Domitian's Early Reign
as Emperor
Before Domitian became emperor, his brother and father were worried
that his sense of ambition was too dangerous. Domitian used his power to
instigate a reign of terror. All of Rome and particularly the senate was
not pleased at all with him, since Domitian required to be called
Dominus et Deus "Lord and God," and had many Romans executed. There
are only two reasons he was popular with the army: he was a successful
general, and he also launched a very prosperous campaign to reform
morality, basically a family values campaign. This made a very large
impact on Rome. Domitian was not educated to become an em
went through sound training in Rome. Around late AD 70 Domitian married
Domitia Longina, daughter of the great general, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo,
whom Nero forced to commit suicide. This marriage was troubled; their
only child died young. Domitian exiled her in AD 83. Later, she was
recalled to the palace where she lived until Domitian's death. Compared
to Vespasian and Titus, whose military abilities were genuine, those of
Domitian were not.
As emperor, Domitian became one of Rome's micromanagers with the
economy. Shortly after taking office he raised the silver content by
12%, only to minimize it in AD 85, when the income wasnít good enough to
meet the military and public expenses. Late in AD 85 he made himself
censor perpetuus, censor for life, with general supervision of conduct
and morals.