Balbinus
Balbinus | |||||||||
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Roman emperor | |||||||||
Reign | April/May – July/August 238[1] | ||||||||
Predecessor | Gordian I and II | ||||||||
Successor | Gordian III | ||||||||
Co-emperor | Pupienus | ||||||||
Rival | Maximinus (until June) | ||||||||
Born | c. 178[2] | ||||||||
Died | 238 (aged approx. 60) Rome, Italy | ||||||||
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Part of a series on Roman imperial dynasties |
Year of the Six Emperors |
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AD 238 |
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Decimus Caelius Calvinus Balbinus[3] (died 238 AD) was Roman emperor with Pupienus for three months in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors.
Origins and career
Not much is known about Balbinus before his elevation to emperor. It has been conjectured that he descended from
Reign
According to Edward Gibbon (drawing upon the narratives of Herodian and the Historia Augusta):
Balbinus was an admired orator, a poet of distinguished fame, and a wise magistrate, who had exercised with innocence and applause the civil jurisdiction in almost all the interior provinces of the empire. His birth was noble, his fortune affluent, his manners liberal and affable. In him, the love of pleasure was corrected by a sense of dignity, nor had the habits of ease deprived him of a capacity for business. (...) The two colleagues [Pupienus and Balbinus] had both been consul (Balbinus had twice enjoyed that honourable office), both had been named among the twenty lieutenants of the senate; and, since the one was sixty and the other seventy-four years old, they had both attained the full maturity of age and experience.[6]
On the news of the Gordians' defeat, the Senate voted Pupienus and Balbinus as co-emperors in April 238, though they were soon forced to co-opt the child
Sarcophagus
The 'sarcophagus of Balbinus' has earned this Emperor a niche in the history of Roman Imperial art. Presumably while holding the title of Emperor, Balbinus had a marble
Although in accounts of their joint reign Balbinus is emphasized as the civilian as against Pupienus the military man, on the side of the sarcophagus he is portrayed in full military dress.
Family tree
Maximinus Thrax Roman Emperor 235-238 | Gordian I Roman Emperor 238 | Pupienus Roman Emperor 238 | Philip the Arab Roman Emperor 244-249 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Philip II co-emperor 247-249 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gordian III Roman Emperor 238-244 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gallery
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Portrait of the Roman Emperor Balbinus, dated AD 200–300, from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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Sestertius of Balbinus. Inscription: IMP. CAES. D. CAEL. BALBINVS AVG.
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Statue of Balbinus, Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, Greece.
References
- ^ For length stimations see: Rea, J.R. (1972). "O. Leid. 144 and the Chronology of A.D. 238". ZPE 9, 1–19. No contemporary or later sources give any definitive conclusion.
- Zonaras (c. 1120) Epitome xvii.17. "[Pupienus] Maximus was seventy-four years old, Albinus sixty. According to some they reigned about twenty-two days [referring to Gordian I and Gordian II], but according to others not quite three months."
- ISBN 978-0-521-84026-2.
- ^ a b Adkins, Lesley; Adkins, Roy A. (1994). Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 26.
- ^ Michael Grant,The Roman Emperors
- ^ Gibbon, Edward; Milman, Henry Hart (7 June 2008). Widger, David (ed.). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireTable of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes). Vol. I. p. 225.
- ISBN 978-0-19-533646-7.
- ^ HA, Life of Maximus and Balbinus; Herodian 8.8.4
External links
- portrait head from the sarcophagus as an example of Roman 'pathetic' style[permanent dead link]
- Livius.org: Balbinus (last accessed 22 September 2020)