Vespasian

Vespasian was born in the Sabine country in AD 9 (Suetonius, Vespasian 2) and made his name commanding a legion in the conquest of Britain under Claudius (Suetonius, Vespasian 4). When the governor of Syria was defeated by the Jewish rebels, Nero chose him to restore Roman control (Josephus, Jewish War 3.1–8). In two summers, Tacitus says, he recovered the whole country except Jerusalem (Tacitus, Histories 5.10).

After Nero’s death and a year of civil war the legions of Egypt and Judaea swore allegiance to him in July 69 (Suetonius, Vespasian 6). He left the war to his son Titus (Tacitus, Histories 5.10). After the triumph he built a Temple of Peace and placed in it the golden vessels taken from the Jerusalem temple (Josephus, Jewish War 7.158–162), and he ordered Jews everywhere to pay to the Capitol the two drachmas that they had paid each year to their own temple (Josephus, Jewish War 7.218). He died in June 79 (Suetonius, Vespasian 24).

Eusebius, in the early fourth century, did not count him among the persecutors: he says that Vespasian undertook nothing against the church (Eusebius, Church History 3.17). See the Jewish Revolt and the Destruction of the Temple.