Pupienus (179-29 July 238) was Roman emperor from 22 April to 29 July 238, succeeding Gordian I/Gordian II and preceding Gordian III. He reigned with Balbinus as co-emperor.
Biography[]
Pupienus Maximus was born in 179 in Volterra, Etruria, Italy, the son of senator Marcus Pupienus Maximus. He served as proconsul of Bithynia et Pontus, Achaea, and Gallia Narbonensis, and he scored victories over the Sarmatians and Germanic tribes while serving as imperial legate to Germania; he held several political titles in the early 3rd century. He was appointed a member of the commission of Gordian I and Gordian II set up to hold off Maximinus Thrax until they arrived in Rome, but Pupienus and fellow committee member Balbinus were made co-emperors when the Gordians were killed at Carthage in 238.
Pupienus was formed in a rougher mold than Balbinus, and he left Balbus to administer Rome as he marched to Ravenna with an army of German auxiliaries to fight against Thrax's supporters. Maximinus Thrax was assassinated outside Aquileia, allowing for Pupienus to return to Rome with his German bodyguard, but Balbinus feared that Pupienus and his Germans were going to supplant him.
They lived on opposite sides of the palace, and the Praetorian Guard (which despised Roman Senate-appointed emperors) brutally hacked both emperors to death at the Praetorian barracks.