Marcus Valerian Maximianus

[keith A]

Can anyone confirm where this officer was serving in the period 165-169? I believe I read somewhere in a German publication that he may have been on the staff of Pertinax during this time.

regards


Keith

[Michael Kerr]

He does seem to have served with Lucius Verus in the Parthian campaign. Frank McLynn in his book Marcus Aurelius A Life mentions Maximianus a few times but he doesn't seem to be mentioned by any of the ancient sources covering the Marcomannic wars. He does however seem to have been a bit of a protégé of Pertinax. As Pertinax rose so did Maximianus, McLynn writes that he was given responsibility for escorting the supply caravans down the Danube river to the armies in Pannonia and thereafter he commanded detachments of the river fleet. He was prefect of the cavalry detachments ala I Hispanorum Aravacorum in Upper Pannonia and later prefect of the ala Contariorum at Arrabona on the Danube. In 171AD he ended the participation of the Naristae in the war by killing their chief in personal combat which was a throwback to much earlier Roman times. I found this webpage which has a bit of information on him although I can't confirm its accuracy.

http://www.rimskelegie.olw.cz/pages/arti...us_en.html

Regards
Michael Kerr

[Simplex]

Hi Keith,
....I ran into 2 websites (one czech and one polish) , both referring to the "Trencin Inscription" mentioning that name --- at that very era.
http://www.lidovky.cz/penas-rimska-cedul..._nazory_hm
The polish website also gives reference to another (contemporary) inscription from northern Africa (>Diana Veteranorum/Numidia-- todays Ain Zana/Algeria) where this name also was found.
http://www.poselska.nazwa.pl/wieczorna2/...olo-leszna
...yup, found another one:
http://www.rimskelegie.olw.cz/pages/arti...us_en.html
...oh, and yes it has been covered in Ancient Warfare ( VII.6) :
http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http:...DQ&dur=171
...by "our own" Caiusbeerquitius .

Greez

Simplex

Oops, I neede too long for that posting, so it has been covered additionally by s.o. else.

[Alexandr K]

I found this webpage which has a bit of information on him although I can't confirm its accuracy.

http://www.rimskelegie.olw.cz/pages/arti...us_en.html

Hello,

I wrote this article. I think it's not bad, but of course I'm a little biased

As far as I know, we do not have any information about Maximianus' whereabouts during this time period. Alföldy believes that he returned to his home town Poetovio for a few years (Alföldy, G., 1974. P. Helvius Pertinax und M. Valerius Maximianus. Situla, 14/15, p. 202). In this passage of his paper he also cites the following publications, which I have not seen, so may be, these can also be helpful:

Nagy, T., 1967. Some notes on the careers of M. Valerius Maximianus and P. Helvius Pertinax. Acta of the Fifth International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy, Cambridge, 417 ff.
Birley, A. R., 1968. The invasion of Italy in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. in: Provincialia. Festschrift für R. Laur-Belart, Basel/Stuttgart, p. 224.
Fitz, J., 1966. Der markomannisch-quadische Angriff gegen Aquileia und Opitergium. Historia 15, p. 363 and 365.

From the note it seems, that according to J. Fitz Maximianus remained in Asia Minor, but I don't know his arguments. In the note there is also a reference to J. Fitz's article in Acta Ant. Hung. 9, 1961, p. 167, where perhaps a different opinion may be expressed.

www.lidovky.cz/penas-rimska-cedule-aneb-..._183543_ln_nazory_hm

This site is useless with regard to this subject matter. (Just in case you would try to translate it to get the answer for your question.)

Best regards,
Alexandr

[D B Campbell]

Can anyone confirm where this officer was serving in the period 165-169? I believe I read somewhere in a German publication that he may have been on the staff of Pertinax during this time.

Almost everything we know about Valerius Maximianus comes from his career inscription (AE 1956, 124). It certainly seems that there is a hiatus between Lucius Verus' Parthian War (AD 162-166), in which Maximianus was decorated (inscription, lines 3-4), and his extraordinary command on the northern frontier (AD 170) (lines 4-8): "commissioned by the emperor Marcus Antoninus Augustus and sent into action in the German campaign to bring food by boat down the River Danube to supply the armies of both Pannonias, in command of detachments from the praetorian fleet at Misenum and also at Ravenna and also the British fleet and also of the African and Moorish cavalry selected for scouting in Pannonia". Further service on the Danube ensued, probably in AD 172 (lines 8-11).
[attachment=10860]AE1956-124.jpg[/attachment]

[keith A]

thanks to all. I wonder why there would be a break in his military career?/ There is a period of at least three or four years unaccounted for by the inscription. Is this because he is pursuing a civil appointment? Pertinax is a procurator at this time, overseeing government welfare distribution in Italy. Or was it related to the outbreak of plague across parts of the Roman Empire?

[D B Campbell]

I wonder why there would be a break in his military career?/ There is a period of at least three or four years unaccounted for by the inscription. Is this because he is pursuing a civil appointment?

Remember that these men weren't career soldiers. Under normal circumstances, they might do a couple of 3-year stints as unit commander, and set themselves up for a well-paid procuratorship (minor governorship). So it's not unusual for breaks in service. It's the abnormal crisis of the AD 170s that obliges men like Valerius Maximianus to take on extended service in emergency wartime positions. Maximianus perhaps developed a taste for campaigning, as he went on to command a legionary battle group stationed beyond the Danube in Marcus Aurelius' fledgling province of Marcomannia.

[keith A]

The duration of his gap (167-170) does seem almost like a prescribed civil career appointment. His four standard military appointments follow the usual pattern apart from this gap. As you say it does look like he develops a taste for military life but he had already proved himself to be a capable administrator too. I wonder if he was a member of Pertinax's civil rather than military administration?

[Nathan Ross]

they might do a couple of 3-year stints as unit commander

a prescribed civil career appointment

Can we really be so sure about the duration of these positions? I've seen three years mentioned often as an estimate for a single post in the equestrian militiae, just as for a senatorial governorship, but what are either of these estimates based upon?

Some career inscriptions (Marcius Turbo, for example) seem to pack so many positions between the few known or probable dates, that it would surely have been impossible for the subject to have held each for three years, unless they were held simultaneously.

On the matter of gaps between positions, meanwhile - is there evidence, perhaps from literary sources, of equestrian officers returning to civilian life for periods between the steps of the militiae? I'm sure they must have done so - there were only so many officer posts available, and there must have been considerable competition for them - but I've never seen anything of the sort recorded on a career inscription. Mind you 'spent a few years sightseeing in Greece' perhaps wouldn't have looked so impressive... mile:

[Flavius Inismeus]

I'm curious whether any Principate military commander came close to this extreme example of iteration in legionary command? Two legionary commands were rare enough, and Maximianus appears to have had six. 

Addition: five would be a more accurate number; the command of III Augusta was "provincia verius quam legio," to mangle a line from Pliny the Elder.