Year of the Six Emperors

Common card · No. 449312

The Year of the Six Emperors was the year 238 CE, during which at least six different men made claims to be emperors of Rome. The events of the year were characteristic of the period dubbed the Crisis of the Third Century (235–285 CE) by later historians. The year began with Maximinus Thrax as ruler of the Roman Empire. A tax revolt in the province of Africa briefly saw Gordian I and his son Gordian II proclaimed co-emperors and recognized as such by the Senate in Rome. The African revolt was swiftly crushed, and the Senate, fearing reprisal from Maximinus for supporting the now-dead Gordians, proclaimed Pupienus and Balbinus as new emperors and charged them with defending the capital. Bowing to popular pressure, the Senate also elevated the 13-year-old Gordian III, grandson of Gordian I. During the subsequent siege of Aquileia, Maximinus was assassinated by his own troops. Pupienus and Balbinus were later murdered by the Praetorian Guard, leaving Gordian III the sole nominal ruler of the...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Classical Numismatic Group, CC BY-SA 2.5