Editing Vitellius (section)

===In literature===
[[File:THOMAS COUTURE - Los Romanos de la Decadencia (Museo de Orsay, 1847. Óleo sobre lienzo, 472 x 772 cm).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|''[[The Romans in their Decadence]]'' by [[Thomas Couture]]|left]]
The earliest fictional appearance of a Vitellius was of the Roman Consul in Syria, Lucius Vitellius (the father of Aulus), who intervened in Judaean affairs in the time of [[Pontius Pilate]].<ref>[https://www.livius.org/articles/person/vitellius-lucius/ "Lucius Vitellius"], Livius,org</ref> It is he who figures in [[Gustave Flaubert]]'s novella [[Three Tales (Flaubert)#Hérodias|''Hérodias'']] (1877) and in ''Hérodiade'', the 1881 opera based on it by [[Jules Massenet]].<ref>[http://www.operascotland.org/opera/139/H%C3%A9rodiade Opera Scotland]</ref> The same character also makes an appearance in the 1930 novel by Iwan Naschiwin (1874–1940), ''A Certain Jesus: the Gospel According to Thomas : an Historical Novel of the First Century''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8IZKEFWL_UAC&q=novel+Vitellius Google Books]</ref>

The son of Lucius, Aulus Vitellius, played a minor part in [[Henryk Sienkiewicz]]'s novel [[Quo Vadis (novel)|''Quo Vadis'']], set at the end of [[Nero]]'s reign. Although he survived as a character in the 1900 Broadway production,<ref>[https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/character/Vitellius-315973/ Broadway World]</ref> and in the Italian films based on it of [[Quo Vadis (1913 film)|1913]] and [[Quo Vadis (1924 film)|1924]], he disappeared from later adaptations. But some later novels deal with incidents in the military career of this Vitellius. In [[Simon Scarrow]]'s [[Eagles of the Empire]] series, he is introduced as a rival to Vespasian during the [[Roman invasion of Britain]]. And in later chapters of Henry Venmore-Rowland's novel ''The Last Caesar'' (2012) he figures as the newly appointed Governor of [[Germania Inferior|Lower Germania]] and something of a [[Gluttony|glutton]].<ref>{{cite book|author= Venmore-Rowland, Henry |title= The Last Caesar |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WPKRqqKHxDYC&q=Vitellius |url-access= registration |publisher= Bantam Press (an imprint of Transworld Publishers) |date= 2012|isbn= 9780593068519 }}</ref>

Naturally Vitellius is a character in the rash of recent novels dealing with the [[Year of the Four Emperors]]. He is in the background in [[Kate Quinn]]'s novel ''Daughters of Rome'' (2011),<ref>{{cite book|title=Daughters of Rome|date=2011|publisher= [[Headline Review]]|author=Quinn, Kate}}</ref> and shares a section of [[Steven Saylor]]'s ''Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome'' (2010).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=xcOeBAAAQBAJ&dq=Steven+Saylor++Empire++%22Vitellius%22&pg=PT280 Google Books]</ref> His fall features in [[M C Scott]]'s ''Rome, The Art of War'' (2013),<ref>[https://read.amazon.co.uk/?kcrFree=only&asin=B009A94MN8 "Foreword" to the novel]</ref> and he also appears in [[James Mace]]'s two-part series, ''The Year of the Four Emperors''.<ref>[https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/james-mace/soldier-of-rome-reign-of-the-tyrants.htm Fantastic Fiction]</ref>