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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Drusus, post: 546437, member: 6370&quot;]I believe so. One thing about Maximinus is he was a soldier by trade and he was acclaimed emperor by his troops away from Rome. In fact he never once (while emperor) stepped foot in Rome.... he spent his whole short rule campaigning and although they mark him as the beginning of the decline...He was probably the best man for the job (although he was despised by the senate as being a barbarian (Thrax) Thracian.) He probably was instrumental in keeping Rome from being over run and starting the trend of Soldier / General / Emperor </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Many coins show him with far less of a chin than others...Far more normal facial features. Most of his statues show a man with a prominent brow jaw and chin but not near as exagerated as on some of the coins. But most coins and statues show many of the same features.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The theory about him that I have always seen put forth to explain the wide variety chins on his coins and statues is that few knew exactly what he looked like and as time went on (not much time as he did not rule for long) the coins started to look more like him as people began to actually see him.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>the other theory is that he suffered from some bone disfigurement because of a pituitary problem that got worse with age and made his features (chin) more distorted...though his reign was so short there would not have been such a change in such a short time and he was relatively unknown to most before becoming emperor so most people would not have known what he looked like when young...though maybe they did as a giant is probably pretty hard to miss.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It was known he was very large as it was reported in sources as follows:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2">Herodian (antagonistic towards the barbarian emperor) writes:</font></font></p><p><i><font face="Arial"><font size="2">He was in any case a man of such frightening appearance and colossal size that there is no obvious comparison to be drawn with any of the best-trained Greek athletes or warrior elite of the barbarians. By his birth and normal behavior he was a barbarian. Possessing the bloodthirsty temperament derived from his ancestors and his country</font></font></i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Arial"><font size="2">The unreliable Historia Augusta elaborates:</font></font></p><p><i><font face="Arial"><font size="2">He was of such size...that men said he was six inches over eight feet in height and his thumb was so huge that he used his wife&#039;s bracelet for a ring. Other stories are reported almost as common talk — that he could drag wagons with his hands and move a laden cart by himself, that if he struck a horse with his fist, he loosened its teeth, or with his heel, broke its legs.</font></font></i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>so he would be hard to miss in a crowd. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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