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Pertinax

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Roman emperor in 193
For other uses, seePertinax (disambiguation).

Pertinax
White bust
Roman emperor
Reign1 January 193 –28 March 193
PredecessorCommodus
SuccessorDidius Julianus
Born1 August 126
Alba Pompeia,Italy
Died28 March 193 (aged 66)
Rome, Italy
Burial
Rome
SpouseFlavia Titiana
Issue
Names
Publius Helvius Pertinax
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Publius Helvius Pertinax Augustus[4]
FatherHelvius Successus
Roman imperial dynasties
Year of the Five Emperors (AD 193)
Chronology
193
193
193–194
193–197
193–211
Succession
Preceded by
Nerva–Antonine dynasty
Followed by
Severan dynasty

Publius Helvius Pertinax (/ˈpɜːrtɪnæks/PER-tin-ax; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) wasRoman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeededCommodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuousYear of the Five Emperors.

Born to the son of afreed slave, Pertinax became an officer in the army. He fought in theRoman–Parthian War of 161–166, where his success led to higher positions in both the military and political spheres. He achieved the rank ofprovincial governor andurban prefect. He was a member of theRoman Senate, serving at the same time as the historianCassius Dio.

Following the death of Commodus, Pertinax was proclaimed emperor. He instituted several short-lived reform measures, including the restoration of discipline among thePraetorian Guard. This led to resistance that culminated in Pertinax's assassination by the Guard. Pertinax would later be deified by the emperorSeptimius Severus. His historical reputation has been largely positive, in line with Cassius Dio's assessment.

Early life

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His career before becoming emperor is documented in theHistoria Augusta as well asCassius Dio'sHistory of Rome, and confirmed in many places by existing inscriptions. He was born inAlba Pompeia in Italy,[5] the son offreedman Helvius Successus. Cassius Dio writes that Helvius was not of noble birth but was at least able to earn enough money to allow Pertinax education to gain a livelihood.[5][6] Through this as well as patronage fromLucius Avitus (orTiberius Claudius Pompeianus according to Dio), Pertinax was commissioned as an officer in acohort.[7][5]

In theParthian War that followed,[8] he distinguished himself, which resulted in a string of promotions, and after postings inBritain (as military tribune of theLegio VIVictrix)[9] and along theDanube, he served as aprocurator inDacia.[10] He suffered a setback as a victim of court intrigues during the reign ofMarcus Aurelius, but shortly afterwards, he was recalled to assistClaudius Pompeianus in theMarcomannic Wars.[5] In 175, he received the honour of asuffect consulship[11] and until 185, Pertinax was governor of the provinces of Upper and LowerMoesia,Dacia,Syria, and finallygovernor of Britain.[9]

During the 180s, Pertinax took a pivotal role in theRoman Senate until the praetorian prefectSextus Tigidius Perennis forced him out of public life.[12] He was recalled after three years to Britain, where the Roman army was in a state of mutiny.[13] He tried to quell the unruly soldiers there but one legion attacked his bodyguard, leaving Pertinax for dead.[14] When he was forced to resign in 187, the reason given was that the legions had grown hostile to him because of his harsh rule.[15]

He served asproconsul ofAfrica from 188 to 189,[16] and followed this term of service with the urban prefecture of Rome,[17] and a second consulship as ordinarius with the emperorCommodus as his colleague.[14]

Emperor

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Romanaureus struck under the rule of Pertinax. Inscription: IMP. CAES. P. HELV. PERTIN. AVG. / PROVIDentia DEORum COnSul II

When Commodus' actions became increasingly erratic in the early 190s, a conspiracy led to his assassination on 31 December 192. The plot was carried out by thePraetorian prefectQuintus Aemilius Laetus, Commodus' mistressMarcia, and his chamberlain Eclectus.[18] After the murder had been carried out, Pertinax, who was serving asurban prefect at this time, was hurried to thePraetorian Camp and proclaimed emperor.[19] His short reign of 87 days[20] was an uneasy one. He attempted to emulate the restrained practices ofMarcus Aurelius and made an effort to reform thealimenta, but he faced antagonism from many quarters.[21]

Ancient writers detail how thePraetorian Guard expected a generousdonativum on his ascension, and when they were disappointed, agitated until he produced the money, selling offCommodus' property,[22] including the concubines and youths Commodus kept for his sexual pleasures.[23][24] He reformed theRoman currency dramatically, increasing the silver purity of thedenarius from 74% to 87% – the actual silver weight increasing from 2.22 grams to 2.75 grams.[25]

Pertinax attempted to impose stricter military discipline upon the pampered Praetorians.[26] In early March he narrowly averted one conspiracy by a group to replace him with the consulQuintus Sosius Falco while he was inOstia inspecting the arrangements for grain shipments.[27] The plot was betrayed; Falco himself was pardoned but several of the officers behind the coup were executed.[28]

On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when, according to theHistoria Augusta, a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed the gates[29] (two hundred according to Cassius Dio).[30] Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay.[27] Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials chose to resist them. Pertinax sent Laetus to meet them, but he chose to side with the insurgents instead and deserted the emperor.[31]

Although advised to flee, Pertinax then attempted to reason with the insurgents and was almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers.[32] Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assumingthe purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thereby protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination.[18]

Aftermath

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Coin of Pertinax's son with the legend: "KAI[C]AP [ΠΕΡΤΙΝΑΞ]" (Caesar Pertinax)

After Pertinax's death, the Praetorians auctioned off the imperial title; the winner was the wealthy senatorDidius Julianus, whose reign would end mere weeks later with his assassination on 1 June 193.[33] Julianus was succeeded bySeptimius Severus.[34] After he entered Rome, Septimius recognized Pertinax as a legitimate emperor, executed the soldiers who had killed him, and not only pressured the Senate todeify him and provide him astate funeral,[35] but also adopted hiscognomen of "Pertinax" as part of his own name.[36] For some time, he held games on the anniversary of Pertinax's accession and on his birthday.[37]

Historical reputation

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Pertinax's historical reputation is largely a positive one, beginning with the assessment of Cassius Dio, a historian and senator who was a colleague of Pertinax. Dio refers to him as "an excellent and upright man"[38] who displayed "not only humaneness and integrity in the imperial administrations, but also the most economical management and the most careful consideration for the public welfare".[23]

Dio's approval is not unqualified, however. He acknowledges that while some would call Pertinax's decision to confront the soldiers that would wind up killing him "noble", others would call it "senseless".[30] He is also critical of Pertinax's judgment when it came to the speed with which he tried to reform the excesses of the reign of Commodus by suggesting that a more tempered approach would have been less likely to result in his murder.[39]

Pertinax is discussed inThe Prince byNiccolò Machiavelli. Discussing the importance of a prince not being hated, Machiavelli provides Pertinax as an example of how it is as easy for a ruler to be hated for good actions as for bad ones. Though describing him as a good man, Machiavelli considered Pertinax's attempt to reform a soldiery that had become "accustomed to live licentiously" a mistake, as it inspired their hatred of him, which led to his overthrow and death.[40]

Pertinax is described inDavid Hume's essayOf the Original Contract as an "excellent prince" possessing an implied modesty when, on the arrival of soldiers who had come to proclaim him emperor, he believed that Commodus had ordered his death.[41]

During the debate over ratification of theUnited States Constitution,Virginia politicianJohn Dawson, at hisstate's ratifying convention in 1788, spoke of the "atrocious murder" of Pertinax by the Praetorian Guard as an example of the danger of establishing astanding army.[42][43]

In popular culture

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Pertinax was thepseudonym of the French journalistAndré Géraud (1882–1974).[44]

InRomanitas, a fictionalalternate history novel bySophia McDougall, Pertinax's reign is thepoint of divergence. In the history as established by the novel, the plot against Pertinax was thwarted, and Pertinax introduced a series of reforms that would consolidate the Roman Empire to such a degree that it would still be a major power in the 21st century.[45]

References

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  1. ^Pertinax Inv. 1914 n. 202.Uffizi Digitization Project.
  2. ^Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae5842, 5845.
  3. ^Elliott, Simon (2020).Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman Emperor. Greenhill Books. p. 115.ISBN 978-1-78438-526-2.
  4. ^Cooley, Alison E. (2012).The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy. Cambridge University Press. p. 494.ISBN 978-0-521-84026-2.
  5. ^abcdDio, 74:3
  6. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 1:1
  7. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 1:6
  8. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 2:1
  9. ^abBirley (2005), p. 173.
  10. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 2:4
  11. ^Meckler (1997).
  12. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 3:3
  13. ^Dio, 74:4
  14. ^abBirley (2005), p. 174.
  15. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 3:10
  16. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 4:1
  17. ^Victor, 18:2
  18. ^abCampbell (2005), p. 1.
  19. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 4:5
  20. ^Dio 74:6
  21. ^Gibbon (1788), chapter 4.
  22. ^Campbell (2005), p. 2.
  23. ^abDio, 74:5
  24. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 7:8
  25. ^Kenneth W. Harl (1999)."Roman Currency of the Principate". Tulane University. Archived fromthe original on 1 November 2008. Retrieved1 December 2015.
  26. ^Zosimus, 1:8
  27. ^abDio, 74:8
  28. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 10:4
  29. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 11:1
  30. ^abDio, 74:9
  31. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 11:7
  32. ^Dio, 74:10
  33. ^Glay, Marcel le; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Bohec, Yann le (2001).A History of Rome. Translated by Nevill, Antonia (Third ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 369–372.ISBN 1-4051-1083-X.
  34. ^Dio, 74:17:4
  35. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 15:1
  36. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 15:2
  37. ^Historia Augusta,Pertinax, 15:5
  38. ^Dio, 74:1
  39. ^Dio, 74:10. "He failed to comprehend, though a man of wide practical experience, that one cannot with safety reform everything at once, and that the restoration of a state, in particular, requires both time and wisdom".
  40. ^Machiavelli –The Prince, Ch. XIX. Pertinax,Marcus Aurelius andSeverus Alexander are described as "men of modest life, lovers of justice, enemies to cruelty, humane, and benignant". However, Machiavelli considers that Roman soldiers, "being accustomed to live licentiously under Commodus, could not endure the honest life to which Pertinax wished to reduce them".
  41. ^Hume –Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, II.XII.41
  42. ^Graham, John Remington (2009).Free, Sovereign, and Independent States: The Intended Meaning of the American Constitution. United States: Pelican Publishing. p. 139.ISBN 9781589805897.
  43. ^Richard, Carl J. (1994).The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment. United States: Harvard University Press. p. 103.ISBN 0-674-31426-3.
  44. ^"The Press: Pertinax Goes Home".Time. 15 October 1945.ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved26 March 2018.(subscription required)
  45. ^McDougall, Sophia."A Short History of the Roman Empire".Romanitas. Archived fromthe original on 30 June 2006. Retrieved26 March 2018.

Sources

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Primary sources

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Secondary sources

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External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toPertinax.
Political offices
Preceded byRoman consul
175 (suffect)
With:Didius Julianus
Succeeded by
Preceded byGovernor of Britain
c. 185 – 187
Succeeded by
Unknown, thenClodius Albinus
Preceded byRoman consul
192
With:Commodus VII
Succeeded by
Regnal titles
Preceded byRoman emperor
193
Succeeded by
Roman andByzantine emperors and empresses regnant
Principate
27 BC – AD 235
Crisis
235–284
Later Roman Empire
284–641
Western Empire
395–476
Eastern Empire
395–641
Eastern/
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641–1453
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