Year of the Six Emperors

The Year of the Six Emperors was the year AD 238, during which at least six different men made claims to be emperors of Rome. The events of the year were characteristic of the period dubbed the Crisis of the Third Century (AD 235–285) by later historians.

The year began with Maximinus Thrax as ruler of the Roman Empire. A tax revolt in the province of Africa briefly saw Gordian I and his son Gordian II proclaimed co-emperors and recognized as such by the Senate in Rome. The African revolt was swiftly crushed, and the Senate, fearing reprisal from Maximinus for supporting the now-dead Gordians, proclaimed Pupienus and Balbinus as new emperors and charged them with defending the capital. Bowing to popular pressure, the Senate also elevated the 13-year-old Gordian III, grandson of Gordian I. During the subsequent siege of Aquileia, Maximinus was assassinated by his own troops. Pupienus and Balbinus were later murdered by the Praetorian Guard, leaving Gordian III the sole nominal ruler of the empire.

Although most often referred to as the Year of Six Emperors, there were actually seven different individuals who claimed imperial title over the course of the year. As such, it is referred to as the Year of the Seven Emperors in some literature on the subject. The discrepancy lies in whether to count Gaius Julius Verus Maximus, the son of Maximinus Thrax, who bore the title caesar but was never proclaimed full augustus. Edward Gibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, includes Maximus when he notes how "in the space of a few months, six princes had been cut off by the sword", before Gordian III became sole emperor.