Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman Emperor by Simon Elliott

Author:Simon Elliott [Elliott, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Ancient, History, Military, Rome, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Royalty, Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781784385255
Google: Mhw8zQEACAAJ
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Published: 2020-09-15T20:27:06+00:00

It was in this year of martial triumph that Pertinax ascended to the most senior magisterial position in the Empire, as a suffect consul in Rome (a post Birley argues he held in absentia given the need to rebuild the Danube frontier, 2005, 173). Roman magistrates were only elected/appointed for one year. Early in the Republic, when a magistrate resigned or died during his term of office a successor was then appointed for the rest of the given year. These were called suffectus after the Latin word sufficere, meaning ‘to grow again’. By the time of the Principate Empire it had actually become common for consuls, by then directly appointed by the emperor, to serve only part of their annual term and then be moved on in imperial service, with the term suffect used to describe their replacements, whose term of office was often arranged well in advance. That was certainly the reason for Pertinax’s elevation as we know the name of the elected official he replaced, Lucius Calpurnius Piso.

The Historia Augusta (2.8) details Marcus Aurelius’ fine eulogy about Pertinax on his appointment, which listed all of his personal achievements to date. In fact it seems Pertinax was in the emperor’s favour more generally, with the Historia Augusta adding (2.9):

Marcus praised Pertinax frequently, both in the assemblies of soldiers and in the Senate, and publicly expressed regret that he was a senator and therefore could not be made prefect of the [Praetorian] Guard.

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