The Man Who Bought the World - Didius Julianus

Figured it's a good time to make a thread, seeing as I now own what will probably be the maximum number of Didius Julianus coins that will ever grace my collection!

AR Denarius
IMP CAES M DID IVLIAN AVG, Laureate head right
CONCORD MILIT, Concordia standing let, holding two standards


AE Sestertius
IMP CAES M DID SEVER IVLIAN AVG, Laureate head right
RECTOR ORBIS, Julianus, togate, standing left, holding globe and scroll


AE Sestertius
IMP CAES M DID SEVER IVLIAN AVG, Laureate head right
CONCORD MILIT, Concordia standing left, between two standards



Born in 133 to an illustrious and old Patrician family, Didius Julianus fast-tracked his way to prominence when his family sent him to live with and study under Domitia Lucilla, the biological mother of Marcus Aurelius. He entered politics at an early age, and distinguished himself at the head of a legion in Mogontiacum against a barbarian invasion in 167, and was granted the governorship of that province, and then Africa. He served as consul in 175 alongside Pertinax. He fell from grace with Commodus (reportedly for attempting to stir up trouble) and was exiled to Mediolanum for a time, but later acquitted of all charges. He was in Rome attending a banquet on 28 March 193 when emperor Pertinax was murdered by his disaffected Praetorian guard. He received word that the now leaderless Praetorians were holding a public auction, promising to bestow the Principate on the highest bidder. Urged on by his wife, he ran at once to the gates of the Praetorian camp, and, despite being denied entry, began to shout loudly his bids, seeking to outbid Sulpicianus, the father in law of Pertinax. He ultimately won the nomination after promising every soldier in the Praetorian guard an exorbitant sum of 25,000 sesterces. The Praetorians hailed him as Imperator, and marched with him on the Senate, where he gave a speech and was ratified by the fearful senators, including the historian Cassius Dio.

While fear kept the Senators in line, the populace was not afraid to voice their displeasure, openly shouting insults at Julianus whenever he appeared in public. A riot broke out and the common citizens of Rome armed themselves and gathered in the Circus Maximus, where they invoked the gods to send Pescennius Niger to liberate them from Julianus. After a day they dispersed, but their sentiment remained bitter. Word of the accession quickly spread throughout the provinces, and three men were declared emperor simultaneously - Septimius Severus, Clodius Albinus, and Pescennius Niger. Severus was the closest to Rome and in the best position to strike, so, reaching a peace treaty with Albinus, began his march. Hearing of this, Julianus attempted to send spies to stir up rebellion from within Severus' legions and assassins to kill him, but all of his agents defected. Julianus began to fortify his position within Rome, recalling all the soldiers he could muster and began drilling the Praetorians, who, to his shock and disgust, were so pampered under Commodus that they did not even know how to drill. The public drew great entertainment watching the hopeless guard, whose war-elephants refused to follow commands and threw off their riders. As Severus entered Italy without resistance, Didius Julianus in desperation begged first to share the Principate, and then to be allowed to abdicate. Severus promised amnesty to the bulk of the Praetorian guard if they surrendered the murderers of Pertinax, and Julianus himself, and was welcomed into Rome unopposed. On June 1 the Senate declared Julianus a public enemy, and members of the Praetorian arrived in the palace to put him to death. His only words were, "But what evil have I done? Whom have I killed?" He was beheaded on the spot, and his body later given to his wife and daughter. Julianus was 60 years old, and had reigned only 65 days, the shortest confirmed reign of any "true" Roman emperor.

We all know about the Man Who Sold the World, but let's see those coins of the man who tried to buy it!

 

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Great coins and I learned a couple of new things. Thanks Finn!
Here is his predecessor and one of my favorite, what coulda beens, Pertinax:

 

Didius Julianus


RI Didius Julianus 193 CE - 9 weeks - AE Sestertius

 

Didius Julianus married poorly. How anyone possibly could have expected a plan like this to work out well in the long run is wholly beyond me. If Septimius Severus had known that Scantilla had 'encouraged' the plan, he should have presented her head to her daughter shortly before killing her, too. Can you name an empress who spent less time 'in power' that had coins issued in her name? Wikipedia says, "Within a month of Severus' accession to the throne, Scantilla died in obscurity. The fate of Didia Clara is unknown." Convenient. That saved Caracalla the trouble when he was killing the family of Pertinax.
https://www.livius.org/articles/person/publius-helvius-pertinax-jr/
Sestertius / Fortuna PM TRP COS SC

 

@Finn235.....Great coins!.....I've always liked that Denarius...
Very informative write up Thanks!
No coins here, I'm sorry to say, of D.J......
Closest I can get apart from Setimius Severus is a humble Clodius Albinus

 

Excellent posting. Only one for me but from black cabinet...shame.

 

193AD was a fascinating year. I dispute DJ's reign was the shortest of any "true" emperor (much depends on your definition of "true", I guess). Gordians I & II reigned all of 21 days and weren't really usurpers (the Senate approved them).

I can contribute my sestertii of DJ's wife and daughter:

 

Great coins and excellent write-up @Finn235 . I unfortunately do not have a Didius Julianus coin in my collection yet.

Of all of the unsuccessful political maneuvers in Roman history, I think his has to be the dumbest. As I understand it, his actual plan was:

Step 1- Find Praetorians so dishonorable and corrupt that they would actually be willing to sell the title of emperor to the highest bidder.
Step 2- Pay these people to proclaim you as emperor.
Step 3- Rely on these same people to be exclusively responsible for your personal safety.

What could possibly go wrong? Honestly, it’s pretty amazing to me that he managed to last 65 days.

 

If this portrait is accurate, I can see why. Actually, other denarii and bronzes make her look much better. More like Julia Domna:

Manlia Scantilla (wife of Didius Julianus - 193 AD.); AR denarius (17mm; 2.79 gm; 6h). Obv: Her draped bust, r. Rev: IVNO REGINA; Juno stg. l, peacock at feet.
RSC III, 2.

 

Anyone want to buy a used empire? Denarius of Didius Julianus 193 AD Obv. Head right laureate Rv Concordia standing facing head left holding a military standard in each hand. RIC 1 3.12 grms 18 mm Photo by W. Hansen I have to wonder if at the end of the day with the army of Septimius Severus was bearing down on him he might have though " Boy was that a dumb idea! I should have stayed in bed. " Though one has to admit Nice try with Concordia

 

Like with most of the other emperors, who were killed by their successors, we should not underestimate the impact of propaganda. The Severans were interested to portrait Didius Julianus in the darkest colours possible and Cassius Dio, who thrived during Septimius Severus' rule was just the man for the job.

The "auctioning off" of the empire by the Praetorian guard, was in my view not much different to what happened often before and after, when prospective emperors (Pertinax and Septimius Severus included) offered money to solidiers for their support.

In fact, Didius Julianus didn't have much to gain and may have acted selflessly. In AD 193, Didius Julianus was 60 years old, i.e. well beyond the life expectancy of the time. He had apparently no sons and thus no hope to establish a dynasty. Hearing of Sulpicianus's attempt to bribe the Praetorian guards (he offered 20000 sesterces per head, i.e. apparently the same amount that Marcus Aurelius had paid in 161), Didius Julianus may have felt compelled to outbid him, to restore stability.

Importantly, Didius Julianus appears to have been a compentent and decent person. The fact, that he did not have Sulpicianus killed, again speaks in Didius Julianus' favour. Even Cassious Dio who has little favourable to say about him, describes him as generous and polite. Also, Didius Julianus had occupied prominent positions in which he distinguished himself. For example, as governor of Gallia Belgica he is credited with repelling Saxon naval attacks. Finally, the fact that he fell out with the despicable Commodus, argues in his favour.

In sum, I think the story that the auctioning off of the empire in 193 was a low-point of Roman history after the end of the glorious Antonine dynasty is largey fiction.

 

I can't recall previously having read a spin on 193 that cast DJ as the hero and we never can know the whole truth with certainty. I do have to wonder if Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger would have accepted Sulpicianus as the new emperor or would one or both marched on Rome anyway. There is a lot of hidden history here leaving questions as to who Pertinax Junior lived until after Septimius died and what happened to Didia Clara.

This is another question. At what point in Roman history did the Senate stop being a practical and significant factor in history? They had power only as far as the emperor allowed and much of that power came from a desire not to be the one who put the final nail in the Republican coffin. Septimius Severus established a few 'new rules' based on the fact that a pile of legions can serve effectively as personal protection for the emperor. Certainly he established the Senate as a rubber stamp if they had not already been that way. We could ask as well when Rome the city stopped being the be-all, end-all of Rome, the empire. Is the 'real' capitol where the Senate sits or does it travel with the emperor? When I was young, history was a matter of who, what and when; today we are more concerned with why and how.

 

That is true. My positive spin on Didius Julianus stems from the question "cui bono?" As a very rich 60 year old man without a son, there was little to nothing to gain and everything to loose from an attempt to become emperor. Maybe it was just pure vanity combined with stupidity. Yet, in his long and illustrous carreer he appears to have been neither, so he may have been motivated by something else.

 

Like @GregH, I have only the wife and daughter to show.


Manlia Scantilla, wife of Didius Julianus, Augusta, AD 193.
Roman Æ Sestertius; 28.8 mm, 22.62 g, 12 h.
Rome mint, AD 193.
Obv: MANLIA•SCAN-TILLA•AVG, draped bust right.
Rev: IVNO REGINA SC, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter; to left, peacock at feet, standing left, head turned up.
Refs: RIC 18a; BMCRE 32-36; Cohen 6; RCV 6083; Woodward, Didius, dies 6/-; Banti 2.


Didia Clara, daughter of Didius Julianus and Manlia Scantilla, Augusta, AD 193.
Roman Æ Sestertius, 21.16 g, 30.5 mm, 6 h.
Rome, AD 193.
Obv: DIDIA CLARA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: HILARITAS SC, Hilaritas standing, head left, holding palm branch and cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 20; BMCRE 38-41; RCV 6087.
Notes: obverse die 3, reverse die H, Woodward, "The Coinage of Didius Julianus and His Family." Num Chron. 121:71, 1961. Reverse die-match to BMC 40 and BMC 41 in the British Museum collection.

 

Interesting positive spin on DJ's life. Gibbon shreds him apart as a licentious buffoon who had all of the money in the world. However as you say he held a number of important posts prior to being acclaimed by the guard. With regard to Severus - he was an opportunist who would have taken the throne by force anyway - once Pertinax was murdered.

 

Great discussion points all!

1) I'm surprised at how many people here have Manlia Scantilla and Didia Clara but no Julianus - I hadn't realized how popular the "one of each empress" sets were! I have two ugly denarii of both

Manila Scantilla


Didia Clara


2) In response to @GregH, I consider Julianus to have the shortest reign of any Senate-approved, uncontested emperor - we don't really know how long Julianus was "uncontested" (it was however long it took news to spread to Severus, Albinus, and Niger) but for at least a few weeks nobody challenged his claim to the purple - the same cannot be said of Gordians I & II.

3) I honestly can't blame him for trying to buy the throne from the Praetorians - he was disliked, but seems to have been a competent politician and commander. Once he was secure in the purple, had three usurpers not risen up against him, he would have had plenty of options to muster up the 25,000 sesterces per head. Taxes, conquests, selling all of Commodus' junk - a sufficiently skilled leader could have pulled it off.

4) What does crack me up is how his final moments on earth were spent blubbering about "What did I do? I didn't kill anyone." While Dio (the only surviving eyewitness to his rule) explicitly states that he indiscriminately had his guard kill the crowd that was jeering at him. I guess lowly Plebs don't count then?

 

Nice writeup!

There was an emperor named Didius
Whose appearance was not so hideous.
He bought the throne for a short stay,
Bringing riots in Rome his way,
And a death, for him, most piteous.

Alas, poor Didius!
You made the fatal high-bid-ious!

Here's my sestertius, purchased many years ago from CNG:

Roman Empire, 193 AD
Sestertius
Didius Julianus (28 March 193 – 1 June 193)
Obverse: Laureate bust facing right.
Reverse: Fortuna standing left, holding rudder on globe and cornucopia.
RIC IV 15, BMCRE 24 f8, Cohen 12
Nice VF with attractive patina
From CNG Sale 51, September 15, 1999, lot 1335.
A very scarce coin in this condition, and a scarce emperor who held the throne for only 9 weeks.
27 mm, 6 h.
14.3 grams

 

I only have Didius but am searching for similarly colored and worn Sestertii of his wife and daughter next:



IMP CAES M DID SEVER IVLIAN AVG - Laureate of Didius Julianus right /
RECTOR ORBIS S C - Didius Julianus, bareheaded and togate, standing facing, looking left, holding globe on extended right hand and scroll at his side in left
Sestertius, Rome 28.03.-01.06.193
26,73 mm / 17,93 gr
RIC 16, BMCRE 28 and pl. 4,3; Hunter 10; Cayon 5, Cohen 17, Sear 6077, Woodward ("The Coinage of Didius Julianus and his family", in Num.Chron. 1961) obverse die 16 and reverse die F

 

Oh, I do have a coin of DJ himself too. In fact the only rulers I don’t have from 193AD are Titiana and Pertinax Jnr.

 

Those are not likely to happen. My two sided pair is a plaster cast of a Alexandrian tetradrachm in the British Museum that was given to me by the late Roger Bickford Smith. We once traded casts of our collections but I have lost the ability to make casts now since I can not find a clay suitable for the impressions. I have bought three different brands but none do a good, sharp impression like the Plasticine I had 25 years ago. There was a time 100+ years ago when most coin photos were made by shooting plaster or sulfur casts rather than the coins themselves. This had a great advantage since coins with unevenly colored surfaces photographed better and they could be glued up on a board and shot at exactly 1:1 ratio (actual size) on a large format cutfilm camera. Compared to shiny or mottled metal, shooting plaster is a snap. Just last week I found the long lost (in my attic) box with my collection of old plaster casts and even a few made from indestructible epoxy resin that are really fun to make.