Avera, and welcome to Emperor of Rome, a Roman history podcast from Latrobe University.

I'm your host Matt Smith and with me today is Dr. Cayland Davenport, lecturer in Roman history at Macquarie University.

This is episode L-X, X I, I, I, Didious Julianis.

Enraged at the lack of a decent bonus, the Praetorian guards have cut down the newly installed Emperor Pertanax and resolved to sell the throne to the highest bidder.

Stepping forward with a sufficient bank balance is Didius Julianus, a man with a proven track record with both the military and the Senate.

What could go wrong?

Year of the Five Emperors, take two.

Here's Caitlin Davenport.

The Patroian guards rarely have a plan. Usually it's the Petorian Prefect who calls the shots there, but in this case there there is no plan for who is going to be Emperor Next after Pertanax.

The guards are essentially left in position where they are once again kingmakers.

So the Pertorian guards decide to auction off the empire to the highest bidder.

We saw under Pertanax that they were unhappy with how much they were being paid.

They didn't like the fact they were only going to get a donative of 12,000 of stersies at his accession

So now's an opportunity to auction off the empire to get as much money as they possibly could

So who's going to give us the most that person can be the

emperor? Exactly. It's amazing that the role of emperor has become a

commodity that's actually degraded to this point where it's up to the highest bidder.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, Dio talks about is one of the most disgraceful things that have ever

happened in the history of the Roman Empire. I mean, the Roman Emperor is supposed to be the best ban in the state, but this action is sort of like the final

acknowledgement of the reality of imperial power.

Yes, the emperors are ratified by the Senate and they are theoretically

the head of the Senate, but in order to guarantee their power, they need the support of the Army and that may seem simplistic but when push come to shove that's the essence of how Rome works.

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