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The Reign of Trajan Decius

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Extract

The general chronology of the reign of Decius has been described by Arthur Stein in a recent paper, based principally on the evidence of papyri, inscriptions and coins.

Grenfell and Hunt had already pointed out (Ox. Pap. i, 35), in connexion with a papyrus giving a list of emperors from Augustus to Decius with the number of years of each reign, that ‘in reckoning the length of reigns, the months after the last Thoth I (Aug. 29) in an emperor's reign are neglected, since the interval between the death of an emperor and the next Thoth I counted as the 1st year of his successor.’ The latter half of the reign of Decius extended as we shall see for nearly a year after Aug. 29, A.D. 250. As, therefore, he has only two years (α and β) both on the papyri and on the coins of the Alexandrian mint, it follows that his reign in Egypt begins at a date after Aug. 29, 249. In other words, although Decius had been proclaimed emperor by the Pannonian legions at the close of 248 or in the first part of 249, the authority of Philip was maintained in Egypt until his overthrow and death at Verona in the autumn of 249. This is confirmed by the dating of Philip's coins which enter on a seventh year in Egypt and by Pap. Brit. Mus. 950-1 which, however, gives no month.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright ©F. S. Salisbury and H. Mattingly 1924. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

page 1 note 1 Archiv für Papyrusforschung, 1923.

page 1 note 2 Stein, loc. cit., followed by Vogt Die Alexandrinischen Münzen, wrongly says Sept. 27.

page 2 note 1 Num. Chron. 1925, H. Mattingly and F. S. Salisbury.

page 2 note 2 Dind., iii, 624-5.

page 2 note 3 p. 22.

page 3 note 1 παρακάλϵι … ἀναδέξασθαι.

page 3 note 2 Philip τῇ θϵτταλικῇ λϵγομένῃ πϵιθανάγκῃ χρησάμϵνος ἐκπέμπϵι.

page 3 note 3 γένϵι προέχων καί ἀξιώματι προσέτι δὲ καὶ πάσαις διαπρέπων ταῖς ἀρϵταῖς.

page 3 note 4 πολιτικῇ τϵ ἀρϵτῇ καὶ πολϵμικῇ πϵίρᾳ προήκων.

page 3 note 5 Clinton, Rom. Chron., p. 69.

page 4 note 1 Ox. Pap. xiv, 1636.

page 4 note 2 τῇ Δϵκίου πϵποιθότϵς ἐπιστήμῃ καὶ πϵρὶ πάντα προνοίᾳ.

page 4 note 3 Aurelius Victor, de Caesaribus, 28, 10.

page 4 note 4 de Caesaribus 28, 10. This version is adopted by Clinton, Rom. Chron. p. 69, and by Gibbon.

page 4 note 5 C.I.L. iii, 2, pp. 898-9, D-LVI; found 8 miles from Rimini. Cf. xi, 373, bronze tablet of same date.

page 4 note 6 Sallust, Jugurtha, xlv.

page 5 note 1 C.I.L. iii, 4651; cf. iii, 4645, also from Upper Pannonia on the road along the Danube from Vindobona eastward; and iii, 5752, westward of Vindobona. Also Eph. Epigr. ii, 766, from Lower Pannonia, Cos. Procos.

page 5 note 2 C.I.L. iii, 12515.

page 5 note 3 C.I.L. iii, 3723, 10641.

page 6 note 1 C.I.L. vi, 32557, a, b (a=2831: b=2852, q.v.); cf. vi, 32558 (=2814).

page 6 note 2 C.I.L. ii, 4809, 4812, 4813, 4833, 4835 [4836]. See also ii, 1372 and Eph. Ep. viii, addit. Corp. ii, 226.

page 6 note 3 C.I.L. ii, 4823.

page 6 note 4 Eph. Ep. viii, 249.

page 7 note 1 C.I.L. vii, 1174, 1180, 1171, 1163. See also below, p. 246, no. 10.

page 7 note 2 Similarly from same place, Eph. Ep. vii, 1104.

page 7 note 3 C.I.L. viii, 10457. See also Eph. Ep. vii, 584, 589, 600, 639, all apparently of A.D. 249.

page 7 note 4 viii, 10313-4, cp. 10318, 10360 (Sitifi).

page 7 note 5 viii, 10051, 10354.

page 7 note 6 C.I.L. iii, 1418440.

page 7 note 7 iii, 1418425.

page 7 note 8 iii, 12201, between Kesner and Yalak.

page 7 note 9 iii, 14155.

page 7 note 10 iii, 13644.

page 7 note 11 See also Waddington, 2544 (Inscr. Gr. ad R.R. pert. iii).

page 8 note 1 Δϵκίῳ μὲν οὖν ἄριστα βϵβασιλϵυκότι τέλος τοιόνδϵ συνέβη.

page 8 note 2 ii 584, 20. ἀλλήλους εἰς θεομαχίαν παρακροτήσαντϵς διωγμὸν ἐπήγϵιραν κατὰ τῶν χριστωνύμων σφοδρότατον.

page 8 note 3 e.g. Eusebius Hist. Eccl. vi, 39Google Scholar.

page 8 note 4 ὲμϵμήνϵι γοῦν κατὰ τῶν πιστῶν.

page 8 note 5 Eusebius, H.E. vi, 34Google Scholar.

page 8 note 6 Eusebius, H.E. vi, 41Google Scholar, quoting Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria: ἡ τῆς βασιλείας ἐκείνης τῆς εὐμενεστέρας ἡμῖν (there had been a brief respite) μεταβολὴ διήγγελται καὶ πολὺς ὁ τῆς ἑφ' ἡμᾶς ἀπϵιλῆς φόβος ἀνϵτϵίνϵτο. καὶ δὴ καὶ παρῆν τὸ πρόσταγμα.

page 8 note 7 Examples from the Arsinoite nome are very numerous. Paul M. Meyer, Libelli aus Theadelphia. See also Ox. Pap. iv, 658; xii, 1464; John Rylands Library, Pap. ii, 112a.

page 9 note 1 Num. Chron. 1925.

page 9 note 2 Inscr. Gr. ad R.R. pert. i, 788.

page 9 note 3 C.I.L ii 4058.

page 9 note 4 C.I.L. ii, 1372.

page 9 note 5 C.I.L. Auct. 643.

page 9 note 6 C.I.L. vi, 32557; cf. also xiii, 6670, PRO SALVTE DD NN SANCTISSIMORVM IMP; ibid. 1904, 1940.

page 9 note 7 C.I.L. viii, 20904-5.

page 9 note 8 viii, 20913; xi, 129 (Ravenna) CONIVGI SANCTISSIMO; xi, 132, CONIVGI SIBI SANCTISSIMAE.

page 9 note 8 Ovid F. iii, 421Google Scholar, ‘ignibus aeternis aeterni numina praesunt Caesaris.’ Ibid. 1. 427, sancta fovet ille manu.

page 10 note 1 Ox. Pap. iv, 658.

page 10 note 2 σεβάστιος ὅρκος is an oath by the genius of Augustus C. I, 1933.

page 10 note 3 Ox. Pap. xii, 1464, θύειν καὶ σπένδειν καὶ σέβειν … τὰ κελευσέντα ὑπὸ τῆς θείας κρίσεως.

page 10 note 4 C.I.L. xiii, 3651.

page 10 note 5 xiii, 3652; cf. 7317, i N. H D D/NuMIN AVG/ etc., an inscription which is dated A.D. 224 by the consuls Julianus and Crispinus, as also is 7612 to A.D. 223.

page 10 note 6 xiii, 6708; cf. 6805, 3075, 1775, 1776, the last two from Lugdunum.

page 10 note 7 Mrs. Arthur Strong, Apotheosis and After Life, pp. 70 foll.

page 10 note 8 ibid. p. 70.

page 10 note 9 ibid. pp. 85-6.

page 11 note 1 Odyss. xi, 601 foll.

page 11 note 2 Ov. F. iii, 697-707.

page 11 note 3 See Barker, Ethel Ross, Rome of the Pilgrims and Martyrs, p. 147Google Scholar. Euseb. H.E., app. to Bk. viii.

page 11 note 4 Il. ii, 204.

page 12 note 1 Brit. Mus. Catal. of Gk. Coins of Alexandria, etc., nos. 2095-2099.

page 12 note 2 Also C.I.L. ii, 4953 (Spain).

page 13 note 1 C.I.L. iii, 13321.

page 13 note 2 C.I.L. xiii, 11, 2, 9123.

page 13 note 3 Ox. Pap. x, 1284.

page 13 note 4 C.I.L. vi, 1102.

page 14 note 1 C.I.L. iii, 3746.

page 14 note 2 The description of the two Decii as joint consuls VI Kal. Nov. by Trebellius Pollio (Hist. Aug. xxii) is wrong. Herennius may have been consul designate.

page 14 note 3 ib. xi, 3088.

page 14 note 4 ib. ii, 4958.

page 14 note 5 We may quote also the legend PIETAS AVGVSTORVM on coins of Herennius Caesar, though here ‘Augustorum’ may be an objective genitive, since Etruscilla also was Augusta. Maximin has coins with the legend VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM when there was only one Augustus. The use of the plural of the higher title for Maximinus Augustus with Maximus Caesar is a grammatical and not a historical point. Joseph Vogt, op. cit. p. 174, quotes the title Κ СЄВ, exactly corresponding to the [Καισάρων] Σεβαστῶν of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus of Dec. 15, 250, on Alexandrian coins of Diadumenian, who is shown by his Roman coins to have been Caesar but never Augustus. The combination of the titles Caesar Augustus, usually mutually exclusive (the prenomen Caesar is not here in question), is found on the Egyptian coins of Philip II, Valerian II, Saloninus, and Numerian, all of which read Κ СЄВ. Vogt quotes evidence from the papyri for Geta also.

page 15 note 1 C.I.L. ix, 4056.

page 15 note 2 ibid. vi, 1102.

page 16 note 1 Eusebius says that in his day a letter was extant written by Origen to Philip and another to Otacilia Severa. Euseb. H.E. vi, 36Google Scholar.

page 16 note 2 Num. Chron. 1925.

page 16 note 3 See Ov. F. iii, 419-426 and 697-707; iv, 949-954.

page 16 note 4 C.I.L. xiii. 11, 1, 6279, PVDICISSIMAE. Cf. xi, 405; xi, 81 (Ravenna) BONAE MEMoRIAE /CASTISSIMAE CONIVGI.

page 16 note 5 C.I.L. ix, 4056.

page 16 note 6 C.I.L. iii, 11187.

page 16 note 7 ibid. 4011.

page 16 note 8 ibid. 8816.

page 16 note 9 C.I.L. vi, 31376, if rightly restored, from Rome; and Eph. Ep. vii, 286, where the empress is AVG on a stone of the same provenance as one, no. 600, apparently of A.D. 249. On no. 639, certainly of A.D. 249, Decius and Etruscilla Augusta are named together. An inscr. from Pautalia in Thrace is dedicated to her, Inscr. Gr. ad R.R. pert. i, 671.

page 17 note 1 C.I.L. vi, 31165; cf. ib. Auct. 589, Oct. 1, 250.

page 17 note 2 C.I.L. iii, 1176.

page 17 note 3 C.I.L. xiii, 9101, cf. 9090.

page 17 note 4 ib. 9109.

page 17 note 5 ib. 9102, 9110.

page 17 note 6 ib. xiii, 9097.

page 17 note 7 C.I.L. iii, 2, pp. 898-9.

page 17 note 8 Rev. Numis. 1923.

page 18 note 1 C.I.L. iii, 15102, Via Narona-Sarajevskopolje.

page 18 note 2 ibid. 13321. Other Dalmatian milestones are iii, 8268, 10048, 13309-10 inscribed to Decius only, and 13311-2 to Herennius, but those of Decius may belong to the first twelve months of his reign.

page 18 note 3 Aurelius Victor, de Cues. 29.

page 19 note 1 See chronological summary below and note on Balkan mints, p. 21.

page 19 note 2 Gallus has only Egyptian coins of year 3, but year B occurs on a papyrus at the British Museum and in Ox. Pap. vi, 977, Mecheir 1 (Jan. 26); xii, 1554, Choiak 7 (Dec. 3); xii, 1442, Pharmouthi 8 (Apr. 3); Year γ́ of Gallus and Volusian occurs Ox. Pap. viii, 1119, Mesore 23 and 29 (Aug. 16 and 22); xiv. 1640, Phaophi 20 (Oct. 17); Gallus and Volusian are from the first named together as Augusti.

page 19 note 3 C.I.L. vi, 31130. Joseph Vogt, op. cit. p. 198, perpetuates the mistake, just as he antedates Ox. Pap. xiv, 1636, at the beginning of the reign by two months.

page 20 note 1 Wessely, Texte Gr. 55.

page 20 note 2 Ox. Pap. xii, 1554, Choiak 7. Stein quotes Pap. Lond. iii, p. 91, 1212 as giving the earliest date of Gallus (Choiak 30: Dec 26) but the Ox. Pap. date is not only earlier but more satisfactory, since the Brit. Mus. papyrus was apparently written in the 2nd year of Gallienus.

page 20 note 3 C.I.L. vi, 31129.

page 20 note 4 C.I.L. x, 3699 (Cumae, Oct. 9); xi, 4086 (Otricoli, July 15), and xiv, 352 (Ostia, prob. July 16).

page 20 note 5 Num. Zeit. 1908, 75 ff.

page 20 note 6 ix, 4.

page 20 note 7 xxix, 4.