Numbers

The Year of the Six Emperors

• Maximinus I (Thrax)
• Gordian I
• Gordian II
• Pupienus
• Balbinus
• Gordian III

How It's Used

"Alexandria, Va.: For the reader last week looking for a Roman biography, you mentioned Gibbons' 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' and Suetonius' 'Lives of the Caesars.' They complement each other nicely, as Gibbons picks up where Suetonius leaves off. For a biography of a later figure, may I suggest Gore Vidal's 'Julian'? Julian the Apostate was Gibbons's favorite. My current favorite (plucked from 'Decline and Fall') is Maximinus Thrax, the first barbarian emperor. As brutal as Caligula, unlettered and unloved by the Senate, he was the first in the sorry 'Year of the Six Emperors,' which ended with the teenager Gordian III on the throne. He only lasted three years—you get more tenure as a Book World editor.

"Michael Dirda: Oh, Gibbon's accounts of people like Elagabalus and the Empress Theodora are gossip for high-brows. We're talking every sort of excess and depravity. Just wonderful to hear about in that elegant, ironic style.

"There are, in fact, a number of good modern novels about Roman emperors. Besides Julian, there's John Williams' 'Augustus,' Thornton Wilder's 'The Ides of March' (Julius Caesar), Graves's 'I, Claudius,' and even Mary Butt's 'Scenes from the Life of Cleopatra.' They would make a fun reading course or winter's diversion."

Links