Maximinus Thrax

Maximinus Thrax was a career soldier of likely Balkan origin who became Roman emperor in AD 235 after troops murdered Severus Alexander. He spent most of his reign campaigning on the northern frontiers and never visited Rome. Heavy taxation and his outsider status alienated senators and provincial elites, leading to the revolts of the Gordians and the senate’s rival emperors. Maximinus was murdered by his own soldiers during the unsuccessful siege of Aquileia in 238.

Harry Sidebottom’s Iron and Rust and the wider Throne of the Caesars series fictionalise Maximinus and the crisis of 238. Historical fiction often presents him as a physically gigantic barbarian soldier confronting a contemptuous aristocracy. Ancient descriptions exaggerate size and brutality, but his reign genuinely marked a decisive shift towards emperors created by frontier armies.

In Harry Sidebottom’s Blood and Steel, in AD 238 opposition to Maximinus Thrax turns into open revolt. In Harry Sidebottom’s Fire and Sword, after the defeat of the Gordians, the Senate appoints Pupienus and Balbinus, while Maximinus Thrax advances into Italy and the young Gordian III becomes the focus of popular and dynastic hopes.