Hostilian

Sestertius des Hostilian with Securitas on the reverse

Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus (* approx. 235 , † November 251 in Viminatium ) was Roman Emperor from June to November of the year 251. He was the son of Emperor Decius and his wife Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla and the younger brother of the co-emperor Herennius Etruscus .

Life

After his father came to power in the summer of 249, Hostilian received the title of Caesar together with his brother in 250 . But he stood in the shadow of his older brother, who was entrusted with his own military command soon after Decius came to power. At the beginning of 251, Decius made Herennius a nominally equal co-emperor ( Augustus ). At that time he was preparing a campaign against the Gothic king Kniva , who had crossed the Danube border and plundered on Roman territory. Decius and Herennius went to war, Hostilian, now also elevated to Augustus , stayed with his mother in Rome.

The campaign turned into a disaster. Decius and Herennius died in the first half of June 251 in the battle of Abrittus . They were the first emperors to fall fighting foreign enemies.

The Danube Army proclaimed the military leader Trebonianus Gallus as the new emperor. But before he could march to Rome to enforce his claims, the Senate confirmed Hostilian as Augustus in June 251 after the news of the death of his father and older brother had arrived . Decius, who had been given the honorary name of Traianus by the Senate during his lifetime in reference to the greatest general among the Roman emperors , and Herennius were elevated ( divinized ) to the gods by decision of the Senate .

To avoid civil war, Gallus supposedly accepted his predecessor's son as co-ruler. A common government was agreed upon, with Gallus having priority. Gallus adopted Hostilian (after Zosimos 1, 25, 1); his own biological son Volusianus initially had to be content with the title Caesar .

Hostilian last stayed with his court in the border town of Viminatium , the headquarters of the 7th Legion, in the eastern part of today's Serbia, and had coins minted there with his portrait. It is not known to what extent he was personally involved in military conflicts with the Goths as a general.

In November 251, Hostilian died of the plague brought into the empire during the Gothic War , according to Aurelius Victor . Zosimos reports on a murder plot by Trebonianus Gallus.

Web links

Commons : Hostilian  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Christopher J. Fuhrmann: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

predecessor	Office	successor
Herennius Etruscus	Roman Emperor 251	Trebonianus Gallus