Roman Emperor (Crisis of the Third Century)

The role of the Roman Emperor changed during the Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the Anarchy of the 3rd Century), which marked the end of the Principate (the early phase of Imperial Roman government). A series of soldiers (the Barracks Emperors) assumed the highest office, leading to the breakdown of the previous system of imperial government under which the Emperor had functioned within the fiction of preserving the old republican form of government. The crisis came to a close with Diocletian, who reformed the Imperial office and initiated the period known as the Dominate.

Maximinus "Thrax"

Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus "Thrax" ("the Thracian") (reigned 235 – 238) was arguably the first "Barracks Emperor". Previous military Emperors (Vespasian, Septimius Severus) had come from noble or middle-class plebeian families, but Maximinus cameoh and hi from a lower-class family in a less-reputable part of the Empire and began as an enlisted soldier (miles). Remarkably, Maximinus never visited Rome while Emperor. Under his reign, the increasingly impotent Senate made some of their last attempts to control the Empire; the Senate backed two pairs of co-emperors from its own ranks against Maximinus.

He was commander of new recruits on the Rhine frontier when Alexander Severus was murdered by mutineers. Maximinus was acclaimed Emperor by his troops in March 235 and in January 238 put down a rebellion by the governor of Africa Proconsularis (modern Tunisia), Gordian I and his son Gordian II. Gordian I was a consul of distinguished lineage and reigned 20 days with his son as co-Emperor. Immediately afterward the Senate backed a second pair of co-Emperors, the patrician consuls Marcus Clodius Pupenius and Decius Caelius Calvinus Balbinus, and Maximinus was murdered by his own troops in April that year. The senatorial co-Emperors were murdered by the Praetorian Guard a month later in May 238, after reigning for 99 days.

Gordianan dynasty

Gordian I's wife, Fabia Orestilla, bore him two sons (Gordian II and an unknown son) and a daughter (Antonia Gordiana); that daughter was mother of emperor Gordian III (Marcus Antonius Gordianus), 238 – 244.

The preceding Gordiani may be regarded as failed usurpers rather than Emperors, but Gordian III's accession makes the family a quasi-dynasty.

More instability

Philip the Arab (Marcus Iulius Philippus, 244-249) was a Syrian soldier and the second praetorian prefect to have supplanted his Emperor (the first was Macrinus) when Gordian III's own soldiers mutinied against him. He was once erroneously thought to have been a Christian. Philip installed his son, also called Marcus Julius Philippus, as co-Emperor in 247, but both were killed in 249 by partisans of Philippus's rebellious governor of Moesia and Pannonia, the consular Quintus Traianus Decius.

Decius reigned from 249-251. He was a noble senator of distinguished career, and the first Emperor from the former Illyria, and also the first Emperor to be killed in battle with a foreign enemy (the Goths). His younger son Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius (Hostilian) was then adopted by and proclaimed co-Emperor with Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus in June 251, but died of plague in July 251.

Trebonianus Gallus replaced Decius's son with his own, Gaius Vibius Volusianus, but father and son co-Emperors were murdered in August 253 by partisans of Trebonianus Gallus's own rebellious governor of Moesia Superior, the consular Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus, who was murdered by his own soldiers after a reign of 88 days. He was another African – from Jerba, off the coast of southern Tunisia.

Valerianan dynasty

The founder of the short-lived Valerianan dynasty, Publius Licinius Valerianus (Valerian, 253-260), was from a particularly distinguished patrician, Etrurian family, the Licinii. For his efforts to resolve the badly deteriorating situation in the East the Senate awarded him the titles Restitutor Orientis ("Restorer of the East"), Restitutor Generis Humanis ("Restorer of the Human Race") and Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). His reign, however, ended ignominiously; he was the first Emperor to be captured by a foreign enemy and was used as a footstool by Shapur I of Persia, who then had his skin stuffed and put on display. (The only other Emperor to be so humiliated was Rhomanos IV 800 years later in 1071.)

In the reign of Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (253-261) there were several rebellions. In 261 Postumus established an independent so-called Gallic Empire (composed of Gallia, Britannia, and Hispania); Gallienus created a co-Emperor in all but name in Septimius Odenathus, king of Palmyra, to whom he gave the titles Dux Romanorum ("Leader of the Romans") and Corrector Totius Orientis ("Corrector of the Whole East").

• Gallienus ("Imp. Caesar P. Licinius Egnatius Gallienus P.F. Invictus Aug."; b. P. Licinius Egnatius Gallienus), 260 – 268. Note: Gallienus had been co-Emperor with Valerian (as "Imp. Caesar P. Licinius Egnatius Gallienus P.F. Invictus Aug.") from 253 until his own accession.
• Cornelius Licinius Saloninus Valerianus, 260 (as "Imp. Caesar Cornelius Licinius Saloninus Valerianus P.F. Invictus Aug.")

Dynastic relationships

Valerian's wife, Egnatia Mariniana, bore him two sons (Egnatius Gallienus and Valerianus). Gallienus fathered three sons by his wife, Julia Cornelia Salonina (Valerianus, Saloninus, and Egnatius Marinianus).

The crisis at its height

The murder of Gallienus left his Dalmatian cavalry commander, Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" ("conqueror of the Goths"), in charge. The Emperor from Illyricum recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire, but Septimius Odenathus's widow Zenobia broke with him and began to seize power in the East for herself (in 272 she began styling herself "Zenobia Augusta"). Lucius Domitius Aurelianus built the first new wall around Rome, defeated Zenobia and recovered the lands of the Empire claimed by Palmyra, and reclaimed the remainder of the Gallic Empire; for his efforts at reunifying the Empire he was titled Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). Aurelianus's successor Marcus Claudius Tacitus received a similar title, Restitutor Rei Publicae ("Restorer of the Republic").

• Claudius II "Gothicus" ("Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Claudius P.F. Invictus Augustus"; b. M. Aurelius Claudius), 268 – 270
• Quintillus ("Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Claudius Quintillus P.F. Invictus Aug."; b. M. Aurelius Claudius Quintillus), 270
• Aurelianus ("Imp. Caesar L. Domitius Aurelianus P.F. Invictus Aug."; b. L. Domitius Aurelianus), 270 – 275
• Tacitus (Imp. Caesar M. Claudius Tacitus P.F. Aug."; b. M. Claudius Tacitus), 275 – 276
• Florianus ("Imp. Caesar M. Annius Florianus P.F. Aug."; b. M. Annius Florianus), 276
• Probus ("Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Probus P.F. Aug."; b. M. Aurelius Probus), 276 – 282

Claudius II "Gothicus" died of plague in August 270. He was briefly succeeded by his brother Quintillus, who committed suicide in September and allowed the throne to pass to his own cavalry commander, Aurelianus, who was himself murdered by his Praetorian Guard. Tacitus was an elderly senator – probably a general brought out of retirement when it was realised that no-one stood ready to become Emperor after Aurelianus's death. Tacitus was murdered after six months and succeeded for 88 days by his praetorian prefect, Florianus, who became the third Emperor murdered in 276. Probus, a formidable general of unknown family from the Danube frontier, became the next Emperor, only to be murdered at the instigation of his praetorian prefect Carus (see below).

Caran dynasty

The Caran dynasty was a Gallic family from Narbo, on the Mediterranean coast. It was another family which came to power through treachery; Marcus Aurelius Carus, the founder of the extremely short-lived dynasty, had been his predecessor's praetorian prefect. Carus is the only Emperor to have been struck by lightning.

Caran emperors

• Carus ("Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Carus P.F. Aug."; b. M. Aurelius Carus), 282 – 283
• M. Aurelius Carinus, 282 – 283 (as "Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Carinus P.F. Aug.")
• Numerianus ("Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Numerianus P.F. Aug."; b. M. Aurelius Numerius Numerianus) 283 – 284
• M. Aurelius Carinus, 283 – 284 (as "Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Carinus P.F. Aug.") Note: Carinus had been co-Emperor with Carus from 282 to 283.
• Carinus ("Imp. Caesar M. Aurelius Carinus P.F. Aug."; b. M. Aurelius Carinus), 283 – 285

Dynastic relationships

Carus's wife (name unknown) bore him two sons (Numerianus and Carinus) and a daughter (Aurelia Paulina).