Titus

Titus (AD 39–81), eldest son of Vespasian, was Roman emperor from 79 to 81 and the first to succeed his father. In 66 the Jews of Judaea rose against Rome, and he joined his father's army there; when the legions proclaimed Vespasian emperor in 69, Titus was left to finish the war.

In 70 he besieged Jerusalem, breached the walls and burned the Second Temple, and his soldiers hailed him imperator. In 71 he rode in triumph through Rome with his father and brother; the Arch of Titus marks the victory. His love for the Jewish queen Berenice shocked Romans, and he sent her away.

Succeeding on 23 June 79, he completed and dedicated the Colosseum and relieved sufferers of the Vesuvius eruption. Suetonius called him ‘the delight and darling of the human race’. He died of fever on 13 September 81, and his brother Domitian succeeded him.