Maximus Caesar
Maximus Caesar (actually Gaius Iulius Verus Maximus ; * 216 ; † April 238 at Aquileia ) was the son of the Roman emperor Maximinus Thrax and his wife Caecilia Paulina .
In 236, a year after his father came to power, Maximus was given the title of Caesar by the Senate , making him heir to the throne and co-regent. Although he called himself Germanicus , according to later sources Maximus is said to have hardly bothered about military affairs, but rather indulged in luxury. If this is the case, then perhaps in this way he attracted the resentment of the legionaries who, when their father was murdered in April 238 at Aquileia, took the opportunity to get rid of the presumptive successor. On the other hand, Maximus, according to another reading, was an educated, sociable young man who would have been able to improve his father's relationship with the Senate had he sent him to Rome. The severed heads of father and son were displayed in Rome.
literature
- Henning Börm: The reign of Emperor Maximinus Thrax and the six-emperor year 238. The beginning of the “Imperial Crisis”? , in: Gymnasium 115, 2008, p. 69ff.
- Jan Burian: Maximinus Thrax. His picture in Herodian and in the Historia Augusta , in: Philologus 132, 1988, p. 230ff.
- Adolf Lippold : Commentary on the Vita Maximini Duo of the Historia Augusta , Bonn 1991.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Maximus Caesar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gaius Iulius Verus Maximus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman co-emperor (236–238) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 216 |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 238 |
| Place of death | Aquileia |