Maximinus Daza
Maximinus II Daza | |
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Ancient Roman religion |
Galerius Valerius Maximinus, born as Daza[i] (Greek: Μαξιμίνος; 20 November c. 270 – c. July 313), was Roman emperor from 310 to 313. He became embroiled in the civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated by Licinius. A committed pagan, he engaged in one of the last persecutions of Christians, before issuing an edict of tolerance near his death.
Name
The emperor Maximinus was originally called "Daza", an ancient name with various unknown high distinction meanings in
Early career
He was born in the Roman Illyria region to the sister of emperor
In 305, his maternal uncle
Civil war
In 308, after the elevation of
Persecution of Christians
Maximinus has a bad name in
After the victory of Constantine over Maxentius, however, Maximinus wrote to the Praetorian Prefect Sabinus that it was better to "recall our provincials to the worship of the gods rather by exhortations and flatteries".[17] Eventually, on the eve of his clash with Licinius, he accepted Galerius' edict; after being defeated by Licinius, shortly before his death at Tarsus, he issued an edict of tolerance on his own, granting Christians the rights of assembling, of building churches, and the restoration of their confiscated properties.[18]
Pharaoh of Egypt
As Christianity continued to spread in Egypt, the title of Pharaoh was increasingly incompatible with the new religious movements. Maximinus's status as a non-Christian accorded the priests of Egypt an opportunity to style him as Pharaoh, in the same manner that other foreign rulers of Egypt had been styled before. That said, the Roman emperors themselves mostly ignored the status accorded to them by the Egyptians; and their role as god-kings was only ever acknowledged domestically by the Egyptians themselves.[21] Maximinus would prove to be the last person afforded the title of Pharaoh – no Christian Roman/Byzantine emperor, nor Islamic or modern leader, has revived the title since.[21] Maximinus being the last monarch to hold the title of pharaoh, making his death the end of a 3,400-year-old office.
Death
Maximinus' death was variously ascribed "to despair, to poison, and to the divine justice".[22]
Based on descriptions of his death given by Eusebius,
Maximinus was married at the time of his death, and he left behind an 8 year old son named Maximus and an unnamed 7 year old daughter.[26][27]
Eusebius on Maximinus
The Christian writer Eusebius claims that Maximinus was consumed by avarice and superstition. He also allegedly lived a highly dissolute lifestyle:
And he went to such an excess of folly and drunkenness that his mind was deranged and crazed in his carousals; and he gave commands when intoxicated of which he repented afterward when sober. He suffered no one to surpass him in debauchery and profligacy, but made himself an instructor in wickedness to those about him, both rulers and subjects. He urged on the army to live wantonly in every kind of revelry and intemperance, and encouraged the governors and generals to abuse their subjects with rapacity and covetousness, almost as if they were rulers with him.
Why need we relate the licentious, shameless deeds of the man, or enumerate the multitude with whom he committed adultery? For he could not pass through a city without continually corrupting women and ravishing virgins.[28]
According to Eusebius, only Christians resisted him.
For the men endured fire and sword and crucifixion and wild beasts and the depths of the sea, and cutting off of limbs, and burnings, and pricking and digging out of eyes, and mutilations of the entire body, and besides these, hunger and mines and bonds. In all they showed patience in behalf of religion rather than transfer to idols the reverence due to God. And the women were not less manly than the men in behalf of the teaching of the Divine Word, as they endured conflicts with the men, and bore away equal prizes of virtue. And when they were dragged away for corrupt purposes, they surrendered their lives to death rather than their bodies to impurity.
He refers to one high-born Christian woman who rejected his advances. He exiled her and seized all of her wealth and assets.
Family tree
(See also: Chronological scheme of the Tetrarchy, 286–324)
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Notes:
Bibliography:
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See also
Notes
References
- ^ Eusebius, On the Martyrs (Syrian), 6. "On the twelfth day before the Kalends of December... he celebrated the festival of his birthday."
- ^ Barnes 1982, p. 39.
- ^ Barnes 1982, p. 7.
- ^ a b c Barnes 2011, p. 206 (note 10).
- ^ Sear 2011, p. 317.
- ^ Berchman 2005, p. 22.
- ^ Mackay, p. 209.
- ^ a b Mackay, pp. 208–209.
- ^ Mackay, p. 206.
- ^ Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, Chapter 18
- ^ Mackay, p. 208.
- ^ Leadbetter, p. 8.
- ^ Roman Colosseum, Maximinus Daza
- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Ecclesiastical History, IX, 8-9; Eng. trans. available at [1]. Accessed 2 August 2012
- ISBN 3-16-147195-4, page 304, footnote 175
- ^ Ecclesiastical History, IX, 1-10
- ^ Ecclesiastical History, X, 7-11
- ^ Bergmann, Marianne (2012). "Life-size porphyry bust of Tetrarch. From Athribis (Augustamnica). 284-305". Last Statues of Antiquity. LSA-836.
- ISBN 9780870991790.
- ^ a b O'Neill, Sean J. (2011), "The Emperor as Pharaoh: Provincial Dynamics and Visual Representations of Imperial Authority in Roman Egypt, 30 B.C. - A.D. 69", Dissertions of the University of Cincinnati
- ^ Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 14
- ^ Ecclesiastical History, IX, 14-15,
- ^ Lactantius, On the Deaths of the Persecutors, Chapter 49
- ^ Peter D. Papapetrou, Hormones 2013, 12(1):142-145
- ^ Barnes 1981, p. 64.
- ^ Michael DiMaio, Maximinus Daia (305-313 A.D.)
- ^ Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 14.
- ^ a b "Santa Dorotea di Alessandria su santiebeati.it". Santiebeati.it. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-674-16531-1.
- ISBN 0-674-28066-0.
- Barnes, Timothy D. (2011). Constantine: Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-1727-2.
- Berchman, Robert M. (2005). Porphyry Against the Christians. BRILL. ISBN 9004148116.
- Christensen, Torben (2012) [1974]. Mogens Müller (ed.). C. Galerius Valerius Maximinus: Studies in the Politics and Religion of the Roman Empire AD 305–313 (PDF). Copenhagen University. OCLC 872060636.
- DiMaio, Michael (1996). "Maximinus Daia (305–313 A.D.)". De Imperatoribus Romanis.
- Leadbetter, Bill (2010). Galerius and the Will of Diocletian. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-40488-4.
- Mackay, Christopher S. (1999). "Lactantius and the Succession to Diocletian". S2CID 161141658.
- Sear, David (2011). Roman Coins and Their Values. Vol. 4. Spink & Son, Ltd. ISBN 978-1907427077.
- Seeck, Otto (1901), "Daia", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, volume IV.2, columns 1986–1990, Stuttgart: Metzlerscher Verlag.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Maximinus, Galerius Valerius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 925. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Oxford Classical Dictionary, "Maximinus, Gaius Galerius Valerius"