Pertinax (1 August 126-28 March 193) was the Emperor of the Roman Empire from 1 January to 28 March 193, succeeding Commodus and preceding Didius Julianus. He was the first of the Roman emperors during the "Year of the Five Emperors".
Biography[]
Pertinax in 180
Pertinax was born on 1 August 126 to the Pagan Roman House of Helvius. His father was a freed slave, and he worked as a teacher before becoming an officer in the Roman legions. In the 160s Pertinax served in Emperor Lucius Verus' war against Parthia, and his success gave him higher positions. He was appointed Governor of Roman Britain, giving him more power, and he became a member of the Roman Senate.
On 31 December 192, Emperor Commodus was strangled in his bathtub by the wrestler Narcissus, and Pertinax was acclaimed emperor. He attempted to pass several reforms, including the discipline of the royal Praetorian Guard, but the powerful Praetorians were upset with these reforms. On 28 March 193, 300 Praetorian Guardsmen rushed the gates of his palace, and neither the guards on duty or the palace officials chose to fight them. Pertinax decided not to flee and tried to reason with them, and he was nearly successful, but one soldier cut him down. The title of Emperor was auctioned off to the wealthy Didius Julianus, and Julianus' successor Septimius Severus and Pertinax's contemporary Cassius Dio deified him.