Marcus Claudius Tacitus

Tacitus (/ˈtæsɪtəs/; Marcus Claudius Tacitus;[1][2] c. 200 – June 276) was Roman emperor from 275 to 276. During his short reign he campaigned against the Goths and the Heruli, for which he received the title Gothicus Maximus.

Tacitus
Augustus
Bust of the Emperor Tacitus
Emperor of the Roman Empire
ReignSeptember 25, 275 – June 276
PredecessorAurelian
SuccessorFlorianus
Bornc. 200
Interamna, Italia
DiedJune 276 (aged 76)
Antoniana Colonia Tyana, Cappadocia
Full name
Marcus Claudius Tacitus
Regnal name
Imperator Caesar Marcus Claudius Tacitus Augustus

Early life

Antoninianus of Tacitus. Legend: IMPerator Cesar Marcus CLavdius TACITVS AVGustus.

Tacitus was born in Interamna (Terni), in Italia.[3] He circulated copies of the historian Gaius Cornelius Tacitus' work, which was barely read at the time, perhaps contributing to the partial survival of the historian's work. Modern historiography rejects his claimed descent from the historian as a fabrication.[4] In the course of his long life he discharged the duties of various civil offices, holding the consulship twice, once under Valerian and again in 273, earning universal respect.[5]

Emperor

After the assassination of Aurelian, the army, apparently in remorse at the effects of the previous centuries' military license, which had brought about the death of the well-liked emperor, relinquished the right of choosing his successor to the Senate.[6] Initially, the Senate hesitated to accept the responsibility, but when the delay had gone on eight months from Aurelian's death it at last determined to settle the matter and offered the throne to the aged Princeps Senatus, Tacitus.[7]

Tacitus, after ascertaining the sincerity of the Senate's regard for him, accepted their nomination on 25 September 275[8], and the choice was cordially ratified by the army.[2] This was the last time the Senate elected a Roman Emperor. The interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus had been quite long, and there is substantial evidence that Aurelian's wife, Ulpia Severina, ruled in her own right before the election of Tacitus.[9][10] Tacitus had been living in Campania before his election, and returned only reluctantly to the assembly of the Senate in Rome, where he was elected. He immediately asked the Senators to deify Aurelian, before arresting and executing Aurelian's murderers.[11]

Amongst the highest concerns of the new reign was the restoration of the ancient Senatorial powers. He granted substantial prerogatives to the Senate, securing to them by law the appointment of the emperor, of the consuls, and the provincial governors, as well as supreme right of appeal from every court in the empire in its judicial function, and the direction of certain branches of the revenue in its long-abeyant administrative capacity.[12] Probus respected these changes, but after the reforms of Diocletian in the succeeding decades not a vestige would be left of them.

Fighting barbarians

Next he moved against the barbarian mercenaries that had been gathered by Aurelian to supplement Roman forces for his Eastern campaign. These mercenaries had plundered several towns in the Eastern Roman provinces after Aurelian had been murdered and the campaign cancelled.[13] His half-brother, the Praetorian Prefect Florianus, and Tacitus himself won a victory against these tribes, among which were the Heruli, gaining the emperor the title Gothicus Maximus.[11]

Death

On his way back to the west to deal with a Frankish and Alamannic invasion of Gaul, according to Aurelius Victor, Eutropius and the Historia Augusta, Tacitus died of fever at Tyana in Cappadocia in June 276.[14][15] It was reported that he began acting strangely, declaring that he would alter the names of the months to honor himself, before succumbing to a fever. In a contrary account, Zosimus claims he was assassinated, after appointing one of his relatives to an important command in Syria.[16]

Family tree

previous
Quintillus
Roman Emperor
270
Aurelian
Roman Emperor
270-275
Ulpia Severina

Marcus Claudius Tacitus
Roman Emperor
275-276
Florianus
Roman Emperor
276
Probus
Roman Emperor
276-282
next
Carus
Roman Emperor
282-283
Carinus
Roman Emperor
282-284

References

  1. In Classical Latin, Tacitus' name would be inscribed as MARCVS CLAVDIVS TACITVS AVGVSTVS.
  2. Jones, pg. 873
  3. Historia Augusta, Vita Taciti, 15:1
  4. McMahon, Note 3 and accompanying text
  5. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (The Modern Library, 1932), ch. XII., p. 276
  6. Gibbon, pp. 274-278
  7. Gibbon, p. 277; He was then 75 years old.
  8. Hinson, E. Glenn (1995). The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity Up to 1300. Mercer University Press. p. 95. ISBN 0865544360.
  9. Watson, Alaric (1999). Aurelian and the Third Century. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-07248-4.
  10. Körner, Christian (December 23, 2008). "Aurelian (A.D. 270–275)". De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  11. Southern, pg. 127
  12. Gibbon, p. 279
  13. Gibbon, p. 280
  14. Aurelius Victor, 36:1
  15. Historia Augusta, Vita Taciti, 13:5
  16. Zosimus, I:63:2

Sources

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Further reading


Regnal titles
Preceded by
Aurelian
Roman Emperor
275–276
Succeeded by
Florianus
Political offices
Preceded by
Titus Flavius Postumius Quietus,
Junius Veldumnianus,
Tetricus I
Consul of the Roman Empire
273
with Placidianus,
Tetricus I
Succeeded by
Aurelian,
Capitolinus
Preceded by
Aurelian,
Marcellinus
Consul of the Roman Empire
276
with Aemilianus
Succeeded by
Probus,
Paulinus
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