Pertinax - Wikipedia Pertinax From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Roman emperor in 193 For other uses, see Pertinax (disambiguation). Roman emperor Pertinax Possible statue of Pertinax, National Museum of the Union, Alba-Iulia, Romania Roman emperor Reign 1 January 193 – 28 March 193 Predecessor Commodus Successor Didius Julianus Born 1 August 126 Alba Pompeia, Italy Died 28 March 193 (aged 66) Rome, Italy Burial Rome Spouse Flavia Titiana Names Publius Helvius Pertinax Regnal name Imperator Caesar Publius Helvius Pertinax Augustus[1] Father Helvius Successus Roman imperial dynasties Year of the Five Emperors (AD 193) Chronology Pertinax 193 Didius Julianus 193 Pescennius Niger 193 Clodius Albinus 193 Septimius Severus 193–211 Succession Preceded by Nerva–Antonine dynasty Followed by Severan dynasty Publius Helvius Pertinax (/ˈpɜːrtɪnæks/; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. Born the son of a freed slave, Pertinax became an officer in the army. He fought in the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166, where his success led him to be promoted to higher-ranking positions in both the military and political spheres. He achieved the rank of provincial governor and urban prefect. He was a member of the Roman Senate, serving at the same time as the historian Cassius Dio. Following the death of Commodus, Pertinax was acclaimed emperor. He attempted to institute several reform measures, although the short duration of his reign as emperor prevented the success of those attempts. One of those reforms, the restoration of discipline among the Praetorian Guard, led to conflict that eventually culminated in Pertinax's assassination by the Guard. Pertinax would be deified by the emperor Septimius Severus. His historical reputation has largely been a positive one, in line with Cassius Dio's assessment. Contents 1 Early life 2 Emperor 3 Aftermath 4 Historical reputation 5 In popular culture 6 Notes 7 References 8 Sources 8.1 Primary sources 8.2 Secondary sources 9 External links Early life[edit] His career before becoming emperor is documented in the Historia Augusta and confirmed in many places by existing inscriptions. He was born in Alba Pompeia in Italy,[2] the son of freedman Helvius Successus.[3] Pertinax through the help of patronage was commissioned an officer in a cohort.[4] In the Parthian War that followed,[5] he distinguished himself, which resulted in a string of promotions, and after postings in Britain (as military tribune of the Legio VI Victrix)[6] and along the Danube, he served as a procurator in Dacia.[7] He suffered a setback as a victim of court intrigues during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, but shortly afterwards, he was recalled to assist Claudius Pompeianus in the Marcomannic Wars.[2] In 175, he received the honor of a suffect consulship[8] and until 185, Pertinax was governor of the provinces of Upper and Lower Moesia, Dacia, Syria, and finally governor of Britain.[6] During the 180s, Pertinax took a pivotal role in the Roman Senate until the praetorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis forced him out of public life.[9] He was recalled after three years to Britain, where the Roman army was in a state of mutiny.[10] He tried to quell the unruly soldiers there but one legion attacked his bodyguard, leaving Pertinax for dead.[11] When he was forced to resign in 187, the reason given was that the legions had grown hostile to him because of his harsh rule.[12] He served as proconsul of Africa from 188–189,[13] and followed this term of service with the urban prefecture of Rome,[14] and a second consulship as ordinarius with the emperor Commodus as his colleague.[11] Emperor[edit] Roman aureus struck under the rule of Pertinax. Inscription: IMP. CAES. P. HELV. PERTIN. AVG. / PROVIDentia DEORum COnSul II When Commodus' actions became increasingly erratic in the early 190s, a conspiracy led to his assassination on 31 December 192. The plot was carried out by the Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, Commodus' mistress Marcia, and his chamberlain Eclectus.[15] After the murder had been carried out, Pertinax, who was serving as urban prefect at this time, was hurried to the Praetorian Camp and proclaimed emperor the following morning.[16][note 1] His short reign (86 days) was an uneasy one. He attempted to emulate the restrained practices of Marcus Aurelius and made an effort to reform the alimenta, but he faced antagonism from many quarters.[18] Ancient writers detail how the Praetorian Guard expected a generous donativum on his ascension, and when they were disappointed, agitated until he produced the money, selling off Commodus' property,[19] including the concubines and youths Commodus kept for his sexual pleasures.[20][21] He reformed the Roman currency dramatically, increasing the silver purity of the denarius from 74% to 87% – the actual silver weight increasing from 2.22 grams to 2.75 grams.[22] Pertinax attempted to impose stricter military discipline upon the pampered Praetorians.[23] In early March he narrowly averted one conspiracy by a group to replace him with the consul Quintus Sosius Falco while he was in Ostia inspecting the arrangements for grain shipments.[24] The plot was betrayed; Falco himself was pardoned but several of the officers behind the coup were executed.[25] On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when, according to the Historia Augusta, a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed the gates[26] (two hundred according to Cassius Dio).[27] Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay.[24] Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials chose to resist them. Pertinax sent Laetus to meet them, but he chose to side with the insurgents instead and deserted the emperor.[28] Although advised to flee, he then attempted to reason with them, and was almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers.[29] Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thereby protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination.[15] Aftermath[edit] Bust of Septimius Severus, Glyptothek, Munich After Pertinax's death, the Praetorians auctioned off the imperial title; the winner was the wealthy senator Didius Julianus, whose reign would end with his assassination on 1 June 193.[30] Julianus was succeeded by Septimius Severus.[31] After his entry to Rome, Septimius recognized Pertinax as a legitimate emperor, executed the soldiers who killed him, and not only pressured the Senate to deify him and provide him a state funeral,[32] but also adopted his cognomen of Pertinax as part of his name.[33] For some time, he held games on the anniversary of Pertinax's ascension and his birthday.[34] Historical reputation[edit] Pertinax's historical reputation is largely a positive one, beginning with the assessment of Cassius Dio, a historian and senator who was a colleague of Pertinax. Dio refers to him as "an excellent and upright man"[35] who displayed "not only humaneness and integrity in the imperial administrations, but also the most economical management and the most careful consideration for the public welfare".[20] Dio's approval is not unqualified, however. He acknowledges that while some would call Pertinax's decision to confront the soldiers that would wind up killing him "noble", others would call it "senseless".[27] He is also critical of Pertinax's judgment when it came to the speed with which he tried to reform the excesses of the reign of Commodus by suggesting that a more tempered approach would have been less likely to result in his murder.[36] Pertinax is discussed in The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Discussing the importance of a prince not being hated, Machiavelli provides Pertinax as an example of how it is as easy for a ruler to be hated for good actions as for bad ones. Though describing him as a good man, Machiavelli considered Pertinax's attempt to reform a soldiery that had become "accustomed to live licentiously" a mistake, as it inspired their hatred of him, which led to his overthrow and death.[37] Pertinax is described by David Hume's essay Of the Original Contract as an "excellent prince" possessing an implied modesty when, on the arrival of soldiers who had come to proclaim him emperor, he believed that Commodus had ordered his death.[38] During the debate over ratification of the US Constitution, Virginia politician John Dawson, at his state's ratifying convention in 1788, spoke of the "atrocious murder" of Pertinax by the Praetorian Guard as an example of the danger of establishing a standing army.[39][40] In popular culture[edit] Pertinax was the pseudonym of the French journalist André Géraud (1882–1974).[41] In Romanitas, a fictional alternate history novel by Sophia McDougall, Pertinax's reign is the point of divergence. In the history as established by the novel, the plot against Pertinax was thwarted, and Pertinax introduced a series of reforms that would consolidate the Roman Empire to such a degree that it would still be a major power in the 21st century.[42] Notes[edit] ^ Although Commodus was killed on 31 December 192, Pertinax was not acclaimed emperor until 1 January 193.[17] References[edit] ^ Cooley, Alison E. (2012). The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy. Cambridge University Press. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-521-84026-2. ^ a b Dio, 74:3 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 1:1 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 1:6 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 2:1 ^ a b Birley (2005), p. 173. ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 2:4 ^ Meckler (1997). ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 3:3 ^ Dio, 74:4 ^ a b Birley (2005), p. 174. ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 3:10 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 4:1 ^ Victor, 18:2 ^ a b Campbell (2005), p. 1. ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 4:5 ^ Pococke (1853), p. 158. ^ Gibbon (1788), chapter 4. ^ Campbell (2005), p. 2. ^ a b Dio, 74:5 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 7:8 ^ Kenneth W. Harl (1999). "Roman Currency of the Principate". Tulane University. Archived from the original on 1 November 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2015. ^ Zosimus, 1:8 ^ a b Dio, 74:8 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 10:4 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 11:1 ^ a b Dio, 74:9 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 11:7 ^ Dio, 74:10 ^ Glay, Marcel le; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Bohec, Yann le (2001). A History of Rome. Translated by Nevill, Antonia (Third ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 369–372. ISBN 1-4051-1083-X. ^ Dio, 74:17:4 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 15:1 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 15:2 ^ Historia Augusta, Pertinax, 15:5 ^ Dio, 74:1 ^ Dio, 74:10. "He failed to comprehend, though a man of wide practical experience, that one cannot with safety reform everything at once, and that the restoration of a state, in particular, requires both time and wisdom". ^ Machiavelli – The Prince, Ch. XIX. Pertinax, Marcus Aurelius and Severus Alexander are described as "men of modest life, lovers of justice, enemies to cruelty, humane, and benignant". However, Machiavelli considers that Roman soldiers, "being accustomed to live licentiously under Commodus, could not endure the honest life to which Pertinax wished to reduce them". ^ Hume – Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, II.XII.41 ^ Graham, John Remington (2009). Free, Sovereign, and Independent States: The Intended Meaning of the American Constitution. United States: Pelican Publishing. p. 139. ISBN 9781589805897. ^ Richard, Carl J. (1994). The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment. United States: Harvard University Press. p. 103. ISBN 0-674-31426-3. ^ "The Press: Pertinax Goes Home". Time. 15 October 1945. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 26 March 2018.(subscription required) ^ McDougall, Sophia. "A Short History of the Roman Empire". Romanitas. Retrieved 26 March 2018. Sources[edit] Primary sources[edit] Historia Augusta, Life of Pertinax, English translation at Lacus Curtius Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 74, English translation at Lacus Curtius Aurelius Victor, "Epitome de Caesaribus", English translation at De Imperatoribus Romanis Zosimus, "Historia Nova", English translation at The Tertullian Project Secondary sources[edit] Birley, Anthony (2005). The Roman Government of Britain. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199252374. Campbell, Brian (2005). "The Severan dynasty". In Alan K. Bowman; Peter Garnsey & Averil Cameron (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History XII: The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193–337 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Elliot, Simon (2020). Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman. ISBN 9781784385255. Gibbon, Edward (1788). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Meckler, Michael L. (1997). "Pertinax (193 A.D.)". De Imperatoribus Romanis. Retrieved 1 December 2015. Pococke, Edward (1853). The History of the Roman Empire from the Time of Vespasian to the Extinction of the Western Empire. London. External links[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pertinax. Pertinax at Livius.Org Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Publius Helvius Pertinax" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Pertinax at roman-emperors.org Political offices Preceded by L. Calpurnius Piso P. Salvius Julianus Consul of Rome 175 (suffect) With: Didius Julianus Succeeded by T. Vitrasius Pollio M. Flavius Aper II Preceded by Ulpius Marcellus Governor of Britain c. 185 – 187 Succeeded by Unknown, then Clodius Albinus Preceded by Popilius Pedo Apronianus Marcus Valerius Bradua Mauricus Consul of Rome 192 With: Commodus VII Succeeded by Q. Pompeius Sosius Falco G. Julius Erucius Clarus Vibianus Regnal titles Preceded by Commodus Roman emperor 193 Succeeded by Didius Julianus v t e Roman and Byzantine emperors and ruling empresses Principate 27 BC – AD 235 Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius Lucius Verus Commodus Pertinax Didius Julianus (Pescennius Niger) (Clodius Albinus) Septimius Severus Caracalla Geta Macrinus Diadumenian Elagabalus Severus Alexander Crisis 235–285 Maximinus Thrax Gordian I Gordian II Pupienus Balbinus Gordian III Philip the Arab Philip II Decius Herennius Etruscus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus Volusianus Aemilianus Valerian Gallienus Saloninus Claudius Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Ulpia Severina Tacitus Florian Probus Carus Carinus Numerian Gallic emperors Postumus (Laelianus) Marius Victorinus (Domitianus II) Tetricus I with Tetricus II as caesar Palmyrene emperors Vaballathus Zenobia Septimius Antiochus Dominate 284–395 Diocletian Maximian Galerius Constantius I Severus Constantine the Great Maxentius Licinius Maximinus Daza (Valerius Valens) (Martinian) Constantine II Constantius II Constans I Magnentius Vetranio Julian Jovian Valentinian I (west) Valens (east) Gratian (west) Valentinian II (west) Theodosius I Magnus Maximus Victor (Eugenius) Western Empire 395–480 Honorius Constantine III with son Constans II Constantius III Joannes Valentinian III Petronius Maximus Avitus Majorian Libius Severus Anthemius Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos Romulus Augustulus Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 395–1204 Arcadius Theodosius II Marcian Leo I Leo II Zeno Basiliscus Marcus Anastasius I Dicorus Justin I Justinian I Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice with son Theodosius as co-emperor Phocas Heraclius Constantine III Heraklonas Constans II Constantine IV with brothers Heraclius and Tiberius and then Justinian II as co-emperors Justinian II (first reign) Leontios Tiberius III Justinian II (second reign) with son Tiberius as co-emperor Philippikos Anastasios II Theodosius III Leo III the Isaurian Constantine V Artabasdos Leo IV the Khazar Constantine VI Irene Nikephoros I Staurakios Michael I Rangabe with son Theophylact as co-emperor Leo V the Armenian with Symbatios-Constantine as junior emperor Michael II the Amorian Theophilos Michael III Basil I the Macedonian Leo VI the Wise Alexander Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Romanos I Lekapenos with sons Christopher, Stephen and Constantine as junior co-emperors Romanos II Nikephoros II Phokas John I Tzimiskes Basil II Constantine VIII Zoë (first reign) and Romanos III Argyros Zoë (first reign) and Michael IV the Paphlagonian Michael V Kalaphates Zoë (second reign) with Theodora Zoë (second reign) and Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (sole emperor) Theodora Michael VI Bringas Isaac I Komnenos Constantine X Doukas Romanos IV Diogenes Michael VII Doukas with brothers Andronikos and Konstantios and son Constantine Nikephoros III Botaneiates Alexios I Komnenos John II Komnenos with Alexios Komnenos as co-emperor Manuel I Komnenos Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos with John Komnenos as co-emperor Isaac II Angelos Alexios III Angelos Alexios IV Angelos Nicholas Kanabos (chosen by the Senate) Alexios V Doukas Empire of Nicaea 1204–1261 Constantine Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris John III Doukas Vatatzes Theodore II Laskaris John IV Laskaris Byzantine Empire 1261–1453 Michael VIII Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos with Michael IX Palaiologos as co-emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos John V Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos with John V Palaiologos and Matthew Kantakouzenos as co-emperors John V Palaiologos Andronikos IV Palaiologos John VII Palaiologos Andronikos V Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaiologos Italics indicates a junior co-emperor, while underlining indicates a usurper. 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