Usurpers are individuals or groups of individuals who obtain and maintain the power or rights of another by force and without legal authority. Usurpers were a common feature of the late Roman Empire, especially from the so-called crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Crisis of the Third Century (or "Military Anarchy" or "Imperial Crisis" was the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235
The first dynasty of the Roman Empire, the Julio-Claudians (27 BC - 68 AD), justified the imperial throne by familial ties, namely with the connection (although only through adoption) with Augustus, the first emperor. The Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire has a Family tree complicated by multiple marriages between the members of the Gens Julia Year 27 BC was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. Year 68 was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. In Ancient Rome, Adoption of boys was a fairly common procedure particularly in the upper senatorial class Augustus ( Latin: IMPERATOR·CAESAR·DIVI·FILIVS·AVGVSTVS September 23 63 BC – August 19 AD 14) born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, was The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC Eventually conflicts within the Julio-Claudian family triggered a series of murders, which led to the demise of the line. Nero died with public enemy status, and following his suicide a short civil war began, known as the Year of the four emperors. Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( December 15, 37 – June 9, 68) born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called The Year of the Four Emperors was a year in the history of the Roman Empire, AD 69 in which four emperors ruled in a remarkable succession The Flavian dynasty started with Vespasian only to end with the assassination of his second son Domitian. Titus Flavius Vespasianus, commonly known as Vespasian ( November 17 9 &ndash June 23 79) was a Roman Emperor who Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 &ndash 18 September 96 commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death The 2nd century was a period of relative peace marked by the rule of the so-called Five good emperors, but the next century would be characterized by endemic political instability, one of the factors that eventually contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The Five Good Emperors is a term that refers to five consecutive emperors of the Roman Empire who represented a line of virtuous and just rule — Nerva, Trajan
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All usurpers are equal to each other, but some are more equal than others
Commodus, the last emperor of the Antonine dynasty and remembered by contemporaneous chronicles as an unpopular ruler notorious for his extravagance and cruelty, was assassinated in 193. Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus ( August 31, 161 – December 31, 192) was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 180 to 192 (also with The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC This page is on the Roman imperial dynasty for Catholic clergy of the same name see Anthonians The Antonines most often referred to were two successive Events By Place Roman Empire January 1 — Pertinax is proclaimed Roman Emperor. Without sons to be his heir, a struggle for power immediately broke out amongst the governors of the most important provinces. Pertinax was elevated to the purple and recognized by his peers, but following his murder by a restive Praetorian guard, Septimius Severus decided to make his bid for power and usurped the throne. Publius Helvius Pertinax, commonly known as Pertinax ( August 1, 126 &ndash March 28, 193) was a Roman emperor who briefly The Praetorian Guard ( Latin: PRÆTORIANI was a special force of Guards used by Roman Emperors Before being appropriated Lucius Septimius Severus (or rarely Severus I) ( April 11 145 - February 4 211) was a Roman general and Roman Emperor Although initially an usurper, Severus managed to remain in power for the next 18 years and died a natural death while campaigning in northern Britain. His death in 211 triggered what historians call the crisis of the third century. For the N11 code see 2-1-1. Events By Place Roman Empire Septimus Severus dies in Britain Crisis of the Third Century (or "Military Anarchy" or "Imperial Crisis" was the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 In this period, from 211 to the accession of Diocletian and the establishment of the Tetrarchy in 286, Rome saw 28 emperors of which only two had a natural death (from the plague). Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ( ca. December 22 244 The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes December 22 as his birthdate Tetrarchy ( Greek: "leadership of four " can be applied to any system of government where power is divided between four individuals For the processor see Intel 80286. Events By Place Roman Empire March 1 — Diocletian Bubonic plague is the best-known manifestation of the bacterial disease plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (formerly known as However, there were also 38 usurpers who raised revolts across the empire, a clear sign that the security of the frontiers was not the only problem within the Roman world. Usurpation attempts were a constant worry for the emperors in this period; it was a too common method of acceding the throne. Successful usurpers were usually either provincial governors, commanders of a large grouping of Roman legions, or prefects of the Praetorian guard, which had control of Rome, where the Imperial palace still lay. For other uses see Legion The Roman Legion (from Latin legio "military levy Conscription," Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2
The danger of usurpation was greater following the death of an emperor, when his successor was not accepted by all provinces. Usually the legions acclaimed their own commander as emperor on the news of the accession of less popular men. The acclaimed emperor, usually a provincial governor, would then march to Italy or where the opponent was stationed, in order to contest for the purple. But legionaries disliked fighting against their brothers in arms, so battles between legions rarely transpired. Two main factors decided the success of an usurpation attempt: loyalty of the legionaries, heavily dependent on the amount of booty or monetary prizes promised on victory; and trust of the military abilities of the commander, upon which depended morale. Failure of either part to fulfill one or two of the criteria normally resulted in a mutiny and death at the hands of their own soldiers. Since the emperors had the status quo and political credibility behind them, the usurper had to be a charismatic man to avoid doubts in his ranks and an untimely death. Valerian, who defeated Aemilianus (himself an usurper) is an example of this kind. For other uses see Valerian. Publius Licinius Valerianus (c 200 - after 260 commonly known in English as Valerian Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus (c 207 - 253 commonly known in English as Aemilian, was Roman Emperor for about three months in 253 Other usurpers, like the emperor Philip the Arab, ascended the throne by a planned murder directed at an established sovereign (in his case Gordian III). Marcus Julius Philippus or Philippus I Arabs (c 204 - 249 known in English as Philip the Arab or formerly (prior to World War II in Marcus Antonius Gordianus ( January 20 225 – February 11, 244) known in English as Gordian III, was Roman Emperor
However successful, the usurpation procedure always left the new emperor in a somewhat frail political position, since the throne had been attained by violent means. The danger of another usurper was always present and the first measures taken were inevitably to put trusted men into important commands. Frequently, the emperor embellished his ancestry and his early life in order to enhance his credibility or the right to the throne. Mentions to obscure genealogical relations with previous popular emperors were common, and certainly confused historians. Genealogy (from Greek: el γενεά el-Latn genea, "descent" and el λόγος el-Latn logos, "knowledge" is the study of But most of all, the usurper manoeuvred to keep his legions happy, since he owed his power to their continued loyalty.
Practical effects
The usurpation mania of the third century had profound effects in the bureaucratic and military organization of the Empire. Fear of potential rivals was to be the main driving force for the evolution of the Roman world from the early to the late Empire.
One of the most striking changes was the division and multiplication of the Roman provinces. In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin provincia, pl provinciae) was the basic and until the Tetrarchy (circa Provinces were ruled by a governor, either a proconsul, propraetor or procurator, and were ascribed a certain number of legions, according to the degree of pacification they required. Ancient Rome In the Roman Republic, a proconsul was a Promagistrate (like a Propraetor) who after serving as Consul, spent a year A promagistrate is a person who acts in and with the authority and capacity of a magistrate, but without holding a magisterial office This meant that the governors of, for instance, Moesia or Pannonia in the Danube border had huge military contingents on their hands. Moesia (Μοισία Moisía; Мизия Miziya; Moesia Мезија Mezija) was an ancient region and Roman province situated in the Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, The greater the number of legions a provincial governor had, the greater the temptation to make a bid to the throne. And indeed, the majority of usurpation attempts came from the Asian province of Syria, frequently attacked by the Persians, and the Rhine and Danube provinces. Thus, provinces were slowly divided into smaller units to avoid concentration of power and military capacity in the hands of one man. Syria is a perfect example: a single province in AD 14, in the middle of the 3rd century it was divided in four different administrative regions: Tres Daciae, Cappadocia, Syria Coele and Syria Palestina. In a similar way, Moesia and Pannonia were divided in Superior and Inferior (Upper and Lower) halves; Dardania was later separated from Moesia, and Pannonia was further divided into Prima, Valeria, Savia and Secunda.
As the fear of civil war increased, the emperor felt the need of legions permanently in his reach, to be deployed against possible internal threats. This caused the geographic division of the army into limitanei legions, which remained in the borders, and comitatenses, which were stationed in strategic points within the Empire. Legio II Parthica, garrisoned in the Alban mountains outside of Rome since the time of Septimius Severus, was among the first comitatenses created. Legio II Parthica was a Roman legion levied by Emperor Septimius Severus in 197, for his campaign against the Parthian Empire, hence
Despite this administrative subdivision of legions for internal security purposes, the fact remains that men had to be removed from the frontier garrisons to accomplish this. A smaller number of legions meant less secure borders and eventually raids from the Germanic and Gothic tribes against the Rhine and the Danube became more frequent. In the East, the Persian Empire grew bolder in their attacks on the Roman communities. The Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty or Sassanian Dynasty (ساسانیان) is the name used for the third Iranian dynasty and the second Persian empire Moreover, in a time when individual initiative was a common way to assume the imperial purple, giving important commands to competent generals was asking for trouble. Jealousy and fear often prevented the presence of the right man to deal with a specific threat, and, in consequence, marginal provinces were often raided, sacked or conquered.
Assessment of usurpers
The only usurpers whose early life and specific circumstances of rebellion are known with reasonable certainty are the ones who later became emperors. The unsuccessful usurpation attempts inevitably ended with the rebel's execution, murder or suicide and subsequent erasure of his life from all records. This often causes confusion in the contemporaneous sources which are contradictory in the details of a certain rebellion. For instance the usurper Uranius is placed by some in the reign of Elagabalus and by others in the time of Gallienus. Uranius is the name of a Roman usurper cited by Zosimus, and active during the reigns of Elagabalus or Alexander Severus. Elagabalus (c 203 &ndash March 11 222) also known as Heliogabalus or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, was a Roman Emperor of the Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (218-268 ruled the Roman Empire as co-emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and then as the sole Roman Emperor
Every new emperor, either legal or illegal, marked the beginning of his rule by minting new coins, both for the prestige of declaring oneself as Augustus and to pay the loyal soldiers their share. Thus coinage is often the only evidence of a determined usurpation. But the number of coin types with the effigy of an usurper might not be equal to the total number of usurpations. The presence of minting facilities certainly allowed short term usurpers to release their coinage, but on the other hand, a man capable of sustaining a rebellion for a couple of months in a remote area might fail to produce his own coins due to the absence of minting technology.
Later assessment of usurpation events demonstrated that some are questionable or even fictitious. Gallienus was the emperor who suffered most usurpations, with a record of fourteen attempts (excluding the Gallic Empire secession) in fifteen years of rule. The Gallic Empire (in Latin Imperium Galliarum) is the modern name for the independent realm that existed from 260 to 273, during the However, three of these are clear fabrications, either contemporaneous to show the invincibility of the emperor, or added by later writers to embellish their own prose.
See also
"Usurp" redirects here You might be also looking for WikipediaChanging username/Usurpations. The following is an attempted list of usurpers in the Roman Empire.Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic