A distinguished politician during the reign ofPhilip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops after putting down a rebellion inMoesia. In 249, he defeated and killed Philipnear Verona and was recognized as emperor by theSenate afterwards. During his reign, he attempted to strengthen the Roman state and its religion, leading to theDecian persecution, where a number of prominent Christians (includingPope Fabian) were put to death. In the last year of his reign, Decius co-ruled with his sonHerennius Etruscus, until they were both killed by theGoths in theBattle of Abritus.
Antoninianus of Trajan Decius. Inscription: IMP. C. M. Q. TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG.
Trajanus Decius was born Gaius Messius Quintus Decius Valerinus atBudalia,Illyricum, nearSirmium inPannonia Inferior.[3] He was of Oscan descent from theDecia gens. Decius was one of the first among a long succession of Roman emperors (Illyrian emperors) to originate from the Danube provinces, often referred to as Illyricum. Unlike some of his immediate imperial predecessors such asPhilip the Arab orMaximinus Thrax who did not have extensive administrative experience before assuming the throne, Decius was a distinguishedsenator who had served as suffectconsul in 232, had been governor ofMoesia andGermania Inferior soon afterwards, served as governor ofHispania Tarraconensis between 235 and 238, and wasurban prefect of Rome during the early reign of Emperor Philip the Arab.[4]
Around 245,Philip entrusted Decius with an important command on the Danube.[5] By the end of 248 or 249, Decius was sent to quell the revolt ofPacatian and his troops in Moesia and Pannonia; some modern historians see this rebellion as a reflection of emerging Balkan separatism.[6] After the collapse of the revolt, Decius let the troops proclaim him emperor. Philip advanced against him and was killed atVerona,Italy, in September 249.[7] TheSenate then recognized Decius as emperor, giving him the attributeTraianus in reference to EmperorTrajan. According to the Byzantine historianZosimus, Decius was clothed in purple and forced to undertake the [burdens of] government, despite his reluctance and unwillingness.[8]
Decius' political program was focused on the restoration of the strength of the State, both militarily opposing the external threats, and restoring the publicpiety with a program of renovation of thestate religion.
Either as a concession to the Senate, or perhaps with the idea of improving public morality, Decius endeavoured to revive the separate office and authority of thecensor. He left the choice of candidate to the Senate, who unanimously selectedValerian (the future emperor). Seeing the office as difficult and potentially dangerous, Valerian declined it. The invasion of theGoths and Decius's death put an end to the abortive attempt.[9]
Decius sponsored several building projects in Rome, including theBaths of Decius (Thermae Decianae) on theAventine Hill. Completed in 252, the building survived through to the 16th century. He also repaired the Colosseum, which had been damaged by lightning strikes.[4]
A marble statue of Emperor Decius dressed as Hercules discovered on 25 January 2023 during sewer repair works in Rome.[10]
In late 249, Decius issued an imperial edict on sacrifices:[11]
All the inhabitants of the empire were required to sacrifice before the magistrates of their community "for the safety of the empire" by a certain day (the date would vary from place to place and the order may have been that the sacrifice had to be completed within a specified period after a community received the edict). When they sacrificed they would obtain a certificate (libellus) recording the fact that they had complied with the order. That is, the certificate would testify the sacrificant's loyalty to the ancestral gods and to the consumption of sacrificial food and drink as well as the names of the officials who were overseeing the sacrifice.[11]
According to D. S. Potter, Decius did not try to impose the superiority of the Roman pantheon over any other gods. It is very probable that the edict was an attempt to legitimize his position and to respond to a general unease provoked by the passing of the Roman millennium.[12] While Decius himself may have intended the edict as a way to reaffirm his conservative vision of the Pax Romana and to reassure Rome's citizens that the empire was still secure, it nevertheless sparked a "terrible crisis of authority as various Christian bishops and their flocks reacted to it in different ways."[13] Measures were first taken demanding that thebishops and officers of the church make a sacrifice for the emperor. The sacrifice was "on behalf of" (Latinpro) the emperor, notto the emperor, since a living emperor was not considereddivine. Certificates were issued to those who satisfied the commissioners during the persecution of Christians under Decius. Forty-sixsuch certificates have been published, all dating from 250, four of them fromOxyrhynchus.[14] Anyone, including Christian followers, who refused to offer a sacrifice for the emperor and the Empire's well-being by a specified date risked torture and execution.[15] A number of prominent Christians did, in fact, refuse to make a sacrifice and were killed in the process, includingPope Fabian himself in 250, and "anti-Christian feeling[s] led to killings at Carthage and Alexandria."[15] However, towards the end of the second year of Decius' reign, "the ferocity of the [anti-Christian] persecution had eased off, and the earlier tradition of tolerance had begun to reassert itself."[15] Christians bore the brunt of the persecution and never forgot the reign of Decius, whom they remembered as "that fierce tyrant".[15] In June 251 Decius died alongside his co-emperorHerennius Etruscus in theBattle Abrittus against the Goths; their successorsTrebonianus Gallus andHostilian rescinded Decius' decree, ending the persecution after approximately eighteen months.
At this time, there was a second outbreak of theAntonine Plague, which at its height from 251 to 266, took the lives of 5,000 daily in Rome. This outbreak is referred to as the "Plague of Cyprian" (Cyprian was the bishop ofCarthage, where both the plague and the persecution of Christians were especially severe). Cyprian's biographerPontius gave a vivid picture of the demoralizing effects of the plague and Cyprian moralized the event in his essayDe mortalitate. In Carthage, the "Decian persecution", unleashed at the onset of the plague, sought out Christian scapegoats. Decius' edicts were renewed under Valerian in 253 and repealed under his son,Gallienus, in 260–261.
Coin ofHerennius Etruscus. Inscription: HER. ETR. MES. DECIVS NOB. C. / CONCORDIA AVG. F.
Thebarbarian incursions into the Empire were becoming more daring and frequent whereas the Empire was facing a serious economic crisis in Decius' time. During his brief reign, Decius engaged in important operations against theGoths, who crossed the Danube to raid districts of Moesia andThrace.[9] This is the first considerable occasion that the Goths – who would later come to play such an important role – appear in the historical record. The Goths under KingCniva weresurprised by the emperor while besiegingNicopolis on the Danube; the Goths fled through the difficult terrain of theBalkans, but then doubled back and surprised the Romans nearBeroë (modernStara Zagora), sacking their camp and dispersing the Roman troops (Battle of Beroe). The Goths then moved toattack Philippopolis (modernPlovdiv), which fell into their hands.[5] The governor of Thrace,Titus Julius Priscus, declared himself emperor under Gothic protection in opposition to Decius but Priscus' challenge was rendered moot when he was killed soon afterwards.[4] Then the invaders began returning to their homeland, laden with booty and captives, among them many of senatorial rank.[16]
In the meantime, Decius had returned with his re-organized army, accompanied by his son Herennius Etruscus and the generalTrebonianus Gallus, intending to defeat the invaders and recover the booty. The final engagement, thebattle of Abritus, in which the Goths fought with the courage of despair, under the command of Cniva, took place during the second week of June 251 on swampy ground in theLudogorie (region in northeastern Bulgaria which merges with Dobruja plateau and the Danube Plain to the north) near the small settlement of Abritus[3] orForum Terebronii (modernRazgrad).[5]Jordanes records that Decius' sonHerennius Etruscus was killed by an arrow early in the battle, and to cheer his men Decius exclaimed, "Let no one mourn; the death of one soldier is not a great loss to the republic." Nevertheless, Decius' army was entangled in the swamp and annihilated in this battle, while he himself was killed on the field of battle.[13] As the historianAurelius Victor relates:
The Decii (i.e.,Decius and his son), while pursuing the barbarians across the Danube, died through treachery at Abritus after reigning two years. ... Very many report that the son had fallen in battle while pressing an attack too boldly; that the father however, has strenuously asserted that the loss of one soldier seemed to him too little to matter. And so he resumed the war and died in a similar manner while fighting vigorously.[17]
One literary tradition claims that Decius was betrayed by his successor, Trebonianus Gallus, who was involved in a secret alliance with the Goths, but this cannot be substantiated and was most likely a later invention since Gallus felt compelled to adopt Decius' younger son, Gaius Valens Hostilianus, as joint emperor even though the latter was too young to rule in his own right.[18][19] It is also unlikely that the shattered Roman legions would proclaim as emperor a traitor who was responsible for the loss of so many soldiers from their ranks.[20] Decius was the first Roman emperor to die in battle against a foreign enemy.[15][dubious –discuss]
The Decian persecution was the first organized persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and served as the basis for theDiocletianic Persecution, the last major persecution of Christians in the Empire.[21][22]
The later telling of theSeven Sleepers, about seven Christian youths fromEphesus who fled the Decian persecution by hiding in a cave (walled up by Decius) and sleeping for almost 300 years, emerged. The Quranic account, captured inAl-Kahf ("The Cave")surah (chapter),[23][24] has led to the Persian saying ofahd-e daqyānus ("age of Decius") ordaqyānus referring to ancient times or a person with outdated views. When something is old and outdated, people say, "this belongs to the age of Decius."[25]
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