Pescennius Niger

• 1. Introduction

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  Pescennius Niger was a Roman general who, in the spring of 193 AD, found himself proclaimed emperor by the eastern legions against his will and against a rival who would not stop. The citizens of Rome had taken to the streets, shouting his name, demanding he cross the empire to claim a throne that had just been sold at public auction. Niger took the cognomen Justus upon his accession. He meant to be the just emperor. He would be dead within a year.

  His story sits at the center of one of the strangest episodes in Roman history: the Year of the Five Emperors, in which the throne changed hands with a frequency that made the whole institution feel fragile. Who was this man the crowds called for? What did he actually control, and what did he lack? And how did a rival who claimed the title on the 14th of April manage to outmaneuver a popular general with the wealth of the east behind him?

• 2. From Equestrian to Senator

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  Niger was born around the year 135 into an old Italian equestrian family. According to the Historia Augusta, his parents were Annius Fuscus and Lampridia, and his grandfather had served as a supervisor at Aquinum. He may have had a brother named Publius Pescennius Niger, who is recorded in an inscription as a member of the Arval Brethren in 183, during the reign of Commodus.

  Despite his family's standing, Niger was the first of his line to reach the rank of Roman senator. His early career is largely obscure. He may have held an administrative post in Egypt and may have served in a military campaign in Dacia in the early years of Commodus. By the late 180s he had risen to become a suffect consul, and in 191 Commodus appointed him imperial legate of Syria.

  His father bore the cognomen Fuscus, meaning brown. Niger himself, according to the Historia Augusta, had a pale and corpulent body with a dark-red face and a notably black neck. Some contemporaries credited this distinctive appearance as the source of his own cognomen, Niger, meaning black. Cassius Dio recorded that a priest of Jupiter reported a dream in which a dark man broke into the emperor's camp, and that this dream was interpreted as referring to Niger.

• 3. A Throne Offered by the Streets

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  Niger was still at his post in Syria when news of the murder of Pertinax reached him, followed by reports that the imperial title had been auctioned off to Didius Julianus. A popular demonstration broke out in Rome, with citizens calling for Niger to come and claim the throne for himself. Julianus reportedly responded by dispatching a centurion east with orders to assassinate Niger at Antioch.

  By the end of April 193, the eastern legions had proclaimed Niger emperor. That same spring, Septimius Severus had already claimed the title on the 14th of April, weeks before Niger's proclamation. Although imperial propaganda later tried to portray Niger as the first rebel against Julianus, it was Severus who persisted and moved fastest.

  Niger sent envoys to Rome to announce his elevation, but Severus intercepted those messengers before they could reach their destination. As Niger worked to consolidate support among the eastern provinces, Severus marched directly on Rome, entering the city in early June after Julianus had been murdered. The contest had only just begun, and Severus was already holding the capital.

• 4. The Military Imbalance

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  Severus wasted no time after entering Rome. He ordered his newly appointed prefect of the watch, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, to seize Niger's children and hold them as hostages. Niger, for his part, worked to secure the loyalty of governors across the Asiatic provinces, including the esteemed proconsul of Asia, Asellius Aemilianus, who occupied Byzantium in Niger's name.

  Niger also moved to secure direct control over Egypt. Severus countered by ordering troops to guard Egypt's western border and prevent the legion stationed there, Legio II Traiana Fortis, from sending support to Niger.

  The eastern provinces offered great wealth, but the armies were another matter. Severus commanded sixteen Danubian legions. Niger had six: three in Syria, two in Arabia Petraea, and one at Melitene. Facing that numerical gap, Niger chose aggression. He sent a force into Thrace, where it defeated part of Severus' army under Lucius Fabius Cilo at Perinthus. It was a local victory that could not hold back the wider campaign.

• 5. Byzantium, Cyzicus, and the Long Retreat

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  Niger made Byzantium his headquarters and gave Asellius Aemilianus the task of defending the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara. Severus marched east, sending his general Tiberius Claudius Candidus ahead. Severus offered Niger a chance to surrender and go into exile. Niger refused.

  In the fall of 193, Candidus met Aemilianus at Cyzicus. Niger's forces were defeated and Aemilianus was captured and killed. Byzantium then came under siege, forcing Niger to abandon the city and fall back to Nicaea. The city of Byzantium remained defiant and loyal to Niger; it would take Severus until the end of 195 to finally take it.

  A second battle outside Nicaea in December 193 also ended in defeat for Niger. He managed to withdraw most of his army to the Taurus Mountains, where he held the passes for several months while returning to Antioch. But loyalty was draining away. Laodicea and Tyre switched sides. By the 13th of February 194, Egypt had declared for Severus, as had the imperial legate of Arabia. Severus then replaced Candidus with a new commander, Publius Cornelius Anullinus.

• 6. Issus and Its Aftermath

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  At Issus in May 194, Niger met Anullinus in what the sources describe as a long and hard-fought struggle. Niger was decisively defeated. Forced back to Antioch, he was captured while trying to flee toward Parthia. He was beheaded.

  His severed head was carried to Byzantium, but the city still refused to surrender. Eventually Severus stormed and completely destroyed Byzantium before ordering it rebuilt. Niger's head ultimately made its way to Rome, where it was put on public display.

  According to the Historia Augusta, Severus then punished Niger's supporters and had Niger's wife and children put to death, with his estates confiscated. Roman scholar Geoffrey Turton disputed this account, arguing that Septimius refrained from vindictive reprisals and that after Niger's death his family was allowed to live in retirement, since they were no longer useful as hostages and were expected to play no further part in public affairs. The Historia Augusta, Turton and others have noted, frequently served as a vehicle for the propaganda of later emperors, which casts doubt on its most punishing claims.

  The name Pescennius Niger carried an odd coincidence into history: it meant black Pescennius, while one of his rivals for the throne in 194, Clodius Albinus, bore a name meaning white Clodius. In the film The Fall of the Roman Empire, Niger is played by Douglas Wilmer and depicted as a scheming henchman of Commodus, competing at the film's end with Eric Porter's Didius Julianus in the famous auction for the imperial throne.