

So he increased taxes all over the empire. In a way, the solution for Vespasian’s money woes came naturally, since his own father was a tax collector.

Instead, he entered military service and rose through the ranks largely on his own merit.Īccording to the ancient Roman historian Suetonius, Vespasian never forgot where he came from: at religious festivals, he would always drink from a little silver cup that belonged to his grandmother, and he refused to let anyone modify the small country home where he grew up.īut regardless of his humble beginnings, Vespasian had a big problem: the imperial treasury was all but depleted from war and Nero’s excessive expenditures. Unlike the emperors before him, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, better known as Vespasian, did not hail from a noble family. Emperor Vespasian Before Pecunia Non Olet Having defeated the forces of the last claimant, Vespasian took power and proclaimed a new Flavian dynasty, which would later include his sons Titus and Domitian. This resulted in a civil war with four men ruling in short succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and finally Vespasian. saw four powerful Romans lay claim to the title of emperor. In what historians have come to call the Year of the Four Emperors, 68-69 A.D. Unsurprisingly, prominent Roman politicians and generals took advantage of the situation, fighting for the imperial throne. With no surviving children or designated heirs, Nero’s passing caused a power vacuum. brought an abrupt end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty that had reigned since Augustus, the man who transformed Rome from a republic into an empire. Paris/Rome, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo/Egisto Sani/Flickr Emperor Vespasian wearing the corona civica, or civic crown. Currently he engaged as volunteer in the fight against child exploitation and again Human Trafficking. He works as a designer for the industry sector. He is passionate for writing, interested in alternative information, economics, research in the field of energy, strategies to achieve zero waste, and ecology, topics for which he has held public meetings and seminars for high school students. He founded the Valdarno Sustainability Committee with which he promotes the formation of the Valdarno Valdsieve coordination network to stop the construction of landfills and incinerators. He participated in the Social Forum and in the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. He participated in the Mir Sada International Peace March, a nonviolent peace convoy during the Bosnian conflict in Mostar and Sarajevo, to try to stop the conflict. He was a volunteer with the Conscientious Objectors Association and an activist with Greenpeace. Luca Cellini has participated with the Humanist Party. Given the context of globalisation and the observation of our times, marked by the untouchable and powerful law of “market dominance” that considers it legitimate to make profit from anything and anyone, continuing with the Latin pun, one could ask oneself, what kind of sheep could the Romans be alluding to, today? What is less well-known is that to the Roman ear the phrase also sounded like “sheep don’t smell.” Sheep, chickens and cattle in general, in times when money wasn’t in use, represented cash notes. The saying has different meaning as “pecuniario” or “money” in Latin derives from “pecus/pecoris” meaning sheep/cattle, because animals in Roman times, and especially bred cattle represented wealth and could be bartered. One is reminded of the well-known Latin phrase, Pecunia non olet: Money doesn’t smell. Our only aim has never been to make profit from the sale of these t-shirts but rather to help raise awareness and to support the people of France.” “We have received negative comments from some French members of the public who believe that we are profiteering from this tragedy, something that has never been our intention. Other sites have responded to messages of protest with justifications declaring:

On one or two websites they even say they’ll donate 10% of the cost. So now, on the same online shops that glorify war through the sale of berets, military medals, clothes and army paraphernalia, you can also buy gadgets bearing the inscription, “Je suis Charlie”.

At the same time the prices for past issues of Charlie Hebdo have started to rise abruptly on e-bay. Only two days have gone by since the terrorist attacks in Paris and already you can buy on-line t-shirts, bags, perfumes, hats and other things with the slogan “Je suis Charlie”.
