Pupienus. Pupienus was Roman Emperor with Balbinus for three months in 238, during the Year of the Six Emperors.
The sources for this period are scant, and thus knowledge of the emperor is limited. In most contemporary texts Pupienus is referred to by his cognomen Maximus rather than by his second nomen Pupienus.
The Historia Augusta, whose testimony is not to be trusted unreservedly, paints Pupienus as an example of advancement through the cursus honorum due to military success. It claims he was the son of a blacksmith, was adopted by one Pescennia Marcellina, and who started his career as a Centurio primus pilus before becoming a Tribunus Militum, and then a Praetor.
Pupienus's career was allegedly impressive, serving a number of important posts during the reign of the Severan dynasty throughout the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. This included assignment as Proconsul of the senatorial propraetorial provinces of Bithynia et Pontus, Achaea, and Gallia Narbonensis.
In fact Pupienus was part of the aristocracy, albeit a minor member, and his family had possibly been elevated only recently. Hailing from the Etruscan city of Volterra, it has been speculated that Pupienus was the son of Marcus Pupienus Maximus, a Senator who was the first member of his family to enter the Senate, and wife Clodia Pulchra. The claim in the Historia Augusta that Pupienus held three praetorian proconsular gove
The sources for this period are scant, and thus knowledge of the emperor is limited. In most contemporary texts Pupienus is referred to by his cognomen Maximus rather than by his second nomen Pupienus.
The Historia Augusta, whose testimony is not to be trusted unreservedly, paints Pupienus as an example of advancement through the cursus honorum due to military success. It claims he was the son of a blacksmith, was adopted by one Pescennia Marcellina, and who started his career as a Centurio primus pilus before becoming a Tribunus Militum, and then a Praetor.
Pupienus's career was allegedly impressive, serving a number of important posts during the reign of the Severan dynasty throughout the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. This included assignment as Proconsul of the senatorial propraetorial provinces of Bithynia et Pontus, Achaea, and Gallia Narbonensis.
In fact Pupienus was part of the aristocracy, albeit a minor member, and his family had possibly been elevated only recently. Hailing from the Etruscan city of Volterra, it has been speculated that Pupienus was the son of Marcus Pupienus Maximus, a Senator who was the first member of his family to enter the Senate, and wife Clodia Pulchra. The claim in the Historia Augusta that Pupienus held three praetorian proconsular gove
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