Pertinax and Plots in the Historia Augusta: A Dismissal in 170 and Two Conspiracies in 193 CE

Abstract

Abstract This article examines two attempted senatorial coups against Pertinax during his brief reign in 193 CE. By examining literary and epigraphic evidence related to these coups, I argue that Pertinax's political opponents in 193 should be understood to come from a particular political and dynastic network, and that this network represents the final attempt of the connections of Lucius Verus to compete for the imperial power. Further support for this argument is adduced via an analysis of Pertinax's dismissal from a procuratorial post in 170, where there is circumstantial and prosopographical evidence to suggest opposition deriving from connections of this same network earlier in his career. I conclude by discussing how, through the analysis of these coups and similar incidents, we may gain insights into socio-political conflicts at a crisis point for the imperial aristocracy, and how they illustrate the ongoing importance of Antonine dynastic politics, ever-present but sometimes difficult to see.