Year of the Six Emperors (238)

The Year of the Six Emperors began when opposition to Maximinus Thrax erupted in Roman Africa and Gordian I and Gordian II were proclaimed emperors. Their revolt failed quickly, but the Senate had committed itself against Maximinus and appointed Pupienus and Balbinus to continue the resistance.

Maximinus marched into Italy and was halted at Aquileia, where shortages and collapsing morale led his own soldiers to kill him. Pupienus and Balbinus then entered Rome, only to be murdered by the Praetorian Guard. The young Gordian III emerged as the surviving emperor before the year ended.

Harry Sidebottom’s Throne of the Caesars trilogy uses the crisis as the culmination of a wider breakdown that began with the murder of Severus Alexander. Blood and Steel and Fire and Sword follow the competing emperors, senatorial resistance, provincial rebellion and military violence that made 238 one of the Roman Empire’s most unstable years.