The Barracks Emperors

Chapter 2 

Crisis of the Third Century

325 AD - We ended the last segment with the assassination of Emperor Alexander Severus by his own troops and the rise of Maximinus Thrax. 

Good Emperor Bad Emperor 

Whilst one could conceivably understand the demise of the murderous and cruel Caracalla the murder of Alexander Severus was totally uncalled for especially as he demonstrated good rulership skills even when still young. 

This heralded a period of time which was to last for the next 50 years in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman army generals, assuming imperial power over all or part of the Empire.
Also known as the Military Anarchy, the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. 

In what was surely a most tragic event in Roman History when Alexander Severus who seemed to be an enlightened and wise ruler albeit under the direction of his mother Julia Mamaea, receives the same fate as so many much more deserving emperors.

So now in place of this educated aristocrat ruling Rome the pendulum swings about as far away from this position as it possibly get .

Maximinus Thrax had never even been to Rome was born in Thrace and was originally a Shepherd who had risen through the ranks because of his enormous size and strength and ferocity in battle. 

He was reportedly 2.6m in height and could pull an ox cart on his own. 
The senate, once again, were powerless to prevent him from being confirmed as emperor. However, it was not all plain sailing for Maximinus.
He still had to deal with several plots against him and after a brief and bloody power struggle he emerged victorious but remained deeply suspicious of just about everyone.

He felt most threatened by the Senators in Rome since any rival to his rule would most likely come from within their ranks so he had them all removed from the army, replacing them with loyal soldiers who owed their previous promotions to him.

He then got to work using his greatest asset which was his military skill and legendary strength and managed to subdue the Alemanni after a tough and brutal campaign deep into the German provinces.

The Alemanni - ("all men")
 Previously a group of several Germanic tribes were name "seuvi" they were united by a strong leader for the purpose of war or migration, but consisted of several distinctly different groups.  They still had a grudge against the Romans since the time of Caracalla who had come aid them when they called for help but instead used this as a pretext to annex their territory.

They had, by the time of Maximinus, become quite Romanised living in Roman type homes and adopting Roman customs, not really the popular image of the 'barbarian'. They were not to be subdued for long and in 268 a major threat appeared in Gaul just as the Goths were invading in the East. The Roman Empire was beginning to look as if it was under siege with another rising in the Dacian Kingdom at this time.


The Dacian uprising in 236 AD was successfully quelled for now by Maximinus. 

The Dacian Campaign led by Emperor Trajan early in the 2nd Century AD described in detail on Trajan's column which documents their progress

Trajan’s Column

Built in 113 A.D. to commemorate the emperor’s victories over the Dacians in two wars (101–102 and 105–106 A.D.), has a 625 foot-long frieze that winds around the 98 foot-high column shaft 23 times. 

Maximinus victories

These victories, one would imagine would surely have been enough to strengthen his position but unfortunately,for Maximinus, wars were costly. To fund these wars he plundered funds from the wealthy landowners and when this was not enough he used money set aside for the poor and dug into a 'corn dole'. This made him increasingly unpopular with the populace who had not forgotten Maximinus's  lowly beginnings. 
“After reducing most of the noble houses to poverty, and finding the income obtained thereby small and insufficient for his purpose, Maximinus began to lay hands on the public treasures” (Herodian).

The tragic tale of the Gordian's

The voracious hunger of Maximinus's army caused so much dissension among the provinces that matters eventually come to a head. 

AD 237 - In the province of Africa the disgruntled populace rose up against an imperial official charged with the business of collecting the exorbitant taxes and murdered him. They then persuaded their own prefect Gordianus I to assume the throne. He was getting old and asked his son Gordianus II to help him. 

The Gordians were not at all thrilled about this dangerous "appointment" and not wanting to be seen as usurpers made haste to report these proceedings to the senate, submitting themselves to its decision as the constitutional authority. 

The senate was in fact quite delighted and responded by confirming their election and declaring Maximinus Thrax a public enemy.

But opposition arose from the neighbouring province of Numidia.
238 - Capelianus, was the governor of Numidia and loyal supporter of Maximinus Thrax. More importantly he also had the only available legion in the area. He therefore easily defeated Gordianus II in the one sided battle of Carthage. His despairing father chose to commit suicide, they had ruled the empire for 36 days.

Ryse son of Rome

Another sad day for the ailing Roman Empire. Father and son Gordianus loved literature and art and lived cultivated aristocratic lives, not really suited to the manoeuvrings and power play of Roman rulers. The senate had already given them their blessing and were forced to continue the struggle against Maximinus. 

They then proceeded to appoint Pupienus and Balbinus, members of the senate as joint emperors. Gordian and his son were deified by the Senate. The public were angry at the brutal treatment of the peace-loving and literate men, as victims of Maximinus' oppression. Pupienus and Balbinus were not popular candidates and the senatedecided to take the teenager Gordian, rename him Marcus Antonius Gordianus as his grandfather, and raise him to the rank of Caesar and imperial heir. 

But there still was the problem of Maximinus, he was busy marching on Rome, but Aquileia closed its gates against him. His troops became disaffected during the unexpected siege of the city, during which they suffered from famine and disease.

In May 238, soldiers of the II Parthica in his camp assassinated him, his son, and his chief ministers.Their heads were cut off, placed on poles, and carried to Rome by cavalrymen. Pupienus and Balbinus breathed a sigh of relief. But their joint reign was doomed from the start with popular riots, military discontent and an enormous fire that consumed Rome in June 238. 

On July 29, Pupienus and Balbinus were killed by the Praetorian Guard and Gordian III proclaimed sole emperor.

The Genius of the Senate Pointing to Gordianus III
Carved marble sarcophagus from Acilia near Ostia
 

The insecurity in the third century is perhaps demonstrated in this marble carving from a sarcophagus. The burial customs had changed already in the 2nd Century, from funerary urns as incineration was replaced by burial.
The boy Gordianus III is shown on the left perhaps shortly after the death of Maximinus and Pupienus and Balbinus. 

There is a marked shift in the approach to sculpture observable in this piece. The folds are carved in a far more generalised and meaningless manner when compared to the firm structuring seen in the Ara Pacis monument shown above. The restrained dignity poise and strength of the Hellenistic style has been totally abandoned and replaced by the typically Roman matter of factness and function and necessity have replaced elegance and sophistication. There is a marked element of insecurity and turbulence,understandably  reflected in the art of the 3rd Century. 

Gordianus III was forced to become emperor at age 13 beating the previous record (Elagabalus) by a year. The senate no doubt thought he would be compliant and they could use this figurehead to push their own agendas.
But he too was dead at age 20 after being supplanted by another head of the Praetorian guard. 

Philip the Arab

Came from obscure beginnings originally from the middle east near Damascus, hence Arab. His connection to the court was through his brother Gaius Julius Priscus, a member of the Praetorian Guard under Gordian III. It was his brother that got him the job of Praetorian prefect, it seems the two of them felt they could rule the empire with Gordian III as their puppet. 

But Gordian died during a Parthian campaign in mysterious circumstances and of course the suspicion must fall on the two brothers. 
One can only wonder at the logic that inspired Philip to take on the ailing Roman Empire. There were no finances left to assist in the continued threats from Barbarian tribes in the west as well as the east. The Persians were appeased but only after the payment of a heavy tribute. 


248 AD Philip had to try and consolidate his popularity with the populace by celebrating the  1000th Anniversary of the Roman empire, which according to tradition was founded on April 21, 753 BC by Romulus. A  'Ludi Saeculares' or secular games was held at great expense with theatrical celebrations accompanied by much blood and slaughter in gladiatorial contests in the coliseum. 

http://www.greendragonsociety.com/images/Gladiators_24.jpg

But this was not and never could be enough to sustain Philip's rule in a crumbling economy with renewed Barbarian invasions and a number of usurpers claiming they could do better. 

Philip was overwhelmed and even volunteered to resign. However the senate decided to back him, a senator by name of Gaius Messius Quintus Decius made such an impression on Philip that he entrusted him with the quelling of a rebellion in the Pannonian and Moesian provinces (map).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Roman_Empire_with_dioceses_in_300_AD.png

The fickle Roman army decided that Decius was a better option than Philip and immediately proclaimed him emperor. Decius, it seems was not averse to the idea although he did apparently try to come to terms with Philip, whatever that means, a clash of armies was inevitable.

Philip marched out from Rome to face the approaching troops of Decius. In late summer, the two armies met outside Verona. Decius won a crushing victory and Philip was killed either in battle or by his own troops. When news of Philip's defeat and death reached Rome, the praetorian guard murdered Philip's son, as for his brother Priscus he seems to have completely vanished without a trace.

Taken from the Opening scene in Gladiator

Eusebius the christian chronicler writing during the reign of constantine records that Philip had converted to Christianity, a claim that is disputed but nevertheless is interesting since detractors of Eusebius claim his 'history' is distorted in order to paint a partisan view of the Christianisation of Rome in the 4th Century. 

Of course the secular writers of the day could be accused of the same thing since the victors always write the history, which makes us wonder about the veracity of most history we study, but that's another topic. Lets just assume the hard work and dedication of our history scholars and the ancient texts give us at least a reasonably accurate depiction of events from days gone by.

By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire including the Roman Provinces of Gaul, Britannia and (briefly) Hispania ; the Palmyrene Empire , including the eastern provinces of Syria Palestine and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire, proper, between them. Later, Aurelian (270 -77) reunited the empire.