Clodius Albinus

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Clodius Albinus

For others with this cognomen
Cognomen

The cognomen was originally a middle name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary ....
, see Albinus (cognomen)
Albinus (cognomen)

Albinus or Albus was the cognomen, or distinguishing family name, of the prin?cipal gens of the patrician Postumia gens. The original name was Albus, as appears from the Fasti, which was afterwards lengthened into Albinus....
.

Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus (ca. 150 - February 19, 197

197

Events...
) was a Roman usurper

Roman usurper

Usurpers are individuals or groups of individuals who obtain and maintain the power or rights of another by force and without legal authority. Usurpers were a common feature of the late Roman Empire, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule....
proclaimed emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
by the legions in Britain

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
and Hispania

Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
(the Iberian Peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France....
, comprising modern Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
and Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
) upon the murder of Pertinax

Pertinax

Publius Helvius Pertinax, commonly known as Pertinax , was a Roman emperor who briefly reigned from December 31 192 until his death on March 28 193....
.

nus was born into an aristocratic family at Hadrumetum

Hadrumetum

File:GiorcesBardo42.jpgHadrumetum was a Phoenician colony that pre-dated Carthage and stood on the site of modern-day Sousse, Tunisia....
in Africa

Africa Province

File:Roman Africa.JPGThe Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, north-eastern Algeria and the Mediterranean Sea coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor....
. According to his father, he received the name of Albinus because of the extraordinary whiteness of his body.

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Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus (ca. 150 - February 19, 197

197

Events...
) was a Roman usurper

Roman usurper

Roman Emperor

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
and Hispania

Hispania

Iberian Peninsula

Spain

Portugal

Pertinax

Publius Helvius Pertinax, commonly known as Pertinax , was a Roman emperor who briefly reigned from December 31 192 until his death on March 28 193....
.

Life

Albinus was born into an aristocratic family at Hadrumetum

Hadrumetum

File:GiorcesBardo42.jpgHadrumetum was a Phoenician colony that pre-dated Carthage and stood on the site of modern-day Sousse, Tunisia....
in Africa

Africa Province

Avidius Cassius

Gaius Avidius Cassius was a Roman usurper who briefly ruled Aegyptus Province and Syria in 175.A native of Cyrrhus, Syria, he was the son of Gaius Avidius Heliodorus, a noted orator who had become prefect of Egypt....
against the emperor Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
in 175. His merits were acknowledged by the emperor in two letters in which he calls Albinus an African, who resembled his countrymen but little, and who was praiseworthy for his military experience and the gravity of his character. The emperor likewise declared that without Albinus the legions (in Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thrace Bosporus and the Euxine ....
) would have gone over to Avidius Cassius, and that he intended to have him chosen consul

Roman consul

Commodus

Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus , was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 180 to 192 . The name given here was his official name at his accession to sole rule; see 'Commodus#Changes of name' for earlier and later forms....
gave Albinus a command in Gallia Belgica

Gallia Belgica

Gallia Belgica was a Roman province located in what is now the southern part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northeastern France, and western Germany....
and afterwards in Britain

Roman Britain

Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia....
. A false rumor having been spread that Commodus had died, Albinus denounced the man before his soldiers in Britain, calling Commodus a tyrant, and maintaining that it would be useful to the Roman empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
to restore to the senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
its ancient dignity and power. The senate was very pleased with these sentiments, but not so the emperor, who sent Junius Severus to relieve Albinus of his command. At this time Albinus must have been a very distinguished man, which we may conclude from the fact that some time before Commodus had offered him the title of Caesar, which he declined. Notwithstanding the appointment of Junius Severus as his successor, Albinus kept his command until after the murders of Commodus and his successor Pertinax

Pertinax

Publius Helvius Pertinax, commonly known as Pertinax , was a Roman emperor who briefly reigned from December 31 192 until his death on March 28 193....
in 193.

After Pertinax was assassinated

Assassination

Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure. Assassinations may be prompted by ideology, politics, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by contract killing, revenge, or celebrity or may be mental disorder....
, the praetorian prefect

Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard was a special force of guards used by Roman empire List of Roman Emperorss. Before being appropriated for the use of the Emperors' personal guards, the title was used for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC....
Aemilius Laetus

Quintus Aemilius Laetus

Quintus Aemilius Laetus was a Praetorian prefect of the Ancient Rome imperial bodyguard, known as the Praetorian Guard, from 191 until his death in 193....
and his men, who had arranged the murder, "sold" the imperial throne to wealthy senator Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus

Marcus Didius Severus Julianus was briefly Roman Emperor from 28 March 193 to 1 June 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax....
, effectively crowning him emperor, but a string of mutinies from the troops in the provinces meant the next emperor was far from decided. Immediately afterwards, Pescennius Niger

Pescennius Niger

Gaius Pescennius Niger was a Roman usurper from 193 to 194. Niger was born of an old Italian equestrian family.File:Denarius-Pescennius Niger-RIC 0015var.jpg...
was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Syria

Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War....
; Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Lucius Septimius Severus was a Roman Empire general, and Roman Emperor from April 14 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the Libyan part of Rome's historic Africa Province, making him the first emperor to be born in the Roman province of Africa Province....
by the troops in Illyricum

Illyricum

Illyricum can refer to:* Illyricum * Diocese of Illyricum* Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum...
and Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
; and Albinus by the armies in Britain and Gaul.

In the civil war that followed, Albinus was initially allied with Septimius Severus, who had captured Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, and accepted the title of Caesar

Caesar (title)

Caesar , Latin: Caesar , is a title of emperor character. It derives from the Roman naming convention#Cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator....
from him; the two shared a consulship

Roman consul

Consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the Consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the head of government for the Republic....
in 194. Albinus remained effective ruler of much of the western part of the empire with support from three British legions and one Spanish. When Didius Julianus

Didius Julianus

Marcus Didius Severus Julianus was briefly Roman Emperor from 28 March 193 to 1 June 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax....
was put to death by order of the senate, who dreaded the power of Septimius Severus, the latter turned his arms against Pescennius Niger. After the defeat and death of Niger in 194, and the complete discomfiture of his adherents, especially after the fall of Byzantium

Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
in 196, Severus resolved to make himself the absolute master of the Roman empire. Albinus seeing the danger of his position, prepared for resistance. He narrowly escaped being assassinated by a messenger of Severus, after which he put himself at the head of his army, which is said to have consisted of 150,000 men.

Albinus declares himself emperor

In autumn 196, Albinus proclaimed himself emperor (Imperator Caesar Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Augustus), crossed from Britain to Gaul

Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
, bringing a large part of the British garrison with him. He defeated Severus' legate, Virius Lupus

Virius Lupus

Virius Lupus was a Roman Empire soldier and politician of the late second and early 3rd century.He served as a legatus of one of the German provinces and supported Septimus Severus during the civil war that followed the murder of Pertinax....
, and was able to lay claim to the military resources of Gaul. And although he made Lugdunum

Lugdunum

Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Ancient Rome city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis....
the headquarters of his forces, he was unable to win the allegiance of the Rhine legions.

On February 19th, 197, Albinus met Severus' army at the Battle of Lugdunum

Battle of Lugdunum

The Battle of Lugdunum, also called the Battle of Lyon, was fought on 19 February 197 at Lugdunum , between the armies of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and of the Roman usurper Clodius Albinus....
. After a hard-fought battle, with 150,000 troops on either side recorded by Dio Cassius

Dio Cassius

Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English language as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a noted Roman Empire historian and public servant....
, Albinus was defeated and killed himself, or was captured and executed on the orders of Severus. His body was ill treated by Severus, who sent his head to Rome, and with it an insolent letter, in which he mocked the senate for their loyalty to Albinus. The town of Lugdunum

Lugdunum

Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum was an important Ancient Rome city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province Gallia Lugdunensis....
was plundered and destroyed, and the adherents of Albinus were cruelly prosecuted by Severus.

Albinus was a man of great bodily beauty and strength; he was an experienced general; a skillful gladiator; a severe, and often cruel commander; and he has been called the Catiline

Catiline

Lucius Sergius Catilina , known in English language as Catiline, was a Roman Republic politician of the 1st century BC who is best known for the Catiline conspiracy, an attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic, and in particular the power of the aristocratic Roman Senate....
of his time. He had one son, or perhaps two, who were executed with their mother, by order of Severus. It is said that he wrote a treatise on agriculture, and a collection of stories, called Milesian.

Clodius Albinus

Life

Albinus declares himself emperor

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