Category:Pescennius Niger (subject)
Gaius Pescennius Niger Augustus (135/140 – 194 CE) ruled between 193 and 194 CE in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.
- This page is edited by Samuele Rocca, Israel
Overview
Pescennius Niger was proclaimed Emperor in 193 CE by the legions under his command in Syria, who refused to acknowledge Didius Julianus. The following year in 194 CE, he was killed after his army unsuccessfully clashed with that of Septimius Severus, while attempting to flee from Antioch.
Early Career
Pescennius Niger was born between 135 and 140 CE, in Italy. He was a member of an equestrian family. It seems that his cursus honorum began with an administrative position in Egypt, and afterwards, at the beginning of the reign of Commodus, he served in Dacia. Because of his merits, he was enrolled in the Senatorial order. Thus, he was then appointed consul suffectus and in 191 CE, imperial legate in Syria.
Imperial Succession
At the accession of Didius Julianus to the throne, in 193 CE, various demonstrations broke out in Rome, calling Pescennius Niger to the Imperial purple. The result was that Pescennius Niger was proclaimed Emperor by the Eastern legions in 193 CE as Gaius Pescennius Niger Justus Augustus. Once Septimius Severus marched in Rome and had Didius Julianus deposed by the Senate and then executed, he ordered the Praetorian Praefect Gaius Fulvius Plautianus to held as hostages the children of Pescennius Niger. The latter secured the support of all the governors of the Eastern provinces, including Asellius Aemilianus, the proconsul of Asia. However Septimius Severus when he marched against him could count on the support of no less than the sixteen legions stationed on the Danube, while Pescennius Niger had only six legions at his disposal, three in the province of Syria, two in the province of Arabia Petrea, and one located at Melitene. Pescennius Niger was able enough to defeat Lucius Fabius Cilo, who commanded part of Septimius Severus’army, at Perinthus. The main army of Septimius Severus was preceded by a smaller vanguard under the command of Tiberius Claudius Candidus, who defeated the army commanded by Asellius Aemilianus in the battle of Cyzicus. The army of Septimius Severus put Byzantium under siege, and Pescennius Niger had to retire to Nicaea, where in a pitched battle Pescennius Niger was defeated. Pescennius Niger was successful enough to retire with most of his army to Antioch. However support for his cause was by now fading. Various cities as Laodicaea and Tyre as well as the prefect of Egypt and the legate in Arabia switched their allegiance to Septimius Severus. In the spring of 194 CE, Pescennius Niger was defeated definitely by Cornelius Anullinus, a general of Septimius Severus at the battle of Issus. While attempting to flee from Antioch to Parthia, Pescennius Niger was captured and beheaded. However the resistance of the East to Septimius Severus ceased only in 195 CE, with the surrender of Byzantium.
Pescennius Niger in ancient sources
Pescennius Niger in literature & the arts
Pescennius Niger in scholarship
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