Clodius Albinus

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Clodius Albinus
Full name Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus
Born ca. 150
Died February 19, 197
Place of death Lugdunum
Dynasty None
Coin of Clodius Albinus
Coin of Clodius Albinus[1]

Decimus Clodius Albinus[2] (ca. 150 - February 19, 197) was a Roman usurper proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) upon the murder of Pertinax.

Albinus came from an aristocratic provincial family in North Africa. He first held the governorship of Gallia Belgica and then of Britain by 192.

When Pertinax was assassinated, the praetorian prefect Aemilius Laetus and his men, who had arranged the murder, put the throne up for sale. It was purchased by the wealthy senator Didius Julianus, but a string of mutinies from the troops in the provinces meant the next emperor was far from decided.

In the civil war that followed, Albinus was initially allied with Septimus Severus, who had captured Rome, and accepted the title of Caesar from him. Albinus remained effective ruler of much of the western part of the empire with support from three British legions and one Spanish.[3] The two came into conflict after Severus defeated Pescennius Niger in the eastern part of the empire, however, and Severus sent assassins to kill him.

In autumn 196, Albinus proclaimed himself emperor (Imperator Caesar Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Augustus), crossed from Britain to Gaul, bringing a large part of the British garrison with him.[4] He defeated Severus' legate, Virius Lupus, and was able to lay claim to the military resources of Gaul.

In February 197, Albinus met Severus' army at the Battle of Lugdunum. After a hard-fought battle, with 150,000 troops on either side recorded by Dio Cassius, Albinus was defeated and killed himself.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ This coin celebrates Saeculum Frugiferum, the embodiment of a "fruitful era", probably Ba`al Hammon, a Phoenician divinity worshipped in North Africa, where Clodius came from.
  2. ^ The name albinus means "white", while one of his competitors for the purple was Pescennius Niger, whose niger name means "black".
  3. ^ The British legions were II Augusta, VI Victrix, and XX Valeria Victrix, the Spanish legion was the VII Gemina.
  4. ^ Indeed, he stripped Britain of every available soldier, which meant that Severus' new administration had to deal with several rebellions, including those of the Maeatae.

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
Publius Helvius Pertinax		 Roman governors of Britain
191-197		 Succeeded by
Virius Lupus
Preceded by
Didius Julianus;		 Roman Emperor
193
in competition with
Pescennius Niger
and Septimius Severus		 Succeeded by
Septimius Severus