Didius Julianus

Julianus was born to Quintus Petronius Didius Severus and Aemilia Clara.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.2 His father came from a prominent family in Mediolanum, modern-day Milan, and his mother was a North African woman of Roman descent, from a family of consular rank. His brothers were Didius Proculus and Didius Nummius Albinus. His date of birth was 29 January, the year was 133 according to Cassius Dio and 137 by the less reliable Historia Augusta. Didius Julianus was raised by Domitia Calvilla, mother of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.3. With Domitia's help, he was appointed at a very early age to the vigintivirate, the first step towards public distinction.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.4. He married a Roman woman named Manlia Scantilla, and sometime around 153, they had a daughter, Didia Clara, their only child.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 3.4.

In succession Julianus held the offices of quaestor and aedile,Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.5. and then, around 162, was named as praetor. He was nominated to the command of the Legio XXII Primigenia in Mogontiacum (now Mainz).Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.6. In 170, he became praefectus of Gallia Belgica and served for five years.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.7. After repelling an invasion by the Chauci, a tribe dwelling in the drainage basin of the river Weser, the northwestern coastal area of present-day Germany, he was raised to the consulship in 175 along with Pertinax.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.8, 2.3; Pertinax, 14.5. He further distinguished himself in a campaign against the Chatti,Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.8. governed DalmatiaHistoria Augusta, Didius Julianus, 1.9. and Germania Inferior.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 2.1. He was then made prefect, charged with distributing money to the poor of Italy. Modern historians generally consider this a demotion for political reasons, as Commodus, the Roman Emperor at the time, feared Julianus' growing power. It was around this time that he was charged with having conspired against the life of Commodus, but the jury acquitted him and instead punished his accuser. Afterwards, he governed BithyniaHistoria Augusta, Didius Julianus, 2.2. and succeeded Pertinax as the proconsul of North Africa.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 2.3; Pertinax, 4.1, 14.5.

After the murder of Pertinax on 28 March 193, the Praetorian guard announced that the throne was to be sold to the man who would pay the highest price.Herodian, ii.6.4. Titus Flavius Claudius Sulpicianus, prefect of Rome and Pertinax's father-in-law, who was in the Praetorian camp ostensibly to calm the troops, began making offers for the throne.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 11.1; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 2.4, 2.6. Meanwhile, Julianus also arrived at the camp, and since his entrance was barred, shouted out offers to the guard.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 11.3; Herodian, ii.6.8. After hours of bidding, Sulpicianus promised 20,000 sesterces to every soldier; Julianus, fearing that Sulpicianus would gain the throne, then offered 25,000.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 11.5. The guards closed with the offer of Julianus, threw open the gates, and proclaimed him emperor.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 11.5; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 2.7; Herodian, ii.6.11. Threatened by the military, the Senate also declared him emperor.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 12; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 3.3. His wife and his daughter both received the title Augusta.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 3.4, 4.5.

File:Dupondius-Didius Julianus-RIC 0012 (obverse).jpg

Upon his accession, Julianus immediately reversed Pertinax's monetary reforms by devaluing the Roman currency.{{cite news|author = Vicki Leon | title = Friends, donors and countrymen | newspaper = Los Angeles Times | access-date = 24 August 2014 |url = https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-leon-ancient-campaign-finance-20140825-story.html}} Pertinax had increased the silver content of the denarius to 87%, whereas Didius Julianus ordered it reduced to 75%, nearly the adulterated amount that was present during the reign of Commodus. Because Julianus bought his position rather than acquiring it conventionally through succession or conquest, he was a deeply unpopular emperor.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 13.2–5; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 4.2–7; Herodian, ii.7.3. When Julianus appeared in public, he frequently was greeted with groans and shouts of "robber and parricide".Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 13.3. Once, a mob even obstructed his progress to the Capitol by pelting him with large stones.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 4.2, 4.4. When news of the public anger in Rome spread across the Empire, three influential generals, Pescennius Niger in Syria, Septimius Severus in Pannonia, and Clodius Albinus in Britain, each able to muster three legions, rebelled. They refused to accept Julianus' authority as emperor and instead each declared himself emperor.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 14.3–4; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 5.1–2. Julianus declared Severus a public enemy because he was the nearest of the three to Rome, making him the most dangerous foe.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 5.3; Septimius Severus, 5.5. Julianus sent senators to persuade Severus' legionaries to abandon him,Historia Augusta, Septimius Severus, 5.5. a new general was nominated to replace him, and a centurion dispatched to take Severus' life.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 5.4–8.

The Praetorian Guard had rarely fought in field battles, so Julianus marched them into the Campus Martius and drilled the guard in the construction of fortifications and field works.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 16.1–2; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 5.9; Herodian, ii.11.9. Despite this training, the Praetorian Guard was still undertrained compared to the field legionaries of Severus. Severus first secured the support of Albinus, declaring him Caesar,Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 15.1–2. and then seized Ravenna and its fleet.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 16.5; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 6.3. Severus killed Tullius Crispinus, the Praetorian prefect, who was sent to negotiate with Severus and slow his march on Rome,Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 6.4. and won over to his cause the ambassadors sent to turn his troops.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 17.1; Historia Augusta, Septimius Severus, 5.6.{{cite web |url = https://www.livius.org/articles/person/didius-julianus/didius-julianus-2/ | publisher = Livius.org |access-date = 31 March 2019 |title = Didius Julianus}} Cassius Dio maintained that the Praetorian Guard tried to fight back, but were crushed,Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 16.3. while modern historians believe that the Praetorian Guard simply abandoned Julianus, deserting en masse.{{Better source needed|reason=livius org does not give authorship, and the sources listed are Dio & other ancient historans. Claims there is general consensus on this is false.|date=March 2023}}

Julianus attempted to negotiate with Severus, offering to share the empire with his rival,Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 17.2; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 6.9, Septimius Severus, 5.7; Herodian, ii.12.3. but Severus ignored these overtures and pressed forward. As he marched, more and more cities in Italy supported his claim to the throne.Herodian, ii.11.6. The remnants of the Praetorian Guard received pardons from Severus in exchange for surrendering the actual murderers of Pertinax. After seizing the ringleaders and killing them, the soldiers reported what they had done to Marcus Silius Messala, the consul, who summoned the senate to inform them of the proceedings.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 17.3. The Senate passed a motion proclaiming Severus emperor, awarded divine honours to Pertinax, and sentenced Julianus to death.Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 17.4; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 8.7; Herodian, ii.12.6. Julianus was deserted by all except one of the prefects and his son-in-law, Cornelius Repentinus.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 8.6.

Julianus was killed in the palace by a soldier on 2 June 193 AD, after a mere 66 days of ruling.Dio, lxxiv, 17.5; Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 8–9. According to the contemporary Roman historian Cassius Dio, Julianus' last words were: "But what evil have I done? Whom have I killed?"Cassius Dio, lxxiv, 17.5. His body was given to his wife and daughter, who buried it in his great-grandfather's tomb by the fifth milestone on the Via Labicana.Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus, 8.10. The Senate passed a damnatio memoriae motion to condemn Julianus and his legacy. Severus dismissed the Praetorian Guard and executed the soldiers who had killed Pertinax, the previous emperor.Cassius Dio, lxxv, 1.1.

Julianus repelled invasions by the Chatti and the Chauci, both of which helped protect Rome's border provinces.SHA. Aurel. 22, Did. Iul.1.6–8 In the long run, the two tribes he repelled were but the harbingers of far larger Germanic migrations that would only truly finish in the sixth century AD. From arguably the reign of M. Aurelius, Rome would be constantly subject to incursions from the descendants of these tribes (see Crisis of the Third Century and Migration Period). As emperor, Didius Julianus was unable to pass any major policy reforms in his short reign other than currency devaluation. While the currency devaluation was comparatively minor, he restarted the trend of devaluing the Roman currency which had abated under Pertinax's reign. The trend he started, which would continue under the Severan dynasty on a far larger scale, destroyed confidence in Rome's currency, led to rampant hyperinflation, and caused widespread economic upheaval.Kenneth W. Harl, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5yPDL0EykeAC&pg=PA126 Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700, Part 700], p. 126 Moreover, his blatant purchase of the throne shattered any illusions of normalcy in the Roman Empire.{{cite journal | author = Jack Emerson Brown | year = 2015 | journal = University of Delaware | title = THE ARCHITECTS OF ROME'S DEMISE: THE ROLE OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS IN THE DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AS A POLITICAL ENTITY | page = 27 | url = http://udspace.udel.edu/bitstream/handle/19716/17068/Brown%2C%20Jack.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}

In the movie The Fall of The Roman Empire, Julianus is played by Eric Porter and depicted as a scheming henchman of Commodus. At the end of the movie, Julianus and Pescennius Niger, played by Douglas Wilmer, another crony of Commodus, compete against each other in the auction for the throne of Rome.

Julianus' accession and short reign are alluded to in the novel The Business by Scottish writer Iain Banks.

== References ==

{{reflist|25em}}

• Dio Cassius, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/74*.html Roman History, Epitome of Book LXXIV], 11–17
• {{cite journal |last=Hammond |year=1957 |first=Mason |title=Imperial Elements in the Formula of the Roman Emperors during the First Two and a Half Centuries of the Empire |journal=Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome |volume=25 |pages=19–64 |doi=10.2307/4238646 |jstor=4238646 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsofamerica25ameruoft |author-link=Mason Hammond |ref={{sfnref|Hammond}} }}
• Historia Augusta, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Didius_Julianus*.html Didius Julianus]
• Herodian, [https://www.livius.org/sources/content/herodian-s-roman-history/ Roman History], ii.6–13
• {{citation |last=Meckler |first=Michael L. |title=Didius Julianus (193 A.D.) |work=De Imperatoribus Romanis |url=http://www.roman-emperors.org/didjul.htm}}
• {{wikicite |reference=Wotawa, August von, "Didius 8", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, [https://archive.org/details/PaulysReal-encyclopadieDerClassischenAltertumswissenschaftVolume9-10/page/n103/mode/2up volume 9] (V.1), Metzlerscher Verlag (Stuttgart, 1903), columns 412–424.|ref={{sfnref|Wotawa}} }}

{{Commons category|Didius Iulianus}}

{{EB1911 poster|Didius Salvius Julianus, Marcus}}

• [http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/didius_julianus/i.html Coinage of Didius Julianus]
• [http://www.roman-emperors.org/didjul.htm Biography at Roman-emperors.org]
• [https://www.livius.org/articles/person/didius-julianus/ Livius.org: Didius Julianus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141124084537/http://www.livius.org/di-dn/didius/julianus.html |date=24 November 2014 }}

{{s-start}}

{{s-reg}}

{{s-bef |before=Pertinax}}

{{s-ttl |title=Roman emperor|years=193}}

{{s-aft |after=Septimius Severus}}

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef |before=L. Calpurnius Piso|before2=P. Salvius Julianus}}

{{s-ttl |title =Roman consul |years=175|regent1=Pertinax}}

{{s-aft |after=T. Pomponius Proculus Vitrasius Pollio II|after2=M. Flavius Aper II}}

{{s-end}}

{{Roman emperors}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Didius Julianus}}

Category:130s births

Category:193 deaths

Category:2nd-century executions

Category:2nd-century murdered monarchs

Category:2nd-century Roman emperors

Julianus

Category:Executed Roman emperors

Category:History of auctions

Category:2nd-century Roman consuls

Category:Imperial Roman praetors

Category:Military personnel from Milan

Category:People executed by the Roman Empire

Category:Roman emperors to suffer posthumous denigration or damnatio memoriae

Category:Roman governors of Africa

Category:Roman governors of Bithynia and Pontus

Category:Roman governors of Dalmatia

Category:Roman governors of Gallia Belgica

Category:Roman governors of Germania Inferior

Category:Year of birth uncertain