Maximinus II

Maximinus II (Latin: Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus Daia Augustus; 20

Maximinus Daia
November c. 270 – July or August 313), also known as Maximinus Daia or
Maximinus Daza, was Roman Emperor from 308 to 313. He became embroiled Augustus of the Eastern Roman
in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the Empire
empire, in which he was defeated by Licinius. A committed pagan, he engaged in
one of the last persecutions of Christians.

Contents
Early career
Civil war
Persecution of Christians
Eusebius on Maximinus
See also
References
External links Emperor of the Roman Empire
Reign 305–308 (as Caesar in
the east, under
Early career Galerius);
He was born of Dacian peasant stock to the sister of the emperor Galerius near 310 – May 313 (as
their family lands around Felix Romuliana, in Dacia Ripensis, a rural area then in Augustus in the east,
the former Danubian region ofMoesia, now Eastern Serbia.[2] in competition with
Licinius)
He rose to high distinction after joining the army
.
Predecessor Galerius
In 305, his maternal uncle Galerius became the eastern Augustus and adopted Successor Licinius
Maximinus, raising him to the rank of caesar (in effect, the junior eastern
Co-emperor Licinius (Western
Emperor), and granting him the government ofSyria and Egypt.
Emperor)

Civil war Born 20 November c. 270

near Felix Romuliana
In 308, after the elevation of Licinius to Augustus, Maximinus and Constantine (Gamzigrad, Serbia)
were declared filii Augustorum ("sons of the Augusti"), but Maximinus probably
Died August 313 (aged 42)
started styling himself as Augustus during a campaign against the Sassanids in
310. On the death of Galerius in 311, Maximinus divided the Eastern Empire Full name
between Licinius and himself. When Licinius and Constantine began to make Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximinus
common cause, Maximinus entered into a secret alliance with the usurper Caesar Daia Augustus[1]
Maxentius, who controlled Italy. He came to an open rupture with Licinius in 313;
Regnal name
he summoned an army of 70,000 men but sustained a crushing defeat at the Battle
Imperator Caesar Gaius Galerius
of Tzirallum in the neighbourhood of Heraclea Perinthus on April 30. He fled,
Valerius Maximinus Daia Augustus
first to Nicomedia and afterwards to Tarsus, where he died the following August.
His death was variously ascribed "to despair, to poison, and to the divine
justice".[3]
Persecution of Christians
Maximinus has a bad name in Christian annals for renewing their persecution after the publication of the Edict of Toleration by
Galerius, acting in response to the demands of various urban authorities asking to expel Christians. In one rescript replying to a
petition made by the inhabitants of Tyre, transcribed by Eusebius of Caesarea,[4] Maximinus expounds an unusual pagan orthodoxy,
explaining that it is through "the kindly care of the gods" that one could hope for good crops, health, and the peaceful sea, and that
not being the case, one should blame "the destructive error of the empty vanity of those impious men [that] weighed down the whole
world with shame". In one extant inscription (CIL III.12132, from Arycanda) from the cities of Lycia and Pamphylia asking for the
interdiction of the Christians, Maximinus replied, in another inscription, by expressing his hope that "may those [...] who, after being
[5]
freed from [...] those by-ways [...] rejoice [as] snatched from a grave illness".

After the victory of Constantine over Maxentius, however, Maximinus wrote to the Praetorian Prefect Sabinus that it was better to
"recall our provincials to the worship of the gods rather by exhortations and flatteries".[6] Eventually, on the eve of his clash with
Licinius, he accepted Galerius' edict; after being defeated by Licinius, shortly before his death at Tarsus, he issued an edict of
tolerance on his own, granting Christians the rights of assembling, of building churches, and the restoration of their confiscated
properties.[7]

Eusebius on Maximinus
The Christian writer Eusebius claims that Maximinus was consumed by avarice and superstition. He also allegedly lived a highly
dissolute lifestyle:

And he went to such an excess of folly and drunkenness that his mind was deranged and crazed in his carousals; and
he gave commands when intoxicated of which he repented afterward when sober. He suffered no one to surpass him
in debauchery and profligacy, but made himself an instructor in wickedness to those about him, both rulers and
subjects. He urged on the army to live wantonly in every kind of revelry and intemperance, and encouraged the
governors and generals to abuse their subjects with rapacity and covetousness, almost as if they were rulers with him.
Why need we relate the licentious, shameless deeds of the man, or enumerate the multitude with whom he committed
gins.[8]
adultery? For he could not pass through a city without continually corrupting women and ravishing vir

According to Eusebius, only Christians resisted him.

For the men endured fire and sword and crucifixion and wild beasts and the depths of the sea, and cutting off of
limbs, and burnings, and pricking and digging out of eyes, and mutilations of the entire body, and besides these,
hunger and mines and bonds. In all they showed patience in behalf of religion rather than transfer to idols the
reverence due to God.

And the women were not less manly than the men in behalf of the teaching of the Divine Word, as they endured
conflicts with the men, and bore away equal prizes of virtue. And when they were dragged away for corrupt purposes,
they surrendered their lives to death rather than their bodies to impurity
.

He refers to one high-born Christian woman who rejected his advances. He exiled her and seized all of her wealth and assets.[9]
Eusebius does not give the girl a name, butTyrannius Rufinus calls her "Dorothea," and writes that she fled to Arabia. This story may
have evolved into the legend of Dorothea of Alexandria. Caesar Baronius identified the girl in Eusebius' account with Catherine of
Alexandria, but the Bollandists rejected this theory.[9]

See also
 Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy (306-324 AD)

References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
"Maximinus, Galerius Valerius". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 925.

1. http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/maximinus_II/i.html
2. Roman Colosseum, Maximinus Daza(http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-emperors/maximinus-daza.htm)
3. Gibbon, Edward, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', Chapter 14
4. Ecclesiastical History , IX, 8-9 ; Eng. trans. available at[1] (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250109.htm).
Accessed August 2 2012
5. John Granger Cook, The Interpretation of the New Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,
2000, ISBN 3-16-147195-4 , page 304, footnote 175
6. Ecclesiastical History, IX, 1-10
7. Ecclesiastical History, X, 7-11
8. Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 14.
9. Enciclopedia dei Santi: Santa Dorotea di Alessandria(http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/39650)

External links
Media related to Maximinus II at Wikimedia Commons

DiMaio, Michael, "Maximinus Daia (305–313 A.D.)",De Imperatoribus Romanis

Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). C
" aius Valerius Daja Maximinus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert
Appleton Company.
 Maximinus II
Constantinian dynasty
Born: 20 November 270 Died: July or August 313

Regnal titles
Roman Emperor
Preceded by 308–313 Succeeded by
Galerius and with Galerius, Constantine I
Constantine I Constantine I and and Licinius
Licinius

Political offices
Consul of the Roman
Empire Succeeded by
Preceded by 307 Diocletian ,
Constantius with Maximian, Galerius,
Chlorus, Constantine I , Maxentius,
Galerius Flavius Valerius Valerius
Severus,, Romulus
Galerius
Consul of the Roman
Preceded by
Empire
Tatius Succeeded by
311
Andronicus , Constantine I ,
with Galerius ,
Pompeius Licinius,
Gaius Caeionius Rufius
Probus, Maxentius
Volusianus,
Maxentius
Aradius Rufinus
Succeeded by
Consul of the Roman Gaius
Preceded by
Empire Caeionius
Constantine I ,
313 Rufius
Licinius,
with Constantine I , Volusianus,
Maxentius
Licinius Petronius
Annianus

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