Maximinus I - Roman Emperor: 235-238 A.D. -
Silver Denarius 19mm (2.2 grams) Rome mint: March 235 - January 236 A.D.
Reference: RIC 16, BMC 25, C 99
IMPMAXIMINVSPIVSAVG - Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
VICTORIAAVG - Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
In
Roman mythology, Victoria was the personification/Goddess of victory.
She is the Roman version of the
Greek goddess
Nike, and was associated with
Bellona. She was adapted from the
Sabine
agricultural goddess
Vacuna and had
a
temple on the
Palatine Hill. Her name (in Latin) means victory.
Unlike the Greek Nike, Victoria (Latin
for "victory") was a major part of Roman society. Multiple temples were erected
in her honour. When her statue was removed in 382 AD by emperor
Gratianus there was much anger in Rome. She was normally worshipped by
triumphant generals returning from war.
Also unlike the Greek Nike,who was known for success in athletic games such
as chariot races, Victoria was a symbol of victory over death and determined who
would be successful during war.
Appearing on Roman coins, jewelry, architecture, and other arts, Victoria is
often seen with or in a
chariot. An
example of this is her place upon the
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.
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.[1]
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"[2].
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.[3]
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.
Politics
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"[4].
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."[5]
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[6]
or emphasize the admiration and aversion that the image of the soldier invoked
to the civilian population.[7]
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.[8]
|