Murder of Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors, 192–193

Murder of Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors

The murder of Commodus on the last day of 192 ended the Antonine dynasty and plunged the empire into civil war: in 193 five men claimed the throne. Septimius Severus, proclaimed by the Danube legions, seized Rome, defeated his rivals by 197 and founded the Severan dynasty.

Date

31 December 192 – June 193start: exact date; end: month known · duration: ≈ 5 monthsDate in the Julian calendar

Place

Rometoday: Rome, Italy · Western and Central Europe

Participants

Commodus, Septimius Severus, Roman Empire

Threads

Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)

Also known as

Year of the Five Emperors; Murder of Commodus; Civil war of 193–197; Pertinax; Didius Julianus; Год пяти императоров; Убийство Коммода; Пертинакс; Дидий Юлиан

Commodus, sole emperor since his father’s death in 180, grew ever more erratic: he fought in the arena as a gladiator and identified himself with Hercules. On 31 December 192 the praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, the chamberlain Eclectus and the emperor’s mistress Marcia had him poisoned and, when the poison failed, strangled by the wrestler Narcissus. The Senate condemned his memory. The veteran general Pertinax was proclaimed emperor, but his economies and attempts to restore discipline angered the Praetorian Guard, which killed him on 28 March 193, after 87 days. According to Cassius Dio, the guard then auctioned the throne: Didius Julianus outbid Pertinax’s father-in-law Sulpicianus with 25,000 sesterces for every soldier.

The provincial armies would not accept him. In April the legions on the Danube acclaimed Lucius Septimius Severus, governor of Upper Pannonia, at Carnuntum; in Syria the troops proclaimed Pescennius Niger, and Clodius Albinus commanded the army of Britain. Severus won Albinus over with the title of Caesar and marched on Rome; the Senate condemned Julianus, who was killed in the palace at the beginning of June, and Severus entered the city, disbanded the Praetorian Guard and replaced it with men from his own legions. He went on to defeat Niger at Issus in 194 and Albinus at Lugdunum on 19 February 197. The Severan dynasty he founded ruled until 235.

Connections

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Murder of Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors

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Meanwhile in the world

Eastern Europe

Middle East and Egypt

South Asia

Southeast Asia and Oceania

North America

Latin America

The same period

Sources