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Balbinus
Decimus Caelius Calvinus Balbinus (died July/August 238 AD) was Roman emperor with Pupienus for three months in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Origins and career Not much is known about Balbinus before his elevation to emperor. It has been conjectured that he descended from Publius Coelius Balbinus Vibullius Pius, the consul ordinarius of 137, and wife Aquilia. If this were true, he was also related to the family of Q. Pompeius Falco, which supplied many politicians of consular rank throughout the 3rd century, and to the 1st-century politician, engineer and author Julius Frontinus. He was born around 178. He was a patrician from birth, and was the son (either by birth or adoption) of Caelius Calvinus, who was legate of Cappadocia in 184. He was one of the Salii priests of Mars. According to Herodian he had governed provinces, but the list of seven provinces given in the unreliable ''Historia Augusta'', as well as the statement that Balbinus had been both Proconsul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pupienus
Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus ( 164–238) was Roman emperor with Balbinus for 99 days in 238, during the Year of the Six Emperors. The sources for this period are scant, and thus knowledge of the emperor is limited. In most contemporary texts he is referred to by his cognomen "Maximus" rather than by his second nomen (family name) Pupienus (). Origins and early career The ''Historia Augusta'', whose testimony is not to be trusted unreservedly, paints Pupienus as an example of advancement through the ''cursus honorum'' due to military success. It claims he was the son of a blacksmith, was adopted by one Pescennia Marcellina (otherwise unknown), and who started his career as a '' Centurio'' ''primus pilus'' before becoming a tribunus militum, and then a praetor. Pupienus's career was allegedly impressive, serving a number of important posts during the reign of the Severan dynasty throughout the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. This included assignment as Proconsul of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Coelius Balbinus Vibullius Pius
Publius Coelius Balbinus Vibullius Pius was a Roman senator active during the first half of the second century AD. He was consul for 137 as the colleague of Lucius Aelius. Balbinus is known only from non-literary sources, where he is usually referred to by the short form of his name, Publius Coelius Balbinus. Olli Salomies speculates that Balbinus came from Hispania, and notes that Ronald Syme has suggested that the elements "Vibullius Pius" in Balbinus' name came from his mother.Salomies, ''Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature in the Roman Empire'' (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1992), p. 141 Salomies further suggests that Balbinus was the son of Publius Coelius Apollinaris, consul in 111, and the father of Publius Coelius Apollinaris, consul in 169. The ''cursus honorum'' of Balbinus up to his consulate is known from an inscription reported from Rome. He began his career as one of the '' decemviri stlitibus judicandis'', one of the four boards that form the '' vigintiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maximinus Thrax
Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus "Thrax" () was a Roman emperor from 235 to 238. Born of Thracian origin – given the nickname ''Thrax'' ("the Thracian") – he rose up through the military ranks, ultimately holding high command in the army of the Rhine under Emperor Severus Alexander. After Severus was murdered in 235, Maximinus was proclaimed emperor by the army, beginning the Crisis of the Third Century, a 50-year period of instability and civil war. He is often remembered for his unusual height, although the veracity of this is disputed. Maximinus was the commander of the Legio IV ''Italica'' when Severus Alexander was assassinated by his own troops in 235. The Pannonian army then elected Maximinus emperor. In 238 (which came to be known as the Year of the Six Emperors), a senatorial revolt broke out, leading to the successive proclamation of Gordian I, Gordian II, Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian III as emperors in opposition to Maximinus. Maximinus advanced on Rome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordian III
Gordian III (; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor of the united Roman Empire. Gordian was the son of Maecia Faustina and her husband Junius Balbus, who died before 238. Their names are mentioned in the unreliable ''Historia Augusta''. Maecia was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known of his early life before his acclamation. Rise to power In 235, following the murder of Emperor Alexander Severus in Moguntiacum (modern Mainz), the capital of the Roman province Germania Superior, Maximinus Thrax was acclaimed emperor. In the following years, there was a growing opposition against Maximinus in the Roman Senate and amongst the majority of the population of Rome. In 238, a rebellion broke out in the Africa Province, where Gordian's grandfather and uncle, Gordian I and II, were proclaimed joint emperors. This revolt was suppressed within a mon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordian I
Gordian I (; 158 – April 238) was Roman emperor for 22 days with his son Gordian II in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Caught up in a rebellion against the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, he was defeated in battle and committed suicide after the death of his son, having had the second shortest reign in imperial history. Family and background Gordian I was said to be related to prominent senators of his time. His praenomen and nomen ''Marcus Antonius'' suggested that his paternal ancestors received Roman citizenship under the triumvir Mark Antony, or one of his daughters, during the late Roman Republic. Gordian's cognomen ‘Gordianus’ also indicates that his family origins were from Anatolia, more specifically Galatia or Cappadocia. According to the ''Historia Augusta'', his mother was a Roman woman called Ulpia Gordiana and his father was the senator Maecius Marullus. While modern historians have dismissed his father's name as false, there may be some truth behind the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordian II
Gordian II (; 192 – April 238) was briefly Roman emperor with his father Gordian I in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Seeking to overthrow Maximinus Thrax, he died in battle outside Carthage. Since he died before his father, Gordian II had the shortest recorded reign of any Roman emperor, at about 22 days. Early life Born 192, Gordian II was the only known son of Gordian I, who was said to be related to prominent senators. His praenomen and nomen ''Marcus Antonius'' suggest that his paternal ancestors received Roman citizenship under the triumvir Mark Antony, or one of his daughters, during the late Roman Republic. Gordian's cognomen "Gordianus" suggests that his family origins were from Anatolia, especially Galatia and Cappadocia. According to the notoriously unreliable ''Historia Augusta'', his mother was a Roman woman called Fabia Orestilla, born circa 165, who the ''Historia'' claims was a descendant of emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius through her father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the similar work of Suetonius, ''The Twelve Caesars'', it presents itself as a compilation of works by six different authors, collectively known as the ''Scriptores Historiae Augustae'', written during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I and addressed to those emperors or other important personages in Ancient Rome. The collection, as extant, comprises thirty biographies, most of which contain the life of a single emperor, but some include a group of two or more, grouped together merely because these emperors were either similar or contemporaneous. The true authorship of the work, its actual date, its reliability and its purpose have long been matters for controversy by historians and scholars ever since Hermann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caracalla
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then ruling alone after 211 AD. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna. Severus proclaimed Caracalla co-ruler in 198, doing the same with his other son Geta (emperor), Geta in 209. The two brothers briefly shared power after their father's death in 211, but Caracalla soon had Geta murdered by the Praetorian Guard and became sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Julia Domna had a significant share in governance, since Caracalla found administration to be mundane. His reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples. Caracalla issued the Antonine Constitution (), also known as the Edict of Caracalla, which granted Roman citizenship to all Peregrinus (Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and gathering military intelligence. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guards were escorts for high-ranking political officials (Roman Senate, senators and procurator (ancient Rome), procurators) and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by whose influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor and then proclaim his successor as the new ''Caesar (title), caesar'' of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the and destroyed their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herodian
Herodian or Herodianus () of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus'' (τῆς μετὰ Μάρκον βασιλείας ἱστορία) in eight books covering the years 180 to 238. His work is not considered entirely reliable, although his less biased account of Elagabalus may be more useful than that of Cassius Dio. Herodian himself may have been a Syrian (perhaps from Antioch), though he appears to have lived for a considerable period of time in Rome, possibly without holding any public office. From his extant work, it seems that he was still living at an advanced age during the reign of Gordianus III, who ascended the throne in 238. Beyond this, nothing is known of his life. Herodian writes (1.1.3; 2.15.7) that the events described in his history occurred during his lifetime. Photius (Codex 99) gives an outline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Aquileia
The siege of Aquileia was a siege battle that took place in 238 in the town of Aquileia during the Year of the Six Emperors, which resulted in the assassination of Maximinus Thrax. Battle Origins After the revolt of Gordian I and Gordian II and ascension of Balbinus and Pupienus, Maximinus marched on Rome. He reached the city of Aquileia, expecting an easy victory: the city's walls had long been in disrepair. However under the leadership of senators Rutilius Pudens Crispinus and Tullius Menophilus, the walls were repaired and the city rallied to defend itself in a siege. According to Herodian: These two had seen to everything with careful attention. With great foresight they had brought into the city supplies of every kind in quantities sufficient to enable it to withstand a long siege. An ample supply of water was available from the many wells in the city, and, a river flowing at the foot of the city wall provided both a defensive moat and an abundance of water. Siege Maxi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salii
The Salii, Salians, or Salian priests were the "leaping priests" of Mars in ancient Roman religion, supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve patrician youths dressed as archaic warriors with an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak (), a sword, and a spiked headdress called an apex. They were charged with the twelve bronze shields called , whichlike those of the Mycenaeansresembled a figure eight. One of the shields was said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of King Numa and eleven copies were made to protect the identity of the sacred shield on the advice of the nymph Egeria, consort of Numa, who prophesied that wherever that shield was preserved, the people would be the dominant people of the earth. Each year in March, the Salii made a procession round the city, dancing and singing the . Ovid, who relates the story of Numa and the heavenly in his , found the hymn and the Salian rituals outdated and hard to understand. Durin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
