The Year of Five Emperors

How do you celebrate the New Year in ancient Rome? With an assassination and a bloody free-for-all for the imperial throne, of course. Following the murder of the gladiator emperor Commodus on New Year’s Eve 192, a chaotic succession battle erupted. Tristan Hughes and Dr. Simon Elliott unpack the infamous Year of the Five Emperors; a riotous drama where mad, honourable, and ruthless men seize and lose the world’s greatest empire. MORE Commodus: The Gladiator Emperor Listen on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/commodus-the-gladiator-emperor/id1520403988?i=1000664501102 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/0nkbGeOTbzTlkvlmgstGMI The Rise of Julius Caesar Listen on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rise-of-julius-caesar/id1520403988?i=1000699164890 Listen on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/66cyBkNuR0EJvtZ6XkIGio The Ancients is now on YouTube! Watch HERE https://www.youtube.com/@TheAncientsPodcast Presented by Tristan Hughes. Editor is Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Robin McConnell and McKenna Fernandez. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff. All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds The Ancients is a History Hit podcast. History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™ Want even MORE Ancients? Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS ad-free, early access podcasts AND exclusive subscriber-only Ancients episodes. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Tristan Hughes?

  Ever wondered why the Romans were defeated in the Teutoburg Forest? What secrets lie buried in prehistoric Ireland? Or what made Alexander truly great? With a subscription to History Hit, you can explore our ancient past alongside the world's leading historians and archaeologists. You'll also unlock hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a brand new release every single week, covering everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com/subscribe.

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• 2:16Tristan Hughes?

  It began with the assassination of Emperor Commodus on New Year's Eve 192. And by the time Rome woke the next morning, a new year had begun, and with it, one of the bloodiest succession battles in Roman history. The Year of the Five Emperors. Now, of all the crises and scandals that beset ancient Rome, this was one of the most infamous. The chaotic fight for the imperial throne saw mad men, honorable men, and ruthless men seize and lose power in the world's greatest empire. I'm Tristan Hughes, and today I'm pleased to bring Dr. Simon Elliott back to the podcast to recount this epic drama. Welcome to the ancients.

• 3:11Tristan Hughes?

  Simon, always a pleasure having you on the show.

• 3:13Speaker 05

  I love being on your show, Tristan.

• 3:15Tristan Hughes?

  And we are going to this fascinating, yet chaotic period in Roman history, where there was not one, there's not two, but there were five emperors, or should we say claimants to be emperor?

• 3:27Speaker 05

  There were five claimants to be emperor in the Year of the Five Emperors, AD 193. But really, what we're talking about is a story of a band of brothers, Tristan, a band of brothers. So six, six Roman military leaders who made their name in the Markmanic Wars in the 170s and 180s, all of whom we know today because of what came next. So Maximius is one, we know him today. He's not one of our candidates in the Year of the Five Emperors, but he was the role model for Russell Crowe in Gladiator, Maximus. But then the other five are all real candidates to become the emperor. So you have Pertinax, who first emperor in the Year of the Five Emperors, Septimius

• 4:09Speaker 05

  Severus, the winner of the Year of the Five Emperors ultimately, Pescennius Niger, and Claudius Albinus.

• 4:16Tristan Hughes?

  And Didius Julianus. Never forget Didius Julianus.

• 4:19Speaker 05

  And Didius Julianus as well.

• 4:20Tristan Hughes?

  Poor Didius.

• 4:20Speaker 05

  Often, often forgotten.

• 4:22Tristan Hughes?

  DJ, good old DJ. We were saying.

• 4:24Speaker 05

  Warming up for Septimius Severus.

• 4:26Tristan Hughes?

  Absolutely, absolutely. And I mean, 193 is the big year. We're going to get into it and all the stories, but also it kind of goes a bit beyond it because there's a big civil war that follows. It takes a few years to finish, doesn't it?

• 4:36Speaker 05

  Absolutely, yeah.

• 4:37Tristan Hughes?

  But we actually do start with the Year of the Five Emperors on literally the last day of the previous year, on New Year's Eve 192 AD. And it feels important to introduce who is this character who has their fate sealed on that day in history?

• 4:56Speaker 05

  Joachim Phoenix.

• 4:57Tristan Hughes?

  Joachim Phoenix, okay. He's lived very long. He looks good for his age, I must say.

• 5:00Speaker 05

  Commodus, the mad, the bad Commodus, played amazingly well, I think, by Joachim Phoenix in the great movie Gladiator. Commodus, the surviving son of Marcus Aurelius, becomes the emperor and Marcus Aurelius dies in 180. Marcus Aurelius knows that Commodus is a wrong'un. Knows he's a wrong'un because he appoints 40 senatorial mentors to guide him after his own death. And at the point when Commodus is assassinated at the end of 192, only one of them is alive. He's had the rest of them killed, and that one of them, by the way, is Pertinax. So Commodus is a wrong'un, deluded, narcissistic, my least favorite Roman emperor.

• 5:42Speaker 05

  So narcissistic, he renames all the legions after himself, renames all the fleets after himself, renames all the months of the year after himself, has the huge colossal 82-meter high gold-plaid statue of Saul outside the Colosseum, restarts himself as Hercules, believes he is Hercules.

• 6:05Tristan Hughes?

  Did he fight as a gladiator in the arena?

• 6:07Speaker 05

  And fought as a gladiator in the arena against drugged gladiators and drugged animals, thinking nobody would know the difference. So he is the mad, bad Commodus. And he gets the New Year's Eve 192, and everybody's had enough. And so there is a plot against him in the Imperial Palace with Laetus, who is the Praetorian prefect, with Aclitus, who is the chamberlain, and his mistress, Marcia. And they try and poison him, but he's been on the wine all day because it's New Year's Eve. And when they poison him with some sweetmeats later in the evening, he sweats it out in the bath, but he knows something's wrong and he starts accusing people. But fortunately, it's a very good plot, they have a plan B. The plan B is to have hiding behind a curtain Narcissus.

• 6:52Tristan Hughes?

  Who's Narcissus?

• 6:52Speaker 05

  Commodus' wrestling trainer.

• 6:54Tristan Hughes?

  Okay.

• 6:55Speaker 05

  Who's lined up to strangle him to death, which he does, which by the way, doesn't help Narcissus because two weeks later he's eaten in the arena by a lion. But he kills Commodus, and so therefore Commodus is dead.

• 7:08Tristan Hughes?

  And up to this point, you know, you've had like the five good emperors before Commodus, finishing with Marcus Aurelius, of course. But Commodus has been the son of Marcus Aurelius. But does Commodus have an heir himself? And what's the problem when he dies?

• 7:23Speaker 05

  He's got no heir.

• 7:24Tristan Hughes?

  He's got no heir.

• 7:25Speaker 05

  He's got no heir, he's got no heir. No, he's got no heir. So what do you do? So you have this amazing story about a chap called Pertinax. Pertinax, I've written a book about Pertinax, Tristan, the son of a slave who became Roman emperor.

• 7:39Tristan Hughes?

  Right, so he's number one of our five emperors.

• 7:42Speaker 05

  But at this point, at this point, at this point, this minute in time, he's not the emperor.

• 7:47Tristan Hughes?

  Okay.

• 7:47Speaker 05

  At this minute in time, let's say it's one minute past midnight, so it's the first minute of AD 193, right? Where is he? He's the, he's had a career which basically spent half his life as a grammarian teacher, and then amazingly has this Damascene conversion, becomes one of the greatest warriors in the Roman world ever.

• 8:05Tristan Hughes?

  Damascene conversion, I love that.

• 8:07Speaker 05

  Yes, okay. So overnight, Wexman says, I think I'm going to become a soldier. And he does. His father made, his father's a former slave who's manumitted, made a fortune in the Pae Valley as a, running a logging business. So Pertinax had the finest education money could buy, became a grammarian, and then in his early 30s, very late, transitions to the Roman military and actually is very successful, serving in Britain three times, ending up being governor of various provinces, doing all sorts of things. But at this point, he's the prefect of Rome.

• 8:40Tristan Hughes?

  Right, okay.

• 8:40Speaker 05

  So he's the mayor, so he's running classical Rome. So he's in bed, one minute past midnight, remember? AD 193, he's in bed, and there's a knock on the door.

• 8:51Speaker 05

  And his bailiff opens the door terrified because remember the other thirty nine mentors are dead. So he thinks it's his moment and who turns up but laterest the Praetorian prefect and Alectus the court chamberlain and they're ushering into his bedroom and he says crackle lads just kill me I'm fed up with waiting for it you know I just want to transition now I've had enough I've been terrified for years just get on with it it's no no no you've got it wrong mate no you're the emperor and they're making the emperor on the spot so the son of a slave becomes the emperor of the Roman Empire.

• 9:24Tristan Hughes?

  So does this feel very much I mean you mentioned the chamberlain there Alectus but we've seen it time and time again where not so much the Praetorian Guard but the Praetorian prefects they have a big role in deciding who the next emperor will be and it feels with this figure of Latus at the time that he is the driving force he is the person who decides that the person we're going to make the next emperor is this figure of person.

• 9:46Speaker 05

  If you have a transition so imperial transition is very important very few Roman emperors succeed by their sons as an example it's quite rare so if you have a an imperial transition which is not secured in one way or another the Praetorian prefect is the most powerful person certainly in this case Latus is the most powerful person but you could make the case that Pertinax is the prefect of Rome must have known about this plot the court chamberlain where's his house his house is on the Capitoline Hill so his house is overlooking the Palatine Hill where the Imperial Palace is so he's in sight of where the deed's done and you know he may well have known we don't know we don't know but the key thing is this he's now made the emperor but it's also unlikely that

• 10:29Speaker 05

  when he walks down in the early hours of the morning to the forum Romanum he goes to the Senate House and he calls a meeting of the Senate to acclaim him as the new emperor but he finds that the doors of the Senate House are locked because it's now early New Year's Day and the bailiff's been out on the booze all day and they can't find him so there's no keys so apparently Pertinax sits down alone for about three hours until dawn as the sun rises over the forum Romanum sitting on the steps of the Temple of Concord next to the site which later becomes the Archateum of Severus just across the way from the Curia of the Senate House alone because they can't find the keys.

• 11:11Tristan Hughes?

  So that's how he becomes emperor and when he becomes emperor it's not like he's been training for this all of his life he's had a pretty physical practical career yes you know serving in the military then doing the magistrate stuff as well do we know how he fares in those immediate days and weeks after he becomes emperor what does he try and do?

• 11:31Speaker 05

  The two key facts to remember are this one he's a huge fan of Marcus Aurelius so he stars himself in Marcus Aurelius he wants to be a philosopher emperor so he wants to completely reverse the the sort of atrocities of the Commodan period and he basically wants to reset the Roman Empire back to being something that's worthy but also his viscous treasury's bust because Commodus has spent everything pretending to be a gladiator renaming things doing stuff in fact Pertinax one of the first things he has to do in the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill is have a fire sale of all of Commodus's slaves and all of these fabulous carriages a collection of carriages who knew that Commodus apparently collected which sort

• 12:15Speaker 05

  of moved so he could see where the sun was and things like this and this this all had to be sold to put some money in the treasury that's important for his story because he's only the emperor for three months and that's because the Praetorian Guard don't like him why don't they like him because the Praetorian Guard like being paid lots of money when a new emperor becomes the emperor.

• 12:35Tristan Hughes?

  This is the call this is what's known as a donative.

• 12:38Speaker 05

  The donative.

• 12:39Tristan Hughes?

  Yeah.

• 12:39Speaker 05

  The donative so he doesn't pay them a donative so they come to him at the end of month one January and they say can we have some money and he says no because he actually hasn't got any so and he's busy sort of like reading philosophic texts and things like that you know huge beard and then at the end of month two they come to him and they say look we really want some money can we have some money and he says no and say well okay if you don't give us any money we're going to kill you okay he says all right so at the end of month three they kill him.

• 13:12Tristan Hughes?

  He's like your final chance where's our money we'll just kill him straight away.

• 13:15Speaker 05

  Kill him straight away and it's also very the descriptions of the assassination are very detailed as well the descriptions talk about Praetorian guardsmen in full armour battle armour wearing weapons which is all very very unusual in central Rome using a wedge formation to force their way through the mass crowds to the Imperial Palace and then assassinating him he gets great vignette as well about Latus the Praetorian prefect when he realises what's going he just slips quietly away behind a curtain nothing to do with me Gov I'm not on your side I'm not on your side I'm just going to slip away behind a curtain.

• 13:52Tristan Hughes?

  So this is interesting this is actually a case where the Praetorian prefect is not in charge of his soldiers.

• 13:56Speaker 05

  No no it looks like there are troublemakers in the Praetorian Guard who are determined to kill him anyway.

• 14:01Tristan Hughes?

  Okay.

• 14:01Speaker 05

  Right maybe with their own candidate in mind and in one of the narratives what you actually have is that Pertinax the worthy Pertinax good Aretor basically talks them out of killing him except one guy who's determined to kill him who does the killing and then you have this Caesarian scenario where everybody joins in stabbing him.

• 14:18Tristan Hughes?

  Right so that's the end of Pertinax he only rules for three months or so seems like a I don't want to say a decent figure but maybe maybe he was I guess we don't know it certainly seems an interesting figure especially very different to Commodus right?

• 14:33Speaker 05

  You know you know in the Roman world right we used to in our world talking about the likes of Julius Caesar or Augustus or Trajan or Marcus Aurelius in the Roman world Pertinax was important as all of those because he was the everyman story that you could rise to the very top from the humblest of beginnings the son of a slave who became the Roman Emperor who then died a very worthy death himself and it's only sort of into the immediately post

• 15:02Speaker 05

  Roman world in the West that he sort of like ceases to be this figure and then he's rebooted in the eighteenth and nineteenth century again in the context of the American Revolution and things like that has been this very worthy figure and in actual fact I actually think he's somebody to be to be applauded because I actually do think he tried to reset remember the Praetorian Guard that he inherited were a bunch of idiots who'd looked after the whims of Commodus for a decade there weren't an elite fighting force so his idea would have been to eventually transform them back to being an elite fighting force didn't get the chance.

• 15:37Tristan Hughes?

  So he had all these ideas it seems like he doesn't have any revolts to deal with I mean there's no governors who decide yeah well there's there's no any time and there's no governors who kind of revolt in the meantime but he's out of the picture because the big lesson is you've got to pay the Praetorians even if they're a bunch of idiots you've got to pay them their money so this is kind of the late March he's now gone.

• 15:58Speaker 05

  Gone.

• 15:59Tristan Hughes?

  And now power is in the hands of the Praetorians and what is this I'm going to say story because it's an embellished story I think it's fair to say of this so-called auction of the empire that follows.

• 16:13Speaker 05

  Let's reflect what's happening across the empire right you have actually four candidates in play now four so there were five one's gone four so one is a leading senator called Didius Julianus.

• 16:26Tristan Hughes?

  He's in Rome DJ.

• 16:28Speaker 05

  In Rome.

• 16:28Tristan Hughes?

  Yeah.

• 16:28Speaker 05

  DJ like it so so the DJ is mixing his decks in Rome and then we have Claudius Albinus who is the governor of Britain in London Londonian we have Pescennius Nager who's the governor of Syria in Antioch on the Orontes and we have Septimius Severus the great warrior governor who is on the Danube in Carnuntum which is the capital of Penone Superior near Vienna but clearly Didius Julianus is the closest to things happening because he's in Rome a debate takes place very quickly after the assassination in the Curia Senate House what shall we do and

• 17:10Speaker 05

  everybody's going oh I don't want the job I don't want the job well you wouldn't want the job would you because you're going to get assassinated eventually but one man a greedy man in my opinion who formerly was actually a decent warrior but is now clearly greedy puts his hand up and this is Didius Julianus he says I'm going to make a play for power and the story is that he's adopted as a candidate by some Praetorian Guards taken to the Praetorian camp outside the serving walls of Rome. Inside the Praetorian camp, bizarrely, you have Pertinax's father-in-law, Silpicianus, maybe has gone there to actually stay safe after Pertinax was assassinated. And the story goes, there's a bidding war between the two.

• 17:51Speaker 05

  So you have Diddy's Julianus poking his nose up over the wall of the Praetorian camp.

• 17:56Tristan Hughes?

  He's not allowed in, isn't he?

• 17:57Speaker 05

  No, he's not allowed in. So he's standing on a box, standing on a box going, "I'll bid you this, I'll bid you this." And then the bid's ferried by word of mouth. He says this, he says this, it's Chinese whispers. And, you know, multi-millions of pounds have been offered to get the throne. And ultimately, in the story, he outbid Silpicianus. The evidence this takes place is actually very flimsy. And the chances are, in actual fact, if you're the Praetorian guard, if you're Laertus in particular, what are you going to want to do? You want to secure the succession very quickly. If there's an idiot that will stand up, you know what? It's almost like when Claudius became the emperor, the Praetorians chose what they thought was an idiot. Turns out Claudius actually was a very successful emperor. But with Diddy's Julianus, they chose the idiot they wanted.

• 18:42Tristan Hughes?

  Yeah. Also, the fact of Silpicianus, the fact that he's related to Pertinax is probably one that, you know, kind of many Praetorians just said, "Actually, we don't want him then."

• 18:50Speaker 05

  No, because he might kill us.

• 18:50Tristan Hughes?

  He might kill us, exactly. And DJ's got money. So DJ pays them a big donative straight away.

• 18:57Speaker 05

  But does it do him any good?

• 18:59Tristan Hughes?

  Does it do him any good? So he becomes emperor and he's got the Praetorians. What happens when he becomes emperor straight away? Do we know much about him ruling in Rome itself?

• 19:09Speaker 05

  Not really, no. Just basically tries to unpick a few of the things which Pertinax had done. Tried to unpick a few of the wrongdoings of Commodus, but basically doesn't have enough time in power. Talking about sort of like weeks, months, that kind of thing. Because, because it's all about distances now, isn't it? Distances. So we're in Rome.

• 19:29Tristan Hughes?

  Yes.

• 19:30Speaker 05

  If you need to get a message from Rome.

• 19:32Tristan Hughes?

  DJ's in the house at the moment.

• 19:33Speaker 05

  DJ is in the house. DJ's in the house. Yes, he's mixing his decks. But in Londinium, in Londinium, we have Claudius Albinus. And word reaches him that Pertinax has been assassinated. And it takes two weeks to get the message to him. So the message will go, in this case, from the port of Rome, Ostia, to Marseille, Rome, Soan, Seine, cross the channel, London, takes two weeks, nearly all by water. And then his troops in Britain declare him emperor. So there's two in play.

• 20:08Tristan Hughes?

  And he's got three legions there. So that's a powerful force. If you control Britain, you've got a lot of manpower at your disposal.

• 20:13Speaker 05

  And there are elite legions as well, two Augustus, twenty of Lario Victorix and six Victorix. In the east, you have Pescennius Nige in Antioch. And it takes two weeks for him to get the message as well. So within two weeks, both of those have got the message. And in the east, he's also declared emperor by his troops.

• 20:32Tristan Hughes?

  Very, very battle-hardened legions as well.

• 20:35Speaker 05

  More, more, more. So you now have three candidates in play, one in Rome, and then two in London and in Antioch. But before London and Antioch, it takes seven days for word to reach Severus on the Danube.

• 20:50Tristan Hughes?

  So one week earlier.

• 20:51Speaker 05

  Maximum seven days, maybe earlier, in Conantum. That Pertinax has been assassinated. This is very important here because Pertinax had mentored Septimius Severus as he progressed along his cursus in Aorum. And Severus, actually, of the three, Albinus, Nige, Severus, Severus is furious.

• 21:14Tristan Hughes?

  And this is why I find so interesting, because none of those three revolt or declare themselves emperor when Pertinax becomes emperor, when news reaches them. But when they hear that he's been murdered and this new figure's taken charge, you know, they see the context of vengeance for Pertinax almost. And they all take up the sword. But as you say, Severus in particular, he seems to have been motivated even more, and he's the closest.

• 21:39Speaker 05

  Remember the Banda Brothers of the Markmanic Wars? They all fought together for Marcus Aurelius in the Markmanic Wars. They all knew each other. And Pertinax was the older. And Pertinax was certainly the mentor of Septimius Severus. So Severus is in Conantum, the legionary fortress, capital of Pannonia Superior. And the legion with him is Forty Jumina, which is one of the elite, it's my favourite Roman legion, Tristan. The legion which played the key role in defeating Boudica. Okay? The legion which later struggles in the Markmanic Wars, but is rebuilt, one of the crack legions of the whole Roman Empire. And it's this legion, Forty Jumina, which declares Severus the emperor.

• 22:21Speaker 05

  And Tristan, he descends like a sword of Damocles, bang, straight through into northern Italy. Word reaches the Senate that the big guy's coming, the tough guy, not this, a fate overweight, rich bloke, but a tough guy.

• 22:38Tristan Hughes?

  Not poor DJ.

• 22:39Speaker 05

  You don't want to get on the wrong side of Septimius Severus. As later you find when he's the emperor, and over 200 senators over the next decade are killed, largely without trial by him, he's a tough guy. And the Senate know this. So the Senate, as soon as they realise that Severus is about to descend on Rome with the Fourteenth Legion, followed by other legions, it's time for Diddy's Julianus to go. And Tristan, there are some comedic stories, comedic stories about how Julianus tries to muster an army to fight Severus. Severus has got these crack legions. And this is the pre-cumptate, so the legions are on the frontiers of the empire. There's no legion in Rome, just got the idiocy of this.

• 23:20Tristan Hughes?

  He's got the Praetorians who've enjoyed your luxury for the last decade.

• 23:24Speaker 05

  The Commodus, the comedic Commodus, there we go, we'll come out with a new name. The comedic Commodus Praetorian Guard.

• 23:31Tristan Hughes?

  DJ and his comedic Commodus.

• 23:32Speaker 05

  Exactly. I like this, actually. God, where's Sal Macao when you need him? And Diddy's Julianus actually goes to the Imperial Menagerie, the zoo. And he takes the elephants out of the zoo. And of course, he's been raised on reading Pelibius, talking about the Punic Wars and the four Macedonian wars. So he decides he's going to turn them into war elephants, but they haven't been trained to be war elephants. So when they put fighting towers on the top, they fall off and they kill the soldiers on the back of them. So it's like, it's like sort of that Billy Smart circus. And then he gets some marines from the classes of his enemy, Tyrrhenian fleets, at my enemy, the Bay of Naples, and they come up and they just go back.

• 24:13Speaker 05

  This is an idiot. So basically, at the first opportunity, the Senate bump him off. And he's gone as Severus arrives, parks himself with his legion in the former Romanum, walks into the Senate Curia House, swords drawn, says, "I'm the emperor." And the senators say, "Absolutely, you are not a problem, mate." And that's how the Severan dynasty begins.

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• 27:16Tristan Hughes?

  So Perseus lasts just under three months.

• 27:19Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 27:19Tristan Hughes?

  DJ reigns for some sixty six days, so kind of just over two months. So, and now Severus is the big dog. He's in charge.

• 27:26Speaker 05

  He is the big dog.

• 27:27Tristan Hughes?

  And we've only got three left of these five emperors, of these five claimants. And we're only halfway through the year, if that's.

• 27:34Speaker 05

  I know, I know. But it then drags on a bit.

• 27:36Tristan Hughes?

  It does drag on a bit. But let's, I find this, this next bit really, really interesting, especially when it comes to the Praetorians, right? Because we talked already how Perseus is removed because he doesn't pay them a donative. DJ is instated because he gives them a large one, probably, you know, that's a big part of it. Now Severus comes in, and if he's on a vengeance for Perseus, he's not going to like the Praetorians either, right? So how does he deal with them?

• 28:01Speaker 05

  Gets rid of them.

• 28:02Tristan Hughes?

  He gets rid of them.

• 28:03Speaker 05

  Gets rid of them. He basically cashiers them. And so the Praetorian Guard at this stage is probably about 3,000 men. He parades them in the former Monum. He makes them all stripped naked.

• 28:14Tristan Hughes?

  Wow.

• 28:14Speaker 05

  And then he says, I should kill you, but actually I'm too busy. So I'm going to banish each individual one of you to live 100 miles away, Roman miles, from Rome for the rest of your life. If you get within 100 miles of Rome, you'll just be executed or I'll feed you to the beasts. And he is a big one for feeding people to the beasts. So, and they know this. So, so that's it. The Praetorian Guard's gone. Then he reforms it at twice the strength of 6,000 men, using his own Danubian veterans.

• 28:40Tristan Hughes?

  This is a big change.

• 28:42Speaker 05

  And these are, these are hardened, battle hardened troops.

• 28:44Tristan Hughes?

  Yeah.

• 28:44Speaker 05

  Severus, all the way through his life, never forgets that actually he came to power at the point of a sword. Famously on his deathbed tells his sons Caracalla and Geta, "Love your family, look after the soldiers, forget everybody else."

• 28:56Tristan Hughes?

  Yes.

• 28:56Speaker 05

  And I'm being polite there, by the way. So reforms the Praetorian Guard. And intriguingly, actually, I mean, if you go to Saint John Laterano, San Giovanni Laterano, the huge archipelica above the Colosseum in Rome today, that's built on top of the barracks of the Imperial Guard Cavalry. And Severus also disbanded the Imperial Guard Cavalry, doubled them in size. And then that's where he rebuilt their barracks, within sight, by the way, of the former Monum.

• 29:23Tristan Hughes?

  Right.

• 29:23Speaker 05

  Okay. So not the Praetorian camp outside of the serving walls, miles away from anywhere, inside Rome itself. So it's a complete change here. You have a professional Praetorian Guard who are proper soldiers at twice the strength they were before.

• 29:39Tristan Hughes?

  So Severus takes over Rome. And so now there are three claimants left, and they're all former brothers in arms, as you say.

• 29:46Speaker 05

  Three left.

• 29:47Tristan Hughes?

  Three left. So how does Severus, he's the man now in charge of Rome, he's like the new emperor. How does he deal with these, these, these two other people who've declared themselves emperor in contrasting parts of the empire, who had been brothers in arms? Am I right in thinking that friendship in one hand to one of them, middle finger of the other hand to the other?

• 30:09Speaker 05

  Absolutely right. Absolutely right. And remember, these guys all knew each other, and there had been friends. They probably were friends, actually, until the, the year of the, the five emperors. And it's only opportunity to present themselves by the Commodan assassination, and then Perseus has been assassinated, that they're in play. But, but now they're enemies. So clever chap Severus looks at the two options. He's the one in power now. He's got the, the army behind him, certainly on the Rhine and Danube frontiers, which Diddy's Julius hadn't had. So he can look to the west, who's the bigger threat? Is it Claudius Albinus? He can look to the east, is it Pescennius Nige? Clearly it's Pescennius Nige.

• 30:48Tristan Hughes?

  He's got more allegiance, right?

• 30:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, he's probably got about 10.

• 30:54Tristan Hughes?

  And it's wealthier, I guess. You've got to make, remember that as well.

• 30:57Speaker 05

  Absolutely. So, so he looks to his fellow North African. Severus is from Lecce, Smagno, in North Africa. Claudius Albinus is from Tunisia.

• 31:06Tristan Hughes?

  Hadramentum, isn't he?

• 31:07Speaker 05

  Absolutely, yeah. So Severus looks to the west and he says, you know what? I'm just going to buy you on side. Why don't you become my junior emperor? I'll make you my Caesar. And Albinus buys it. To us today, it's clearly a trick and a conceit. Probably Albinus knew it, but Albinus also knew that at that point he'd only got three legions. So he's given an opportunity to buy time, get on side with the new dynasty, the Severan dynasty, which is founded by Severus. So he says, okay, I'm in. So Severus becomes the Augustus, the senior emperor, and Albinus becomes the junior emperor, the Caesar. So then Severus says, right.

• 31:46Tristan Hughes?

  Western flank secured.

• 31:47Speaker 05

  Yep. Let's crack on. We're going to give the finger to Pescennius Nige. So he takes his campaigning forces, field army, and he marches along the Danube and then through the Balkans. And the first place of resistance he comes to from the, the forces supporting Pescennius Nige are in Byzantium, late Constantinople. And so he besieges this, but very cannily, instead of saying for a long siege, cracks on and leaves it in the rear with a besieging force, and eventually forces a major meeting engagement, more or less on the border with modern Turkey, Syria, at ISIS, Battle of ISIS 194.

• 32:26Tristan Hughes?

  So this, a lot of that's happened in 193.

• 32:29Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 32:29Tristan Hughes?

  And when we get to that Battle of ISIS, you know, Alexander the Great had fought many years, many centuries before.

• 32:36Speaker 05

  Same place.

• 32:36Tristan Hughes?

  Same place. So there's a river and the like. This is now 194. So we say the year the five emperors is 193, but it, it does extend into a couple of years after.

• 32:45Speaker 05

  As you're going to find out, Trish, it's going to go through the 197, mate.

• 32:47Tristan Hughes?

  Oh, well.

• 32:48Speaker 05

  Right. So, so in actual fact, it's a complete misnomer. But let's go with it. So, so Nige is absolutely annihilated.

• 32:56Tristan Hughes?

  And the Basilevisus.

• 32:57Speaker 05

  Please, tries to get to the Parthians. That's, how desperate is that for a Roman emperor to try and run away and live with the Parthians, the Persians? The only symmetrical threat the Romans have really got except themselves. True desperation, captured on the way, killed. So there's a pattern, pattern here. Severus then knows, like any new Roman emperor in a new dynasty, he needs martial valor and glory. He knows the civil war's not the place to get it. So he decides to invade Parthia, starts campaigning against some border territories of the Parthians, succeeds, and then starts going into Parthia itself. But when he does, in 196, word reaches him that something's happened in the west.

• 33:43Tristan Hughes?

  That's interesting. But, but at the same time, so from 194 to 196, so following Nige's death, there are just two figures standing of those emperors that we mentioned earlier. So there's Albinus, and there's Severus. And at that time, they are allied, they are showing themselves very much officially as brothers in arms. And then we get to 196. And what is this big event that's happened that Severus hears about when he's in the East?

• 34:12Speaker 05

  Severus hears that Claudius Albinus has seen through his ruse, realizes he's not going to be the Caesar after all, and has actually usurped against Severus.

• 34:22Tristan Hughes?

  Now, why has that happened?

• 34:24Speaker 05

  Because Severus is getting a bit cocky, and he's made his sons Caracalla and Geta Caesar's too.

• 34:29Tristan Hughes?

  Right. That would probably be a warning sign, wouldn't it?

• 34:31Speaker 05

  Huge warning sign. So now Albinus is also a very successful general. Okay. So Albinus decides, I need to force a meeting engagement with Severus and defeat him, and then I can get the throne in, in Rome. Where do I go in the Western Empire where I know Severus can't ignore me? And this is Lugdonum, Lyon, okay? It's south eastern Gaul. That's because this is the capital of the Roman province of Galleg Lugdonum. It's where earlier Severus had been the provincial governor. Crucially, that's where he married his second wife, the love of his life, Julie Domna, the mother of his two children. And it's where his eldest son Caracalla, his heir, had been born. So Severus can't ignore that being

• 35:12Speaker 05

  occupied by Albinus. So Severus now hot foots it between 196 and 197, through Anatolia, and then along the Danube, picking up legions and vexillations as he goes, vexillations, regiments, and then along the Rhine, and then descends, just like he did into Italy, but this time through Gaul. And you had this Titanic meeting engagement at Lugdonum.

• 35:37Tristan Hughes?

  We'll get to that in a bit, but I want to build this up a bit more because we've got time to explore the context because Lugdonum, we both love Lugdonum. And I actually think this conflict between Albinus and Severus, it's probably the most fascinating part of this whole, you know, series of years that we label the year of the five emperors. But there is, you're very kind to Severus. I know you love Severus to bits. But we should mention that story, whether it's true or not is another, another matter. But the one where supposedly Albinus needs that little bit of extra motivation to officially declare war on Severus, and this is the one that suggests that Severus did send assassins to try and murder.

• 36:17Speaker 05

  Trish, I'd certainly hope so. My, my word. Why wouldn't you? Goodness me. This is, this is, this is a Roman emperor. Over time, you, you bought Albinus out by making him the Caesar. You think you've got two or three years. So you know for a fact that in those two or three years, at some stage, Albinus is going to succumb to some kind of food poisoning or something. So why wouldn't you? However, it turns out to be a bit of a crap attempt to assassinate him because the assassins are caught. And if it's true, then it's one of the reasons why Albinus decides to usurp. But I, for, for me, I mean, I think it's because the writing's on the wall.

• 36:53Tristan Hughes?

  Yeah, you don't need.

• 36:54Speaker 05

  And I, I think Albinus is not stupid. I think Albinus knows what's going on anyway.

• 36:59Speaker 05

  And we're talking about distances as well, aren't we? So we, we've spoken about distances earlier. So we're talking about two weeks to get a message from Antioch to Rome, two weeks to London. It's a month. I, I think it's, it takes a month for Albinus to get word, and then he knows he's got to crack on.

• 37:16Tristan Hughes?

  So he cracks on. And you mentioned how Severus, when he heads back west from the east, ultimately, you know, going to Lyon for this big battle, he's collecting legions. So he's collecting a massive force of soldiers. Albinus, at the same time, when he crosses over to Gaul, modern day France, he's got three legions from Britain, probably some auxiliary, leaving some, of course, he has to leave some in Britain.

• 37:38Tristan Hughes?

  He must have, surely a few must have been left or does he take everything?

• 37:42Speaker 05

  So if you were to look at what would have been left behind in terms of maintaining the northern frontier and maybe central Wales, you're looking probably, you could hold it for a short period of time with auxiliary only. So I think, we know for a fact, all three legions came over, all three. That is again to iterate to Augusta from Caerleon, six victriks from York and twenty valerio victriks from Chester.

• 38:04Tristan Hughes?

  And he picks up another legion in Gaul and another from Spain. Do we think he's got about six or seven?

• 38:08Speaker 05

  Just the one from Spain.

• 38:09Tristan Hughes?

  Just one.

• 38:10Speaker 05

  Just the one from Spain. The legions in Gaul, again, remember, these are all on the frontiers. It's the principate. So they're in Germania inferior and Germania superior, and they are loyal to Severus.

• 38:20Tristan Hughes?

  Wow. So Albinus has only got four legions and auxiliary troops. And Severus, do we think Severus then has more?

• 38:27Speaker 05

  Numbers is a very interesting conversation to have about this battle, the Battle of Lugdunum, because Dio says that three hundred thousand troops took part.

• 38:34Tristan Hughes?

  Okay.

• 38:34Speaker 05

  The entire military establishment of the Roman world at the time was about three hundred thousand troops. So almost certainly not. So he's exaggerating, which is not unusual for a classical author, particularly Dio. However, it's a very big battle. Maybe Severus had more, I don't know. But the way the narrative of battle goes is a close one thing. It takes two days. It's infantry heavy, so very few cavalry are involved. There's a, if you read the contemporary narratives, there's a real First World War, Western Front feel to it. A grind, you know, particularly because the British legions apparently use a ruse. They use field obstacles and draw the Severan troops over the field obstacles and that almost wins that particular wing for them.

• 39:16Speaker 05

  But over the two days, eventually Severus wins. Only event, he falls off his horse twice.

• 39:22Tristan Hughes?

  Isn't there a story from the battle where he actually does nearly lose his life and, you know, Roman history could have changed?

• 39:29Speaker 05

  Absolutely. Yeah, he certainly falls off his horse twice. And the second time, he's saved by Praetorians and by his own cavalry, small cavalry reserve. And later in life, of course, people think that one of his afflictions was gout. I've often wondered if in one of the falls from his horse, maybe the second one, he had a badly fractured leg and he didn't heal properly. And that's why he had problems with his legs later in life. But he only just wins. It's by the absolute skin of his teeth.

• 39:55Tristan Hughes?

  But Claudius Albinus, he does lose that big battle. I mean, what an event to end that.

• 40:00Speaker 05

  And he does lose his head.

• 40:02Tristan Hughes?

  He loses his head as well. Does he survive the battle and is then captured?

• 40:04Speaker 05

  We don't know. He either dies in the battle and his corpse gets beheaded, or he survives the battle and is beheaded. His family are all beheaded. Any senators which supported him are executed. Earlier, any senators which supported Nige in the east, they're all executed. There's your two hundred senators executed by Severus without trial. Where does the money from their portable land of wealth go? His back pocket. Interesting. Very Avaricious dynasty. But now, ultimately, one nine seven, at the end of the year, Severus is the last man standing of the Bandar brothers. And therefore he can truly say, I'm the emperor of the whole Roman Empire. Nobody can stand against me. And of

• 40:46Speaker 05

  course, he just found what is a fairly long-lived dynasty, the Severan dynasty.

• 42:12Tristan Hughes?

  So just like the year of the four emperors, you know, more than a century earlier, ends with the formation of the Flavian dynasty. It's the year of the five emperors, or years of the five, four, three, two, one emperors that results in the founding of the Severan dynasty.

• 42:29Speaker 05

  Which is one of the least successful of the dynasties in terms of the outcomes of the leadership of the emperors, if you think about it, because we have Cassius Dio talking about the sort of like, the age of, the age of Aina Rust coming in, skimming through to the Christ of the third century, at the end of which the principate phase of empire ends, and the Roman Empire in two eight four is only dragged kicking and screaming out of the morass of the crisis by another great warrior emperor, Diocletian. Let's look at the track record, shall we, very briefly, of the emperors in the Severan dynasty. Severus dies in his own bed in York in February eighty two eleven, aged sixty five,

• 43:12Speaker 05

  probably thinking he's the greatest Roman emperor of all of them, because he conquered in his time earlier the Parthian empire, and thinks he'd conquered the far north of Britain when he died. He hadn't, but he thought he had. So he dies thinking he was the greatest Roman emperor, even better than Augustus. But then Caracalla and Geta, he wants them to be dioclemans like Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, completely fails because they hate each other. And by the end of the year, Caracalla's killed Geta. Caracalla himself assassinated while taking a wee against the tree in two seventeen in the east. You go through to Macrinus, the Praetorian prefect who initiated the plot which killed him. He's assassinated himself. Then you go back to the bloodline with Elagabalus assassinated with his mum.

• 43:53Speaker 05

  Finally, Alexander Severus assassinated with his mum. So actually, it's one of the least successful of all the Roman dynasties. The key highlight is the great warrior emperor Septimius Severus.

• 44:03Tristan Hughes?

  He is. And he is the big winner of the year of the five emperors. But regarding the other four, are any of the other four, are their memories remembered? Are they, dare I even say, are they honoured by Severus?

• 44:19Speaker 05

  Pertinax is, Pertinax was his mentor. So Pertinax, actually, when he was buried at the end of March eighty one nine, he was just given a paupers burial in a two, family tomb on the Appian Way. But when Severus becomes the emperor, the remains are actually removed and he gets a formal Roman emperor's funeral, which involves ten days of celebration. It involves games in the arenas of Rome, including the Colosseum. It includes a funeral pyre, ten stories high in the forum Romanum, on top of which is placed a wax effigy, a wax effigy, Pertinax, because his remains are a bit too far gone. So the wax effigy is there. And on top of the wax effigy, there is a cage, a wooden

• 44:57Speaker 05

  cage, and the wooden cage is an eagle. And at the end of the period of mourning, the funeral pyre, surrounded by all the senators, sitting in stands, surrounded by all the equestrians sitting in stands, surrounded by all the great and the good of Rome sitting in stands. The funeral pyre is lit, the flames get higher and higher and higher, the wax begins to melt. And suddenly, hey presto, the lid's taken off. The cage of the eagle who flies to the heavens. And that's Pertinax being deified.

• 45:25Tristan Hughes?

  Wow.

• 45:25Speaker 05

  So that's how much Septimius Severus actually rated Pertinax.

• 45:32Tristan Hughes?

  So Pertinax is kind of the posthumous, kind of a big winner as well of the year of the five emperors.

• 45:37Speaker 05

  In the Roman period itself, he is, because in the Roman period, as I mentioned already, he goes on to be this everyman figure, you know, in the Roman Empire, the lowest of people can become the Roman emperor. So he's actually fated after that point. And of all of them, in actual fact, he's the only one I would have wanted to remain emperor. I think he'd have made a very good emperor.

• 45:54Tristan Hughes?

  Not DJ.

• 45:56Speaker 05

  Not DJ, no. DJ would have been the poorest. You know, Albinus or Nige, in their own right, were great warrior emperors, and they've been great soldiers. And they could have done as good a job as Severus, probably. But ultimately, Severus turned out to be the real deal.

• 46:10Tristan Hughes?

  Yeah.

• 46:11Speaker 05

  Who you would not cross at all. I'm often asked, Tristan, because I've written two books about Severus. I'm often asked, Tristan, why do I like Septimius Severus? And I can't answer. I can't answer, because he's got one of the most brutal track records of any Roman emperor.

• 46:27Tristan Hughes?

  But it is interesting with his accession, because, I mean, I love the successors of Alexander, and that's a time when you've got multiple generals, you know, and they are also kind of brothers in arms.

• 46:37Speaker 05

  Me too, and I completely agree. It's a great analogy.

• 46:39Tristan Hughes?

  It's a great, because they, you know, they fought with each other under Alexander, but straight away after Alexander dies, many of them, big rivalries. Perdicus and Ptolemy is a great one. And it seems an interesting one here with Albinus, Nige and Severus, in that they are all kind of these warrior general.

• 46:54Speaker 05

  You get, you know, it's a superb analogy, if I may say so, Tristan, because you get the sense with, say, Antinous, the one-eyed, and Eumenes, where Antinous didn't want to kill him after the Battle of Gabien, didn't want to kill him, but had to. And you get the sense, the same with Severus, you know, once you're in play, it's not just you, it's all the figures in the nobility who are supporting you. It's all the leading figures in the military. It's the soldiers loyal to you. You don't have a choice. You don't have a choice. The best you can give your defeated opponent is a swift death. Remember, for the Romans as well, death is not the end. It's a transition to the next phase

• 47:34Speaker 05

  of life, in a sense. So therefore, giving your friend a swift death naturally could be interpreted as an act of mercy.

• 47:42Tristan Hughes?

  But then again, killing all his family. I think Albinus, I think, you know, you can look at the other, you can flip, you can flip the coin the other way and actually be like, actually, there were massive rivalries and hostilities between the two. You mentioned Eumenes and Antinous. Look at Perdicus and Ptolemy, how much they hated each other. And you could argue that Albinus and Severus could have been more towards the latter, given that what he then does to his whole family.

• 48:02Speaker 05

  Once you're the emperor, you've just got a clean house. You've just got a clean house. And for Severus, it works. You know, in my book, The African Emperor, I talk about Severus and the Severan reset, or hostile takeover of the administration of the empire. By the time he dies, more than half of the governors, procurators and legates across the whole empire are North African. So gone is the period when the Italians dominate. Now, it's the age of the North Africans beginning to dominate. Remember, Albinus is North African as well. And there is a real reset that takes place. And then the Severan dynasty, by its very nature, is North African. Then you get all sorts of candidates through the Christ of the third century. And then you get the end of the principates. So the year of

• 48:46Speaker 05

  the five emperors, for me, is a more important year of conflict, or years of conflict, than the year of the four emperors, actually.

• 48:54Tristan Hughes?

  There you go. And then there'll be the year of the six emperors in two three eight.

• 48:58Speaker 05

  For our next, for our next pod.

• 49:00Tristan Hughes?

  Absolutely. I lastly want to end it on that elusive sixth figure that you mentioned at the start that I feel I must ask about. So Russell Crowe's Maximus in Gladiator, who is the real figure behind him?

• 49:15Speaker 05

  Tristan, I love the fact that we keep doing all these amazing Hollywood references in our, in our, in our talks together. Maximianus. So Maximianus actually was the most senior of the Band of Brothers. The Markmanic Wars, so you're running from, I mean, basically, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus becoming the emperor, Diocampus in 161, bringing to an end the longest period of peace in the Princeiptate Empire. Suddenly they're fighting for the rest of their lives, not that long a life for Verus, but for, for, through to 180 for Marcus Aurelius. You've got the Roman Parthian War to start with, through to the mid 160s, and then from that point through to the point that Marcus Aurelius dies in 180, you've got the Markmanic Wars, which continue into the reign of Commodus. So that he's fighting all the time. So where you get the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

• 49:58Speaker 05

  And this is the first time since the Cimbrian Wars at the end of the second century B.C. where you have Germans marching, defeating Romans into the north of Italy, okay, with Balamar and his Markmane. And Maximianus is one of the generals that Marcus Aurelius turns to to turn the tide, and he really is a successful general. You get this amazing image on the column of Marcus Aurelius, which is, is basically the story of the Markmanic Wars. It's called the Miracle of the Rain, where you see a figure of a bearded bloke with, with arms out and the arms are dripping water. And this figure is Tiberinus, bringing rain to save a Roman legion, which has been led by Maximianus, north of the Danube, but been caught in a drought, about to be wiped out. And Tiberinus comes and rescues them

• 50:43Speaker 05

  with a rainstorm, so that they, they don't die parched, but also thunderstorms which chase the Germans off. And, and he's the go-to guy, probably along with Pertinax, that Marcus Aurelius turns to again and again and again. But by the time you get to the year of the five emperors in 1903, he's either gone, we don't know when, or not a player anymore. So he's probably the elder, certainly the most senior of them. And he's a real figure.

• 51:08Tristan Hughes?

  He's a real figure. We'll leave it on that, because that was a nice little lead to finish it on. Simon, last but certainly not least, you have written more than one book on this period of Roman history, on the rise of Septimius Severus, the lives of Pertinax and, and DJ and many others as well. And these books are?

• 51:25Speaker 05

  So the first one I, I've written was Severus in Scotland, which tells the story of his early life, but focuses mostly on his attempt to conquer Scotland at the end of his life before he dies in York in 211. I've written Pertinax, the son of a slave who became Roman emperor, which is the full story of Pertinax, truly astonishing story, the Roman everyman. Most recently, my, my bestseller, The African Emperor, which is the full biography of Septimius Severus. And I'm currently writing a book now called Death on the Palatine. And one of the key chapters is about Commodus and Marcus Aurelius, which looks in detail about the relationship between the two and why Commodus was such a bad emperor, whacking phoenix, what an actor.

• 52:05Tristan Hughes?

  What an actor, indeed. Simon, it just goes to me to say thank you so much for taking the time to come back on the show.

• 52:11Speaker 05

  Always a pleasure, my friend.

• 52:16Tristan Hughes?

  Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Ancients with our guest, Dr. Simon Elliott. Now you can hear more from Simon in our archive. Plus, if you want to learn more about the controversies and conspiracies surrounding Commodus, the Gladiator Emperor, check out our episode with Dr. Alex Imrie. Links are in the show notes. Please make sure to follow the show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. That really helps us and you'll be doing us a big favour. If you'd also be kind enough to leave us a rating as well, well, we'd really appreciate that. And don't forget, you can also sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries with a new release every week. Plus, you get all of our podcasts ad-free and before anyone else, as well

• 52:57Tristan Hughes?

  as exclusive Ancient subscriber episodes. Sign up at historyhit.com/subscribe.

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