Maximinus Thrax

Most likely Maximinus was of Thraco-Roman origin (believed so by Herodian in his writings).[7] According to the notoriously unreliable Augustan History (Historia Augusta), he was born in Thrace or Moesia to a Gothic father and an Alanic mother,[8] an Iranian people of the Scythian-Sarmatian branch; however, the supposed parentage is a highly unlikely anachronism, as the Goths are known to have moved to Thrace from a different place of origin much later in history and their residence in the Danubian area is not otherwise attested until after Maximinus had lived his full life and died. British historian Ronald Syme, writing that "the word 'Gothia' should have sufficed for condemnation" of the passage in the Augustan History, felt that the burden of evidence from Herodian, Syncellus and elsewhere pointed to Maximinus having been born in Moesia.[9] The references to his "Gothic" ancestry might refer to a Thracian Getae origin (the two populations were often confused by later writers, most notably by Jordanes in his Getica), as suggested by the paragraphs describing how "he was singularly beloved by the Getae, moreover, as if he were one of themselves" and how he spoke "almost pure Thracian".[10] On the contrary, Bernard Bachrach suggests that the Historia Augusta use of a term not used in Maximinus time – "Gothia" – is hardly sufficient cause to dismiss its account. After all, the names it gives for Maximinius' parents are legitimate Alan and Gothic appellations. Hence, Bachrach argues, the most straightforward explanation is that the author of the Historia Augusta relied on a legitimate third century source, but substituted its terminology for that concurrent in his own day.[11] Accordingly, Maximinus' ancestry very much remains an open question.

His background was, in any case, that of a provincial of low birth, and he was seen by the Senate as a barbarian, not even a true Roman, despite Caracalla’s edict granting citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire.[12] According to the Augustan History, he was a shepherd and bandit leader before joining the Imperial Roman army, causing historian Brent Shaw to comment that a man who would have been "in other circumstances a Godfather, [...] became emperor of Rome."[13] In many ways, Maximinus was similar to the later Thraco-Roman emperors of the 3rd–5th century (Licinius, Galerius, Aureolus, Leo the Thracian, etc.), elevating themselves, via a military career, from the condition of a common soldier in one of the Roman legions to the foremost positions of political power. He joined the army during the reign of Septimius Severus,[14] but did not rise to a powerful position until promoted by Alexander Severus. Maximinus was in command of Legio IV Italica, composed of recruits from Pannonia,[15] who were angered by Alexander's payments to the Alemanni and his avoidance of war.[16] The troops, who included the Legio XXII Primigenia, elected the stern Maximinus, killing young Alexander and his mother at Moguntiacum (modern Mainz).[17] The Praetorian Guard acclaimed him emperor, and their choice was grudgingly confirmed by the Senate,[12] who were displeased to have a peasant as emperor. His son Maximus became caesar.[12]

Maximinus doubled the pay of soldiers;[14] this act, along with virtually continuous warfare, required higher taxes. Tax collectors began to resort to violent methods and illegal confiscations, further alienating the governing class from everyone else.[18]

According to early church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, the Imperial household of Maximinus' predecessor, Alexander, had contained many Christians. Eusebius states that, hating his predecessor's household, Maximinus ordered that the leaders of the churches should be put to death.[36][37] According to Eusebius, this persecution of 235 sent Hippolytus of Rome and Pope Pontian into exile, but other evidence suggests that the persecutions of 235 were local to the provinces where they occurred rather than happening under the direction of the Emperor.[38] It is more likely that the Schism caused such strife between both factions that peace and order in the urbs were disrupted, causing Maximinus to intervene by exiling the two quarrelers.[39]

According to Historia Augusta, which modern scholars however treat with extreme caution:

"The Romans could bear his barbarities no longer – the way in which he called up informers and incited accusers, invented false offences, killed innocent men, condemned all whoever came to trial, reduced the richest men to utter poverty and never sought money anywhere save in some other's ruin, put many generals and many men of consular rank to death for no offence, carried others about in waggons without food and drink, and kept others in confinement, in short neglected nothing which he thought might prove effectual for cruelty – and, unable to suffer these things longer, they rose against him in revolt."[40]

Ancient sources, ranging from the unreliable Historia Augusta to accounts of Herodian, speak of Maximinus as a man of significantly greater size than his contemporaries.[41][42] He is, moreover, depicted in ancient imagery as a man with a prominent brow, nose, and jaw (symptoms of acromegaly).[43] His thumb was said to be so large that he wore his wife's bracelet as a ring for it.

According to Historia Augusta, "he was of such size, so Cordus reports, that men said he was eight-foot, one finger (c. 2.4 metres) in height".[44] It is very likely however that this is one of the many exaggerations in the Historia Augusta, and is immediately suspect due to its citation of "Cordus", one of several fictitious authorities the work cites.[45]

Although not going into the supposedly detailed portions of Historia Augusta, the historian Herodian, a contemporary of Maximinus, mentions him as a man of greater size, noting that: "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."[46]

Some historians interpret the stories on Maximinus' unusual height (as well as other information on his appearance, like excessive sweating and superhuman strength) as popular stereotyped attributes which do no more than intentionally turn him into a stylized embodiment of the barbarian bandit[47] or emphasize the admiration and aversion that the image of the soldier evoked in the civilian population.[48]

• Aspasius of Rome (his secretary as emperor)

• A. Bellezza: Massimino il Trace, Geneva 1964.
• Henning Börm: Die Herrschaft des Kaisers Maximinus Thrax und das Sechskaiserjahr 238. Der Beginn der Reichskrise?, in: Gymnasium 115, 2008.
• Jan Burian: Maximinus Thrax. Sein Bild bei Herodian und in der Historia Augusta, in: Philologus 132, 1988.
• Lukas de Blois: The onset of crisis in the first half of the third century A.D., in: K.-P. Johne et al. (eds.), Deleto paene imperio Romano, Stuttgart 2006.
• Karlheinz Dietz: Senatus contra principem. Untersuchungen zur senatorischen Opposition gegen Kaiser Maximinus Thrax, Munich 1980.
• Frank Kolb: Der Aufstand der Provinz Africa Proconsularis im Jahr 238 n. Chr.: die wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Hintergründe, in: Historia 26, 1977.
• Adolf Lippold: Kommentar zur Vita Maximini Dua der Historia Augusta, Bonn 1991.
• X. Loriot: Les premières années de la grande crise du IIIe siècle: De l'avènement de Maximin le Thrace (235) à la mort de Gordien III (244), in: ANRW II/2, 1975.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maximinus Thrax.

• Maximinus coinage
• "Caius Julius Verus Maximinus Thrax" . Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
• "Maximin" . The American Cyclopædia. 1879.