
A Mediterranean-style palace with mosaics and a formal garden was built in southern Britain; its excavation transformed views of early Roman Britain.
Ancient World
Eruption of Vesuvius (AD 79): How Pompeii Was Buried
Pompeii, Herculaneum and nearby settlements were buried by volcanic ash and pyroclastic flows, preserving them for later excavation.
Ancient World
Arch of Titus (c. AD 81): Triumphal Arch on Rome's Via Sacra
Rome gained a single-bay triumphal arch whose reliefs of the Jerusalem spoils became one of the most famous images of Roman art.
Ancient World
Battle of Mons Graupius (AD 83): Agricola in Caledonia
Roman victory over a Caledonian confederacy, but Rome did not permanently occupy the far north of Britain.
Ancient World
Vindolanda: Roman Fort and Its Famous Writing Tablets
The fort's waterlogged deposits preserved hundreds of letters and documents, the oldest surviving handwritten documents from Britain.
Ancient World
Assassination of Domitian (AD 96): End of the Flavian Dynasty
Domitian was killed by members of his household; the Senate made Nerva emperor and condemned Domitian's memory, ending the Flavian dynasty.
Ancient World
Aqueduct of Segovia: Spain's Great Roman Aqueduct Bridge
Segovia received a water supply carried over a granite arcade that still stands and became the symbol of the city.
Ancient World
Trajan's Dacian Wars (101-106): How Rome Conquered Dacia
Roman victory; the Dacian kingdom was destroyed, Decebalus died and Dacia became a Roman province in AD 106.
Ancient World
Trajan's Column (AD 113): The Dacian Wars in Spiral Relief
The column became Trajan's tomb monument and the most detailed surviving visual record of a Roman military campaign.
Ancient World
Pantheon, Rome: Hadrian's Temple and Its Great Concrete Dome
The rebuilt Pantheon survived intact as a church from AD 609 and became the most influential domed building in Western architecture.