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Case file s1527 · Greece and Rome · 193
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193
Aureus Didius Iulianus: Didius Julianus, 193, Aureus, Rome, AV 7.25 g. IMP CAES M DID – IVLIAN AVG Laureate head r. Rev. RECTOR – ORBIS Julianus standing l., holding globe and roll
Aureus Didius Iulianus. Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG. CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
AD 193 (Pertinax)
Place
Praetorian camp, Rome, Italy
Field
Roman emperor · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
imperial succession by army acclamation and Senate decree
Historical event
Year of the Five Emperors, AD 193
Greece and RomeMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldEuropeItaly

The praetorian guard killed the emperor Pertinax and sold the empire to the highest bidder for 25,000 sesterces a soldier

In AD 193 the praetorian guard killed the emperor Pertinax. Herodian says the guards then announced from their camp walls that the empire was for sale. Inside the camp, Sulpicianus, the city prefect and Pertinax's father-in-law, was bidding for the throne. Herodian says the senator Didius Julianus heard the offer while drinking at a late-afternoon dinner, went to the camp, and boasted that he could outbid anyone. Cassius Dio says Julianus stood outside the wall and bid against Sulpicianus. The price rose to 20,000 sesterces per soldier. Julianus then raised it by 5,000 at once, shouting the figure and holding up his fingers. The guards accepted him. The Historia Augusta says he promised 25,000 and paid 30,000. He also promised to restore the good name of the murdered emperor Commodus. His wife and his daughter Didia Clara were given the title Augusta. Septimius Severus marched on Rome. The soldiers arrested Pertinax's killers and the Senate condemned Julianus to death. A common soldier killed him in the palace. Dio gives his last words: "But what evil have I done? Whom have I killed?" He was 60 and had reigned 66 days. His daughter lost the title Augusta.

What the law took from it

A title bought from the people paid to guard it is held only until someone with more soldiers arrives.

Sources
  1. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  2. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  3. livius.orgPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “The praetorian guard killed the emperor Pertinax and sold the empire to the highest bidder for 25,000 sesterces a soldier,” story s1527, https://www.celebrity.estate/pertinax-empire-auction-193, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Greece and RomeMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldEuropeItaly