Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome.

Episode 77, What Time Is It?

Demission's autocratic reign was approaching the decade mark when it finally ran into some

serious blowback.

There had been mumblings and grumblings from day one, but thus far, his loyal bureaucracy

and his loyal troops had forced stalled any major attempts at revolution or coup.

But on January 1st, 89 AD, exactly 20 years after Vittelius' revolt along the Rhine,

two legions stationed in Upper Germany, led by their provincial governor Lucius Antonius

Saterniness, refused to renew their oath to demission, and the Roman world once again stood

on the brink of civil war.

No one had forgotten the horror of 69 AD, and from the outside, Saterniness's revolt

looked eerily similar to the Vittelian rebellion.

Hadn't Kysena led two legions on the Upper Rhine in revolt, and hadn't that spark been

carried down the river until the whole of the Rhine legions stood opposed to the legal

emperor in Rome, and hadn't that led to self-destruction on a scale not seen since

the days of Octavian and Antony.

Yes, he had, yes it had, and yes it did.

But this time, things would turn out differently, partly due to the widespread loyalty to mission

hitter and from the legions, in contrast to the bitter hatred they had directed at Galba,

but also partly due to a heaping shovelful of luck.

Had there not been an early thought, who knows what would have happened?

Unfortunately, we're never going to know the full story behind Saterniness's rebellion,

...