*Ø* Blogmanac September 18, 96 CE | The prophecy of Domitian's death
96 CE The Roman Emperor Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus; b. October 24, 51 CE) was killed by assassins acting for his wife, Domitilla, as foreseen by a soothsayer. He was succeeded on the very same day by M Cocceius Nerva, a senator and one of his amici.
Domitian was inordinately cruel, and it was said that he would spend whole hours torturing flies for fun. Once, he invited all the members of the senate to a ball; on their arrival they saw the hall decked out as though for a funeral, with coffins around the walls, each bearing the name of a senator. A number of armed, grotesquely costumed men came out of the woodwork and scared the senators, who then were allowed to leave.
From the Roman historian Suetonius (Life of Domitian, Chapters 14, 16), we know that an astrologer told Domitian that he would lose his life violently on the fifth hour of September 18, 96 CE, and the emperor took the prophecy seriously. As the day approached he executed perceived rivals, and had his gymnasium lined with polished stone so he could see reflected any would-be assassins. On the day before the predicted assassination somebody brought him a present of apples. “Serve them tomorrow,” he told the servants, adding “if only I am spared to eat them”. Then turning to his companions he remarked, “There will be blood on the moon as she enters Aquarius, and a deed will be done for everyone to talk about throughout the entire world”.
On the night before the appointed day, Domitian dreamed that the goddess Minerva told him she could no longer protect him. He leaped out of bed, terrified and condemned to death a German soothsayer who had said that said that recent lightning portended a change of government. Domitian then scratched an infected wart on his forehead, making it bleed, muttering: “I hope this is all the blood required.”
The fearful emperor sat in his bed-chamber with his sword beneath his bed, and soon asked his servants what was the time. “Five in the morning,” they answered. Domitian, convinced that his hour of danger had passed, quickly and happily prepared to take a bath; whereupon his head valet, Parthenius, changed his intention by delivering the news that a man had called on very urgent and important business. Feeling confident, Domitian greeted in his chamber one Stephanus, who stabbed him to death. The conspirators had arranged with the emperor’s servants to tell their lord the wrong time.
Several hundred miles away at Ephesus, the seer Apollonius of Tyana was making a speech. He stopped in what he was saying and said “Strike the tyrant, strike! Take heart gentlemen, the tyrant has been slain this day. This day? Why, by Athena, it was but now, just now, at the very moment of uttering the words at which I stopped.”
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96 CE The Roman Emperor Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus; b. October 24, 51 CE) was killed by assassins acting for his wife, Domitilla, as foreseen by a soothsayer. He was succeeded on the very same day by M Cocceius Nerva, a senator and one of his amici.
Domitian was inordinately cruel, and it was said that he would spend whole hours torturing flies for fun. Once, he invited all the members of the senate to a ball; on their arrival they saw the hall decked out as though for a funeral, with coffins around the walls, each bearing the name of a senator. A number of armed, grotesquely costumed men came out of the woodwork and scared the senators, who then were allowed to leave.
From the Roman historian Suetonius (Life of Domitian, Chapters 14, 16), we know that an astrologer told Domitian that he would lose his life violently on the fifth hour of September 18, 96 CE, and the emperor took the prophecy seriously. As the day approached he executed perceived rivals, and had his gymnasium lined with polished stone so he could see reflected any would-be assassins. On the day before the predicted assassination somebody brought him a present of apples. “Serve them tomorrow,” he told the servants, adding “if only I am spared to eat them”. Then turning to his companions he remarked, “There will be blood on the moon as she enters Aquarius, and a deed will be done for everyone to talk about throughout the entire world”.
On the night before the appointed day, Domitian dreamed that the goddess Minerva told him she could no longer protect him. He leaped out of bed, terrified and condemned to death a German soothsayer who had said that said that recent lightning portended a change of government. Domitian then scratched an infected wart on his forehead, making it bleed, muttering: “I hope this is all the blood required.”
The fearful emperor sat in his bed-chamber with his sword beneath his bed, and soon asked his servants what was the time. “Five in the morning,” they answered. Domitian, convinced that his hour of danger had passed, quickly and happily prepared to take a bath; whereupon his head valet, Parthenius, changed his intention by delivering the news that a man had called on very urgent and important business. Feeling confident, Domitian greeted in his chamber one Stephanus, who stabbed him to death. The conspirators had arranged with the emperor’s servants to tell their lord the wrong time.
Several hundred miles away at Ephesus, the seer Apollonius of Tyana was making a speech. He stopped in what he was saying and said “Strike the tyrant, strike! Take heart gentlemen, the tyrant has been slain this day. This day? Why, by Athena, it was but now, just now, at the very moment of uttering the words at which I stopped.”
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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