Usurpers were a common feature of the late Roman Empire, especially from the so-called crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule. The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus). ... Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis ) is a commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by the three simultaneous crises of external invasion, internal civil war and economic collapse. ...

The first dynasty of the Roman Empire, the Julio-Claudians (27 BC - 69 AD), justified the imperial throne by familial ties, namely with the connection (although only through adoption) with Augustus, the first emperor. Eventually conflicts within the Julio-Claudian family triggered a series of murders, which led to the demise of the line. Nero died with public enemy status, and following his suicide a short civil war began, known as the Year of the four emperors. The Flavian dynasty started with Vespasian only to end with the assassination of his second son Domitian. The 2nd century was a period of relative peace marked by the rule of the so-called Five good emperors, but the next century would be characterized by endemic political instability, one of the factors that eventually contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. The Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire has a family tree complicated by multiple marriages between the members of the gens Julia and the gens Claudia. ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC - 20s BC - 10s BC 0s 10s 20s 30s Years: 32 BC 31 BC 30 BC 29 BC 28 BC 27 BC 26 BC 25 BC 24 BC 23 BC 22... ... Possibly the most famous Roman adoptee, Augustus Caesar In ancient Rome, adoption of boys was a fairly common procedure, particularly in the upper senatorial class. ... Augustus (plural Augusti) is Latin for majestic or venerable. The greek equivalent is sebastos, or a mere grecization (by changing of the ending) augustos. ... Roman Emperor is the title historians use to refer to rulers of the Roman Empire, after the epoch conventionally named the Roman Republic. ... Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37–June 9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called (50–54) Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. ... The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David, 1787 Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life; it is sometimes a noun for one who has committed or attempted the act. ... The forced suicide of emperor Nero, in 68 AD, was followed by a brief period of civil war (the first Roman civil war since Antonys death in 31 BC) known as the Year of the four emperors. ... Emperor Vespasian Caesar Vespasianus Augustus (November 18, 9 – June 23, 79), originally known as Titus Flavius Vespasianus and best known as Vespasian, was the emperor of Rome from 69 to 79. ... Titus Flavius Domitianus (24 October 51 – 18 September 96), commonly known as Domitian, was a Roman emperor of the gens Flavia. ... (1st century - 2nd century - 3rd century - other centuries) Events Roman Empire governed by the Five Good Emperors (96–180) – Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius. ... The Five Good Emperors. ...

All usurpers are equal but some are more equal than others

Commodus, the last member of the Antoninian dynasty and remembered by contemporaneous chronicles as an unpopular ruler notorious for his extravagance and cruelty, was assassinated in 193. Without sons to be his heir, a struggle for power immediately broke out amongst the governors of the most important provinces. Pertinax was elevated to the purple and recognized by his peers, but following his murder by a restive Praetorian guard, Septimius Severus decided to make his bid for power and usurped the throne. Although initially an usurper, Severus managed to remain in power for the next 18 years and died a natural death while campaigning in northern Britain. His death in 211 triggered what historians call the crisis of the third century. In this period, from 211 to the accession of Diocletian and the establishment of the Tetrarchy in 286, Rome saw 28 emperors of which only two had a natural death (from the plague). However, there were also 38 usurpers who raised revolts across the empire, a clear sign that the security of the frontiers was not the only problem within the Roman world. Usurpation attempts were a constant worry for the emperors in this period; it was a too common method of acceding the throne. Successful usurpers were usually either provincial governors, commanders of a large grouping of Roman legions, or prefects of the Praetorian guard, which had control of Rome, where the Imperial palace still lay. Commodus Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (originally Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus) (August 31, 161–December 31, 192 AD) was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 180 to 192. ... Events June 1 – Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is assassinated in his palace. ... Pertinax (Archaeological museum, Antakya) Publius Helvius Pertinax (August 1, 126 - March 28, 193) was proclaimed Roman Emperor the morning following the assassination of Commodus on December 31, AD 192. ... The Praetorian Guard (sometimes Prætorian Guard) (in Latin: praetoriani) comprised a special force of bodyguards used by Roman emperors. ... Emperor Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus, (April 11, 146 - February 4, 211) was Roman emperor from April 9, 193 to 211. ... This article is about the year 211. ... Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis ) is a commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by the three simultaneous crises of external invasion, internal civil war and economic collapse. ... Emperor Diocletian Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus (245-313 AD), born Diocles, was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. ... The Tetrarchs, a porphyry sculpture sacked from a Byzantine palace in 1204, Treasury of St. ... This article is about the year 286. ... Plague is usually understood as a generic term for Bubonic plague, the mortal disease caused by the bacillus Yersinia pestis, which is spread by fleas from rats and some species of mice to human beings. ... The Roman legion (from the Latin legio, meaning levy) was the basic military unit of ancient Rome. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Democratici di Sinistra) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1...

The danger of usurpation was greater following the death of an emperor, when his successor was not accepted by all provinces. Usually the legions acclaimed their own commander as emperor on the news of the accession of less popular men. The acclaimed emperor, usually a provincial governor, would then march to Italy or where the opponent was stationed, in order to contest for the purple. But legionaries disliked fighting against their brothers in arms, so battles between legions rarely transpired. Two main factors decided the success of an usurpation attempt: loyalty of the legionaries, heavily dependent on the amount of booty or monetary prizes promised on victory; and trust of the military abilities of the commander, upon which depended morale. Failure of either part to fulfill one or two of the criteria normally resulted in a mutiny and death at the hands of their own soldiers. Since the emperors had the status quo and political credibility behind them, the usurper had to be a charismatic man to avoid doubts in his ranks and an untimely death. Valerian, who defeated Aemilianus (himself an usurper) is an example of this kind. Other usurpers, like the emperor Philip the Arab, ascended the throne by a planned murder directed at an established sovereign (in his case Gordian III). Publius Licinius Valerianus (Latin: IMPERATOR CAESAR PVBLIVS LICINIVS VALERIANVS · PIVS FELIX · INVICTVS AVGVSTVS)¹ (ca. ... Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus (ca. ... Emperor Philip the Arab 100 Syrian pound note with Philip the Arab Marcus Julius Philippus (about 204 - 249), known in English as Philip the Arab, was Roman emperor from 244 to 249. ... Gordian III Marcus Antonius Gordianus Pius (January 20, 225-244), known in English as Gordian III, was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. ...

However successful, the usurpation procedure always left the new emperor in a somewhat frail political position, since the throne had been attained by violent means. The danger of another usurper was always present and the first measures taken were inevitably to put trusted men into important commands. Frequently, the emperor embellished his ancestry and his early life in order to enhance his credibility or the right to the throne. Mentions to obscure genealogical relations with previous popular emperors were common, and certainly confused historians. But most of all, the usurper manoeuvred to keep his legions happy, since he owed his power to their continued loyalty. Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. ...

Practical effects

The usurpation mania of the third century had profound effects in the bureaucratic and military organization of the Empire. Fear of potential rivals was to be the main driving force for the evolution of the Roman world from the early to the late Empire.

One of the most striking changes was the division and multiplication of the Roman provinces. Provinces were ruled by a governor, either a proconsul, propraetor or procurator, and were ascribed a certain number of legions, according to the degree of pacification they required. This meant that the governors of, for instance, Moesia or Pannonia in the Danube border had huge military contingents on their hands. The greater the number of legions a provincial governor had, the greater the temptation to make a bid to the throne. And indeed, the majority of usurpation attempts came from the Asian province of Syria, frequently attacked by the Persians, and the Rhine and Danube provinces. Thus, provinces were slowly divided into smaller units to avoid concentration of power and military capacity in the hands of one man. Syria is a perfect example: a single province in AD 14, in the middle of the 3rd century it was divided in four different administrative regions: Tres Daciae, Cappadocia, Syria Coele and Syria Palestina. In a similar way, Moesia and Pannonia were divided in Superior and Inferior (Upper and Lower) halves; Dardania was later separated from Moesia, and Pannonia was further divided into Prima, Valeria, Savia and Secunda. Map of the Roman Empire, with the provinces, after 120 AD. In Ancient Rome, a province (Latin, provincia, pl. ... For the Miocene ape, see Proconsul (genus) Under the Roman Empire a proconsul was a promagistrate filling the office of a consul. ... A promagistrate is a person who acts in and with the authority and capacity of a magistrate, but without holding a magisterial office. ... A promagistrate is a person who acts in and with the authority and capacity of a magistrate, but without holding a magisterial office. ... In ancient geography, Moesia was a district inhabited chiefly by Thracian peoples. ... Position of the Roman province of Pannonia Pannonia is an ancient country bounded north and east by the Danube, conterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. ... This is an article about the Danubian Neolithic culture For the River Danube go to Danube River The term Danubian culture was coined by the Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe for the first agrarian society in central and eastern Europe. ...

As the fear of civil war increased, the emperor felt the need of legions permanently in his reach, to be deployed against possible internal threats. This caused the geographic division of the army into limitanei legions, which remained in the borders, and comitatenses, which were stationed in strategic points within the Empire. Legio II Parthica, garrisoned in the Alban mountains outside of Rome since the time of Septimius Severus, was among the first comitatenses created. Legio II Parthica was a Roman legion levied by emperor Lucius Septimius Severus in 197 AD, for his campaign against the Parthian Empire, hence the cognomen Parthica. ...

Despite this administrative subdivision of legions for internal security purposes, the fact remains that men had to be removed from the frontier garrisons to accomplish this. A smaller number of legions meant a less secure borders and eventually raids from the Germanic and Gothic tribes against the Rhine and the Danube became more frequent. In the East, the Persian Empire grew bolder in their attacks on the Roman communities. Moreover, in a time when individual initiative was a common way to assume the imperial purple, giving important commands to competent generals was asking for trouble. Jealousy and fear often prevented the presence of the right man to deal with a specific threat, and, in consequence, marginal provinces were often raided, sacked or conquered. Sassanid Empire at its greatest extent The Sassanid dynasty (also Sassanian) was the name given to the kings of Persia, which includes much of present-day Iran, during the era of the second Persian Empire, from 224 until 651, when the last Sassanid shah, Yazdegerd III, lost a 14-year...

Assessment of usurpers

The only usurpers whose early life and specific circumstances of rebellion are known with reasonable certainty are the ones who later became emperors. The unsuccessful usurpation attempts inevitably ended with the rebel's execution, murder or suicide and subsequent erasure of his life from all records. This often causes confusion in the contemporaneous sources which are contradictory in the details of a certain rebellion. For instance the usurper Uranius is placed by some in the reign of Heliogabalus and by others in the time of Gallienus. Varius Avitus Bassianus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, (c. ... Gallienus depicted on a lead seal. ...

Every new emperor, either legal or illegal, marked the beginning of his rule by minting new coins, both for the prestige of declaring oneself as Augustus and to pay the loyal soldiers their share. Thus coinage is often the only evidence of a determined usurpation. But the number of coin types with the effigy of an usurper might not be equal to the total number of usurpations. The presence of minting facilities certainly allowed short term usurpers to release their coinage, but on the other hand, a man capable of sustaining a rebellion for a couple of months in a remote area might fail to produce his own coins due to the absence of minting technology.

Later assessment of usurpation events demonstrated that some are questionable or even fictitious. Gallienus was the emperor who suffered most usurpations, with a record of fourteen attempts (excluding the Gallic Empire secession) in fifteen years of rule. However, three of these are clear fabrications, either contemporaneous to show the invincibility of the emperor, or added by later writers to embellish their own prose. The Gallic Empire (in Latin, imperium Galliarum) is the modern name for the independent realm that lived a brief existence during the Roman Empires Crisis of the Third Century, from 259 to 274. ...

See also: List of Roman usurpers The following is an attempted list of surpers in the Roman Empire. ...