Aulus Vitellius entered the world on the 24th of September in the year 15 within Nuceria Alfaterna, a town nestled in Campania. His father Lucius Vitellius belonged to the equestrian class before rising to senatorial rank later in life.
Caecina and Fabius Valens orchestrated his elevation to throne after refusing to renew allegiance to Emperor Galba on the 1st of January 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor at Cologne on the following day when armies from Gaul, Britannia, and Raetia sided with him.
Vitellius ended the practice where centurions sold furloughs and duty exemptions to their men and expanded Imperial administration offices beyond freedmen. He also banned astrologers from Rome and Italy entirely on the 1st of October 69.
Suetonius constructed the reputation of Vitellius as an obese glutton using emetics to eat four times daily and hosting feasts featuring thousands of fishes and birds. Edward Gibbon later wrote that Vitellius consumed at least six million units of money in eating alone over seven months.
Vitellius was dragged from a door-keeper's lodge hiding place to fatal Gemonian stairs where he was struck down by Vespasian's supporters before the 19th of April 69. His body was thrown into Tiber while Cassius Dio claimed beheading followed by head paraded around Rome.