Diadumenian on denarius 218 AD, British Imperial Museum, Wikipedia “List of Roman Emperors” under license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

(3) DIADUMENIAN –

USURPER: SEVERAN DYNASTY (MAY – JUNE 218: LESS THAN 1 MONTH)

Well, not quite a usurper but the child of a usurper attempting to make his own dynasty.

Similarly to my mention for numismatic mystery imperial claimant Silbannacus, it may seem uncharitable to rank this child co-emperor as dishonorable mention and again so low in my rankings, but I just can’t rank him otherwise even if his pathetic reign as ephemeral emperor was not really his fault. And given how brief that reign was for Diadumenian – indeed the briefest of my dishonorable mentions – he ranks the lowest of my child-emperor rankings. Not to mention his ‘reign’ was so brief and pathetic, Dovahhatty doesn’t even mention him.

Diadumenian was the son of Macrinus, the praetorian prefect who plotted the assassination of his predecessor Caracalla and proclaimed himself emperor. When Elagabalus led a resurgent Severan dynasty in revolt against Macrinus, Macrinus proclaimed Diadumenian – then nine years of age – as co-emperor, a position Diadumenian held for less than a month before Macrinus was defeated in battle by Elagabalus. Diadumenian was sent by his father to the Sassanid Persian court in an attempt to ensure his safety, but he was captured and executed en route. The Senate declared damnatio memoriae for both Macrinus and Diadumenian.

DID DOVAHHATTY DO RIGHT?

As I said, Dovahhatty didn’t do him at all – that’s how insignificant he was! Also, I suppose it’s one thing to have the victorious resurgent Severan dynasty under Elagabalus kill Macrinus, it’s another to have them kill a kid.

RATING: 1 STAR*

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