Decius (249 - 251 AD)

Family and Background

The emperor Decius, who appears to have been born at Budelia, a village near Sirmium, somewhere between 190 and 200 AD. His full name was Gaius Messius Quintus Decius Valerianus and he was consul by 232. He governed Moesia and Lower Germany between 232 and 235, and was governor of Nearer Spain under Maximinus. It is asserted by some sources that he was prefect of the city of Rome in 249, when he was dispatched to suppress the revolt of Pacatianus in the Balkans. He succeeded in this, but was then proclaimed emperor himself. He marched on Rome and became emperor upon the death of Philip. He was married to a woman of the Etruscan aristocracy named Herennia Etruscilla, and had two surviving sons by her when he assumed the throne. The elder of the pair, Herennius Decius may have been born in the 220s, the other, Hostilianus seems to have been considerably younger.

Principal Events (Foriegn)

Principal Events (Domestic)

Outlines of Policy

The emperor Decius was a curious figure. The evidence of his actions suggests that he was deeply conservative, that he was deeply pious, that he possessed a ferocious temper, and that he was quite stupid. He seems to have yearned for the days when the empire appeared to be invincible, and he appears to have cherished the memory of Trajan and the other emperors who had made Rome great. Thus one of his first acts after assuming the throne was to take the name Trajan for himself and to issue an edict ordering all the inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the ancestral gods for the safety of the state. His vision of the empire may also be reflected in the remarkable series of antoniniani which were issued from the mint at Milan commemorating the deified emperors.
Decius' edict on sacrifices is certainly the best known of his actions, this is because it had the coincidental effect of causing serious divisions within the Christian Church. The edict itself seems to have been straightforward. All the inhabitants of the empire were required to sacrifice before the magistrates of their community "for the safety of the empire" by a certain day (the date would vary from place to place and the order may have been that the sacrifice had to be completed within a specified period after a community received the edict). When they sacrificed they would obtain a certificate (libellus) recording the fact that they had complied with the order. Decius himself may have intended this act to reaffirm the pax deorum, and to reassure people throughout the empire that the empire was still secure after the passing of the millennium. For the Christian church it caused a terrible crisis of authority as various bishops and their flocks reacted to it in different ways (click here for more on this--take them to the discussion of the persecutions). Decius himself may not have been conscious of any of this. The edict reflects Decius' concern with tradition, it does not reflect a desire to eradicate Christianity, and, by the time the edict was taking effect, Decius had far more serious problems to worry about.
In the east, the unsettled situation that Decius inherited after the death of Philip remained unsettled, and there was considerable trouble associated with a figure named Mariades, who ultimately fled to Persia. While Mariades was ravaging the eastern provinces, the Goths once again invaded the empire. In the course of 250 the Carpi pierced the Dacian frontier and a large band of Goths, evidently under the command of a king named Cniva, attacked Moesia Decius moved first against the invaders of Dacia, and then against Cniva and his followers. But, when he caught up with them in the area of Beroea, he was heavily defeated.
News of Decius' defeat may have precipitated the short-lived revolt of Valens and the much more serious revolt of Priscus. This Priscus appears to have been the governor of Moesia, and he seized his chance to attack Decius by making an alliance with the Goths. He handed the city of Philoppopolis over to them to plunder in the spring of 251.
After sacking Philoppopolis, the Goths withdrew north through the Dobrudja (nothing is known about Priscus' fate) with Decius in pursuit. Decius caught up with them in late May or early June near Abrittus. The Goths appear to have taken up a position around a marsh in the area, and when the Romans attacked they became entangled in this swamp. The result was a total disaster and Decius died on the field. His body was never recovered.