More than a century before Caracalla was born, Rome was ruled for ten years by Vespasian, founder of the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian came to power in a.d. 69 as the victor of a brief, nasty civil war, during which four men ruled in a single year;* but before he was an emperor, he had enjoyed a short career in north Africa during which he was known as a “mule driver,” a euphemism for a slave trader.
