MAXIMINUS I Thrax Roman Emperor 235-238 A.D. Biography & Certified Authentic Ancient Roman Coins Available to
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Maximinus is described by several ancient sources (none of which, except
for Herodian's Roman History, was actually contemporary with Maximinus)
as the first barbarian who wore the imperial purple and the first
emperor never to set foot in Rome. He was the first of the so-called
barracks emperors of the 3rd century; his rule is often considered to
mark the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century.
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collection all in one.
 Gaius
Iulius Verus Maximinus (c.
173–238),
also known as Maximinus Thrax (i.e. Maximinus the Thracian)
and Maximinus I, was
Roman Emperor from
235 to
238.
Maximinus is described by several ancient sources
(none of which, except for
Herodian's Roman History, was
actually contemporary with Maximinus) as the first
barbarian who wore the imperial purple
and the first emperor never to set foot in
Rome. He was the first of the so-called
barracks emperors of the
3rd century; his rule is often
considered to mark the beginning of the
Crisis of the Third Century.
Rise
to power
According to the notoriously unreliable
Historia Augusta (Augustan History),
Maximinus was born in
Thrace or
Moesia to a
Gothic father and an
Alanic mother; however, the supposed
parentage is highly unlikely, as the presence of the Goths in the
Danubian area is first attested after
the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century. Sir
Ronald Syme, writing that "the word
'Gothia' should have sufficed for condemnation" of the passage in the
Augustan History, felt that the burden of evidence from Herodian,
Syncellus and elsewhere pointed to
Maximinus having been born in Moesia. Most likely he was of
Thraco-Roman origin (believed so by
Herodian in his writings), and the references to his "Gothic" ancestry
might refer to a
Thracian
Getae origin (the two populations were
often confused by later writers, most notably by Jordanes in his
Getica), as suggested by the
paragraphs describing how "he was singularly beloved by the Getae,
moreover, as if he were one of themselves" and how he spoke "almost pure
Thracian".
His background was, in any case, that of a provincial
of low birth, and Maximinus, similarly to later Thraco-Roman Roman
emperors of the
3rd-5th
century (Licinius,
Galerius,
Aureolus,
Leo the Thracian, etc.), would elevate
himself,
via a military career, from the
condition of a common
soldier in one of the
Roman legions to the foremost positions
of political power. He joined the army during the reign of
Septimius Severus, but did not rise to
a powerful position until promoted by
Alexander Severus. Maximinus was in
command of the recruits from
Pannonia, who were angered by
Alexander's payments to the
Alemanni and his avoidance of war. The
troops, among whom included the
Legio XXII
Primigenia, elected the stern Maximinus, killing young
Alexander and his mother at Moguntiacum, also a site where many
Christians were martyred (Mainz)
in
235. The
Praetorian Guard acclaimed him emperor,
and their choice was grudgingly confirmed by the
Senate, who were displeased to have a
peasant as emperor. His son
Maximus became
caesar.
According to British historian Edward Gibbon:
[H]e was conscious that his mean and barbarian
origin, his savage appearance, and his total ignorance of the arts
and institutions of civil life, formed a very unfavourable contrast
with the amiable manners of the unhappy Alexander. He remembered
that, in his humbler fortune, he had often waited before the doors
of the haughty nobles of Rome, and had been denied admittance by the
insolence of their slaves. He recollected too the friendship of a
few who had relieved his poverty, and assisted his rising hopes. But
those who had spurned, and those who had protected, the Thracian,
were guilty of the same crime, the knowledge of his original
obscurity. For this crime many were put to death; and by the
execution of several of his benefactors Maximin published, in
characters of blood, the indelible history of his baseness and
ingratitude.
Rule
Consolidation
of power
Maximinus hated the nobility and was ruthless towards
those he suspected of plotting against him. He began by eliminating the
close advisors of Alexander. His suspicions may have been justified; two
plots against Maximinus were foiled. The first was during a campaign
across the
Rhine, during which a group of
officers, supported by influential senators, plotted the destruction of
a bridge across the river, then leave Maximinus stranded on the other
side. Afterwards they planned to elect senator
Magnus emperor; however the plot was
discovered and the conspirators executed. The second plot involved
Mesopotamian archers who were loyal to
Alexander. They planned to elevate Quartinus, but their leader Macedo
changed sides and murdered Quartinus instead, although this was not
enough to save his own life.
Defence
of frontiers
The
Crisis of the Third Century (also
known as the "Military Anarchy" or the "Imperial Crisis") is a commonly
applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire
between 235 and 284 caused by three simultaneous crises: external
invasion, internal civil war, and economic collapse.
Maximinus' first campaign was against the
Alamanni, whom Maximinus defeated
despite heavy Roman casualties in a swamp near what is today
Baden-Württemberg. After the victory,
Maximinus took the title Germanicus Maximus, raised his son
Maximus to the rank of
Caesar and Prince of Youths, and
deified his late wife Paulina. Securing the German frontier, at least
for a while, Maximinus then set up a winter encampment at
Sirmium in
Pannonia, and from that supply base
fought the
Dacians and the
Sarmatians during the winter of
235–236.
Gordian
I and Gordian II
Early in
238, in the province of
Africa, a treasury official's
extortions through false judgments in corrupt courts against some local
landowners ignited a full-scale revolt in the province. The landowners
armed their clients and their agricultural workers and entered Thysdrus
(modern
El Djem), where they murdered the
offending official and his bodyguards and proclaimed the aged governor
of the province, Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus (Gordian
I), and his son,
Gordian II, as co-emperors. The senate
in Rome switched allegiance, gave both Gordian and Gordian II the title
of
Augustus, and set about rousing the
provinces in support of the pair. Maximinus immediately assembled his
army and advanced on Rome, the Pannonian legions leading the way.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the revolt had not gone as
planned. The province of Africa was bordered on the west by the province
of
Numidia, whose governor,
Capellianus, nursed a long-standing
grudge against the Gordians and controlled the only legionary unit (III
Augusta) in the area. He
marched on Carthage and easily overwhelmed the local militias defending
the city. Gordian II was killed in the fighting and, on hearing this,
Gordian I hanged himself with his belt.
Pupienus,
Balbinus, and Gordian III
When the African revolt collapsed, the senate found
itself in great jeopardy. Having shown clear support for the Gordians,
they could expect no clemency from Maximinus when he reached Rome. In
this predicament, they determined to defy Maximinus and elected two of
their number,
Pupienus and Balbinus, as co-emperors.
When the Roman mob heard that the Senate had selected two men from the
Patrician class, men whom the ordinary
people held in no great regard, they protested, showering the imperial
cortège with sticks and stones. A faction in Rome preferred Gordian's
grandson (Gordian
III), and there was severe street fighting. The co-emperors
had no option but to compromise, and, sending for the grandson of the
elder Gordian they appointed him Caesar.
Defeat
and death
Maximinus marched on Rome, but at
Aquileia Maximinus's troops, suffering
from famine and disease, bogged down in an unexpected siege of the city,
which had closed its gates when they approached, became disaffected. In
April 238 the Praetorian guards 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 then became undisputed
co-emperors.
Maximinus doubled the pay of soldiers; this act,
along with virtually continuous warfare, required higher taxes.
Tax-collectors began to resort to violent methods and illegal
confiscations, further alienating the governing class from everyone
else.
Maximinus reversed Alexander's policy of clemency
towards the
Christians, who were viewed as
unsupportive enemies of the state. He persecuted Christians ruthlessly,
and the bishop of Rome,
Pontian, as well as his successor,
Anterus, are said to have been
martyred.
Appearance
Ancient sources, ranging from the notoriously
unreliable
Historia Augusta to
Herodian, speak of Maximinus as a man
of significantly greater size than his contemporaries. He is, moreover,
depicted in ancient imagery as man with a prominent brow, nose, and jaw;
symptoms of one form of overgrowth. While the exact size of Maximinus
will probably never be known, he was nonetheless likely a man of great
size.
According to Historia Augusta, "he was of such
size, so Cordus reports, that men said he was eight foot, six inches in
height". It is likely however that this is one of the many 'tall tales'
in the Historia Augusta, and is immediately suspect due to its
citation of 'Cordus', one of the several fictitious authorities the work
cites.
Although not going into the supposedly detailed
portions of Historia Augusta, chronicler Herodian, a contemporary
of Maximinus, mentions him as a man of greater size, noting that: "He
was in any case a man of such frightening appearance and colossal size
that there is no obvious comparison to be drawn with any of the
best-trained Greek athletes or warrior elite of the barbarians."
Some historians interpret the stories on Maximinus'
unusual height (as well as other information on his appearance, like
excessive sweating and superhuman strength) as popular stereotyped
attributes which do no more than intentionally turn him into a stylized
embodiment of the barbarian bandit or emphasize the admiration and
aversion that the image of the soldier invoked to the civilian
population.
His consistent portrayal as a man with a prominent
brow, nose, and jaw, made some researchers to suspect that he may have
suffered from overgrowth to some extent in form of
acromegaly. | 
