Barracks Emperors

Severus Alexander's troops didn't like that he was a mama's boy.

His mother Julia Mamaea was the daughter of Julia Maesa- the grandmother in yesterday's post.

When Severus Alexander's troops killed him, they put one of their own in charge.

There was no lineage, no legitimacy, no claim to particular authority.

The Emperor they chose was the first Plebe Emperor, the first 'barracks Emperor', and a provincial.

Maximinus Thrax. A big brute of a man.

The senators didn't like this, but for all their faults, the barracks Emperors were used fighting against barbarian incursions with minimal support or direction from Rome.

1768 years later, some grunt would write, "America is not at war. The Marine Corps is at war; America is at the mall."

A sentiment that would have been understood by Roman legionnaires of Thrax's time.

The Crisis of the Third Century would have 26 different Emperors, many from the barracks.