Titus, full name Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus (39-81), Roman emperor (79-81), who destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and completed the Colosseum. He was born December 30, 39, in Rome, the elder son of Titus Flavius Sabinus Vespasianus, later Emperor Vespasian. Titus served as a military tribune in Germany and Britain and later fought under his father's command during the Jewish rebellion in Palestine. After Vespasian became emperor in 69, Titus was left in command of the Roman army in Palestine, and he brought the war to a close with the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70. To commemorate this victory in the Jewish war, his brother, Emperor Domitian, later erected the Arch of Titus.
On the death of his father in 79, Titus became emperor, and by his generous gifts and lavish entertainments he soon made himself popular with the Roman people. He established a lenient government, discontinuing all prosecutions for laesa majestas, or treason by disrespect, and decreeing heavy punishments against informers. During his short reign Titus completed and dedicated (80) the Flavian amphitheater, later called the Colosseum, begun by his father and built near the extensive baths that bear his name. The eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius occurred during his reign in 79, and the following year Rome was afflicted by a great fire and a plague. His beneficence to the sufferers of these disasters made Titus the idol of the populace. He died on September 13, 81.
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