Pupienus & Balbinus - Fist Bumpin' Bros

Everyone say goodbye to Finn's 2019 coin budget! These two were the final gap in my collection of legitimate, Senate-approved and uncontested Roman emperors from Augustus until at least Theodosius, or Valentinian III depending on what technically constitutes "legitimate". I had long been bothered by the gap in my album, and equally so with the prospect of dropping a couple hundred on a problem coin. As they say, "Go big or go home!"

Pupienus, 22 April - 29 July 238



AR Antoninianus
IMP CAES PVPIEN MAXIMVS AVG, Radiate draped bust right
CARITAS MVTVA AVGG (Mutual charitable spirit of the Augusti), Clasped hands

Born between 165-170, Pupienus and his colleague Balbinus were the last Roman emperors to have lived during the Nerva-Antonine period. Little is known with certainty of Pupienus' early life, except that he was a relatively minor member of the aristocratic class. Attaining maturity early in the Severan period, Pupienus was promoted through the ranks and was granted a suffect consulship in 207, after which he was sent to serve as the governor of Germania, where he secured victory over the Sarmatians and other minor tribes. He held the full consulship twice, in 222 and 234, and also served as Urban Prefect over Rome, where he was recognized for capable but at times excessively strict rule.

He was among the senators wholly dissatisfied with the rule of Maximinus Thrax, and was an avid supporter of the Gordians, serving on a panel of twenty senior senators to safeguard the city as they waited for their emperors to arrive. Gordian and his son were killed, however, and Maximinus was now on the war path to Rome. In a near-panic, the senators elected Pupienus and Balbinus as co-emperors and granted them both the title of Pontifex Maximus. The memory of his harsh term as Urban Prefect still fresh in the minds of the populace, rioting broke out among the citizens of Rome. Leaving Balbinus in Rome to deal with the unrest, Pupienus marched to Ravenna to prepare for the arrival of Maximinus, but Maximinus and his son were murdered by their own soldiers the following month, leaving Pupienus and Balbinus unchallenged. Despite the lack of a competing Imperial claimant, the former armies of Maximinus had to be bought, and it is probably for this purpose that the Antoninianus was reintroduced, which had been abolished about 19 years prior under Elagabalus.

The situation was no less deadly, however. Although little detail survives, there seems to have been a deeply seated rivalry between the disciplinarian Pupienus and the more amicable Balbinus, and both suspected the other of treachery; steps taken to safeguard one were seen as preparations for a coup by the other. Under pressure from the public and Senatorial factions who were loyal to the Gordians, both emperors adopted the teenaged Gordian III as their Caesar. The Praetorians meanwhile came to resent their aristocratic emperors, and hoped that the young Gordian would make a more suitable and pliable emperor. Pupienus begged Balbinus to call for the loyal German bodyguard, but Balbinus refused, suspecting that he would be murdered as soon as they arrived. The two emperors were arguing when the Praetorians burst in, dragged both of them away, and hacked them to bits. Pupienus was about 73 years old.