Maximinus Thrax

Imperator Caesar Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Pius Felix Invictus Augustus

Born: 172--173 CE in Thrace or Moesia.

Wife: Caecillia Paulina.

Children: Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus.

Accession: 235 CE; February or March.

Ruled: 235--238 CE

Death: April 238 CE; Murdered by the soldierly at Aquileia.

Maximinus was probably the biggest man ever to hold the imperial purple. The Historia Augusta has it that he was 8'6", and so strong that he could pull laden carts unaided! The size of his footwear was also legendary, and the expression "Maximinus' boot" came to be used in popular parlance for any tall or lanky individual. Surviving portrait busts show Maximinus as a heavily-muscled man with powerful jaw and closed-cropped hair, the image of a seasoned soldier. Not for him the meditative, spiritual pose favored by Alexander Severus.

For Gaius Julius Maximinus, commander of Trebellica, was the first of the ordinary soldiers who, though almost illiterate, seized power with the votes of the legions.--Aurelius Victor Book of the Caesars 25

The accession of Maximinus, surnamed "Thrax" (Thracian), represents a further stage in the development of the imperial office, and was a sign of things to come. For Maximinus was of less distinguished origin than any of his predecessors: a common soldier, who had risen through the ranks of the Roman army. Furthermore, though born a Roman citizen, he came from Thrace (probably in fact from that part falling within the Roman province of Moesia). This was one of the less respectable parts of the empire, and Maximinus was referred to by several Roman writers as a barbarian. On the other hand, he showed real military ability, strengthened by the Rhine and Danubian frontiers, and gained the support of the Roman army. The animosity of the senate towards him arose partly from class-prejudice, and partly from the heavy financial contributions while he had to raise to finance his expensive military operations. It was not helped by the fact he spent his entire three-year reign with the army, never once visiting Rome.

Maximinus' military career began with enlistment in a Thracian auxiliary unit. This would have been 190. By 232 he was playing a leading role in Alexander Severus' Mesopotamian expedition, and again in the German campaign of 234 when he was placed in charge of new recruits.

Maximinus was acclaimed emperor by the army near Mainz in March 235. His accession was recognized and ratified by the senate-not without reservations--a few days later. Almost immediately a conspiracy arose against him, instigated by a group of prominent senators with the assistance of elements in the army. Maximinus was about to campaign against the Germans and had built a new pontoon bridge across the Rhine. The conspirators planned to wait until he was in enemy territory and then cut the bridge of boats, leaving him stranded on the farther shore. As it was, the plot was discovered and those responsible were arrested and executed without trial. A second plot soon afterwards, led by Titus Quartinus, backed by Osrhoenian arches from Syria, was equally swiftly suppressed.

Maximinus eventually crossed the Rhine bridge in the summer of 235 CE, and spent the rest of the year fighting the Germans in the Taunus and Wurttemberg area. His active participation in military engagements contrasted strongly with Alexander's rather timid approach, and Maximinus was warded the title "Germanicus Maximus" for his efforts. He then switched his attention to the Danube frontier, where he waged campaigns against the Dacians and Sarmatians during the two following years.

These military operations met with significant success, but where enormously costly, and Maximinus soon became unpopular with the propertied classes of Rome and the provinces for his confiscation and extortion. While these measures were limited to the rich, the stability of the state was not threatened; but Maximinus went further, taking money from he funds for the poor and the corn dole to finance his expeditions. The frontiers were secured, but by the beginning of 238, the combined weight of the emperor's financial extraction began to generate serious resistance.

The reaction when it came was centered not in Rome or Italy but in the wealthy North African province of Africa Proconsularis, where the fiscal procurator had shown himself particularly zealous on Maximinus' behalf. Popular feeling against the imperial administration ran high, both among peasant farmers and the rich landowners. It was a group of young aristocrats who in January 238 organized this seething resentment into a plan of action. They ordered their tenants and retainers to gather at Thysdrus (modern El Djem) where the procurator was supervising the revenues from the olive harvest. Choosing a suitable moment the young aristocrats went up to the man and killed him. They then approached the governor of the province, who was also in Thysdrus at the time, and obliged him to don the imperial purple.

The governor in question was Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus, an old man of 80. Gordian accepted the title of Augustus with some reluctance but returned from Thysdrus to Carthage, the capital of the province, with all the trappings of imperial office. From there he sent messages to his friend in Rome, where the senate hastened to recognize him as emperor: he was after all one of their own number, a distinguished ex-consul claiming descent from Trajan and the Gracchi, and much preferable in their eyes to the low-born Maximinus. They gave both the aged Gordian and his 46-year-old son (Gordian II) the title of Augustus, and set about the rousing the provinces in support of the pair.

News of these events in Rome reached Maximinus at Sirmium near Belgrade some 10 days later. He at once assembled his army and advanced on Rome, the Pannonian legions leading the way. Meanwhile, however, the Gordian revolt had not gone as planned. The province of Africa Proconsularis where Gordian held sway was bordered on the west by Numidia, who governor Capellianus nurtured a long-standing grudge against the Gordians. He also controlled the forces of the Third Legion "Augusta", the only legionary until in the region, and a substantial body of frontier troops. With these at his back he marched on Carthage and easily overwhelmed the local militias which sought to defend the city. The younger Gordian was killed in the fighting, and while his father heard the news he withdrew into a private room, took off his belt and hanged himself. It was late January; their joint reign had lasted only 20 days.

The untimely end of the Gordian rebellion placed the senate at Rome in great jeopardy. Buoyed up by hopes of victory, they had made their support for the Gordians all too clear, and could expect no mercy from Maximinus when he and his army reached Rome. IN this predicament the senator decided to stake all on a desperate gamble. Meeting together in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Captiol, they determined to defy Maximinus and elect two of their own members as joint emperors, in an arrangement reminiscent of the consuls under the old republic.

The choice fell upon a distinguished pair of ex-consuls, Decius Caelius Calvinus Balbinus and Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus. Both were men of advanced years, perhaps in their 70s, who had led distinguished careers, and together they combined much civil and military experience. The senate also appointed a Council of Twenty, the vigintiviri, to assist the new emperors in the defense of Italy.

A crowd had gathered while Pupienus and Balbinus were being elected, and refused to the allow the new emperors to leave the capitol, showering them with stones and sticks. They demanded that the new emperor be drawn from the family of the Gordians, who had a strong following among the poorer people of the city. The emperors had no option but to compromise. Accordingly they sent for the 13-year-old grandson of the elder Gordian and appointed him Caesar.

The new regime took control of affairs at Rome in the early days of February 238. Maximinus had by this time reached the borders of Italy, and Pupienus gathered what forces he could and set out to oppose him. Maximinus crossed the Alps and was surprised and angry to find that the city of Aquileia, on the Adriatic coast of northern Italy, closed its gates against him, and refused all offers of an amnesty. A siege was begun, but the defenders fought bravely, and the council of Twenty blockaded the roads, preventing supplies from reaching the besiegers. One picturesque rumor says that the women of Aqulieia sacrifice their hair to make bowstrings for the defenders. The Italian divisions in Maximinus' army soon began to tire of this fruitless warfare against their own countrymen. Around the middle of April a plot was formed between soldiers of the Praetorian Guard (from Rome) and the Second Legion "Parthica" (who's regular base was in Latium). Making their way to the emperors' tent, the tore down his portrait and killed him. With him perished his 23-year-old son, who had been raised to the rank of Caesar some two years before, and so ended the reign and dynasty of Thrax.

The assassins took the heads of Maximinus and his son to Ravenna, where Pupienus was mustering troops, and then on to Rome. At the beginning of May, after the forces of both sides had been disbanded and sent back to the proper provinces, the Praetorians seized the to elderly men, and dragged them naked through the streets of Rome. Pupienus and Balbinus were beaten up and mutilated, their hair and eyebrows torn out, and were finally murdered in the Casta Praetoria. They had reigned for merely 99 days. In their place, the Praetorians proclaimed Gordian III emperor of Rome.

"He was a merry, light-hearted lad, handsome, winning, agreeable to everyone, merry in his life, save in his age was he unqualified for empire."--Historia Augusta, Life of the Gordians XXXIII

Works Cited:

Scarre, Chris. Chrononicle of the Roman Emperors. Pages 160-164

New York, NY: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1995.