Although he’s not the most attractive Roman emperor, Vespasian is my favorite, and my biggest history crush. He was the ninth emperor of Rome and emerged as a strong leader after the Year of Four Emperors which was basically a power struggle left by the vacuum after Nero was forced to commit suicide. He instituted beneficial financial reforms after Nero’s wasteful use of the treasury and the Fire, and is generally considered one of the best Roman emperors. He set up the Flavian dynasty (which ended up only consisting of him and his two sons: Titus and Domitian) and started construction of the Flavian amphitheater, which is now known as the Colosseum. Also, he’s the reason public toilets are called ‘vespasiani’ in Italian, as he instituted a higher tax on the fullers who collected urine from travellers for clothing. He famously remarked, when criticized about the tax, “pecunia non olet” or “money doesn’t smell”, which I think is not only clever but entirely hilarious. He’s just my favorite person.