The future emperor Pertinax was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control.

Pertinax was acclaimed emperor but was killed by the Praetorian Guard in early 193.

It depicts a man who is about 50 years old, possibly a family member, or possibly the Emperor Pertinax when he was governor of the province of Britannia.

At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aelius and Pertinax ( or, less frequently, year 945 Ab urbe condita ).

* Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which was wrecked under Commodus, and to reestablish discipline in the Roman army.

Ulpius Marcellus was replaced as governor of Britain by Pertinax ; brought to Rome and tried for treason, Marcellus narrowly escaped death.

At the end of June, a mob demonstrated against Cleander during a horse race in the Circus Maximus: he sent the praetorian guard to put down the disturbances, but Pertinax, who was now City Prefect of Rome, dispatched the Vigiles Urbani to oppose them.

He claimed the imperial throne in response to the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus, but was defeated by a rival claimant, Septimius Severus and killed while attempting to flee from Antioch.

He was still serving in Syria when news came through firstly of the murder of Pertinax, followed by the auctioning off of the imperial title to Didius Julianus.

Pertinax (; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193 ) was Roman Emperor for three months in 193.

Born in Alba Pompeia in Italy, the son of freedman Helvius Successus, originally Pertinax made his way as a grammaticus ( teacher of grammar ), but he eventually decided to find a more rewarding line of work and through the help of patronage he was commissioned an officer in a cohort.

In 175 he received the honor of a suffect consulship and until 185, Pertinax was governor of the provinces of Upper and Lower Moesia, Dacia, Syria and finally governor of Britain.

After the murder had been carried out, Pertinax, who was serving as urban prefect at this time, was hurried to the Praetorian Camp and proclaimed emperor the following morning.

On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when, according to the Historia Augusta, a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed the gates ( two hundred according to Cassius Dio ).

Pertinax was the pseudonymn of the French journalist André Géraud ( 1882 – 1974 ).

In the history as established by the novel, the plot against Pertinax was thwarted, and Pertinax introduced a series of reforms that would consolidate the Roman Empire to such a degree that it would still be a major power in the 21st century.

As a reward for his skill and gallantry in repressing an insurrection among the Chauci, a tribe dwelling on the Elbe, he was raised to the consulship in 175, along with Pertinax.

After the murder of Pertinax ( 28 March 193 ), the Praetorian assassins announced that the throne was to be sold to the man who would pay the highest price.

At last the Praetorians, having received assurances that they would suffer no punishment – provided they surrendered the actual murderers of Pertinax – seized the ringleaders of the conspiracy and reported what they had done to Silius Messala, the consul, by whom the Senate was summoned and informed of the proceedings.

150 – February 19, 197 ) was a Roman usurper proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain and Hispania ( the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal ) upon the murder of Pertinax in 193.

He tried to quell the unruly soldiers there but one legion mutinied and attacked his bodyguard, leaving Pertinax for dead.

Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus.

Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thus protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination.

After his entry to Rome, Septimius recognized Pertinax as a legitimate emperor, executed the soldiers who killed him, and not only pressured the Senate to deify him and provide for him a state funeral, but also adopted his cognomen of Pertinax as part of his name, and also for some time held games on the anniversary of Pertinax's ascension and his birthday.

Between 171 and 175, the commander was Pertinax, emperor for a brief period in 193.

Pertinax was elevated to the purple and recognized by his peers, but following his murder by a restive Praetorian guard, Septimius Severus decided to make his bid for power and usurped the throne.

During this time he gave much support to the young Pertinax, who was later to become emperor for a brief time after Pompeianus himself refused to take the throne.

The emperor Pertinax was murdered in 193, and four generals again " contended for the purple ".

However, some charge him with showing too great a partiality for Pertinax.

* Publius Helvius Pertinax ( 125 – 103 ), Governor of Britain c. 185 – 187 and Roman Emperor for the first 86 days of 193 AD was born in Alba.

After the murder of Emperor Pertinax ( 193 ), a struggle began for the succession to the throne, the so-called Year of the Five Emperors.

The Historia Augusta, Life of Antoninus Caracalla, relates ( 10. 5 ) that Caracalla then assumed the name Alemannicus, at which Helvius Pertinax jested that he should really be called Geticus Maximus, because in the year before he had murdered his brother, Geta.

Two sculpted marble busts found in the cellar may be those of Pertinax, governor in 185-186, and his father-in-law, Publius Helvius Successus.

Upon his arrival at Rome in 193, he discharged the Praetorian Guard which had murdered Pertinax and auctioned the Roman Empire to Didius Julianus.

Alba was the birthplace of Publius Helvius Pertinax, briefly Roman emperor in 193.

He governed Bithynia and succeeded Pertinax as the proconsul of Africa.

* January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor.

When Commodus ' behaviour became increasingly erratic throughout the early 190s, Pertinax is thought to have been implicated in the conspiracy that led to his assassination on 31 December 192.

Notwithstanding the appointment of Junius Severus as his successor, Albinus kept his command until after the murders of Commodus and his successor Pertinax in 193.

The mutiny was suppressed by Pertinax, who would later become emperor himself after Commodus was murdered.

After the death of Commodus in 192, Pertinax offered the throne to Pompeianus, but the offer was declined.

# The Cruelty, Follies, and Murder of Commodus – Election of Pertinax – His Attempts to Reform the State – His Assassination by the Praetorian Guards – Indignation