Year of Five Emperors
The Year of Five Emperors exposed with brutal clarity the structural weakness of the Roman principate: any general with loyal troops and a plausible claim could challenge for power, and the Praetorian Guard could be bought. Pertinax, the elderly prefect of Rome chosen by the Senate, tried to restore Augustan fiscal discipline. After 87 days, the Guard mutinied and killed him. They then held an open auction for the imperial throne, and Didius Julianus outbid his rival with a promise of 25,000 sesterces per guardsman. The auction was met with fury across the empire. Three provincial governors declared themselves emperor: Pescennius Niger in Syria, Clodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in Pannonia. Severus moved fastest, marching on Rome before his rivals could react. Didius Julianus was executed after 66 days as emperor. Severus dealt with his rivals sequentially. He dissolved the old Praetorian Guard and replaced it with soldiers from his Danubian legions. His advice to his sons on his deathbed: 'Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and despise everyone else.'
- Year: 193 CE
- Category: Political
