Ancient Rome History at UNRV.com
  • Home
  • Daily Life
  • Economy
  • Government
  • Military
  • Provinces
  • Map
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Contact
Ancient Rome History at UNRV.com
  • Daily Life
  • Economy
  • Government
  • Military
  • Provinces
  • Map
  • Forum
  • Donate
UNRV.com Roman History
  • Home
  • Daily Life
  • Economy
  • Government
  • Military
  • Provinces
  • Map
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Pertinax

Pertinax

Pertinax (126 - 193 AD)

Emperor: 31 Dec 192 - 28 Mar 193 AD

The Roman Emperor Pertinax

Following the assassination of Commodus on December 31, AD 192, Publius Helvius Pertinax, as both a revered elder member of the Senate and a chief lieutenant of the former emperor, was chosen to replace him. The reign of Pertinax is intriguing for its short length and related tragic turn of events which led to the further erosion of the Roman political state. It is also notable for his personal humble origins marking a distinct difference from all of the Princeps/Emperors who ruled before him.

Pertinax was born August 1, AD 126 as the son of a freedman, Helvius Successus (according to the Historia Augusta, but Dio Cassius simply offers that he was not of noble birth). He worked as a teacher of grammar in his earlier career, but through a fortuitous use of patron/client connections was able to secure a more lucrative career as a legionary officer. The notion that the son of a freedman could rise to the highest authority in the empire is at least one indication of the breakdown of more traditional political customs. However, Roman political tradition always did allow for upward mobility and this may also be just another indication as to the growing power and importance of freedmen as imperial advisors and confidants. It was as a soldier, first under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus that Pertinax began his rise up the political ladder. He served in Syria where his exemplary service in the Parthian war earned him several promotions and regular advancement. From Syria he served as a military tribune in Britannia, earned commands in Moesia and Germania and then ultimately was promoted to Procurator of Dacia. There, he unfortunately earned the mistrust of Marcus Aurelius for alleged conspiracies, but through the intervention of the emperor's son-in-law Claudius Pompeianus, he eventually came back into the emperor's good graces. He served once again with distinction in the Germanic Wars, and was named a suffect consul in AD 175.

Upon the passing of Marcus Aurelius and accession of Commodus, Pertinax earned a reputation as a valuable member of the Senate, but intrigue by the praetorian prefect Perennis forced Pertinax into retirement. After the execution of Perennis for his own conspiracies, Commodus made amends with Pertinax by appointing him as governor of Britannia where the legions had been in a troublesome state of unrest. It was in Britain that Pertinax earned a reputation for heavy handedness, especially in quelling a particularly dangerous mutiny that almost cost the governor his own life. Hostility between Pertinax and the legions of Britannia forced him to resign his post but he rebounded and next served as the prestigious governor of Africa before finally acting as the urban prefect of Rome. It was in this capacity that Pertinax was serving when the final plot to assassinate Commodus was carried out.

Commodus was murdered on December 31, AD 192 and Pertinax (while there is no direct evidence of his involvement) seems to have been the conspirator's candidate for succession from the very start. Praetorian prefect Laetus (one of the two leading conspirators along with imperial assistant Eclectus who both feared for their own lives under the increasingly paranoid Commodus) presented Pertinax to the praetorian guard as Commodus' replacement. Initially the soldiers were reluctant to accept Pertinax, likely in part because of the popularity of Commodus with the men, (the ancient sources, Dio and the HA in particular, remained mum on this however probably due to their own personal dislike of the deceased) and also because the treasury was in such a woeful position that the traditional payment to the men from the new emperor was not considered adequate. Despite this, Pertinax offered enough of a donative (12,000 sesterces per man) to win temporary support, but the money had to be procured by selling off pieces of Commodus' personal properties, and the relationship between the emperor and his guard was off to an unhappy start.

Pertinax has been favorably compared to Nerva, the man who was named emperor following the assassination of Domitian and ushered in the era that came to be known both as that of the '5 Good Emperors' as well as the 'adoptive' period. Like Nerva, he immediately attempted to distance himself from the authoritarian ruling style of his predecessor and even reinstituted the title of Princeps Senatus (first man of the senate), in a clear attempt to build political harmony with his peers. While Pertinax did have children he distanced them and his immediate family from imperial politics and avoided associating them with the trappings of authority. However, despite his best efforts to reverse some of the trends of Commodus and to institute various political, military and social reforms, Pertinax' reign would end so abruptly that he would have little time to develop a complete governing strategy, name a stabilizing and popular heir (such as Nerva did with Trajan) or rebuild the treasury that had been so terribly drained by Commodus.

It was the apparent integrity of Pertinax and his attempts to reduce some elements of corruption and conspiratorial intrigue that seemingly led to his own demise. Laetus, the very praetorian prefect who was in part responsible for the slaying of Commodus, turned against the man he chose as a replacement perhaps from a reduction of personal power or opportunities for personal gain. An initial plot to replace Pertinax with the standing consul Falco, while Pertinax was occupied in Ostia with the grain shipment, was defeated. While Falco was allowed to retire into privacy several conspiratorial members of the praetorians were put to death for their involvement (as the HA reports, all condemnations were based on the testimony of a slave). This not only angered the surviving soldiers but created a sense of consternation among the remaining guardsmen as well.

Rather than wait for their own turns to come, 200 to 300 (reported by Dio and the HA respectively) praetorians stormed the imperial palace. Rather than flee, or order his own palace guard to intercept the intruders Pertinax attempted to reason with the soldiers personally, but ultimate reconciliation of the relationship between praetorian and emperor was futile. On March 28, AD 193 Pertinax was struck down and beheaded and his head paraded out of the palace on the end of a spear. After only 87 days, at the age of 67 years, a promising reign and potential new era had come to an end, though history can never be fully sure what, if any, positive effects Pertinax may have actually had. With their personal power restored, the praetorians essentially auctioned off the empire to the highest bidder. City prefect Flavius Sulpicianus (Pertinax' father-in-law) and Didius Julianus (an exile from the reign of Commodus) raised the monetary stakes against one another until ultimately Didius Julianus purchased the throne for 25,000 sesterces per Praetorian. (With 10 double strength praetorian cohorts of approx. 800 men, the total payment may have been as much as 200 million sesterces or 50 million denarii). Didius Julianus' reign would end up being even shorter than that of his predecessor (66 days) and resulted from the civil war that followed Pertinax' assassination. Pertinax would eventually be accorded full imperial honors and deification by the eventual victor in that war, Septimius Severus, and would be remembered largely in a positive manner in posterity.

Did you know...
The Praetorian Guard usually included a small cavalry detachment, equites singulares augusti, to escort the emperors to important state functions and on military campaigns.

Roman Empire Wall Map
$59.99 incl. shipping

Find Out More

  • Featured
    Pages
  • Further
    Reading
  • Discussion
    Board
The Roman Twelve Tables of Law
The Twelve Tables

The Twelve Tables are the first attempt to make a law code, and remained the only attempt for nearly one thousand years.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Roman prisoner shackle
Roman Prisons

Typically, Roman prisons were not used to punish criminals, but instead served only to hold people awaiting trial or execution.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Ancient Rome addressing the common people (plebs)
Tribunes of the Plebs

The Tribune of the Plebes (tribunus plebis) was a magistracy established in 494 BC. It was created to provide the people with a direct representative magistrate.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Roman Emperor Augustus
The Deeds of the Divine Augustus

A copy of the acts of the Deified Augustus by which he placed the whole world under the sovereignty of the Roman people.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
The Government of the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook by Dr Barbara Levick
The Government of the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook
by Dr Barbara Levick

This book reveals how an empire that stretched from Glasgow to Aswan in Egypt could be ruled from a single city and still survive more than a thousand years.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World by J. E. Lendon
Empire of Honour: The Art of Government in the Roman World
by J. E. Lendon

This second edition includes a new introduction that explores the consequences for government and the governing classes of the replacement of the Republic by the rule of emperors.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Roman Government's Response to Crisis, A.D.235-337 by Ramsay MacMullen
Roman Government's Response to Crisis, A.D.235-337
by Ramsay MacMullen

During the period, the government of the Roman empire met the most prolonged crisis of its history and survived. This text is an early attempt at an inclusive study of the origins and evolutions of this transformation in the ancient world.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Swords Against The Senate: The Rise Of The Roman Army And The Fall Of The Republic by Erik Hildinger
Swords Against The Senate: The Rise Of The Roman Army And The Fall Of The Republic
by Erik Hildinger

Swords Against the Senate describes the first three decades of Rome's century-long civil war that transformed it from a republic to an imperial autocracy, from the Rome of citizen leaders to the Rome of decadent emperor thugs.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
Augustus, First Roman Emperor: Power, Propaganda and the Politics of Survival by Matthew D. H. Clark
Augustus, First Roman Emperor: Power, Propaganda and the Politics of Survival
by Matthew D. H. Clark

Rome's first emperor, Augustus, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, has probably had the most lasting effect on history of all rulers of the classical world. This book focuses on his rise to power and on the ways in which he then maintained authority throughout his reign.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
How Did the Political Structure in Rome influence U.S. Political Structure?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DISCUSSION
When was Rome the Most Just and Fair?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DISCUSSION
Heads of State in Ancient Rome
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DISCUSSION
Would the Republic Have Survived Had They Served a 2nd Course?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DISCUSSION
Can Anyone Tell Me About The 1st Triumvirate?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DISCUSSION
Did the Emperors Bring About the Need for a Split Empire?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DISCUSSION

Categories

  • Architecture
  • Clothing
  • Economy
  • Gladiators
  • Government
  • Medicine
  • Military
  • Religion
  • Slavery



Newest Updates

Multiple pages on Roman Gods have been combined into one single page.
04 September 2020
The "Roman Colosseum" page has been re-written and expanded.
28 August 2020

Popular Search Terms

  • Germania
  • Pax Romana
  • Roman Architecture
  • Roman Gods
  • Roman Numerals
  • Roman Colosseum
  • Pompey
  • Praetorian Guard
  • Roman Legion
  • Tacitus
  • Newsletter

    UNRV.com
    United Nations of Roma Victrix (UNRV) represents the all encompassing power of Rome in the ancient world. United and Romanized, through conquest, or absorbed through its culture, Rome still stands today as a legacy to the achievement of mankind, and its failures.
    • Donate
    • Advertise
    • Privacy & Cookie Policies
    • Contact
    © Copyright 2020 UNRV.com. All rights reserved.