The conspiracy to murder the Roman Emperor, Commodus, was led by Laetus, commander of the Praetorian Guard, Commodus`s palace chamberlain, Eclectus and the emperor`s mistress Marcius. Once Commodus was murdered on New Years Eve, 192 AD,, Eclectus married Marcius and, with Laetus, arranged for the Senator and general, Pertinax to become emperor. Unfortunately the Praetorian Guard did not approve of this decision and after reigning just 87 days, the guard murdered Pertinax by hacking him to death and parading his head around Rome. The Praetorian Guard then acted like mercenaries and auctioned off the Imperial title to the highest bidder who happened to be Didius Julianus. One of his first acts was to order the murder of Laetus, Eclectus and Marcius, the conspirators who had organised the murder of Commodus. . By this time the general Septimius Severus had declared himself emperor and was marching on Rome. Support for Didus dwindled and with a few loyal attendants he attempted to flee Rome but was caught by the Praetorian guard and run through by a centurion. Unlike Pertinax his body was treated with dignity and handed over to his wife and daughter. His reign had lasted a mere 57 days. No sooner had the next emperor, Septimius Severus arrived in Rome, than Pescennius Niger, the general governing the Middle East declared himself emperor. As if this was not bad enough, Claudius Albinus, governor of Britain declared that he was the true emperor. Thus by June 193 there were three men all claiming to be emperor. Severus set off for Syria where Pescennius was and defeated him in battle. Pescennius fled but was caught in the city of Antioch and beheaded. Severus now returned to Rome and set about defeating Claudius which he did at the Battle of Lyons. Claudius committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of Septimius Severus. Severus himself was to rule until 211AD, dying of some unnamed illness, one of the few Roman emperors not to die a violent death.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 18:56:52 +0000
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