Vitellius

VITELLIUS. Lucius Vitellius, the Censor, Father of the Emperor A. Vitellius, was made Governor of Syria, at the Expiration of his Consulate, in the 35th Year of the Vulgar Æra; and the Emperor Tiberius intrusted him with the Management of the Affairs of the East, which were then very much embarrassed. The same Year, or the Year following at farthest, he came to Jerusalem at the Feast Joseph. Antiq. l. 8. c. 6.of the Passover, and was very magnificently entertained there. As an Acknowledgment of this Affection of the Jews for him, he released the City from paying a Tax for the Fruits sold there, which, till then, had used to be paid. He also committed to the Care of the Jews the High-Priest’s Habit, and all the Pontifical Ornaments, which Herod and the Romans had kept till then in the Tower Antonia. He deposed Joseph Caiphas from the High-Priesthood, and put into his Place Jonathan Son of Ananus; after which he returned to Antioch.

When the Emperor Tiberius had given him Orders to make War upon the Arabians; he marched as far as Ptolemais,¹ with an Intention to pass through Judea with his Troops, on his way to Petra. But the chief of the Jews came to wait on him, and intreated him to take another Rout; because their Law did not allow them to suffer strange Gods in their Country, and Images, such as were upon the Roman Ensigns. He comply’d with them in this, sent his Army another way, and came himself to Jerusalem, accompanied only with a few Friends, and Herod the Tetrarch. He there offered Sacrifices, and took away the Priesthood from Jonathan, whom he had made High-Priest but two Years before, and gave it to Theophilus, the Brother of Jonathan. He was again at Jerusalem, when he heard of the Death of the Emperor Tiberius; he then gave the Oath of Fidelity to the Jews, in the Name of the new Emperor Caligula, for whom he offered solemn Sacrifices to the Philo Legat. p. 1041. Joseph. Antiq. l. 18. c. 7.Lord.

In the foregoing Year, or 36th of Jesus Christ, he had sent Pilate the Governor of Judea, to Rome, in order to justify himself to the Emperor, for the Violence he had offered against some Samaritans, who had assembled together at Tyrataba, without any Design to revolt. This is the Sum of what we know concerning this L. Vitellius, Governor of Syria, who got as much Esteem in this Province, for his good Government of it, as he deserved Contempt at Rome, for his servile Flattery to Caius and Tacit. Annal. l. 6. c. 32. Plin. l. 36. c. 26.Claudius.

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