Marcus Didius Julianus

Marcus Didius Julianus was an emperor who reigned for three months in 193. The son of a distinguished general, he was a rich senator and a jurist in the reign of Hadrian. On the death of Pertinax in March 193 the Praetorian Guard put the Empire up for auction to the highest bidder, and Didius eventually won, beating his father-in-law, the city prefect Flavius Sulpicianus, by offering 25,000 sesterces a man. He did not, however, pay the price he had offered, and rapidly became unpopular with the people and the provincial armies, many of which revolted against him. Septimius Severus was proclaimed emperor at Carnuntum on the Danube and Pescennius Niger in Syria. The former marched on Rome and received the support of the Praetorian Guard, whereupon the Senate condemned Didius to death. He was executed on 2 June in the same year.