General Notes

BIOGRAPHY: Maximianus Herculius' Early Career Perhaps born ca.249/250A.D. in Sirmium in th e area of the Balkans, Marcus AureliusValeriusMaximianus, more commonly known as Maximianu s Herculius, hadbeen asoldier before he put on the purple. A fellow soldier withtheEmperorD iocletian, he had served in the military during the reigns ofAurelianand Probus. He may hav e served under Carus in Mesopotamia in 283and itwas likely that he was with his future co-ru ler Diocletian whenthelatter was proclaimed emperor at Nicomedeia on 20 November 284. His wifeEutropia bore him two children: Maxentius and Fausta. An olderdaughter,Theodora, may hav e been a step daughter.

BIOGRAPHY: Herculius' Family Connections When the EmperorDiocletiandetermined that the empir e was too large for one man to governon hisown, he made Maximianus his Caesar in 285/6 and e levated him tothe rankof Augustus in perhaps the spring of 286. While Diocletian ruledin th eEast, Maximian ruled in the West. In 293, in order to maintain andtostrengthen the stabilit y of the empire, Diocletian appointedConstantiusI Chlorus to serve Herculius as a Caesar i n the West, whileGalerius didthe same job in the East. This arrangement, called the"Tetrarc hy", wasmeant not only to provide a stronger foundation for thetwo emperors'rule, but also t o end any possible fighting over thesuccession to thethrone once the two senior Augusti ha d left thethrone--a problem whichhad bedeviled the principate since the time of theEmpero r Augustus. Tocement the relationship between Herculius and hisCaesar, Constantiusmarried Ma ximianus' elder daughter Theodora. A decadelater, Constantius'son Constantine would marry He rculius' youngerdaughter Fausta.

BIOGRAPHY: Herculius' Military Activities To a large degree,Herculiusspent the early years o f his reign engaging in lacklustercampaigning.Although he was able to quell the Bagaudae fai rly easily in286, it waswith some measure of difficulty that he put down a Germaninvasion o fGaul in the fall of the same year. Additionally, he appointedCarausiusto command his navy a nd to defeat the pirates; because ofcertainfinancial irregularities that had occurred durin g his successfultour,Carausius revolted and declared himself emperor. Britain and thenorthe rnpart of Gaul sided with the usurper. On his own, Maximanus wasunable torepress him; he an d his Praetorian Prefect Constantiusattempted to dealwith both the on-going problem of Carau sius and thecontinued Germanicincursions of his realm. As soon as Constantius wasappointe d Caesar in293, he recovered northern Gaul after he defeatedCarausius near Bononiaand repres sed any sparks of rebellion in theregion. It was not until296, however, that the Caesar wa s able torecover Britain by defeatingCarausius' successor Allectus; while hecampaigned in B ritain, Maximianusstood watch on the Rhine. Between 297and 299 the Augustus seems to havefou ght the Moors in Spain and takenthe offensive against African tribesin the general area of C arthage. theemperor appears to have spent theremainder of his reign in a state ofindolenc e in Milan or Aquileia andwas content to allow Constantius toshoulder the real burdens of st ateincluding, among other things, theGerman threat.

BIOGRAPHY: In political matters, the emperor and his Caesar wereverydifferent. Maximianus wa s allegedly very heavy handed when dealingwithmembers of the Roman Senate, whereas his Caesa r's relationship withthepatricians was apparently fairly good. Surprisingly, when faced wit htheedicts which provided the legal foundation for the "Great Persecution"in303, both Maxim ianus Herculius and Constantius seem to have beenmoremoderate in their dealings with Christi ans than Diocletian andGaleriuswho rigorously enforced the laws in the Eastern portion of th eempire.the Caesar limited his actions to the demolition of churches.

BIOGRAPHY: Maximianus' Resignation On 1 May 305 Diocletian, atNicomedeia,and Maximianus Herc ulius, at Mediolanum, divested themselvesof thepurple. Their resignations seem largely due t o the almost fatalillnessthat Diocletian contracted toward the end of 304. Diocletianseems t ohave forced his colleague to abdicate. In any case, Herculiushad sworn anoath at the templ e of Capitoline Jupiter to carry out theterms of theabdication. Constantius and Galerius wer e appointed asAugusti, withMaximinus Daia and Severus as the new Caesars. the retiredemperor s thenreturned to private life. Diocletian's retirement was atSalonae inDalmatia, while Her culius' retreat was either in Lucania orCampania.

BIOGRAPHY: Herculius' Swansong Herculius' retirement, however, wasofshort duration because , a little more than a year later on 28October306, his son Maxentius was proclaimed empero r at Rome. To givehis regimean aura of legitimacy, Maximianus was forced to affirm hisson's acclamation. When Galerius learned of Maxentius' rebellion, hesentSeverus against him with a n army that had formerly been underhisfather's command. Maxentius invested his father with t he purple againtowin over his enemy's troops, a ruse which succeeded. Perhapstostrengthen h is own position, in 307 he went to Gaul and marriedhisdaughter Fausta to Constantine. When C onstantine refused tobecomeembroiled in the civil war between Galerius and Maxentius, Herculiusreturned to Rome in 308 and attempted to depose his son; however, hedidnot succeed. Whe n he was unable to convince Diocletian to take upthepurple again at a meeting in Carnuntum i n late 308, he returned tohisson-in-law's side in Gaul. Although he was treated with all o ftherespect due a former emperor, he still desired to be more thanafigurehead. He decided t o seize the purple from Constantine whenhisson-in-law least expected it. His opportunity cam e in the summer of310when the Franks revolted. When Constantine had taken a small part ofhi sarmy into enemy territory, Maximianus proclaimed himself againemperorand paid the soldier s under his command a donative to securetheirloyalty. As soon as Constantine received news a bout Maximianus'revolt inJuly 310, he went south and reached Arelate before hisfather-in-la wcould mount a defense of the city. Although Maximianus fledto Massilia,his son-in-law seize d the city and took Maximianus prisoner.Although hewas deprived of the purple, he was grante d pardon for hiscrimes. Unableto endure the humiliation of his defeat, he attempted tohav e Constantinemurdered in his bed. the plot failed because he tried toget his daughterFausta' s help in the matter; she chose to reveal thematter to herhusband. Because of this attempt o n his son-in-law's lifeMaximianus wasdead by the end of July either by his own hand or on th eorders of hisintended victim.


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