Maximinus Thrax

Names:

• ±172: Gaius Julius Maximinus (?)
• February 235: Imperator Caesar Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Augustus
• 236: Imperator Caesar Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus Germanicus maximus Augustus
• April 238: lynched by soldiers

Nickname: Thrax, "the Thracian" (not recorded before the fourth century)

Successor of: Severus Alexander

Relatives:

• married to: Caecilia Paulina
• children: Gaius Julius Verus Maximus

Early career

• ±172: Born in Thrace or Moesia (Novae?)
• equestrian career during the reign of Septimius Severus
• prefect of a legion (I, II, or III Parthica?)
• praeses pro legato in Mauretania Tingitana
• prefect of Mesopotamia
• joined Severus Alexander's Persian campaign
• prefect of the recruits in the Rhineland

Main deeds

• 

  235 Becomes emperor after the death of Severus Alexander and Julia Mamaea; recognized by the Senate; wages war against the Germans (battle of Harzhorn); a competitor, Magnus, is executed
• 236 Consul (with Marcus Pupienus Africanus); victory over the Alamans; proceeds against the Sarmatians
• 238 Insurrection of Gordian I and Gordian II; they are defeated by Capellianus; the Senate elects Pupienus and Balbinus; Maximinus is killed by his own soldiers near Aquileia
• Damnatio memoriae

Succeeded by: Pupienus and Balbinus

Links:

• biography included in the Historia Augusta
• Herodian's History of the Roman Empire (Book 6, 7, and 8)

Literature

• M.F. Petraccia Lucernoni & M. Traverso, "A proposito di Massimino il Trace", in: Yann Le Bohec, Les légions de Rome sous le Haut-Empire (2000 Lyon) 675-684