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Maximinus - Giant Emperor of Rome Even after crushing them with humiliating defeats from which they never recovered, the Romans still were not quite done with the giants—for three of them later became their emperor. Caius Julius Verus Maximinus, the first of these, rose from the lowest ranks of the Roman army to general; then the bloody assassin's sword suddenly made him the world's most powerful man. Maximinus' humble birth occurred about A.D. 173, in Thrace (modern Bulgaria). The son of a Getae, he spent his earliest years as a shepherd, growing to a height of eight feet six inches. Yet for all his size and strength, he might have remained an obscure peasant had not the Emperor Septimius Severus, in 202, stopped in Thrace on his return from Asia. It so happened that the birthday of Severus' younger son, Geta, fell at this time, and to celebrate that event the emperor sponsored some games for the public. When the Romans challenged the locals to a contest—to determine who was the best —the Thracians chose Maximinus to represent them. Without much effort, he threw sixteen of the emperor's strongest warriors in succession. Impressed, the Romans immediately enlisted him in the army. Three days later, the new recruit, seeing the emperor pass on horseback at a full gallop, caught up with him and kept the pace. The race between the giant on foot and the emperor on his horse went on for some distance, but Maximinus continued to run along-side Septimius. Wonder struck, the emperor challenged him to enter another wrestling match. Though much fatigued, Maximinus agreed. With Septimius looking on, he threw seven more of the emperor's toughest men, one after another. For this feat the emperor awarded him a gold collar and promoted him to the emperor's guard. As a soldier, Maximinus proved himself as brave as he was strong. He also displayed a remarkable leadership ability. Because of these qualities, he rose rapidly through all the military ranks to take command of armies and the government of provinces. The giant so impressed the young emperor Alexander Severus that he elevated him to the position of tribune, with the rank of senator. He also appointed him supreme commander of the Roman armies. Herodian says Alexander's new commander not only stood to a huge height but possessed a frightening look. Statues of Maximinus and coins minted with his image bear this out. Another Roman his-torian, Julius Capitolinus, describes his hands as so large that he used the bracelet of his wife, Caecilia Pauline, for a thumb-ring. The shoes he wore also measured a foot longer than the footwear of other men. Besides the feats of strength already mentioned above, Maximinus reportedly could, with one blow of his fist, knock out a horse's teeth. On occasion he also demonstrated he could outpull a chariot team. Capitolinus says that he daily ate forty pounds of meat and usually drank six gallons of wine. Such a fellow could not help but awe the soldiers under him. But Maximinus had much more going for him than that. He developed into an accomplished leader who knew how to gain from his men the greatest loyalty and effort. Because of his experience, Alexander placed him in charge of instructing all recruits in their military duties and training them for war. "By carrying out his assignments thoroughly and diligently," reports Herodian, "Maximinus won the affection of the soldiers. He not only taught them their duties; he also demonstrated personally to each man what he was to do. As a result, the recruits imitated his manliness and were both his pupils and his admirers. He won their devotion by giving them all kinds of gifts and rewards. Consequently, the recruits . .. praised the masculinity of Maximinus and despised Alexander as a mother's boy." That year, 235, Alexander himself led a great Roman army to the west bank of the Rhine opposite Germany. His mother, Julia Mamaea, accompanied him. The active role she took in the administrative affairs of the empire apparently extended even to the battlefield. She also controlled the purse strings. This domination by his mother the soldiers despised. They also held their emperor in contempt because he had pussyfooted it against the Persians, a war from which they had only recently returned. Now, against the Germans, he was showing the same timidity. And the soldiers, reports Herodian, "were not pleased by his action, for the time was passing without profit to them, and Alexander was doing nothing coura-geous or energetic about the war; on the contrary, when it was essential that he march out and punish the Germans for their insults, he spent the time in chariot racing and luxurious living." The malcontents began drawing disparaging comparisons be-tween the "effeminate" emperor and their "manly" giant commander, to whom they had become totally devoted. They soon reached the conclusion the empire would be much better off under Maximinus' rule. They therefore now plotted to kill Alexander and proclaim their fellow soldier and messmate emperor and Augustus. This decision they carried out one day during their regular assembly on the drill field. As Maximinus took his place, some soldiers approached him and threw a purple mantle over his shoulders. At first he declined the honor but finally assented. "After arousing great enthusiasm and goodwill among the troops," writes Herodian, "Maximinus doubled their rations, promised them lavish gifts, and revoked all sentences and punishments. He then marched out, for his camp was not far from the headquarters of Alexander and his companions.... When these developments were reported, Alexander, panic-stricken by the incredible nature of the message, was in complete confusion." As Maximinus and his armed men approached, the emperor ordered his guards to apprehend them. The guards hesitated, then backed away, allowing the assassins to enter and put to death both Alexander and his mother. Back in Rome a reluctant senate confirmed Maximinus as emperor. But the huge Thracian soon found himself hampered by pressing money problems. He not only faced a pinch in the revenues needed to prosecute the German war, but he also needed a lot more money to pay his soldiers the double pay he had promised them. To obtain these needed revenues, he first raised taxes across the empire and confiscated several estates of the wealthy. When even that failed to furnish enough, "he pillaged cities and temples, coined the statues of the gods into money, and confiscated the funds set apart for games and distributions. Citizens were cut down while endeavoring to defend the statues of their gods. A catastrophe was becoming inevitable." Although his elevation pleased many in the army, it disillusioned others. A few reacted against it. One such conspiracy involved some dissentient officers who saw a chance to overthrow Maximinus during one of his campaigns across the Rhine. Their plan was simple: knock down the bridge, strand the emperor on the other side, and elevate Magnus, a man of consular rank, to the throne. But word of the plot came to Maximinus' ears, and he ordered all the conspirators put to death. The corps of Osrhoenian and Armenian archers hatched a second plot. Loyal to Alexander, they sought to avenge the giant for his murder. These archers planned to place a purple robe on Quartinus, one of Alexander's friends, and proclaim him emperor. But their leader, Macedo, wavered at the last moment, and then, thinking to protect himself, he murdered Quartinus instead. The ungrateful Maximinus ordered Macedo executed anyway. "After these menacing disturbances," says Michael Grant, "Maximinus remained suspicious and embit-tered. All officers of senatorial rank were removed from the army, and replaced by professional soldiers whom he himself had promoted." On top of his burdensome new tax levies and appropriation of estates, which alone were enough to arouse his subjects to hatred, Maximinus added the offense of many murders. Anyone who opposed or insulted him he killed without hesitation. His contemporaries say that, in an attempt to erase the memory of his humble beginnings, he even caused the disappearance of many who had initially supported his rise to power, simply because they knew him when. . . . The public, reacting to all this, began to refer to Maxi-minus sneeringly as "the Cyclops," "the Busiris," and "the wild beast," and men openly desired his death. Capitolinus writes that the public's hope for the giant emperor's death became widespread. It even inspired the following popular song, which the historian preserved for posterity: He who cannot be killed by one is killed by many, The song proved prophetic. In 238, while Maximinus was at Sirmium with the army, some landowners in the African province —angered over his new taxes—revolted. Using the revolt as an excuse, the Senate deposed Maximinus and conferred the title of emperor upon Gordian. When he heard of his removal from power, writes Ivar Lissner, Maximinus "behaved like a huge, tormented bear. Convulsed with rage, he dashed himself against walls, threw himself on the ground, bellowed, lashed out at his servants, tried to claw his son's eyes out, and finally drank himself into a stupor." After sobering up, he assembled his troops, and, intent upon forcing a showdown, he started a march on Rome. But by the time they reached Aquileia, which the Senate had ordered to defend itself, Maximinus' troops had begun to show mutinous tendencies. An outraged body of the Praetorian guard finally decided to assassinate him. One day, while waiting for the right opportunity, they obliquely observed Maximinus and his son finish their midday meal. A short while after the two retired to their tent for their usual siesta, several guardsmen armed with swords and spears followed. Inside the tent they fell upon the mighty giant emperor and his son and spilled their blood.
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