The reign of Decius

Pioneering articles by Arthur Steinn34 and F. S. Salisbury and Harold Mattinglyn35 used the evidence of papyri, inscriptions, and coins to establish the chronology of Decius' reign.n36Decius defeated Philip in a battle fought at Verona between the end of August and the beginning of October, 249.n37After his return to Rome and recognition by the Senate, the new emperor turned his attention to three priorities. First, Decius began an extensive campaign of road and bridge repairs, no doubt designed as much to keep his army occupied as to improve the military transportation and communications system.n38Numerous milestones and inscriptions--from Spain, the Balkans, Palestine, Galatia, Britain, and Africa--record the renewal of roads and bridges under Decius in 249 and 250.n39

A second priority for the new emperor was a program of religious renewal. Decius required all inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the traditional gods of the Roman state.n40In the Christian sources this policy is presented as a persecution directed at the faithful.n41However, as Hans Pohlsander observed, Decius' religious program may be understood as a positive attempt to reverse the troubles besetting the empire by reinvigorating Roman paganism and leading the masses back to the traditional Roman cults.n42Decius' religious program was underway by the third week of January, 250, .n43The emperor himself may have presided at the trial of the Christian recusant Celerinus before Easter in the same year.n44

Decius next turned his attention to the military situation, responding to internal threats from usurpers and external threats from the Goths and the Carpi on the Danube frontier. Our best guide here is the pagan historian Sextus Aurelius Victor, who provides a clear sequence of events. According to Victor, Decius first dispatched his son, Herennius Etruscus, to the frontier provinces.n45This was apparently soon after Herennius' elevation to the rank of Caesar in the spring of 250.n46Decius himself remained behind in Rome for an undetermined period, during which time he received the head of the usurper Jotapian.n47At the same time Decius received an alarming report that another usurper, T. Julius Priscus, had allied himself with the Goths and was pillaging Thrace.n48In response to this threat Decius left Rome immediately: Qua causa, Decio quam potuit maturrime Roma digresso.n49

The thorny problems surrounding the campaigns of 250 and 251 do not concern us here.n50For our purposes it is important only to note that the Decii never returned to Rome. After some initial successes,n51 the military situation deteriorated rapidly in the spring of 251. Decius and Herennius may have attempted to intercept the Goths as they withdrew with booty from the sack of Philippopolis (Plovdiv, Bulgaria), but the Roman army was cut off at Abrittus (Hisarlaka, near Razgrad).n52Decius and Herrenius were killed. The news of their deaths reached Rome between June 9 and June 24 of 251.n53

1 Stein (1923).

2 Salisbury and Mattingly (1924).

3 More recent studies have done little to alter the armature erected by these scholars in the 1920s. The most radical change proposed is that of Schwartz (1977). Based on a conjectural emendation of the Chron. a. 354, he placed the death of Decius in March of 251, (Schwartz 172-73). Clarke's arguments against this view are convincing. Clarke (1980) 114-116.

4 The sources are almost unanimous in agreeing that Philippus Arabs died in the battle. His son, Philip II, either died at Verona with his father or shortly thereafter at Rome. Slobodan Dusanic has proposed a short period of sole rule by Philip II in the fall of 249, , and even a period of joint rule by Philip II and Decius (Dusanic 427-39). However, Hans Pohlsander's arguments against this interpretation seem decisive (Pohlsander [1982] 216-22). The considerable issue of Alexandrian coinage from the seventh year of Philip must have been minted after the last day of the Egyptian year, , August 28, 249 (Stein 40). In Pap. Harris 80. 39-40 Philip is considered to be alive and ruling on September 22, (Rea 19). Thus, even allowing a full month for the news to reach Egypt, the Battle of Verona can hardly have occurred before the third week of August. Decius was acknowledged as Augustus in Rome by October 16, , as a dated rescript (Cod. Just. 10. 16. 3) attests. Salisbury and Mattingly propose a probable date for the Battle of Verona in the latter half of September, allowing time for Decius to march to Rome and be recognized before October 16, (Salisbury and Mattingly 3-4). Loriot, who attempts to reconcile the papyrus and coin evidence with the reign length given in the Chron. a. 354, believes that Philip's death should not be placed later than September 11, (Loriot 791).

5 Salisbury and Mattingly 4-8.

6 E. g., CIL II, 4809, 4812, 4813, 4823, 4833, 4835; CIL III, 3723, 4645, 4651, 10641, 12515, 14155, 1418440; CIL VII, 1163, 1171, 1174, 1180; CIL VIII, 10313, 10314, 10318, 10360, 10457. K. Wittig in RE 15, s. v. "Messius," col. 1276. Salisbury and Mattingly 5-7. The absence of the name of Herennius Caesar suggests that these date to 249 or the first half of 250. Salisbury and Mattingly argue that Herennius was created Caesar "soon after the end of August 250" (Salisbury and Mattingly 12). However, according to Cod. Just. 5. 12. 9 there was already a Decius Caesar (certainly Herennius, not his younger brother, Hostilian) on June 8, 250, . Herennius, then, was probably elevated in preparation for the summer campaign of 250, rather than afterwards. For possible confirmation in the papyri, see Rea 20-21.

7 Though we lack the text of this edict, its provisions can be inferred from the libelli, documents issued to individuals as records of their compliance with the law. See Knipfing 345-90.

8 E. g., Eusebius Hist. eccl. 6. 39-42; Orosius Hist. ad. pag. 7. 21. 1; Lactantius De mort. pers. 4; Prosper Tiro Epit. chron. 843; Syncellus Eccl. chron. 684-704; Zonaras Ann. 12. 20.

9 Pohlsander (1986) 1826-42. See also Lietzmann 521, Babcock 147-58, Marelli 52-56; Clarke (1969) 63-76.

10 Pope Fabian, recognized by church historians as among the first martyrs of the Decian persecution, died on the 19th or 20th of January, 250. Cyprian Ep. 9, Clarke, ed. (1984-89) I, 70-71, 24, 132 n.119, 221-22 n.4. Chron. a. 354, Mommsen, ed. (1892) 71, 75. Lib. pont., Duchesne, ed., I, 148-49. Eusebius Hist. eccl. 6. 39.

11 Cyprian Ep. 39, Clarke, ed. (1984-89) II, 54-57, 188-89 n.8.

12 Caes. 29. 1.

13 Caes. 29. 1. Filium Etruscum nomine Caesarem facit; statimque, eo in Illyrios praemisso. On Herennius' elevation, see n.39 above.

14 PIR IV, 114 ("I" no. 48). RIC 4. 3, 66, 105. According to Aurelius Victor, Jotapian's head was sent to Rome by the soldiers "as is the custom." Caes. 29. 2. Isid. Iun. Chron. epit. 305a (Mommsen, ed. [1894] 463) places Jotapian's revolt in Galatia. Silvius Polemius puts him in Cappadocia: Laterculus I. 38 (Mommsen, ed. [1892] 521). Eutrop. Brev. hist. mentions civil war in Gallia, probably a garbled reference to Jotapian's usurpation in Galatia. The scarcity of his coins suggests that Jotapian did not remain in power long. Zosimus (Hist. nov. 1. 20. 2) and Silvius Polemius (loc. cit.) put his defeat in the reign of Philip. These reports may be reconciled with Aurelius Victor if, as DuFraigne suggested, Jotapian was defeated in Philip's lifetime but not captured and executed until Decius came to power (DuFraigne 151-52, n.5). It is unlikely that Jotapian survived long into Decius' reign, perhaps not later than the spring of 250.

15 On Priscus: Silv. Polem. Laterculus I. 40; Jord. Get. 18. 103; PIR IV, 254 ("I" no. 489); Walser 5-6.

16 Caes. 29. 3.

17 For a review of the literature, see Scardigli 225-38.

18 An inscription from Carlsburg styles Decius 'RESTITUTOR DACIARUM' (CIL III, 1176; cf. CIL II, 4957, 4958, 4949). Decius' antoninus with reverse type VICTORIA GERMANICA may celebrate a victory over the Goths in 251, , as Mattingly suggests: RIC 4.3, 113, 125 (no. 43), pl. 10 (no. 20).

19 On the site of Decius' final battle, see Ivanov 48-53.

20 An inscription from Rome dated June 9, still lists the Decii as (CIL VI, 31129) but in another dated June 24, they are already divi (CIL VI, 3743=31130=36760). The evidence of Orac. Sibyl. 13. 89-102 also puts Decius' death in June: Olmstead 399-400. The first Egyptian document of Decius' successor, Trebonianus Gallus, is an ὄστρακον from Thebes dated August 13, (Rea 19).

The Baths of Trajan Decius -- or of Philip the Arab?. James Terry. 2001. A Festschrift in Honor of Eugene N. Lane. Cathy Callaway. Stoa Consortium. 2001.

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