Pupienus, Roman Emperor

Pupienus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus (born c. 164 or c. 178 – Rome, 29 July 238) was jointly Roman Emperor with Balbinus between April and July 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. The sources for this period are scanty, and thus knowledge of the emperor limited. In most contemporary texts Pupienus is referred to, incorrectly, as 'Maximus' rather than by his family name of Pupienus.

Contents [hide]

1 Origins, career and family

2 Reign

3 References

4 External links

[edit] Origins, career and family

The Historia Augusta, whose testimony is not to be trusted unreservedly, paints Pupienus as an example of ascension in the Roman hierarchical system due to military success. It claims he was the son of a blacksmith, who started his career as a Centurio primus pilus and became a Tribunus Militum, and then Praetor. In truth, he was the son of Marcus Pupienus Maximus, a Senator, and wife Clodia Pulchra.[citation needed] Probably his father wasn't yet a Senator when he started his career. It further claims he was adopted by one Pescennia Marcellina (otherwise unknown), and served as Proconsul of Bithynia et Pontus, then of Achaea, and then Gallia Narbonensis before serving as a special Legatus in Illyricum and subsequently governing one of the German provinces. It is likely most of this is fiction: only the last post - probably the troublesome Germania Inferior - is independently attested (by Herodian). It was presumably then that Pupienus gained the personal bodyguard of Germans which is mentioned by Herodian as remaining with him when he became Emperor.

What is certain is that Pupienus, though he may not have been born a Patrician, was a leading member of the senatorial class during the latter half of the Severan dynasty. He may have come from the Etruscan city of Volterra, where inscriptions relating to his daughter, who carried the highly aristocratic name Pupiena Sextia Paulina Cethegilla, wife of Marcus Ulpius Eubiotus Leurus, show that Pupienus (and his father, needed not have been the blacksmith claimed by the Historia Augusta) married into the ancient Roman noble family of the Sextii, with his second cousin Sextia Cethegilla, born c. 170, daughter of Titus Sextius Africanus and wife Cornelia. He was twice Consul - the date of his first consulship is unknown, but was probably about 213, maybe as a Suffectus in July 205 or Ordinarius in 217. His second consulship was in 234 and in that year or c. 230 he was Praefectus Urbi of Rome and gained a reputation for severity, to the extent that he became unpopular with the Roman mob. In addition to his daughter, Pupienus had two sons, Tiberius Clodius Pupienus Pulcher Maximus, who was a Consul Suffectus about 224 or 226 or July 235, and Marcus Pupienus Africanus Maximus, Consul Ordinarius in 236 as colleague of the Emperor Maximinus Thrax. The second consulship, the city prefecture, and the son as consul of the year with the reigning Emperor, are all signs that the family was influential and in high favour. Evidently they owned property in Tibur outside Rome, where Pupienus Pulcher Maximus was a Patron of the town.

Reign

...

Forrás / Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupienus

http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Clodius_Pupienus_Maximus_r%C3%B...