Trajan Decius Roman Emperor 249-251 A.D. Biography
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Example of Authentic Ancient
Coin of:
Trajan Decius - Roman Emperor: 249-251 A.D. -
Silver Antoninianus 20mm (4.10 grams) Struck at the mint of Rome 250 A,D.
Reference: RIC 12b, C 16
IMPCMQTRAIANVSDECIVSAVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
DACIA - Dacia standing left, holding staff with ass's head on it.
Gaius Messius Quintus Decius (ca. 201- June
251) was the
Emperor of Rome from 249 to 251. In the
last year of his reign, he co-ruled with his son
Herennius Etruscus until both of them
were killed in the
Battle of Abrittus.
.jpg/250px-Emperor_Traianus_Decius_(Mary_Harrsch).jpg) Early
life and rise to power
Decius, who was born at
Budalia, now
Martinci,
Serbia near
Sirmium (Sremska
Mitrovica), in
Lower Pannonia was one of the first
among a long succession of future Roman Emperors to originate from the
provinces of
Illyria in the Danube.[1].
Unlike some of his immediate imperial predecessors such as Philip the
Arab or
Maximinus, Decius was a distinguished
senator who had served as
consul in 232, had been governor of
Moesia and
Germania Inferior soon afterwards,
served as governor of
Hispania Tarraconensis between 235-238,
and was
urban prefect of Rome during the early
reign of Emperor
Philip the Arab (Marcus Iulius
Phillipus).
Around 245, Emperor Philip entrusted Decius with an
important command on the
Danube. By the end of 248 or 249,
Decius was sent to quell the revolt of
Pacatianus and his troops in Moesia and
Pannonia[3];
the soldiers were enraged because of the peace treaty signed between
Philip and the
Sassanids. Once arrived, the troops
forced Decius to assume the imperial dignity himself instead. Decius
still protested his loyalty to Philip, but the latter advanced against
him and was killed near
Verona,
Italy. The
Senate then recognized Decius as
Emperor, giving him the attribute Traianus as a reference to the
good emperor
Trajan. As the Byzantine historian
Zosimus later noted:
Decius was therefore clothed in purple and forced
to undertake the [burdens of] government, despite his reluctance and
unwillingness.
Political
and monumental initiatives
Decius' political program was focused on the
restoration of the strength of the State, both military opposing the
external threats, and restoring the public
piety with a program of renovation of
the
State religion.
Either as a concession to the Senate, or perhaps with
the idea of improving public morality, Decius endeavoured to revive the
separate office and authority of the
censor. The choice was left to the
Senate, who unanimously selected
Valerian (afterwards emperor). But
Valerian, well aware of the dangers and difficulties attaching to the
office at such a time, declined the responsibility. The invasion of the
Goths and Decius' death put an end to
the abortive attempt.
During his reign, he proceeded to construct several
building projects in Rome "including the Thermae Deciane or Baths of
Decius on the Aventine" which was completed in 252 and still survived
through to the
16th century; Decius also acted to
repair the Colosseum, which had been damaged by lightning strikes.
Persecution
of Christians
In January 250, Decius issued an edict for the
suppression of
Christianity. The edict itself was
fairly clear:
All the inhabitants of the empire were required
to sacrifice before the magistrates of their community 'for the
safety of the empire' by a certain day (the date would vary from
place to place and the order may have been that the sacrifice had to
be completed within a specified period after a community received
the edict). When they sacrificed they would obtain a certificate
(libellus) recording the fact that they had complied with the order.
While Decius himself may have intended the edict as a
way to reaffirm his conservative vision of the Pax Romana and to
reassure Rome's citizens that the empire was still secure, it
nevertheless sparked a "terrible crisis of authority as various
[Christian] bishops and their flocks reacted to it in different ways."
Measures were first taken demanding that the bishops and officers of the
church make a sacrifice for the Emperor, a matter of an oath of
allegiance that Christians considered offensive. Certificates were
issued to those who satisfied the
pagan commissioners during the
persecution of Christians under Decius. Forty-six such certificates have
been published, all dating from 250, four of them from
Oxyrhynchus. Christian followers who
refused to offer a pagan sacrifice for the Emperor and the Empire's
well-being by a specified date risked torture and execution. A number of
prominent Christians did, in fact, refuse to make a sacrifice and were
killed in the process including
Pope Fabian himself in 250 and
"anti-Christian feeling[s] led to pogroms at Carthage and Alexandria."
In reality, however, towards the end of the second year of Decius'
reign, "the ferocity of the [anti-Christian] persecution had eased off,
and the earlier tradition of tolerance had begun to reassert itself."
The Christian church though never forgot the reign of Decius whom they
labelled as that "fierce tyrant".
At this time, there was a second outbreak of the
Antonine Plague, which at its height in
251 to 266 took the lives of 5,000 a day in Rome. This outbreak is
referred to as the "Plague of
Cyprian" (the bishop of
Carthage), where both the plague and
the
persecution of Christians were
especially severe. Cyprian's biographer
Pontius gave a vivid picture of the
demoralizing effects of the plague and Cyprian moralized the event in
his essay De mortalitate. In Carthage the "Decian persecution"
unleashed at the onset of the plague sought out Christian scapegoats.
Decius' edicts were renewed under Valerius in 253 and repealed under his
son,
Gallienus, in 260-1.
Military
actions and death
The
barbarian incursions into the Empire
were becoming more and more daring and frequent whereas the Empire was
facing a serious economic crisis in Decius' time. During his brief
reign, Decius engaged in important operations against the
Goths, who crossed the Danube to raid
districts of Moesia and
Thrace. This is the first considerable
occasion the Goths — who would later come to play such an important role
— appear in the historical record. The Goths under King
Cniva were surprised by the emperor
while besieging
Nicopolis on the Danube; the Goths fled
through the difficult terrain of the
Balkans, but then doubled back and
surprised the Romans near Beroë (modern
Stara Zagora), sacking their camp and
dispersing the Roman troops. It was the first time a Roman emperor fled
in the face of Barbarians. The Goths then moved to
attack
Philippopolis (modern
Plovdiv), which fell into their hands.
The governor of Thrace,
Titus Julius Priscus, declared himself
Emperor under Gothic protection in opposition to Decius but Priscus's
challenge was rendered moot when he was killed soon afterwards.
The siege of Philippopolis had so exhausted the
numbers and resources of the Goths that they offered to surrender their
treasure and prisoners, on condition of being allowed to retire.[citation
needed] Decius, who had succeeded in surrounding
them and hoped to cut off their retreat, refused to entertain their
proposals. The final engagement, in which the Goths fought with the
courage of despair, under the command of Cniva, took place during the
second week of June 251 on swampy ground in the
Ludogorie (region in northeastern
Bulgaria which merges with Dobruja plateau and the Danube Plain to the
north) near the small settlement of Abrittus or Forum Terebronii
(modern
Razgrad): see
Battle of Abrittus.
Jordanes records that Decius' son
Herennius Etruscus was killed by an
arrow early in the battle, and to cheer his men Decius exclaimed, "Let
no one mourn; the death of one soldier is not a great loss to the
republic." Nevertheless, Decius' army was entangled in the swamp and
annihilated in this battle, while he himself was killed on the field of
battle. As the historian
Aurelius Victor relates:
The Decii (ie. Decius), while pursuing the
barbarians across the Danube, died through treachery at Abrittus
after reigning two years....Very many report that the son had fallen
in battle while pressing an attack too boldly; that the father
however, has strenuously asserted that the loss of one soldier
seemed to him too little to matter. And so he resumed the war and
died in a similar manner while fighting vigorously.
One literary tradition claims that Decius was
betrayed by his successor
Trebonianus Gallus, who was involved in
a secret alliance with the Goths but this cannot be substantiated and
was most likely a later invention since Gallus felt compelled to adopt
Decius' younger son, Gaius Valens Hostilianus, as joint emperor even
though the latter was too young to rule in his own right. It is also
unlikely that the shattered Roman legions would proclaim as emperor a
traitor who was responsible for the loss of so many soldiers from their
ranks. Decius was the first Roman emperor to die in battle against a
foreign enemy
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