Capelianus

Capel ( l ) ianus was a Roman senator and governor of Numidia who put down the rebellion of the opposing emperors Gordianus I and Gordianus II against Maximinus Thrax in the six -emperor year 238 .

Apart from vague assumptions, nothing certain is known about the family background of Capelianus, perhaps he came from a senatorial family in the Numidian Cirta . He went through the cursus honorum up to the praetur and was appointed legatus Augusti pro praetore Numidiae by Maximinus Thrax , where he also presided over the legio III Augusta .

At the beginning of 238, rebellious landowners elevated the aged proconsul of the province of Africa proconsularis , Gordianus, to emperor, who in turn elevated his son of the same name to co-regent. Without waiting for orders, Capelianus and his legion set out to put down the uprising in the neighboring province. Close to Carthage , he defeated Gordianus II, who was hopelessly inferior in terms of soldiers, who died in battle, whereupon his father committed suicide. The Roman Senate had legitimized the usurpation , declared Maximinus an enemy of the state and appointed the Senators Balbinus and Pupienus as successors to the two Gordians . Maximinus Thrax marched against Rome and was finally killed in the siege of Aquileia in April 238 .

Hatred is given in the sources as the motive of Capelianus to proceed against Gordianus; Capelianus and Gordianus had obviously clashed violently in the past and were therefore personally enemies. Sometimes Capelianus is also assumed to have wanted to raise himself to emperor. His behavior was more likely determined by loyalty to the legitimate ruler Maximinus, to whom he was also oathly committed. His example also shows that there was no unified front of the senators against the supposedly “barbaric” Maximinus. The further fate of Capelianus is unknown, the legio III Augusta who supported him was from Gordianus III. , a sister son of Gordianus II and successor to the meanwhile murdered Balbinus and Pupienus, dissolved in 239 - a decision that was probably partly responsible for the vulnerability of North Africa to nomad attacks in the following years, since there was now a lack of regular Roman troops.

literature

Karlheinz Dietz : Senatus contra principem. Investigations into the senatorial opposition to Emperor Maximinus Thrax . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1980, pp. 109-120, ISBN 3-406-04799-8 .
Michael Sommer : The soldier emperors . Knowledge Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, pp. 32–35, ISBN 3-534-17477-1 .

swell

Herodian : History of the Empire after Marc Aurel. Book 7, 9.
Historia Augusta ( Roman rulers , Volume 2), Maximinus 19-20 and Life of the Gordians 15-16.

Remarks

↑ The name Cape ll ianus is derived from the Cognomen Capella , which was worn by some senators working in Africa. In literary (Herodian, Historia Augusta ) and epigraphic ( CIL 8, 02170 ) written documents, however, is Cape l ianus handed.

personal data
SURNAME	Capelianus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Capellianus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman governor of Numidia
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH	3rd century or 4th century

[1] The name Cape ll ianus is derived from the Cognomen Capella , which was worn by some senators working in Africa. In literary (Herodian, Historia Augusta ) and epigraphic ( CIL 8, 02170 ) written documents, however, is Cape l ianus handed.