AN ITALIAN MICROMOSAIC PLAQUE

The Emperor Vespasian died in July 79 AD and his dying words were supposedly, 'Pity. I think I am turning into a god'. He was succeeded by his son Titus who began the process of deification of his father and the construction of a temple in his honour. Titus himself died in 81 AD and the temple was completed by his younger brother Domitian sometime before 85 AD. The column of Phocas was the last addition to the Forum, erected in honour of the Byzantine Emperor Phocas in 608 AD.