{"id":103346,"date":"2026-10-01T01:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=103346"},"modified":"2026-09-30T09:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:27:59","slug":"qotd-the-auction-of-the-empire-didius-julianus-buys-the-highest-office-for-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/qotd-the-auction-of-the-empire-didius-julianus-buys-the-highest-office-for-himself\/","title":{"rendered":"QotD: The “auction of the empire” – Didius Julianus buys the highest office for himself"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 and the subsequent 12-year rule of his violent and erratic son Commodus ended the era of Pax Romana<\/em> (the “Peace of Rome”). With the assassination of Commodus on New Year’s Eve 192, many Romans no doubt hoped 193 would bring a restoration of peace and stability. That was not to be so. Indeed, the new year was so tumultuous that it would become known in Roman history as the Year of the Five Emperors.<\/p>\n

The elite unit of imperial bodyguards known as the Praetorian Guard arranged for an army officer named Pertinax to succeed Commodus as Emperor. We know that money played a role; Pertinax offered a tidy sum of 12,000 sestertii<\/em> each to the guardsmen, but it was done in the more typical way (quietly and behind the scenes). After 87 days in which Pertinax attempted to clean house of Praetorian corruption, the dissatisfied Guard stabbed and beheaded the would-be reformer. That set the stage for an act so brazen in its scope that the next emperor would be remembered primarily for that, and for not much more.<\/p>\n

Knowing the Praetorian Guard could be bought, two men appeared at its headquarters and presented themselves as rival claimants for the Roman throne. One was Titus Flavius Sulpicianus, who was the father-in-law of the deceased Pertinax. The other was 60-year-old Didius Julianus, who had distinguished himself in both politics and the military. In his Chronicle of the Roman Emperors<\/em>, historian Chris Scarre notes,<\/p>\n